pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR Sunday, March 9, 2025, continued A new SERMON SERIES CALLED "lent in Plain Sight" AND THE MESSAGE WAS TITLED "Bread"
March 9, 2024
Series: Lent in Plain Sight
Message: Bread
Scripture: Exodus 16:1-5
The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”
This week, our common, every day, ordinary object through which God speaks to us is bread. That seems a lot better than dust, doesn’t it? Dust, as we talked about on Wednesday, seems to settle on all our stuff and we have to wipe it away. It will come back, and we will have to wipe it away. It’s a never-ending cycle.
But then we remembered that God used dust to make the first man, Adam. God scooped up a handful of dirt and dust from the ground and formed a human; he created the shell. We learned that dust symbolizes humility, frailty, and mortality in different places in scripture. And then we marveled that dust even symbolizes life, that after God had formed Adam from the dust of the ground, he breathed his own breath into him and gave him life.
It's amazing how God speaks to his people through the ordinary things all around us, but I like this week’s object more than dust. Bread is just so good. It smells good when it’s baking, and it tastes good when we eat it. When we can’t have it, we miss it, we dream about it, we want it more than we ever did before.
At least, that is how the Israelites felt in today’s scripture. They had left Egypt a month earlier. They had crossed the Red Sea by walking across on dry ground while the Egyptian army barreled down upon them. They had camped at a couple different places, and on this day, they set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin.
As they arrived, probably hot, sweaty, tired, and hungry, they began to complain once again to Moses. This time it wasn’t about the lack of water; it was the absence of food. “Oh, if only we hadn’t left Egypt,” they whined, “there we had all the meat we could eat,” How quickly they forgot about the harsh treatment they had lived under in Egypt. Now they were free, being led to the land that had been promised to them by God, who was the very One who was leading them, but all they could think about was the food they wanted to eat and longing to return to captivity to get it.
Of course, God heard their complaints, and he told Moses his plan. “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” What a plan! Every day, when the Israelites awoke and the dew dried, they would go out and gather the thin flakes that lay on the ground like frost – the bread that the Lord had given them to eat. It was white and tasted like honey, and they would bake it or boil it to eat it.
God told them to gather up as much as they needed for that day, no more. Some listened, some did not. Those who gathered extra, to save for the next day, woke up to discover that what they had saved had spoiled in the night. Six days a week, God rained down manna in the night, the Israelites gathered it in the morning and had bread for the day.
On Friday mornings, they took up twice as much, because God told them there wouldn’t be any given on the sabbath. That was the only day when the leftovers didn’t spoil in the night. Six days a week, for the entire forty years they lived in the wilderness, God gave his people bread to sustain them. Did you ever think about bread being an act of love?
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer and say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are remembering God’s love for the Israelites and how he gave them daily bread for those forty years. We are also acknowledging that he gives us what we need for today and we can trust he will do the same tomorrow.
Years later, Jesus fed a crowd of over 5,000 with only two small fish and five small loaves of barley bread. Imagine being there that day, knowing what little there was to begin with, wondering how even just the disciples would have had a satisfying meal on such a meager amount, then being given your portion. You look at it, astonished to see how much you’ve been handed; you begin to eat. This bread might be the most delicious bread you have ever eaten.
You talk to those sitting around you as you eat. It’s just casual conversation, sprinkled in with wonder at the meal that has been stretched to feed everyone – not just a bite – but as much as they could eat to be satisfied. You watch as the disciples begin to gather up what is left and how can it be that there is more left over than what there was at the beginning?
Bread that never ends! You have got to see this man, Jesus, do some other tricks, so you follow him, along with the rest of the crowd. Jesus knew why they followed him to the other side of the lake. He knew it wasn’t for him, but what he could do for them. They wanted a show, not substance. They wanted a circus act, not the Bread of Life that was standing right before them.
They had eaten that bread the day before and guess what? They were hungry again today. That’s the way the human body works. We eat, we get hungry, we eat, we get hungry. Jesus told the crowd, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
They didn’t get it. All they knew was their physical hunger, their human wants and needs in this world. They remembered their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they wanted Jesus to provide bread for them every day, too. They remembered one thing wrong, though. They thought Moses had provided the manna; they forgot where it really came from.
Let’s pick up this story in John 6, beginning in verse 32:
“Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
They didn’t understand, and like their ancestors, they began to grumble and complain. They didn’t know what they were giving up because all they wanted was bread – regular, every day bread, to feed their bodies. They said no to the Bread of Life that day.
Not long after this, in a room with just his disciples, after having washed their feet, Jesus once again used bread to teach who he was. It was at the last supper, right before Jesus was arrested, that he took bread, gave thanks to God, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and told them to eat it – all of them. Then he said something that probably sounded odd to them. Jesus said, “This is my body, given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
You know, you can go to the grocery store and buy bread anytime you want it. The shelves are filled with options; white, wheat, rye, multigrain. You can choose to bake your own bread or buy an artisan loaf at a bakery. Bread is easy to come by. We are so used to having it available that we take it for granted that it will be there when we want it. Toast in the morning, a sandwich at lunch, a roll with dinner.
But see how fast it flies off the shelves when bad weather is forecast. That’s when we remember bread is important. It was important for the Israelites in the desert; it was a dietary staple provided for them daily by God. It showed them his love every time they took their jars out and collected their daily share.
Bread is still a symbol of the love of God for us, today. Bread is a love offering to us from Jesus Christ. Just as he gave bread to the disciples and told them it was his body he was giving for them, he tells us, too.
Every time we celebrate the sacrament of Communion, we share in the body of the Bread of Life. As the piece of bread is laid in your hands, and the words are spoken, “The body of Jesus, given for you,” we remember anew that Jesus willingly gave his body for us. He gave his body to the Jewish leaders who mocked him, spit on him, slapped him. He gave his body to the Roman soldiers who whipped him, stretched out his arms and nailed him to the cross. Even as he gave his body to those people to do all that to him, he was giving his body for them – and for us – for our salvation.
Jesus invites us to feast on his body because he is the Bread of Life. Only he can satisfy our hunger for more than food, hunger for that elusive need to know and be known by the One who loves us enough to die for our sins just to save us from having to pay the price ourselves.
Erwin Lutzer, pastor emeritus of the Moody Church in Chicago, and author of numerous books, warns us that, “If we are not nourished by the Bread from heaven, we will satiate ourselves with crumbs from the world.” He’s right of course, but I wonder, why would anyone want to settle for crumbs when they can have the best part?
Crumbs might get you through to your next meal, but the Bread from Heaven is the Bread of Life and when we feast on him, we will be satisfied beyond our wildest dreams.
I hope that the next time you walk down the bread aisle at the grocery store, or slice into a loaf of fresh-baked goodness, you will stop for a moment and remember that God uses bread, common, every day, ordinary bread, to tell us just how much he loves us. Thank you, Lord, for bread. Thank you, Lord, for your love. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of heaven, God of life, thank you for reminding us once again of your love through a simple loaf of bread. You provide all we need, just as you provided for your people in the wilderness, even when we grumble and complain. You remind us that as imperfect as we are, you love us beyond any reasonable measure. Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ who gave his body for our salvation, who is the Bread of Heaven in whom we find eternal life. AMEN
References
Duffield, Jill J. “Lent in Plain Sight” Westminster John Know Press, Louisville, KY, 2020.
Series: Lent in Plain Sight
Message: Bread
Scripture: Exodus 16:1-5
The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”
This week, our common, every day, ordinary object through which God speaks to us is bread. That seems a lot better than dust, doesn’t it? Dust, as we talked about on Wednesday, seems to settle on all our stuff and we have to wipe it away. It will come back, and we will have to wipe it away. It’s a never-ending cycle.
But then we remembered that God used dust to make the first man, Adam. God scooped up a handful of dirt and dust from the ground and formed a human; he created the shell. We learned that dust symbolizes humility, frailty, and mortality in different places in scripture. And then we marveled that dust even symbolizes life, that after God had formed Adam from the dust of the ground, he breathed his own breath into him and gave him life.
It's amazing how God speaks to his people through the ordinary things all around us, but I like this week’s object more than dust. Bread is just so good. It smells good when it’s baking, and it tastes good when we eat it. When we can’t have it, we miss it, we dream about it, we want it more than we ever did before.
At least, that is how the Israelites felt in today’s scripture. They had left Egypt a month earlier. They had crossed the Red Sea by walking across on dry ground while the Egyptian army barreled down upon them. They had camped at a couple different places, and on this day, they set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin.
As they arrived, probably hot, sweaty, tired, and hungry, they began to complain once again to Moses. This time it wasn’t about the lack of water; it was the absence of food. “Oh, if only we hadn’t left Egypt,” they whined, “there we had all the meat we could eat,” How quickly they forgot about the harsh treatment they had lived under in Egypt. Now they were free, being led to the land that had been promised to them by God, who was the very One who was leading them, but all they could think about was the food they wanted to eat and longing to return to captivity to get it.
Of course, God heard their complaints, and he told Moses his plan. “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” What a plan! Every day, when the Israelites awoke and the dew dried, they would go out and gather the thin flakes that lay on the ground like frost – the bread that the Lord had given them to eat. It was white and tasted like honey, and they would bake it or boil it to eat it.
God told them to gather up as much as they needed for that day, no more. Some listened, some did not. Those who gathered extra, to save for the next day, woke up to discover that what they had saved had spoiled in the night. Six days a week, God rained down manna in the night, the Israelites gathered it in the morning and had bread for the day.
On Friday mornings, they took up twice as much, because God told them there wouldn’t be any given on the sabbath. That was the only day when the leftovers didn’t spoil in the night. Six days a week, for the entire forty years they lived in the wilderness, God gave his people bread to sustain them. Did you ever think about bread being an act of love?
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer and say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are remembering God’s love for the Israelites and how he gave them daily bread for those forty years. We are also acknowledging that he gives us what we need for today and we can trust he will do the same tomorrow.
Years later, Jesus fed a crowd of over 5,000 with only two small fish and five small loaves of barley bread. Imagine being there that day, knowing what little there was to begin with, wondering how even just the disciples would have had a satisfying meal on such a meager amount, then being given your portion. You look at it, astonished to see how much you’ve been handed; you begin to eat. This bread might be the most delicious bread you have ever eaten.
You talk to those sitting around you as you eat. It’s just casual conversation, sprinkled in with wonder at the meal that has been stretched to feed everyone – not just a bite – but as much as they could eat to be satisfied. You watch as the disciples begin to gather up what is left and how can it be that there is more left over than what there was at the beginning?
Bread that never ends! You have got to see this man, Jesus, do some other tricks, so you follow him, along with the rest of the crowd. Jesus knew why they followed him to the other side of the lake. He knew it wasn’t for him, but what he could do for them. They wanted a show, not substance. They wanted a circus act, not the Bread of Life that was standing right before them.
They had eaten that bread the day before and guess what? They were hungry again today. That’s the way the human body works. We eat, we get hungry, we eat, we get hungry. Jesus told the crowd, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
They didn’t get it. All they knew was their physical hunger, their human wants and needs in this world. They remembered their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they wanted Jesus to provide bread for them every day, too. They remembered one thing wrong, though. They thought Moses had provided the manna; they forgot where it really came from.
Let’s pick up this story in John 6, beginning in verse 32:
“Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
They didn’t understand, and like their ancestors, they began to grumble and complain. They didn’t know what they were giving up because all they wanted was bread – regular, every day bread, to feed their bodies. They said no to the Bread of Life that day.
Not long after this, in a room with just his disciples, after having washed their feet, Jesus once again used bread to teach who he was. It was at the last supper, right before Jesus was arrested, that he took bread, gave thanks to God, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and told them to eat it – all of them. Then he said something that probably sounded odd to them. Jesus said, “This is my body, given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
You know, you can go to the grocery store and buy bread anytime you want it. The shelves are filled with options; white, wheat, rye, multigrain. You can choose to bake your own bread or buy an artisan loaf at a bakery. Bread is easy to come by. We are so used to having it available that we take it for granted that it will be there when we want it. Toast in the morning, a sandwich at lunch, a roll with dinner.
But see how fast it flies off the shelves when bad weather is forecast. That’s when we remember bread is important. It was important for the Israelites in the desert; it was a dietary staple provided for them daily by God. It showed them his love every time they took their jars out and collected their daily share.
Bread is still a symbol of the love of God for us, today. Bread is a love offering to us from Jesus Christ. Just as he gave bread to the disciples and told them it was his body he was giving for them, he tells us, too.
Every time we celebrate the sacrament of Communion, we share in the body of the Bread of Life. As the piece of bread is laid in your hands, and the words are spoken, “The body of Jesus, given for you,” we remember anew that Jesus willingly gave his body for us. He gave his body to the Jewish leaders who mocked him, spit on him, slapped him. He gave his body to the Roman soldiers who whipped him, stretched out his arms and nailed him to the cross. Even as he gave his body to those people to do all that to him, he was giving his body for them – and for us – for our salvation.
Jesus invites us to feast on his body because he is the Bread of Life. Only he can satisfy our hunger for more than food, hunger for that elusive need to know and be known by the One who loves us enough to die for our sins just to save us from having to pay the price ourselves.
Erwin Lutzer, pastor emeritus of the Moody Church in Chicago, and author of numerous books, warns us that, “If we are not nourished by the Bread from heaven, we will satiate ourselves with crumbs from the world.” He’s right of course, but I wonder, why would anyone want to settle for crumbs when they can have the best part?
Crumbs might get you through to your next meal, but the Bread from Heaven is the Bread of Life and when we feast on him, we will be satisfied beyond our wildest dreams.
I hope that the next time you walk down the bread aisle at the grocery store, or slice into a loaf of fresh-baked goodness, you will stop for a moment and remember that God uses bread, common, every day, ordinary bread, to tell us just how much he loves us. Thank you, Lord, for bread. Thank you, Lord, for your love. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of heaven, God of life, thank you for reminding us once again of your love through a simple loaf of bread. You provide all we need, just as you provided for your people in the wilderness, even when we grumble and complain. You remind us that as imperfect as we are, you love us beyond any reasonable measure. Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ who gave his body for our salvation, who is the Bread of Heaven in whom we find eternal life. AMEN
References
Duffield, Jill J. “Lent in Plain Sight” Westminster John Know Press, Louisville, KY, 2020.
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, began A new SERMON SERIES CALLED "lent in Plain Sight" AND THE MESSAGE WAS TITLED "dust"
March 5, 2024, Ash Wednesday
Series: Lent in Plain Sight
Message: Dust
Scripture: Genesis 2:7, Psalm 119:25
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
My soul clings to the dust;
revive me according to your word.
Have you ever noticed how often God uses the ordinary to do something extraordinary? He uses ordinary people and equips them to do ministry, people like Moses, Samuel, David, and every one of the disciples.
Jesus used ordinary objects to teach people the message they needed to hear. Objects like seeds and soil, oil, coins, bread, and wine. Using ordinary people and ordinary things, God makes himself relatable to everyone. How else could he make known that his plan for salvation, his desire for relationship is for all people?
We talk about this a little bit during Advent. How Jesus was born to a poor couple, in a stable, laid in a manger, and his birth was first announced to lowly shepherds so that the world didn’t get the wrong impression on who Jesus came to save.
If he had been born in a palace, raised with all the opportunities afforded only the rich, surrounded only by other wealthy folks, he would not have been accessible to the masses. He wouldn’t have healed the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, because he would have never come in contact with them.
Ordinary places, ordinary spaces, ordinary people, ordinary objects are God’s method of choice to get the attention of all his people, most of whom live an ordinary life. This Lenten season, we will look at ordinary things, everyday objects that are right in front of us, but so common that we don’t really notice them much. But, if God works through common, ordinary objects, what might he have to say to us through these items we take for granted?
Tonight, we start with dust. For some of us dust is a nuisance; it’s that stuff that accumulates on our TV screens, on the knick-knacks we have collected over time, on every flat surface in our home. It’s a constant battle, but we wipe it away, knowing it will return again. Dust, by definition, is a collection of fine, dry particles of solid matter that is heavy enough to be seen, but light enough to be carried by the wind.
Dust has been around since the creation of the earth in Genesis. We know because our scripture tells us that when God formed the first man, Adam, he made him from the dust of the ground. God gathered a handful of dirt, dust laying on the ground, and created the form of a human.
We see dust used in many different ways throughout scripture, tying it to different symbolic meanings such as life, like in tonight’s Genesis reading, but also mortality, frailty, and humility.
In Genesis 3:19, only one chapter after tonight’s scripture where dust is equated with life, dust is now a symbol of human mortality:
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.
These are God’s words to Adam after the fall, when Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden of Eden because of their rebellion and sin, and go out into a world they were never meant to live in.
Dust is used to symbolize our frailty as humans. David recognizes that frailty yet finds hope in the love and compassion of the God who created us and forgives us endlessly. He writes, in Psalm 103:
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
David reminds us that God knows who we are and how we are made – from dust – meaning we are fragile beings in earthly bodies. One day, that won’t be the case. One day we will be given our heavenly bodies, made not from dust, bodies that are no longer fragile and given to wearing out. Bodies that will never get sick or diseased. Our earthly bodies will die once; our heavenly bodies will never die.
Dust can also be used to show humility and mourning. In the story of Job, after he had lost all his worldly goods, all his children, and had been afflicted with sores all over his body, his three friends come to offer him comfort and support. When they were still a long way off, they saw him, and even from that distance they saw how bad he was; they could barely recognize him. In their sorrow, they began to weep, they tore their clothes, and they sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat with Job, without speaking, for seven days and seven nights. They joined job in mourning for his losses.
Later, Job used dust to show humility in God’s presence. He says, in Chapter 42:
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
In Psalm 119, the Psalmist also uses dust to show his humility towards God:
I am laid low in the dust;
preserve my life according to your word.
The psalm writer knows God’s word and God’s promises, and he is asking for God to remain faithful, even when the author of the plea is not. We can all pray the same prayer, asking God to remain faithful to us, even knowing we will not always be faithful in return, and we can do this with the posture of “being laid low in the dust,” adopting an attitude of humility, even if we are not physically lying in that dust.
Dust is what we all have in common. As Adam was made from dust, and since every person comes from Adam, then we all come from dust. One day, we will all become dust again.
The author of the book, “Lent in Plain Sight,” encourages us to find comfort in that thought. She writes, “I remember not only that I am dust and to dust I shall return, but I cling to the memory of those who have gone before me. I remember because that cloud of witnesses gives me hope that I, too, might run the race set before me.” She goes on to say that she hopes that she will be recognized as a sheep of the fold of the Good Shepherd, a good and faithful servant who has finished her race.
Isn’t that what we all want? To be known as one of His? To be recognized as belonging to God through the work of Jesus on the cross? To know that even though we are incapable of doing the good we know we should do, that we do the opposite of what we want to do, but we are still loved and forgiven?
One day, our years on earth will end, but aren’t we so glad that we don’t have to count on the work we have done in this life to save us? Thanks to Jesus and his work on the cross, we are saved by faith alone, by the grace of God. Thanks be to God.
Dust is everywhere. Inside, outside, everywhere. We can’t get rid of it all, but the next time we get out your cleaning supplies, instead of being irritated at having to wipe that dust off the shelves once more, perhaps we can take a moment to thank God for dust – for it was from dust that we were made, and it is to dust we will return. Thank you, God, for dust. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, you have created all things, seen and unseen, and you have created us from dust. During this Lenten season, Lord, send your Holy Spirit to blow off the dust that hinders us, the dust that clings and weighs us down, making room for new life in you. May the ashes we will receive prompt us to live our lives in the shape of the cross, reaching up to you and out to others. May that way of living go beyond just this Lenten season and become a habit of our everyday, ordinary lives, until one day we will become dust once more, and then resurrected into your presence forever. AMEN.
References
Duffield, Jill J. “Lent in Plain Sight” Westminster John Know Press, Louisville, KY, 2020.
Series: Lent in Plain Sight
Message: Dust
Scripture: Genesis 2:7, Psalm 119:25
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
My soul clings to the dust;
revive me according to your word.
Have you ever noticed how often God uses the ordinary to do something extraordinary? He uses ordinary people and equips them to do ministry, people like Moses, Samuel, David, and every one of the disciples.
Jesus used ordinary objects to teach people the message they needed to hear. Objects like seeds and soil, oil, coins, bread, and wine. Using ordinary people and ordinary things, God makes himself relatable to everyone. How else could he make known that his plan for salvation, his desire for relationship is for all people?
We talk about this a little bit during Advent. How Jesus was born to a poor couple, in a stable, laid in a manger, and his birth was first announced to lowly shepherds so that the world didn’t get the wrong impression on who Jesus came to save.
If he had been born in a palace, raised with all the opportunities afforded only the rich, surrounded only by other wealthy folks, he would not have been accessible to the masses. He wouldn’t have healed the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, because he would have never come in contact with them.
Ordinary places, ordinary spaces, ordinary people, ordinary objects are God’s method of choice to get the attention of all his people, most of whom live an ordinary life. This Lenten season, we will look at ordinary things, everyday objects that are right in front of us, but so common that we don’t really notice them much. But, if God works through common, ordinary objects, what might he have to say to us through these items we take for granted?
Tonight, we start with dust. For some of us dust is a nuisance; it’s that stuff that accumulates on our TV screens, on the knick-knacks we have collected over time, on every flat surface in our home. It’s a constant battle, but we wipe it away, knowing it will return again. Dust, by definition, is a collection of fine, dry particles of solid matter that is heavy enough to be seen, but light enough to be carried by the wind.
Dust has been around since the creation of the earth in Genesis. We know because our scripture tells us that when God formed the first man, Adam, he made him from the dust of the ground. God gathered a handful of dirt, dust laying on the ground, and created the form of a human.
We see dust used in many different ways throughout scripture, tying it to different symbolic meanings such as life, like in tonight’s Genesis reading, but also mortality, frailty, and humility.
In Genesis 3:19, only one chapter after tonight’s scripture where dust is equated with life, dust is now a symbol of human mortality:
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.
These are God’s words to Adam after the fall, when Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden of Eden because of their rebellion and sin, and go out into a world they were never meant to live in.
Dust is used to symbolize our frailty as humans. David recognizes that frailty yet finds hope in the love and compassion of the God who created us and forgives us endlessly. He writes, in Psalm 103:
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
David reminds us that God knows who we are and how we are made – from dust – meaning we are fragile beings in earthly bodies. One day, that won’t be the case. One day we will be given our heavenly bodies, made not from dust, bodies that are no longer fragile and given to wearing out. Bodies that will never get sick or diseased. Our earthly bodies will die once; our heavenly bodies will never die.
Dust can also be used to show humility and mourning. In the story of Job, after he had lost all his worldly goods, all his children, and had been afflicted with sores all over his body, his three friends come to offer him comfort and support. When they were still a long way off, they saw him, and even from that distance they saw how bad he was; they could barely recognize him. In their sorrow, they began to weep, they tore their clothes, and they sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat with Job, without speaking, for seven days and seven nights. They joined job in mourning for his losses.
Later, Job used dust to show humility in God’s presence. He says, in Chapter 42:
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
In Psalm 119, the Psalmist also uses dust to show his humility towards God:
I am laid low in the dust;
preserve my life according to your word.
The psalm writer knows God’s word and God’s promises, and he is asking for God to remain faithful, even when the author of the plea is not. We can all pray the same prayer, asking God to remain faithful to us, even knowing we will not always be faithful in return, and we can do this with the posture of “being laid low in the dust,” adopting an attitude of humility, even if we are not physically lying in that dust.
Dust is what we all have in common. As Adam was made from dust, and since every person comes from Adam, then we all come from dust. One day, we will all become dust again.
The author of the book, “Lent in Plain Sight,” encourages us to find comfort in that thought. She writes, “I remember not only that I am dust and to dust I shall return, but I cling to the memory of those who have gone before me. I remember because that cloud of witnesses gives me hope that I, too, might run the race set before me.” She goes on to say that she hopes that she will be recognized as a sheep of the fold of the Good Shepherd, a good and faithful servant who has finished her race.
Isn’t that what we all want? To be known as one of His? To be recognized as belonging to God through the work of Jesus on the cross? To know that even though we are incapable of doing the good we know we should do, that we do the opposite of what we want to do, but we are still loved and forgiven?
One day, our years on earth will end, but aren’t we so glad that we don’t have to count on the work we have done in this life to save us? Thanks to Jesus and his work on the cross, we are saved by faith alone, by the grace of God. Thanks be to God.
Dust is everywhere. Inside, outside, everywhere. We can’t get rid of it all, but the next time we get out your cleaning supplies, instead of being irritated at having to wipe that dust off the shelves once more, perhaps we can take a moment to thank God for dust – for it was from dust that we were made, and it is to dust we will return. Thank you, God, for dust. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, you have created all things, seen and unseen, and you have created us from dust. During this Lenten season, Lord, send your Holy Spirit to blow off the dust that hinders us, the dust that clings and weighs us down, making room for new life in you. May the ashes we will receive prompt us to live our lives in the shape of the cross, reaching up to you and out to others. May that way of living go beyond just this Lenten season and become a habit of our everyday, ordinary lives, until one day we will become dust once more, and then resurrected into your presence forever. AMEN.
References
Duffield, Jill J. “Lent in Plain Sight” Westminster John Know Press, Louisville, KY, 2020.
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY March 2, 2025, continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "christian to the core" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Integrity".
March 2, 2025
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Integrity
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1-8
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but, having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Last week we talked about Faithful Stewardship, using the story of the three servants who had been given a number of talents by their master. Two of them showed good stewardship, doubling the number they had been given, one simply dug a hole and buried his for safe keeping. While it is true that stewardship was involved, there is another discipleship principle displayed by those first two servants, also, and that is integrity.
Each of those two men were given talents, each one doubled the number, and each one gave the full measure back to the man when he returned home. They could have kept some back for themselves, they could have run off with the original amount, but they did not do either of those things. They stayed, they worked, and they faithfully returned all that belonged to their master to him upon his return.
Those two servants showed integrity in how they conducted themselves, even when no one was looking. As we wind up this worship series on discipleship, we will see that God is looking for men and women of integrity who are willing to live holy lives and be accountable to God and the Body of Christ. Why does integrity matter? Because integrity glorifies God, protects us from stumbling, and encourages growth as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
Listen to this example of a man of integrity, someone who showed true character when no one else would have known the difference.
Cleveland Stroud was the coach of the Blue Collar Bulldogs. For 18 years he had coached teams in good seasons and bad, until finally, this year, his basketball team had made it to the state championship. Stroud recalls what a “perfect night” it was when they won, saying it was the kind of night you always dream of as a coach. After the final buzzer, he was carried around the gym on the shoulders of his triumphant players and their proud parents. The local paper even put his picture on the front page. It felt great to be a part of the championship team.
But the Coach’s excitement didn’t last long. Two months after that championship game, as he was doing a routine grade check, Stroud discovered that one of his players was academically ineligible. Imagine how he felt in that moment. This player had only played 45 seconds during one game in the regional qualifying tournament; he hadn’t even played in the championship game.
Stroud says, “I thought it was all ruined. I went through a phase where I was really depressed.” He struggled with what to do next. No one else knew what he knew; he could choose to keep quiet. Yet, his commitment to integrity led him to the right decision.
“Winning is the most important thing for any coach,” he says. “But your principles have to be higher than your goals.” Determined to do the right thing, he reported the error to the league and the Bulldogs forfeited their trophy. When the team gathered in the locker room, lamenting the loss after having celebrated it so briefly, he told them, “You’ve got to do what is honest, what is right, and what the rules say. People forget the scores of basketball games, but they don’t ever forget what you are made of.”
In Paul’s letter to Timothy, where today’s scripture comes from, Paul is nearing the end of his life. He is giving Timothy some final instructions for how he is to continue in his ministry. He tells Timothy to “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” In other words, young man, preach the truth, carefully and patiently, but always preach the truth.
Why would Paul feel the need to remind his young protégé of this? Was Timothy not trustworthy? Of course he was. But listen to Paul’s next words, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
Paul knows that the time will come when people won’t want to hear the truth. Instead, they will want their preachers to preach what sounds good to them, what feels good to them, what doesn’t make them uncomfortable or convict them of their wrongdoings. Paul knows how hard this will be for the preachers, like Timothy, who will have to choose between being faithful to his calling or catering to the crowds. Paul wants to prepare Timothy so that when that time comes, he will make the right choice. Paul wants Timothy to live into his calling with honesty and integrity.
Unfortunately, Paul was not wrong about what was coming. We see it in our very own age. Pastors who preach ways that are contrary to God’s word because they believe it is wrong to make people feel badly about their sin. People who go to churches where sin is not preached because they don’t want to confront their own sin, they don’t want to stop what they are doing, repentance is a foreign word. They don’t want truth; they want warm and fuzzy feelings.
Integrity means doing the right thing, even when it is hard to do. Even when no one is looking, even when no one will know. It’s easy to look at those folks who prefer their ears to be tickled instead of their lives to be changed and declare they are not people of integrity, but don’t forget, we have to look in the mirror every day ourselves. What do we see on the inside? Does it match what we show the world on the outside?
Jesus, in a stern rebuke to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law spoke about integrity. He told them in Matthew 23:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
Jesus called them hypocrites because the way they lived was to show themselves one way, but they were in truth living a different way. Our word for hypocrite comes from the Greek word “hypokrites,” which means “one who plays a part.” This is the word the Greeks use for an actor, one who plays a part on the stage or screen. Jesus was telling the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that they were playing the part of being righteous, but they were in fact very unrighteous with how they lived when no one was looking. All they did was for show, not for truth.
Paul wants Timothy to live for Jesus in his private life as well as in his public life, because even when we think no one can see what we do or how we think, God knows, God sees. Someone with integrity lives in a way that God is pleased with us, even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone around us.
I would bet that there were players, parents, and even school personnel who didn’t understand why that coach spoke up honestly about having an ineligible player on the team. For them, the outward appearance is all that matters when it benefits them. Of course, had it been the other team in the same situation, they would have thought differently, but they don’t like to think about that.
When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we made a commitment to follow him as his disciple at all times, not just when we feel like it, not just when it is easy or convenient.
As we have studied these eight core principles of discipleship, I pray that we have all seen places where we can improve and are willing to do so. Being a committed disciple means seeking intimacy with God, having a passion for the harvest, seeing where God calls us to be, practicing culturally relevant evangelism, desiring to grow the Kingdom of God through multiplication of disciples, making family our top priority right after God, practicing faithful stewardship with our finances, time, and spiritual gifts, and doing all things with integrity.
It sounds like a big commitment, and it is, but remember, we won’t do any of it on our own. God is always with us through his Spirit who dwells within us, and we have each other. As iron sharpens iron, disciples strengthen disciples as we all walk along the path of our faith journeys together.
Paul writes to Timothy, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” This is a reminder of the young evangelist’s calling, a warning that there will be challenging times, and the promise that it will all be worth it to maintain his integrity through it all.
In October 1968, John Stephen Akhwari was one of the participants in the Olympic marathon. The race began, and John immediately moved to the front of the pack. Four hours later, the stands almost empty, the winners already announced, the medals already given, John Stephen Akhwari entered the stadium for the final stretch. Earlier in the race, John had fallen, his injuries included slicing open his knee and dislocating the joint. Racing officials had urged him to drop out of the race and get medical assistance; he refused.
Shaking, grimacing, bloodied, and hobbling on his injured leg, John was determined to finish that race. There were 74 competitors who started the race that day, 17 of them did not finish. John was one of the 57 who went the entire 26 miles. When he was asked later why he didn’t just give up since he knew he could not win, he replied, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish it.”
God’s goal for us all is to finish the race he has laid before us, and to finish it well. Paul, knowing his race is almost finished, has likely looked back over his life, and his ministry, and he writes “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
Do you hear the hope and the promise in Paul’s words? He may have written them to Timothy, but I know he also wrote them for us. We, too, desire to fight the good fight, to finish our race that God has laid before us. And when we finish that race, we long to win the prize – the words that those servants heard last week, “Well, done, my good and faithful servant. Now enter into your Master’s rest.” Being a person of integrity will help us cross the finish line, claim that prize, and stand triumphantly in the presence of our God.
There will be times when we slip up, we might fall and walk with a limp from our fall, but God will restore us when we repent from our fall, ask his forgiveness, and carry on. As we prepare for communion this morning, this might be a good time to confess to God anything we need to confess before we come to the Lord’s table. He is waiting; he is willing to forgive. He is so, so, good, all the time. So let’s make sure we honor his goodness by living as a committed disciple, living our lives with integrity, even when it means doing the hard thing to do the right thing, Even when it doesn’t make sense to someone else. Even when no one here on earth is looking. Because God is always looking. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father, as we run this race you have called us to run, we know there will be times when we fall off the track. Lord, when we do, help us get right back up and continue on. Thank you for the ones who show us how to live, who support us, encourage us, and love us as we stumble along on our faith journey. Thank you for being our coach, our cheerleader, our everything. May we be better disciples today than we were yesterday, and even better ones tomorrow, that we might honor you in all we do. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74687/integrity-in-by-sermon-central
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Integrity
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1-8
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but, having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Last week we talked about Faithful Stewardship, using the story of the three servants who had been given a number of talents by their master. Two of them showed good stewardship, doubling the number they had been given, one simply dug a hole and buried his for safe keeping. While it is true that stewardship was involved, there is another discipleship principle displayed by those first two servants, also, and that is integrity.
Each of those two men were given talents, each one doubled the number, and each one gave the full measure back to the man when he returned home. They could have kept some back for themselves, they could have run off with the original amount, but they did not do either of those things. They stayed, they worked, and they faithfully returned all that belonged to their master to him upon his return.
Those two servants showed integrity in how they conducted themselves, even when no one was looking. As we wind up this worship series on discipleship, we will see that God is looking for men and women of integrity who are willing to live holy lives and be accountable to God and the Body of Christ. Why does integrity matter? Because integrity glorifies God, protects us from stumbling, and encourages growth as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
Listen to this example of a man of integrity, someone who showed true character when no one else would have known the difference.
Cleveland Stroud was the coach of the Blue Collar Bulldogs. For 18 years he had coached teams in good seasons and bad, until finally, this year, his basketball team had made it to the state championship. Stroud recalls what a “perfect night” it was when they won, saying it was the kind of night you always dream of as a coach. After the final buzzer, he was carried around the gym on the shoulders of his triumphant players and their proud parents. The local paper even put his picture on the front page. It felt great to be a part of the championship team.
But the Coach’s excitement didn’t last long. Two months after that championship game, as he was doing a routine grade check, Stroud discovered that one of his players was academically ineligible. Imagine how he felt in that moment. This player had only played 45 seconds during one game in the regional qualifying tournament; he hadn’t even played in the championship game.
Stroud says, “I thought it was all ruined. I went through a phase where I was really depressed.” He struggled with what to do next. No one else knew what he knew; he could choose to keep quiet. Yet, his commitment to integrity led him to the right decision.
“Winning is the most important thing for any coach,” he says. “But your principles have to be higher than your goals.” Determined to do the right thing, he reported the error to the league and the Bulldogs forfeited their trophy. When the team gathered in the locker room, lamenting the loss after having celebrated it so briefly, he told them, “You’ve got to do what is honest, what is right, and what the rules say. People forget the scores of basketball games, but they don’t ever forget what you are made of.”
In Paul’s letter to Timothy, where today’s scripture comes from, Paul is nearing the end of his life. He is giving Timothy some final instructions for how he is to continue in his ministry. He tells Timothy to “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” In other words, young man, preach the truth, carefully and patiently, but always preach the truth.
Why would Paul feel the need to remind his young protégé of this? Was Timothy not trustworthy? Of course he was. But listen to Paul’s next words, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
Paul knows that the time will come when people won’t want to hear the truth. Instead, they will want their preachers to preach what sounds good to them, what feels good to them, what doesn’t make them uncomfortable or convict them of their wrongdoings. Paul knows how hard this will be for the preachers, like Timothy, who will have to choose between being faithful to his calling or catering to the crowds. Paul wants to prepare Timothy so that when that time comes, he will make the right choice. Paul wants Timothy to live into his calling with honesty and integrity.
Unfortunately, Paul was not wrong about what was coming. We see it in our very own age. Pastors who preach ways that are contrary to God’s word because they believe it is wrong to make people feel badly about their sin. People who go to churches where sin is not preached because they don’t want to confront their own sin, they don’t want to stop what they are doing, repentance is a foreign word. They don’t want truth; they want warm and fuzzy feelings.
Integrity means doing the right thing, even when it is hard to do. Even when no one is looking, even when no one will know. It’s easy to look at those folks who prefer their ears to be tickled instead of their lives to be changed and declare they are not people of integrity, but don’t forget, we have to look in the mirror every day ourselves. What do we see on the inside? Does it match what we show the world on the outside?
Jesus, in a stern rebuke to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law spoke about integrity. He told them in Matthew 23:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
Jesus called them hypocrites because the way they lived was to show themselves one way, but they were in truth living a different way. Our word for hypocrite comes from the Greek word “hypokrites,” which means “one who plays a part.” This is the word the Greeks use for an actor, one who plays a part on the stage or screen. Jesus was telling the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that they were playing the part of being righteous, but they were in fact very unrighteous with how they lived when no one was looking. All they did was for show, not for truth.
Paul wants Timothy to live for Jesus in his private life as well as in his public life, because even when we think no one can see what we do or how we think, God knows, God sees. Someone with integrity lives in a way that God is pleased with us, even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone around us.
I would bet that there were players, parents, and even school personnel who didn’t understand why that coach spoke up honestly about having an ineligible player on the team. For them, the outward appearance is all that matters when it benefits them. Of course, had it been the other team in the same situation, they would have thought differently, but they don’t like to think about that.
When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we made a commitment to follow him as his disciple at all times, not just when we feel like it, not just when it is easy or convenient.
As we have studied these eight core principles of discipleship, I pray that we have all seen places where we can improve and are willing to do so. Being a committed disciple means seeking intimacy with God, having a passion for the harvest, seeing where God calls us to be, practicing culturally relevant evangelism, desiring to grow the Kingdom of God through multiplication of disciples, making family our top priority right after God, practicing faithful stewardship with our finances, time, and spiritual gifts, and doing all things with integrity.
It sounds like a big commitment, and it is, but remember, we won’t do any of it on our own. God is always with us through his Spirit who dwells within us, and we have each other. As iron sharpens iron, disciples strengthen disciples as we all walk along the path of our faith journeys together.
Paul writes to Timothy, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” This is a reminder of the young evangelist’s calling, a warning that there will be challenging times, and the promise that it will all be worth it to maintain his integrity through it all.
In October 1968, John Stephen Akhwari was one of the participants in the Olympic marathon. The race began, and John immediately moved to the front of the pack. Four hours later, the stands almost empty, the winners already announced, the medals already given, John Stephen Akhwari entered the stadium for the final stretch. Earlier in the race, John had fallen, his injuries included slicing open his knee and dislocating the joint. Racing officials had urged him to drop out of the race and get medical assistance; he refused.
Shaking, grimacing, bloodied, and hobbling on his injured leg, John was determined to finish that race. There were 74 competitors who started the race that day, 17 of them did not finish. John was one of the 57 who went the entire 26 miles. When he was asked later why he didn’t just give up since he knew he could not win, he replied, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish it.”
God’s goal for us all is to finish the race he has laid before us, and to finish it well. Paul, knowing his race is almost finished, has likely looked back over his life, and his ministry, and he writes “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
Do you hear the hope and the promise in Paul’s words? He may have written them to Timothy, but I know he also wrote them for us. We, too, desire to fight the good fight, to finish our race that God has laid before us. And when we finish that race, we long to win the prize – the words that those servants heard last week, “Well, done, my good and faithful servant. Now enter into your Master’s rest.” Being a person of integrity will help us cross the finish line, claim that prize, and stand triumphantly in the presence of our God.
There will be times when we slip up, we might fall and walk with a limp from our fall, but God will restore us when we repent from our fall, ask his forgiveness, and carry on. As we prepare for communion this morning, this might be a good time to confess to God anything we need to confess before we come to the Lord’s table. He is waiting; he is willing to forgive. He is so, so, good, all the time. So let’s make sure we honor his goodness by living as a committed disciple, living our lives with integrity, even when it means doing the hard thing to do the right thing, Even when it doesn’t make sense to someone else. Even when no one here on earth is looking. Because God is always looking. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father, as we run this race you have called us to run, we know there will be times when we fall off the track. Lord, when we do, help us get right back up and continue on. Thank you for the ones who show us how to live, who support us, encourage us, and love us as we stumble along on our faith journey. Thank you for being our coach, our cheerleader, our everything. May we be better disciples today than we were yesterday, and even better ones tomorrow, that we might honor you in all we do. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74687/integrity-in-by-sermon-central
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY february 23, 2025, continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "christian to the core" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "faITHFUL STEWARDSHIP".
February 23, 2025
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Faithful Stewardship
Scripture: Matthew 25:14-23
“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. At once 16 the one who had received the five talents went off and traded with them and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
The advance scouting crew from a popular TV drama series went to Florida looking for the perfect location to shoot an action scene. They found the perfect spot – a large, impressive house with a lush green lawn and beautiful landscaping. The only problem for the team was that the scene would require a car chase that was slated to tear through the lawn, having a car spin out of control, and crash through those pretty shrubs and plantings.
To their surprise, the people who lived in the house were immediately onboard. They loved the idea of having their house shown on such a popular prime time show and they were excited to watch the filming. A few days later, filming began; the chase scene was going well, the front lawn was being torn up by the crash and spin out, the shrubs were looking tattered, the grass and the flower beds were ripped apart.
Watching from across the street, the neighbor, completely aghast at what was happening, finally called the home’s owners – in New York! They had no idea what was happening at their rental home in Florida.
That was when the TV scout crew realized their mistake. They had asked the residents of the house for permission to use the grounds for filming, but they had failed to ask if they were the owners of the home. The renters were eager to say yes, but in actuality they had absolutely no authority to give permission for the property to be used, especially in a way that would destroy the yard and the landscaping.
As you might imagine, the owners in New York were not happy when they discovered what their tenants had done. The TV director was embarrassed by the scouting crew’s lack of follow-through, and the renters were left looking for a new place to live.
This fiasco would have been avoided if the advance crew had determined one important thing – were the people they were asking to use the house owners or stewards? Did they have rights or responsibilities?
You see, owners have rights. They are the ones who get to say what can and cannot happen, how things will work. Stewards, in this case renters, have responsibilities. Stewards are responsible for caring for something that does not belong to them but to someone else.
Stewardship is what today’s scripture is about. A wealthy man is going on a journey, and he calls three of his servants in to see him. He knows these men well; they have been working for him for many years. To one man he gives 5 talents, to another 2 talents, to the third, 1 talent, to each “according to his ability.” A talent in today’s market would be worth between $500,000 and $1,000,000, depending on whether it was a gold talent or a silver talent. That’s a lot of money; that’s a lot of trust and responsibility.
So, the man gave these three servants these talents, and he left for wherever he was planning to go. We do not know if he gave them any instructions, but we might assume they knew this wasn’t a gift for them to keep for themselves. The first two servants went to work, each man working and trading and eventually doubling the original number of talents he had been trusted with.
When the man returned home, he called his three servants in to see him and to give an account of what they had done with the talents. As each of the first two servants presented him with the talents they had earned for him, they heard these words, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
Imagine how good they felt, to have done a good job and to know they would be rewarded for their faithful work.
When we talk about stewardship, our thoughts often go first to money. How we give is a form of stewardship, so let’s talk about that for a minute. Yes, we work for a living, the money we make comes, for most of us, directly from the job we work which gives us a salary. But it is God who gives us the ability to earn an income. It is God who gives the employer the ability to run his or her business so they can pay their employees. It is God who provides the resources from which this business creates, builds, or manufactures. So, in a very real sense, our paychecks are from God. Everything is already his to start with and he has entrusted a portion to us to use for living and providing for our family.
When we receive our paycheck, what is the first thing we do with it, the first way we use it? The answer to this question determines how we steward what God has given us. Do we first of all give a tithe back to God? Leviticus 29:30 says, “All tithes from the land, whether the seed from the ground or the fruit from the tree, are the Lord’s; they are holy to the Lord.” God was teaching the Israelites to use good stewardship by giving to God the first fruits of their labor.
God had the same requirement for the flocks and the herds, too. The first-born of any of the animals were to be sacrificed to the Lord, showing good stewardship, acknowledging that what they had was given to them by God, not from themselves. I ask again, when we get our paychecks today, what do we do first?
I hope your answer is that you are tithing. Tithing means giving 10% back to God by giving to the church. The Israelites brought their tithes to the Temple, we bring ours to the church. When I pray over the offering each week, you will usually hear me say something about our “tithes and offerings.” These are not interchangeable, but different terms. A tithe, as we have said, is our 10% to the Lord. An offering is what we give above and beyond our tithes and can be given for any reason the giver determines.
Sometimes we have a special offering. That is not meant to be in place of our tithes, but in addition to them. Sometimes we might feel especially blessed and want to give a little more to the church or to a project the church supports. Offerings can even extend beyond the local church. Perhaps we have a favorite charity or a cause we like to support, so we choose to give to them. That is an offering, and a blessing to the recipient. God does not specifically require offerings, he wants that to come from a grateful heart, but he does require us to give our tithes, and those go to the church.
If there are any here who have not been tithing, I encourage you to begin now. It might seem a little scary, especially if finances are a little tighter than you like them to be. If you truly think you cannot afford to tithe, then assess what you are giving and make a small increase. After a bit of time, make another, until you have reached 10%. Moving up slowly may make it easier, but the longer we wait to start, the harder it will be. When we get to the place where we are honoring God by giving our tithes regularly, we are practicing good stewardship, which is a principle of discipleship.
John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company and the world’s first billionaire, once said, “I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.” He was faithful with a little and he was faithful with much. We may never make a billion dollars, or even a million, but we can give the same amount as a Rockefeller; we can give 10%.
Did you know there is one place in scripture where God tells his people to put him to a test? It is in Malachi 3:8-12, which says, “Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings! 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11 I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.”
The Israelites had given up tithing, but God wanted them to know how important it was. He had commanded them to tithe, and he wanted to bless them when they were obedient to do so. Do no confuse this with a prosperity gospel. This isn’t “give to God so he will give to me.” Tithing is about giving to God because we know everything is already his, because we want to thank him for what he has given us, and because we want to be obedient to his word. God will bless those who tithe if they are tithing for the right reasons, not just for the purpose of getting more than they give.
That is a lot about tithing, but stewardship is more than just tithing. God also wants us to be good stewards of our time. God gives each and every one of us the same amount of time each day and he wants us to spend those hours wisely. We have so many hours of work, so many hours for family, so many hours for rest, and so many hours for leisure. Are we allocating hours for God in our days, too? Not just this hour on Sunday morning, but time given to God every single day of the week. That would be our daily devotions, Bible study, prayer time, quiet time, and volunteering to help those in need. We need a good variety of ways that bring us into God’s presence, some that we do every day and some that we do regularly, and others that we do occasionally.
Reading the Bible and praying should be our everyday activity, volunteering to serve can be a regular event, like helping with the Backpack program, or with Bridge Builders. And an occasional use of our God time could be a mission trip, a Habitat build, holiday giving, volunteering to ring the Salvation Army bell. You get the idea; you get to choose. The important thing is that we are all choosing something to do that will give our time to God; that we will be good stewards of the gift of time he has given us.
The third area of stewardship is how we use our spiritual gifts. The first two servants in today’s scripture both used their gifts to double the talents they had been given. Each man may have gone about it differently, but both put their unique gifts to work.
We have all been given our own spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit and God expects us to put them to use for the benefit of the body, that is the church. We all have gifts, but we don’t all have the same gifts because there are many different needs in the church. Some have the gift of music, some have the gift of technology, some the gift of teaching children, others the gift of hospitality. As many needs are in the church are the number of gifts we have to draw from to meet those needs. Our gifts are meant to work together for the good of the church, strengthening us on the inside so we can go outside these walls and be the body of Christ in the world.
Everyone, no matter what their situation, has been given a gift, or gifts, that can be used right now for the good of the church. Are we using our gifts? Are we honoring God by working together for the good of his church and his world?
Years ago, when I was living with my aunt and uncle in Georgia, Christmas was fast approaching. I was excited to go Christmas shopping and get a gift for everyone in the family. My littlest cousin was probably only about three at the time and he loved big trucks. I found the coolest big dump truck for him that I thought he would love to use when he played in his sandbox.
When he first opened his gift, he seemed happy, but that didn’t last long. As he turned it over to examine it, he had one question, “Where do the batteries go?” It didn’t take batteries. It was a plain old, regular truck. He didn’t like it. He wanted batteries, this didn’t take batteries. He refused to play with it. His parents were embarrassed, and I felt bad that he didn’t like my gift. It wasn’t their fault, and I had just wanted to give him something I thought he would like. It was his choice to use it or not.
Imagine how God feels when the Holy Spirit gives us a gift that God knows we can use and should love to use, but we refuse to use it. Would we ever want to purposely break God’s heart? No, of course not, but that is what we are doing when we do not allow ourselves to be good stewards for our spiritual gifts.
What gift have you been given? Are you using that gift? Could you use it more? What would it look like to use our gifts intentionally for God and for each other? For that matter, what would it look like if we committed to being good stewards of our tithes, our time, and our talents?
The third servant in today’s scripture, the one we didn’t read about, did nothing with the one talent he had been given. When the man left on his journey, that servant took his talent, dug a hole, and buried it in the ground. When the man returned and called that servant in to see him, the servant handed over the single talent that had originally been entrusted to him. The man was not pleased. He took that talent, gave it to the first servant, and banished the third servant from his presence, saying that if nothing else, he could have stuck it in the bank and earned some interest.
It wasn’t about the money. It was about the heart of the servant. It was about how he used what he had been given. None of the servants owned the talents but were each a steward of the gift while it was in their care. Two were faithful to be wise, to spend their time and their gifts on what they had been given.
Owners have rights. The man owned the talents, the people in New York owned the house in Florida, God owns everything. Stewards have responsibilities. The servants were responsible for what they did to keep the man’s money safe, the renters in Florida were responsible for the upkeep of the house, and we are responsible for how we choose to use our money, our time, and our gifts.
Being a true disciple of Jesus Christ requires faithful stewardship with what we have been given, knowing it is not ours, that all we have comes from God. Faithful stewardship means we know that God entrusts resources to us and then expects us to use those resources to profit the kingdom in godly ways. Resources like money, time, and gifts. We need to use them in a way that honors God and builds up the body of Christ, for the good of everyone and for the glory of our generous God. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious God, you are a generous giver of resources. Thank you for the work you give us that provides for our family. Help us be obedient to honor your command to tithe, to trust that when we give from what we have that we will still have enough. Thank you for the gift of time, giving us a limited number of hours each day. Help us spend our time wisely, making time with you each day a priority. And thank you for the gifts you give to each of us through your Spirit. Help us to recognize our gifts and find a way to use them in ways that will build up your church and honor you. Help us live as faithful stewards so that we, too, will one day hear you say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” In all we do, may we honor you. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74209/rights-vs-responsibilities-owners-vs-by-sermon-central
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Faithful Stewardship
Scripture: Matthew 25:14-23
“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. At once 16 the one who had received the five talents went off and traded with them and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
The advance scouting crew from a popular TV drama series went to Florida looking for the perfect location to shoot an action scene. They found the perfect spot – a large, impressive house with a lush green lawn and beautiful landscaping. The only problem for the team was that the scene would require a car chase that was slated to tear through the lawn, having a car spin out of control, and crash through those pretty shrubs and plantings.
To their surprise, the people who lived in the house were immediately onboard. They loved the idea of having their house shown on such a popular prime time show and they were excited to watch the filming. A few days later, filming began; the chase scene was going well, the front lawn was being torn up by the crash and spin out, the shrubs were looking tattered, the grass and the flower beds were ripped apart.
Watching from across the street, the neighbor, completely aghast at what was happening, finally called the home’s owners – in New York! They had no idea what was happening at their rental home in Florida.
That was when the TV scout crew realized their mistake. They had asked the residents of the house for permission to use the grounds for filming, but they had failed to ask if they were the owners of the home. The renters were eager to say yes, but in actuality they had absolutely no authority to give permission for the property to be used, especially in a way that would destroy the yard and the landscaping.
As you might imagine, the owners in New York were not happy when they discovered what their tenants had done. The TV director was embarrassed by the scouting crew’s lack of follow-through, and the renters were left looking for a new place to live.
This fiasco would have been avoided if the advance crew had determined one important thing – were the people they were asking to use the house owners or stewards? Did they have rights or responsibilities?
You see, owners have rights. They are the ones who get to say what can and cannot happen, how things will work. Stewards, in this case renters, have responsibilities. Stewards are responsible for caring for something that does not belong to them but to someone else.
Stewardship is what today’s scripture is about. A wealthy man is going on a journey, and he calls three of his servants in to see him. He knows these men well; they have been working for him for many years. To one man he gives 5 talents, to another 2 talents, to the third, 1 talent, to each “according to his ability.” A talent in today’s market would be worth between $500,000 and $1,000,000, depending on whether it was a gold talent or a silver talent. That’s a lot of money; that’s a lot of trust and responsibility.
So, the man gave these three servants these talents, and he left for wherever he was planning to go. We do not know if he gave them any instructions, but we might assume they knew this wasn’t a gift for them to keep for themselves. The first two servants went to work, each man working and trading and eventually doubling the original number of talents he had been trusted with.
When the man returned home, he called his three servants in to see him and to give an account of what they had done with the talents. As each of the first two servants presented him with the talents they had earned for him, they heard these words, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
Imagine how good they felt, to have done a good job and to know they would be rewarded for their faithful work.
When we talk about stewardship, our thoughts often go first to money. How we give is a form of stewardship, so let’s talk about that for a minute. Yes, we work for a living, the money we make comes, for most of us, directly from the job we work which gives us a salary. But it is God who gives us the ability to earn an income. It is God who gives the employer the ability to run his or her business so they can pay their employees. It is God who provides the resources from which this business creates, builds, or manufactures. So, in a very real sense, our paychecks are from God. Everything is already his to start with and he has entrusted a portion to us to use for living and providing for our family.
When we receive our paycheck, what is the first thing we do with it, the first way we use it? The answer to this question determines how we steward what God has given us. Do we first of all give a tithe back to God? Leviticus 29:30 says, “All tithes from the land, whether the seed from the ground or the fruit from the tree, are the Lord’s; they are holy to the Lord.” God was teaching the Israelites to use good stewardship by giving to God the first fruits of their labor.
God had the same requirement for the flocks and the herds, too. The first-born of any of the animals were to be sacrificed to the Lord, showing good stewardship, acknowledging that what they had was given to them by God, not from themselves. I ask again, when we get our paychecks today, what do we do first?
I hope your answer is that you are tithing. Tithing means giving 10% back to God by giving to the church. The Israelites brought their tithes to the Temple, we bring ours to the church. When I pray over the offering each week, you will usually hear me say something about our “tithes and offerings.” These are not interchangeable, but different terms. A tithe, as we have said, is our 10% to the Lord. An offering is what we give above and beyond our tithes and can be given for any reason the giver determines.
Sometimes we have a special offering. That is not meant to be in place of our tithes, but in addition to them. Sometimes we might feel especially blessed and want to give a little more to the church or to a project the church supports. Offerings can even extend beyond the local church. Perhaps we have a favorite charity or a cause we like to support, so we choose to give to them. That is an offering, and a blessing to the recipient. God does not specifically require offerings, he wants that to come from a grateful heart, but he does require us to give our tithes, and those go to the church.
If there are any here who have not been tithing, I encourage you to begin now. It might seem a little scary, especially if finances are a little tighter than you like them to be. If you truly think you cannot afford to tithe, then assess what you are giving and make a small increase. After a bit of time, make another, until you have reached 10%. Moving up slowly may make it easier, but the longer we wait to start, the harder it will be. When we get to the place where we are honoring God by giving our tithes regularly, we are practicing good stewardship, which is a principle of discipleship.
John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company and the world’s first billionaire, once said, “I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.” He was faithful with a little and he was faithful with much. We may never make a billion dollars, or even a million, but we can give the same amount as a Rockefeller; we can give 10%.
Did you know there is one place in scripture where God tells his people to put him to a test? It is in Malachi 3:8-12, which says, “Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings! 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11 I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.”
The Israelites had given up tithing, but God wanted them to know how important it was. He had commanded them to tithe, and he wanted to bless them when they were obedient to do so. Do no confuse this with a prosperity gospel. This isn’t “give to God so he will give to me.” Tithing is about giving to God because we know everything is already his, because we want to thank him for what he has given us, and because we want to be obedient to his word. God will bless those who tithe if they are tithing for the right reasons, not just for the purpose of getting more than they give.
That is a lot about tithing, but stewardship is more than just tithing. God also wants us to be good stewards of our time. God gives each and every one of us the same amount of time each day and he wants us to spend those hours wisely. We have so many hours of work, so many hours for family, so many hours for rest, and so many hours for leisure. Are we allocating hours for God in our days, too? Not just this hour on Sunday morning, but time given to God every single day of the week. That would be our daily devotions, Bible study, prayer time, quiet time, and volunteering to help those in need. We need a good variety of ways that bring us into God’s presence, some that we do every day and some that we do regularly, and others that we do occasionally.
Reading the Bible and praying should be our everyday activity, volunteering to serve can be a regular event, like helping with the Backpack program, or with Bridge Builders. And an occasional use of our God time could be a mission trip, a Habitat build, holiday giving, volunteering to ring the Salvation Army bell. You get the idea; you get to choose. The important thing is that we are all choosing something to do that will give our time to God; that we will be good stewards of the gift of time he has given us.
The third area of stewardship is how we use our spiritual gifts. The first two servants in today’s scripture both used their gifts to double the talents they had been given. Each man may have gone about it differently, but both put their unique gifts to work.
We have all been given our own spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit and God expects us to put them to use for the benefit of the body, that is the church. We all have gifts, but we don’t all have the same gifts because there are many different needs in the church. Some have the gift of music, some have the gift of technology, some the gift of teaching children, others the gift of hospitality. As many needs are in the church are the number of gifts we have to draw from to meet those needs. Our gifts are meant to work together for the good of the church, strengthening us on the inside so we can go outside these walls and be the body of Christ in the world.
Everyone, no matter what their situation, has been given a gift, or gifts, that can be used right now for the good of the church. Are we using our gifts? Are we honoring God by working together for the good of his church and his world?
Years ago, when I was living with my aunt and uncle in Georgia, Christmas was fast approaching. I was excited to go Christmas shopping and get a gift for everyone in the family. My littlest cousin was probably only about three at the time and he loved big trucks. I found the coolest big dump truck for him that I thought he would love to use when he played in his sandbox.
When he first opened his gift, he seemed happy, but that didn’t last long. As he turned it over to examine it, he had one question, “Where do the batteries go?” It didn’t take batteries. It was a plain old, regular truck. He didn’t like it. He wanted batteries, this didn’t take batteries. He refused to play with it. His parents were embarrassed, and I felt bad that he didn’t like my gift. It wasn’t their fault, and I had just wanted to give him something I thought he would like. It was his choice to use it or not.
Imagine how God feels when the Holy Spirit gives us a gift that God knows we can use and should love to use, but we refuse to use it. Would we ever want to purposely break God’s heart? No, of course not, but that is what we are doing when we do not allow ourselves to be good stewards for our spiritual gifts.
What gift have you been given? Are you using that gift? Could you use it more? What would it look like to use our gifts intentionally for God and for each other? For that matter, what would it look like if we committed to being good stewards of our tithes, our time, and our talents?
The third servant in today’s scripture, the one we didn’t read about, did nothing with the one talent he had been given. When the man left on his journey, that servant took his talent, dug a hole, and buried it in the ground. When the man returned and called that servant in to see him, the servant handed over the single talent that had originally been entrusted to him. The man was not pleased. He took that talent, gave it to the first servant, and banished the third servant from his presence, saying that if nothing else, he could have stuck it in the bank and earned some interest.
It wasn’t about the money. It was about the heart of the servant. It was about how he used what he had been given. None of the servants owned the talents but were each a steward of the gift while it was in their care. Two were faithful to be wise, to spend their time and their gifts on what they had been given.
Owners have rights. The man owned the talents, the people in New York owned the house in Florida, God owns everything. Stewards have responsibilities. The servants were responsible for what they did to keep the man’s money safe, the renters in Florida were responsible for the upkeep of the house, and we are responsible for how we choose to use our money, our time, and our gifts.
Being a true disciple of Jesus Christ requires faithful stewardship with what we have been given, knowing it is not ours, that all we have comes from God. Faithful stewardship means we know that God entrusts resources to us and then expects us to use those resources to profit the kingdom in godly ways. Resources like money, time, and gifts. We need to use them in a way that honors God and builds up the body of Christ, for the good of everyone and for the glory of our generous God. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious God, you are a generous giver of resources. Thank you for the work you give us that provides for our family. Help us be obedient to honor your command to tithe, to trust that when we give from what we have that we will still have enough. Thank you for the gift of time, giving us a limited number of hours each day. Help us spend our time wisely, making time with you each day a priority. And thank you for the gifts you give to each of us through your Spirit. Help us to recognize our gifts and find a way to use them in ways that will build up your church and honor you. Help us live as faithful stewards so that we, too, will one day hear you say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” In all we do, may we honor you. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74209/rights-vs-responsibilities-owners-vs-by-sermon-central
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY february 9, 2025, continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "christian to the core" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "family priority".
February 9, 2024
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Family Priority
Scripture: Genesis 1:27-28 and Romans 8:14-17
So, God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, used to say that the three most important things in his life were God, his family, and McDonald’s, but he confessed that when he went to the office each day, that order was reversed. I am in complete agreement with Ray’s non-office days priority list, but I don’t agree with his in-office reversal. God should always come first in everything we do and in every way we live. At least Ray was on the right track in either direction when he listed his family as his second priority in either direction.
Many of us would choose the same three Ray chose as our top priorities: God, family, work. There is nothing wrong with having work be a priority, as long as we remember to keep it in its proper place. God should always be first and family should always come next, but sometimes it takes a wake-up call to make us realize we have allowed ourselves to succumb to putting work over all else. Here is one example:
On the anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union one year, a man received a call from Moscow. Some of the Russian oil companies had abandoned their wells. They had left their rigs with the brakes on, and the Kelly subs were still rotating. Rigs were blowing out everywhere, creating disaster and turmoil in the oil fields. He was needed immediately in Western Siberia, so he quickly made the necessary arrangements and was on his way.
With no direct flight available, it would take several plane changes to get him to where he was needed so badly. He finally boarded the last flight, which was a very small prop plane. Those engines were so loud that the attendant was passing out ear plugs to all the passengers. All around him, everyone was speaking Russian, a language he barely understood, and when the outside temps are thirty-five degrees below, the plane cannot help but be cold. But nothing mattered except getting to the job site, assessing the damage, and taking control of a situation that was getting worse with every passing minute. With thoughts of the chaos waiting to greet him running through his mind, he settled in and resigned himself for the four-hour flight on this small, cold, noisy plane.
The plane was just sixty miles from the airport when the cabin began to fill with blue gray smoke and the distinctive smell that indicates an electrical short. Suddenly one engine stopped working completely. Everyone on board began to panic. They all started talking at once, their voices quickly elevating with fright. The pilot was trying everything he could to turn the plane around, hoping to go back to the airport from which they had just come, but even he felt the beginnings of panic rising within him. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, suddenly the other engine also stopped working. Without either engine, the plane began to descend. In less than a minute, it went into a free fall.
Facing what seemed to be the end of his life, this man, the oil field problem solver, thought not of his job, but of his children, and how the news of his death in a plane crash would affect their young lives. He thought of his mother. He thought of all the things he had done in his life, and all the things he hadn’t gotten around to doing yet.
Everyone on the plane was screaming, and as the plane began its descent towards earth, he felt the horror of what was to come rise up in his soul and stick in the back of his throat. People were being thrown from one side of the plane to the other. Everything was out of control. The plane was jerking from to one side to the other and back again. No one knew what was going on, only that they were going down.
In the end though, the pilot was able to land the plane with only one broken wing, and no loss of life.
After the landing, the man, in shock, checked to see that all his limbs were still working, and he thought back to those harrowing minutes when the plane was falling. He realized that in those moments, he had thought of his children, the ones he loved most in his life. He had believed himself to be a good dad before the plane crash, now he knew he wanted to become a better one. As soon as he was able to get to town and to a telephone, he called his mother, thanking her for all she had ever done for him. He had been given a second chance, and he made up his mind, right then and there, that things were going be different going forward.
These days, years later, he smiles more, he laughs more easily, and he loves to get involved in activities that bring joy and learning to others. He says that he is living on borrowed time, and he wants to share all he can every single day. He realized after that plane crash that he had been living life at a hundred miles an hour. He had not taken time to take care of himself, but now he wants to live longer and live a better life – for himself and for his children. He has made his children, as well as other family relationships, a higher priority than his job.
Work is important, but it is not all important anymore. Now he spends more time with his children, taking them on trips, teaching them about life. He determined after the crash that his most important job was not as an oil field problem solver, but as a father. He is on his way to becoming the best father he can be, one who sees his children laugh every day, sees them learn, and is watching them grow.
Why do we do that? Why do we get our priorities out of whack to the point where it takes a near-death experience, or a major tragedy, or some other big event in our lives to open our eyes to the truth? Our families should always be our priority over everything except God.
In the Genesis story, we read that, “God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” God created family. He created Adam and Eve in his own likeness, with the ability to have children who are also made in God’s image.
God cold have made Adam and then created another place and made another person, then a few miles down the road another, and then another, always keeping his created humans separate and not knowing each other. But he did not do that. God created Adam, and when he saw Adam needed a companion, one who would be like him, God created Eve. He created them in a way that they would then come together to produce offspring, children, family.
Their first born was Cain, then Abel, and eventually Seth, and then many, many more children – the first family. Family is where we learn how to relate to others. It’s the place where we are meant to learn how to give love and receive love, to speak and to listen, to express our needs and see to the needs of others. Family is usually where we learn about authority, and how to live within the bounds of that authority, as well as the consequences of disregarding it.
Throughout scripture, God uses family illustrations to describe his relationship with the human race, showing us that God places a high priority on family. One example is 2 Corinthians 6:18 – “and I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Other places in the scripture where family is modeled are:
Exodus 20:12: which commands children to honor their parents
Psalm 127:3-5: that describes children as a heritage from the Lord
Proverbs 31:27: where it describes a godly wife as one who looks to the needs of her family
Matthew 18:21-22: when Jesus commands us to forgive one another when our brother or sister sins against us
God created family and then he taught us how to live together as one. But God went even further, he made a way for us to be a part of his family. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption.” God has adopted us into his family through Jesus Christ. He didn’t have to do that – he chose to do it. God wanted us to be his, not just for a while but for forever.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God puts his Spirit within us, and this Spirit that dwells in us witnesses to our own spirit that we are now a child of God – a beloved child of God. Because we have been adopted into God’s family, because we now have a father/child relationship, we never have to worry about being alone. God’s Spirit that lives within us is the very essence of God living in us.
Family is so important to God that he wanted us to be a part of his own. If family is that important to God, then it should be important to us, too. Do we make family a priority? Sometimes? When it’s convenient or easy? When nothing else is pressing right now?
Have you ever thought about how a principle of discipleship is making your family a priority? We don’t talk about that much, do we. In fact, when the curriculum for the training that led to the “Christian to the Core” book was first created, family priority was not included. There were seven core principles of discipleship in place and everyone still felt like something was missing, but they couldn’t figure out what. They thought and talked and prayed and then they did it all again until finally, someone realized there was nothing about family. It was their light bulb moment; a movement of the Holy Spirit that made the work they were doing complete. They realized that the family, having been ordained by God, is every bit as much about discipleship as spiritual disciplines and evangelism and all the rest.
Family can look different for different people. Sometimes our family of origin is not what God intended it to be. Maybe there is fighting and dysfunction, even abuse. That is not what God ever wanted a family to look like. Family is made up of those to whom we are blood related, yes, but it is also made up of people whom we choose to call family. The brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers of our hearts.
We can choose who we call family, but no matter who that might be, we need to make our family a priority in our lives. We cannot afford to wait until a crisis hits to realize that. If we do, then we may not be like the oilfield worker who is grateful for a second chance.
That man no longer has a fear of death; he has met it face to face, and lived to tell the tale, but you can be sure that now he no longer takes even a single hour for granted. He has gotten his priorities in their proper order; work no longer becomes so all consuming that everything else is overshadowed.
If you had to choose between work and family, which would it be? I’m pretty sure we would all say family without even thinking about it, because we all know family is important, even vital to a healthy life. That is how God designed us, and then he went a step further and made a way for us to be a part of his family.
If you have never accepted the invitation to adoption, maybe today is the day you will finally say yes. The moment we ask God’s forgiveness for our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our adoption papers are signed and sealed; we immediately become a child of God, loved beyond measure and made an heir to the kingdom. If God can make us his priority, we should follow his lead and make our own family a priority in our lives, too.
If you were adopted already, perhaps today you can say an extra thank you as the closing prayer is said, thanking God for loving you, adopting you, making you his priority. And commit to him, and to yourself, that you will follow in his footsteps by making him a priority and putting your family right next in line, whether you are at home, at the office, or anywhere else. God first, family next. That is the way God designed us to be. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, Abba, what a privilege and a joy that you have adopted us into your family and made us yours forever. We thank you for choosing to love us and for wanting us to be yours, and we thank you for showing us how to live that same way. If there are things that we have put out of order in our lives, help us to recognize them and realign. May we always place you first and our family next. And Lord, thank you for showing us that family can be chosen, as well as birthed, so that we are now living each day as your adopted, beloved child, with grateful hearts. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83926/everything-looks-different-by-glynda-lomax
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Family Priority
Scripture: Genesis 1:27-28 and Romans 8:14-17
So, God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, used to say that the three most important things in his life were God, his family, and McDonald’s, but he confessed that when he went to the office each day, that order was reversed. I am in complete agreement with Ray’s non-office days priority list, but I don’t agree with his in-office reversal. God should always come first in everything we do and in every way we live. At least Ray was on the right track in either direction when he listed his family as his second priority in either direction.
Many of us would choose the same three Ray chose as our top priorities: God, family, work. There is nothing wrong with having work be a priority, as long as we remember to keep it in its proper place. God should always be first and family should always come next, but sometimes it takes a wake-up call to make us realize we have allowed ourselves to succumb to putting work over all else. Here is one example:
On the anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union one year, a man received a call from Moscow. Some of the Russian oil companies had abandoned their wells. They had left their rigs with the brakes on, and the Kelly subs were still rotating. Rigs were blowing out everywhere, creating disaster and turmoil in the oil fields. He was needed immediately in Western Siberia, so he quickly made the necessary arrangements and was on his way.
With no direct flight available, it would take several plane changes to get him to where he was needed so badly. He finally boarded the last flight, which was a very small prop plane. Those engines were so loud that the attendant was passing out ear plugs to all the passengers. All around him, everyone was speaking Russian, a language he barely understood, and when the outside temps are thirty-five degrees below, the plane cannot help but be cold. But nothing mattered except getting to the job site, assessing the damage, and taking control of a situation that was getting worse with every passing minute. With thoughts of the chaos waiting to greet him running through his mind, he settled in and resigned himself for the four-hour flight on this small, cold, noisy plane.
The plane was just sixty miles from the airport when the cabin began to fill with blue gray smoke and the distinctive smell that indicates an electrical short. Suddenly one engine stopped working completely. Everyone on board began to panic. They all started talking at once, their voices quickly elevating with fright. The pilot was trying everything he could to turn the plane around, hoping to go back to the airport from which they had just come, but even he felt the beginnings of panic rising within him. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, suddenly the other engine also stopped working. Without either engine, the plane began to descend. In less than a minute, it went into a free fall.
Facing what seemed to be the end of his life, this man, the oil field problem solver, thought not of his job, but of his children, and how the news of his death in a plane crash would affect their young lives. He thought of his mother. He thought of all the things he had done in his life, and all the things he hadn’t gotten around to doing yet.
Everyone on the plane was screaming, and as the plane began its descent towards earth, he felt the horror of what was to come rise up in his soul and stick in the back of his throat. People were being thrown from one side of the plane to the other. Everything was out of control. The plane was jerking from to one side to the other and back again. No one knew what was going on, only that they were going down.
In the end though, the pilot was able to land the plane with only one broken wing, and no loss of life.
After the landing, the man, in shock, checked to see that all his limbs were still working, and he thought back to those harrowing minutes when the plane was falling. He realized that in those moments, he had thought of his children, the ones he loved most in his life. He had believed himself to be a good dad before the plane crash, now he knew he wanted to become a better one. As soon as he was able to get to town and to a telephone, he called his mother, thanking her for all she had ever done for him. He had been given a second chance, and he made up his mind, right then and there, that things were going be different going forward.
These days, years later, he smiles more, he laughs more easily, and he loves to get involved in activities that bring joy and learning to others. He says that he is living on borrowed time, and he wants to share all he can every single day. He realized after that plane crash that he had been living life at a hundred miles an hour. He had not taken time to take care of himself, but now he wants to live longer and live a better life – for himself and for his children. He has made his children, as well as other family relationships, a higher priority than his job.
Work is important, but it is not all important anymore. Now he spends more time with his children, taking them on trips, teaching them about life. He determined after the crash that his most important job was not as an oil field problem solver, but as a father. He is on his way to becoming the best father he can be, one who sees his children laugh every day, sees them learn, and is watching them grow.
Why do we do that? Why do we get our priorities out of whack to the point where it takes a near-death experience, or a major tragedy, or some other big event in our lives to open our eyes to the truth? Our families should always be our priority over everything except God.
In the Genesis story, we read that, “God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” God created family. He created Adam and Eve in his own likeness, with the ability to have children who are also made in God’s image.
God cold have made Adam and then created another place and made another person, then a few miles down the road another, and then another, always keeping his created humans separate and not knowing each other. But he did not do that. God created Adam, and when he saw Adam needed a companion, one who would be like him, God created Eve. He created them in a way that they would then come together to produce offspring, children, family.
Their first born was Cain, then Abel, and eventually Seth, and then many, many more children – the first family. Family is where we learn how to relate to others. It’s the place where we are meant to learn how to give love and receive love, to speak and to listen, to express our needs and see to the needs of others. Family is usually where we learn about authority, and how to live within the bounds of that authority, as well as the consequences of disregarding it.
Throughout scripture, God uses family illustrations to describe his relationship with the human race, showing us that God places a high priority on family. One example is 2 Corinthians 6:18 – “and I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Other places in the scripture where family is modeled are:
Exodus 20:12: which commands children to honor their parents
Psalm 127:3-5: that describes children as a heritage from the Lord
Proverbs 31:27: where it describes a godly wife as one who looks to the needs of her family
Matthew 18:21-22: when Jesus commands us to forgive one another when our brother or sister sins against us
God created family and then he taught us how to live together as one. But God went even further, he made a way for us to be a part of his family. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption.” God has adopted us into his family through Jesus Christ. He didn’t have to do that – he chose to do it. God wanted us to be his, not just for a while but for forever.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God puts his Spirit within us, and this Spirit that dwells in us witnesses to our own spirit that we are now a child of God – a beloved child of God. Because we have been adopted into God’s family, because we now have a father/child relationship, we never have to worry about being alone. God’s Spirit that lives within us is the very essence of God living in us.
Family is so important to God that he wanted us to be a part of his own. If family is that important to God, then it should be important to us, too. Do we make family a priority? Sometimes? When it’s convenient or easy? When nothing else is pressing right now?
Have you ever thought about how a principle of discipleship is making your family a priority? We don’t talk about that much, do we. In fact, when the curriculum for the training that led to the “Christian to the Core” book was first created, family priority was not included. There were seven core principles of discipleship in place and everyone still felt like something was missing, but they couldn’t figure out what. They thought and talked and prayed and then they did it all again until finally, someone realized there was nothing about family. It was their light bulb moment; a movement of the Holy Spirit that made the work they were doing complete. They realized that the family, having been ordained by God, is every bit as much about discipleship as spiritual disciplines and evangelism and all the rest.
Family can look different for different people. Sometimes our family of origin is not what God intended it to be. Maybe there is fighting and dysfunction, even abuse. That is not what God ever wanted a family to look like. Family is made up of those to whom we are blood related, yes, but it is also made up of people whom we choose to call family. The brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers of our hearts.
We can choose who we call family, but no matter who that might be, we need to make our family a priority in our lives. We cannot afford to wait until a crisis hits to realize that. If we do, then we may not be like the oilfield worker who is grateful for a second chance.
That man no longer has a fear of death; he has met it face to face, and lived to tell the tale, but you can be sure that now he no longer takes even a single hour for granted. He has gotten his priorities in their proper order; work no longer becomes so all consuming that everything else is overshadowed.
If you had to choose between work and family, which would it be? I’m pretty sure we would all say family without even thinking about it, because we all know family is important, even vital to a healthy life. That is how God designed us, and then he went a step further and made a way for us to be a part of his family.
If you have never accepted the invitation to adoption, maybe today is the day you will finally say yes. The moment we ask God’s forgiveness for our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our adoption papers are signed and sealed; we immediately become a child of God, loved beyond measure and made an heir to the kingdom. If God can make us his priority, we should follow his lead and make our own family a priority in our lives, too.
If you were adopted already, perhaps today you can say an extra thank you as the closing prayer is said, thanking God for loving you, adopting you, making you his priority. And commit to him, and to yourself, that you will follow in his footsteps by making him a priority and putting your family right next in line, whether you are at home, at the office, or anywhere else. God first, family next. That is the way God designed us to be. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, Abba, what a privilege and a joy that you have adopted us into your family and made us yours forever. We thank you for choosing to love us and for wanting us to be yours, and we thank you for showing us how to live that same way. If there are things that we have put out of order in our lives, help us to recognize them and realign. May we always place you first and our family next. And Lord, thank you for showing us that family can be chosen, as well as birthed, so that we are now living each day as your adopted, beloved child, with grateful hearts. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83926/everything-looks-different-by-glynda-lomax
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY february 2, 2025, continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "christian to the core" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Multiplication of disciples".
February 2, 2024
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Multiplication of Disciples
Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:1-2,8-13
You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful--
he cannot deny himself.
There is a story that goes like this: When Jesus had ascended into heaven, he was greeted by a group of angels. As they look down upon the earth, one of the angels said to Jesus, “Lord, that was amazing! We thought you were a “goner.” We thought it was all over for them and for you. But then, when you rose from the dead, you defeated Satan and trampled death under your feet. What’s next?”
Jesus answered them, “I left behind a group of people who truly believe in me, and they will tell others about me so that more will believe and be saved. That is the way disciples will be made.” The angels stared at Jesus in silence, their mouths hanging open, stunned at his “plan.” They couldn’t say anything for a few minutes; the silence was becoming uncomfortable.
Finally, one angel recovered enough to ask, in a small, tentative voice, “Lord, what’s your Plan B?” Jesus answered, “There is no Plan B.”
Jesus sure put a lot of trust in his original disciples to share the gospel with others after he was gone. What if they hadn’t done it? From the time of his death until the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost, the disciples pretty much lived in fear. They ventured into the synagogue each day to meet and pray, but when they weren’t there, they were huddled together in a locked room, hiding from the Roman authorities and the Jewish leaders.
These 11 men and a handful of women were Jesus’ Plan A? What if they had failed? Where would we be today? Lost and wandering in a dark world, that’s where.
In Matthew 28, Jesus had told the disciples to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,” and then he actually expected them to listen and do it. How many of us have ever told our kids to do something and they “forgot,” or they “didn’t hear us,” or they just plain disobeyed? For most of us this has happened more times than we can count. And here’s the thing – we did the same thing to our parents. But here is Jesus, trusting the disciples to do what he was telling them to do, and trusting all the disciples they made to do the same thing.
It has been said that Christianity is always one generation from extinction. That is because the Good News of the saving grace of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a gift, but not an inherited gift, or a transferable gift. It is a gift that must be heard and then received anew in every single person. It is a choice that each of us must make. No one is born a Christian. No one becomes a Christian because their parents were Christian. No one accidentally becomes a Christian.
To be a Christian, a true follower of Jesus Christ, is to choose to do so. And for most of us, the only way we can learn we have a choice is by someone telling us about Jesus in the first place. Yes, there are some exceptions where a person might pick up a Bible and read it, recognize who Jesus is and choose to become a follower, but those folks are the exception, not the norm.
The greatest number of Jesus followers are disciples because someone else told them about Jesus. They shared who he is, what he has done for them, what he can do for you, and how much he loves you. That is the way of making disciples – by loving someone enough to share the love of Jesus with them. That is how Christianity continues from one generation to the next. So, why are our churches, in large part, declining in this modern day?
In 2020, the crew from the Jesus Film Project asked over 1600 people why they don’t share their faith. The number one reason given – can you guess what it is? Fear. 22% of the people who responded said they don’t share their faith because of fear. Fear of damaging a relationship by talking about Jesus, fear of rejection, fear of offending, fear of not knowing what to say if they are asked questions. Fear on many levels and in many categories keeps us from telling others about Jesus – the One person people need to know more than any other; the One person who can change someone’s life for all of eternity.
Our fear may be the cause of souls being lost forever. Can we live with that? I hope not. I know I cannot overcome all your fears, but I also believe that one fear stands in the way and is the one that really encapsulates almost all the other types of fear. That is the fear of being ill-equipped. What if I try to talk to someone about Jesus and they ask me a question that I cannot answer?
I get it, this is important stuff. Paul wrote to Timothy “what you have heard from me through many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.” We cannot teach what we do not know, so we are afraid if someone asks a question and we don’t know the answer, that we will have messed up an important opportunity, we will look bad, and the other person will think less of us. How can we overcome this fear? I think in a couple of ways.
First of all, we have to learn that it is okay to say, “I don’t know.” It’s honest, and people will respect an honest answer. But we can follow up “I don’t know,” by saying, “Let me see if I can find out.” This lets the other person know we care enough to take their question seriously, that we are willing to admit we don’t know everything, and that we are willing to learn for our benefit and theirs. It also gives us a prime opportunity to have a follow-up conversation.
And here is something else we can do – we can prepare ourselves for the questions we think we might be asked. Here is what I propose: over the next few days, think about what questions you think someone might ask if you were talking to them about Jesus. Write those questions down. See if you can come up with an answer. Practice that answer.
If you cannot find an answer, I welcome you to bring those questions to me. Not because I always know the answer, but I am willing to do some research and help us find answers that will alleviate our fears. You can email your questions, text them to me, write them down and leave them on my desk or in my mailbox, or hand them to me as you leave church. It can be anonymous if it is easier for you.
I will find a way to address these questions as best I can. Maybe answer one each week, or if there are several, this may be a new sermon series we can walk through together. Be prepared, though, that there truly may be questions that the only answer we can give is “I don’t know,” and that is okay. We are not God, we cannot know all he knows. But we do have a helper. No, not just Google, although Google can be helpful if we are cautious in how we use it.
I am talking about the Holy Spirit. There are times when we suddenly know the answer to a question, or we know just the right thing to say, and afterwards, we think to ourselves, “Where did that come from?” That, my friends, is the work of the Holy Spirit, giving us his words of wisdom when we need it the most.
We cannot let fear stop us from sharing the gospel with others. Think back to when the Apostles were traveling and preaching and teaching others about Jesus. They had real fear of persecution for the work they were doing, yet they chose to obey Jesus’ command to go and make disciples. All the disciples except John were martyred for their faith, yet they did not let fear keep them silent. Instead, they relied on God, through the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, to keep them strong in their faith and guide them on their mission.
We can do the same thing. We can stay focused on our mission to tell others about Jesus and rely on the Holy Spirit to help us do it. As we learned last week, it doesn’t have to be difficult. Simpler is better.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.” Paul kept his gospel message simple – “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David.” That was his gospel; that was his Good News message.
Without the resurrection, Jesus was just a really good teacher, or a prophet. It was his resurrection from the dead that proved he was who he claimed to be – the Son of God. And Paul added that Jesus was a descendant of David to remind those who knew about the prophecies concerning the Messiah, that he would come from the line of King David. The gospel is not complicated. Believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Accept him as our Lord and Savior.
Paul admitted that as he was writing this letter to Timothy, that he was a prisoner, held in chains for preaching the gospel, but he gave hope and a promise, “But the word of God is not chained.” The word of God, the message of the gospel is not tethered to any one person or place but is free to be shared by all believers in every place and space. And that is happening, even in, or especially in, places today where it is illegal and extremely dangerous to be a Christian and to share the gospel.
A November 2023 report released by the Catholic News Agency, says that “Christianity continues to thrive and grow despite brutal repression and attempts by governments, groups, and individuals across the world to quash the faith.” They tell how the fastest growing church in the world is in Iran and that underground church communities in China are rapidly growing.
Nigeria, where approximately half of its citizens are Christians, is cited as the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian. Followers of Jesus in Nigeria live with the constant threat of torture, kidnapping, and even execution for their faith, yet mass attendance in Nigeria is the highest in the world, and Christianity continues to grow in regional pockets all across the country.
These folks, and others in countries where Christianity is oppressed, are still finding ways to follow Paul’s directive to Timothy: “what you have heard from me through many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.”
We must do this. If we don’t tell the people around us about Jesus, who will? How will the next generation know about Jesus if we don’t share him today? “Jesus entrusts every Christian with the task of multiplying disciples by investing in the lives of others. Every Christian is challenged to be a disciple-maker.
Perhaps now is a good time to define who is a disciple. A disciple is a person who knows Jesus Christ inwardly and commits to living their faith outwardly in love and obedience to him. To make disciples is to share ourselves in love with another so that as we build our relationship with that person, we can share the gospel with words and actions. We speak the words of Jesus, and we model those words by how we live.
Discipleship is not street corner evangelism; it is a lived relationship with another person as a way to introduce them to the Savior who can transform their lives. We must first be a disciple before we can make disciples. We must live authentic lives that are formed by an intimate relationship with God, have a passion for the work God calls us to do, sees where God calls us to be, and finds a way to share the gospel in a way that is relevant to the person to whom we are sharing Jesus.
Jesus’ plan for growing the Church, for growing the kingdom, for growing disciples, was for those who already knew him to tell others about him. There was no Plan B. For two thousand years, this plan has worked, but it is up to those who live in the present to keep sharing Jesus so that those in the future will know him, too. It is up to us. Jesus has put this mission in our hands and our hearts. Let’s overcome the fears that hold us back so that we can do as the Apostles did, tell others about Jesus so they can tell some others, so they can tell even others. That is making disciples who make disciples who make disciples, until Jesus returns. Because if we keep silent, how will they know the greatest love story and how it is for them, too? How will they know the love of God through the gift of his son, Jesus? How will they know unless we tell them? AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, it seems such a simple thing you ask of us - to tell others about you and the gift of forgiveness and life that you offer. Help us untangle how we have complicated your message, help us overcome our fears, help us find the words to speak your message. Help us break our silence and proclaim your name so that even more will come to know you and join us in sharing you with the world. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://www.jesusfilm.org/blog/christian-evangelism-statistics/
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255941/christianity-growing-despite-world-s-worst-persecutions-says-new-report
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Multiplication of Disciples
Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:1-2,8-13
You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful--
he cannot deny himself.
There is a story that goes like this: When Jesus had ascended into heaven, he was greeted by a group of angels. As they look down upon the earth, one of the angels said to Jesus, “Lord, that was amazing! We thought you were a “goner.” We thought it was all over for them and for you. But then, when you rose from the dead, you defeated Satan and trampled death under your feet. What’s next?”
Jesus answered them, “I left behind a group of people who truly believe in me, and they will tell others about me so that more will believe and be saved. That is the way disciples will be made.” The angels stared at Jesus in silence, their mouths hanging open, stunned at his “plan.” They couldn’t say anything for a few minutes; the silence was becoming uncomfortable.
Finally, one angel recovered enough to ask, in a small, tentative voice, “Lord, what’s your Plan B?” Jesus answered, “There is no Plan B.”
Jesus sure put a lot of trust in his original disciples to share the gospel with others after he was gone. What if they hadn’t done it? From the time of his death until the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost, the disciples pretty much lived in fear. They ventured into the synagogue each day to meet and pray, but when they weren’t there, they were huddled together in a locked room, hiding from the Roman authorities and the Jewish leaders.
These 11 men and a handful of women were Jesus’ Plan A? What if they had failed? Where would we be today? Lost and wandering in a dark world, that’s where.
In Matthew 28, Jesus had told the disciples to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,” and then he actually expected them to listen and do it. How many of us have ever told our kids to do something and they “forgot,” or they “didn’t hear us,” or they just plain disobeyed? For most of us this has happened more times than we can count. And here’s the thing – we did the same thing to our parents. But here is Jesus, trusting the disciples to do what he was telling them to do, and trusting all the disciples they made to do the same thing.
It has been said that Christianity is always one generation from extinction. That is because the Good News of the saving grace of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a gift, but not an inherited gift, or a transferable gift. It is a gift that must be heard and then received anew in every single person. It is a choice that each of us must make. No one is born a Christian. No one becomes a Christian because their parents were Christian. No one accidentally becomes a Christian.
To be a Christian, a true follower of Jesus Christ, is to choose to do so. And for most of us, the only way we can learn we have a choice is by someone telling us about Jesus in the first place. Yes, there are some exceptions where a person might pick up a Bible and read it, recognize who Jesus is and choose to become a follower, but those folks are the exception, not the norm.
The greatest number of Jesus followers are disciples because someone else told them about Jesus. They shared who he is, what he has done for them, what he can do for you, and how much he loves you. That is the way of making disciples – by loving someone enough to share the love of Jesus with them. That is how Christianity continues from one generation to the next. So, why are our churches, in large part, declining in this modern day?
In 2020, the crew from the Jesus Film Project asked over 1600 people why they don’t share their faith. The number one reason given – can you guess what it is? Fear. 22% of the people who responded said they don’t share their faith because of fear. Fear of damaging a relationship by talking about Jesus, fear of rejection, fear of offending, fear of not knowing what to say if they are asked questions. Fear on many levels and in many categories keeps us from telling others about Jesus – the One person people need to know more than any other; the One person who can change someone’s life for all of eternity.
Our fear may be the cause of souls being lost forever. Can we live with that? I hope not. I know I cannot overcome all your fears, but I also believe that one fear stands in the way and is the one that really encapsulates almost all the other types of fear. That is the fear of being ill-equipped. What if I try to talk to someone about Jesus and they ask me a question that I cannot answer?
I get it, this is important stuff. Paul wrote to Timothy “what you have heard from me through many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.” We cannot teach what we do not know, so we are afraid if someone asks a question and we don’t know the answer, that we will have messed up an important opportunity, we will look bad, and the other person will think less of us. How can we overcome this fear? I think in a couple of ways.
First of all, we have to learn that it is okay to say, “I don’t know.” It’s honest, and people will respect an honest answer. But we can follow up “I don’t know,” by saying, “Let me see if I can find out.” This lets the other person know we care enough to take their question seriously, that we are willing to admit we don’t know everything, and that we are willing to learn for our benefit and theirs. It also gives us a prime opportunity to have a follow-up conversation.
And here is something else we can do – we can prepare ourselves for the questions we think we might be asked. Here is what I propose: over the next few days, think about what questions you think someone might ask if you were talking to them about Jesus. Write those questions down. See if you can come up with an answer. Practice that answer.
If you cannot find an answer, I welcome you to bring those questions to me. Not because I always know the answer, but I am willing to do some research and help us find answers that will alleviate our fears. You can email your questions, text them to me, write them down and leave them on my desk or in my mailbox, or hand them to me as you leave church. It can be anonymous if it is easier for you.
I will find a way to address these questions as best I can. Maybe answer one each week, or if there are several, this may be a new sermon series we can walk through together. Be prepared, though, that there truly may be questions that the only answer we can give is “I don’t know,” and that is okay. We are not God, we cannot know all he knows. But we do have a helper. No, not just Google, although Google can be helpful if we are cautious in how we use it.
I am talking about the Holy Spirit. There are times when we suddenly know the answer to a question, or we know just the right thing to say, and afterwards, we think to ourselves, “Where did that come from?” That, my friends, is the work of the Holy Spirit, giving us his words of wisdom when we need it the most.
We cannot let fear stop us from sharing the gospel with others. Think back to when the Apostles were traveling and preaching and teaching others about Jesus. They had real fear of persecution for the work they were doing, yet they chose to obey Jesus’ command to go and make disciples. All the disciples except John were martyred for their faith, yet they did not let fear keep them silent. Instead, they relied on God, through the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, to keep them strong in their faith and guide them on their mission.
We can do the same thing. We can stay focused on our mission to tell others about Jesus and rely on the Holy Spirit to help us do it. As we learned last week, it doesn’t have to be difficult. Simpler is better.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.” Paul kept his gospel message simple – “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David.” That was his gospel; that was his Good News message.
Without the resurrection, Jesus was just a really good teacher, or a prophet. It was his resurrection from the dead that proved he was who he claimed to be – the Son of God. And Paul added that Jesus was a descendant of David to remind those who knew about the prophecies concerning the Messiah, that he would come from the line of King David. The gospel is not complicated. Believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Accept him as our Lord and Savior.
Paul admitted that as he was writing this letter to Timothy, that he was a prisoner, held in chains for preaching the gospel, but he gave hope and a promise, “But the word of God is not chained.” The word of God, the message of the gospel is not tethered to any one person or place but is free to be shared by all believers in every place and space. And that is happening, even in, or especially in, places today where it is illegal and extremely dangerous to be a Christian and to share the gospel.
A November 2023 report released by the Catholic News Agency, says that “Christianity continues to thrive and grow despite brutal repression and attempts by governments, groups, and individuals across the world to quash the faith.” They tell how the fastest growing church in the world is in Iran and that underground church communities in China are rapidly growing.
Nigeria, where approximately half of its citizens are Christians, is cited as the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian. Followers of Jesus in Nigeria live with the constant threat of torture, kidnapping, and even execution for their faith, yet mass attendance in Nigeria is the highest in the world, and Christianity continues to grow in regional pockets all across the country.
These folks, and others in countries where Christianity is oppressed, are still finding ways to follow Paul’s directive to Timothy: “what you have heard from me through many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.”
We must do this. If we don’t tell the people around us about Jesus, who will? How will the next generation know about Jesus if we don’t share him today? “Jesus entrusts every Christian with the task of multiplying disciples by investing in the lives of others. Every Christian is challenged to be a disciple-maker.
Perhaps now is a good time to define who is a disciple. A disciple is a person who knows Jesus Christ inwardly and commits to living their faith outwardly in love and obedience to him. To make disciples is to share ourselves in love with another so that as we build our relationship with that person, we can share the gospel with words and actions. We speak the words of Jesus, and we model those words by how we live.
Discipleship is not street corner evangelism; it is a lived relationship with another person as a way to introduce them to the Savior who can transform their lives. We must first be a disciple before we can make disciples. We must live authentic lives that are formed by an intimate relationship with God, have a passion for the work God calls us to do, sees where God calls us to be, and finds a way to share the gospel in a way that is relevant to the person to whom we are sharing Jesus.
Jesus’ plan for growing the Church, for growing the kingdom, for growing disciples, was for those who already knew him to tell others about him. There was no Plan B. For two thousand years, this plan has worked, but it is up to those who live in the present to keep sharing Jesus so that those in the future will know him, too. It is up to us. Jesus has put this mission in our hands and our hearts. Let’s overcome the fears that hold us back so that we can do as the Apostles did, tell others about Jesus so they can tell some others, so they can tell even others. That is making disciples who make disciples who make disciples, until Jesus returns. Because if we keep silent, how will they know the greatest love story and how it is for them, too? How will they know the love of God through the gift of his son, Jesus? How will they know unless we tell them? AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, it seems such a simple thing you ask of us - to tell others about you and the gift of forgiveness and life that you offer. Help us untangle how we have complicated your message, help us overcome our fears, help us find the words to speak your message. Help us break our silence and proclaim your name so that even more will come to know you and join us in sharing you with the world. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://www.jesusfilm.org/blog/christian-evangelism-statistics/
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255941/christianity-growing-despite-world-s-worst-persecutions-says-new-report
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY January 26, 2025, continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "christian to the core" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Culturally Relevant Evangelism".
January 26, 2024
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Culturally Relevant Evangelism
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a partner in it.
In his book, “The Priority of Knowing God: Taking Time with God When There Is No Time,” Peter Deison writes about an exchange between an airline pilot and the control tower. The story goes:
“An airline pilot flying over the southeastern U.S. called the local tower and said, "We are passing over at 35,000--give us a time check."
The tower said, "What airline are you?"
"What difference does it make? I just want the time." replied the pilot.
The tower responded, "Oh, it makes a lot of difference. If you are TransWorld Airline or Pan Am, it is 1600. If you are United or Delta, it is 4 o’clock. If you are Southern Airways, the little hand is on the 4 and the big hand is on the 12. If you are Skyway Airlines--it’s Thursday."
The person in the control tower knew how important it was to know his audience before answering the question, and that is what we are talking about today. Our discipleship principle today is “Culturally Relevant Evangelism,” and it might not be a term you’ve heard before, but it is exactly what Paul was talking about in today’s scripture.
In the “Christian to the Core” curriculum, we read, “God looks for men and women who live and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with cultural relevance, sensitivity, and power so that the eternal truth of the Gospel will be understood and received in every culture of the world.” In other words, God is looking for people like you and me to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to others, but he wants us to be aware that different people have different backgrounds, different beliefs, different traditions so that we can speak to others in a way that will help them understand our message.
If we blindly believe that everyone is just like us then how we speak to them about Jesus, or anything else, may offend them or turn them away from our message. They may not understand what we are saying, they may become confused by our words. The good news we are trying to convey may get lost in translation from one to another.
When we know where someone comes from, or what their beliefs are, or their family traditions, we can tailor our message to help them hear what we are saying and perhaps be more receptive to receiving the Good News of Jesus Christ. Do we speak the same language? That would be a very important place to begin. Then, even if we do, there may be figures of speech or local dialects that we must be mindful of that could cause miscommunication.
Evangelization in a culturally relevant manner is about showing respect for other people, and it’s also a way of respecting the message of Jesus Christ’s redeeming gift enough to find the best way to share that message effectively with others.
Paul understood his assignment from God – to share the gospel – and he found a way to do just that. He writes, “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people.”
We might read this today and think it makes Paul sound inauthentic, fake, or phony. We all know someone who only ever says what they think people want to hear. Remember Eddie Haskell from “Leave it to Beaver?” He was a prime example of this. Always giving a compliment, always saying what he thought would put him in someone’s good graces, but rarely ever truly meaning what he said. That is not what Paul is doing here at all.
By the way, when I just mentioned an old TV show, I did so knowing that most of us here are of an age where we would know the reference. Even if we are too young to have watched the show in its original airing, many of us have seen reruns, or have learned about it through the years. I could never have used this same reference when teaching a confirmation class or leading a youth discussion. I would have to use a reference they would know and understand. Something that speaks to their generation. I would have to know which airline they fly for so I can speak their language.
Paul was an expert at “speaking the language” of the people he was with. When he was with Jews, he lived, ate, and spoke like a Jew. When he was with Gentiles, he lived, ate, and spoke like a Gentile. This didn’t make Paul inauthentic because he was a Jew, yet he knew that through Jesus, he was no longer bound to the Law, but to Christ, so he could rightfully also live like a Gentile. Paul always knew his audience so that he could more effectively share the gospel with them, meeting them where they were and showing them how Jesus lived, died, and rose again for even them.
How do we know this is what Paul meant? By his own words, as he wrote, “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some, I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a partner in it.” Paul’s motives are pure, here. He isn’t trying to fool anyone, he isn’t trying to trick anyone, he is trying to meet everyone on their level. By doing this, Paul is seeking to create a bond with the people to whom he wants to share the gospel with so that they will be willing to listen to him.
So, we hear what Paul is saying here, but we also have to be careful not put words in his mouth. If Paul were witnessing to a group of people who had tattoos, he would not have gotten a tattoo just to “fit in” with them. He wouldn’t have gone to the local piercing shop and pierced his nose, eyebrow, or tongue just to seem like “one of the guys.” There is nothing wrong with tattoos, piercings, funky hairstyles, or unique ways of dressing, but for Paul to have adopted any of those styles would have actually hindered his evangelization efforts.
Paul’s method of evangelization was not to adopt everyone’s culture or tradition, but to adapt to it for their sake in that moment. We do the same thing all the time without even thinking about it. We might speak to our spouses one way, to our children another, one way to our neighbors and yet another way to our best friends. Our way of speaking and interacting with others adapts to fit into how our relationship with that person works.
That is exactly what we mean by “Culturally Relevant Evangelism.” We adapt our words to fit what the other person knows or thinks, to how they live, to their traditions and beliefs so that they might be more receptive to the message.
It doesn’t have to be difficult. To some degree, we will automatically adjust to the person with whom we are speaking. But being aware of the need to adjust and adapt will help us do an even better job of it.
Now that we have discussed the “culturally relevant” part of this discipleship principle, let’s talk about the other part, the part about evangelism itself. Sadly, there are so many today who shy away from the word evangelism. They think that it is the pastor’s job, or it is for those who have big platforms, like the radio or TV preachers, or people from the past, like Billy Graham. The truth is it is every Christian’s job to evangelize.
The word used to describe the Christian message in the New Testament more than any other is the Greek word “euangelion.” This word simply means “Good News.” Our English word, “evangelism” comes from “euangelion,” and it just means “sharing the Good News.” So, when we evangelize, what we are doing is simply sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. It’s telling others who Jesus is, what he has done for us – died for our sins, rose for our eternal life – and he has done the same thing for them, too.
It really isn’t complicated. I know we tend to think it’s something we can’t do because it’s too difficult, but it really can be pretty simple. Just being willing to have a conversation about Jesus can change someone’s life. We can’t make them believe, but relax, that is not what we are told to do anyway. We are told to share the Good News, that is all we can do, but it is the best we can do.
In Matthew 28, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
Jesus never said, “If you feel like it,” or “If you are comfortable doing this,” or “Maybe you can think about doing this.” He said, “Go.” And he didn’t mean that we necessarily had to go to far away places, but that wherever we went, down the street, around the corner, to work, to school, to play, to the bank, to the grocery store, to the restaurant, to any place at all, we should be willing to share the Good News.
Jesus gave us our marching orders, and in Romans 10, Paul explained why it is so important that we obey. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15 And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
You have heard me say this so many times, but I will say it once again, somewhere along the way, someone told each of us about Jesus. Their sharing the Good News with us helped us to know Jesus and accept him as our Lord and Savior. Now, it is our turn to tell someone else, for how will they know if we keep silent? It is our command from Jesus, our responsibility as a Christian, and our privilege as a disciple to share the Good News so that others may know what we know, believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and receive the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
It isn’t difficult. At least it doesn’t have to be. The first step is to let the Light of Christ shine out from us in all we do and in wherever we go. Find ways to bring Jesus into the life of someone who does not yet know him. Tell one person this week that Jesus loves them and then pray for that person. Next week, tell them again and keep praying. Keep telling them and keep praying until they can no longer resist the love of God given to us through the gift of Jesus Christ.
Oh, and since we are all so good at multi-tasking, once in awhile we can add another person to our list. The more we do, the more we will find we can do, and the more we will discover that we want to share Jesus. The more people we share the Good News with, the easier it gets for us to keep sharing it. And if we don’t tell them, who will?
For some people it’s 1600, for others it’s 4 pm, and for still others, it’s Sunday. Whatever time or day it happens to be, now is the best time to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with someone who needs to know him.
Let’s do it for their benefit, in obedience to the Great commission from Jesus himself, and for the glory it will bring to God. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, you understand all the ways of men and women. You know how we think, how we talk, how we interact with others. You know that different people from different cultures hear and react to our words and intentions differently. Help us to discern the best path to telling others how much you love them. Help us share the Good News in a way that will catch their attention, sparks their curiosity, and open their hearts to your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us show them how much he loves them, enough to die for them as he did for us, to pay our sin debt and grant us the gift of eternal life with you. May we always be open to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with anyone and everyone we can, by the strength and leading of your Spirit who lives within us. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Culturally Relevant Evangelism
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a partner in it.
In his book, “The Priority of Knowing God: Taking Time with God When There Is No Time,” Peter Deison writes about an exchange between an airline pilot and the control tower. The story goes:
“An airline pilot flying over the southeastern U.S. called the local tower and said, "We are passing over at 35,000--give us a time check."
The tower said, "What airline are you?"
"What difference does it make? I just want the time." replied the pilot.
The tower responded, "Oh, it makes a lot of difference. If you are TransWorld Airline or Pan Am, it is 1600. If you are United or Delta, it is 4 o’clock. If you are Southern Airways, the little hand is on the 4 and the big hand is on the 12. If you are Skyway Airlines--it’s Thursday."
The person in the control tower knew how important it was to know his audience before answering the question, and that is what we are talking about today. Our discipleship principle today is “Culturally Relevant Evangelism,” and it might not be a term you’ve heard before, but it is exactly what Paul was talking about in today’s scripture.
In the “Christian to the Core” curriculum, we read, “God looks for men and women who live and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with cultural relevance, sensitivity, and power so that the eternal truth of the Gospel will be understood and received in every culture of the world.” In other words, God is looking for people like you and me to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to others, but he wants us to be aware that different people have different backgrounds, different beliefs, different traditions so that we can speak to others in a way that will help them understand our message.
If we blindly believe that everyone is just like us then how we speak to them about Jesus, or anything else, may offend them or turn them away from our message. They may not understand what we are saying, they may become confused by our words. The good news we are trying to convey may get lost in translation from one to another.
When we know where someone comes from, or what their beliefs are, or their family traditions, we can tailor our message to help them hear what we are saying and perhaps be more receptive to receiving the Good News of Jesus Christ. Do we speak the same language? That would be a very important place to begin. Then, even if we do, there may be figures of speech or local dialects that we must be mindful of that could cause miscommunication.
Evangelization in a culturally relevant manner is about showing respect for other people, and it’s also a way of respecting the message of Jesus Christ’s redeeming gift enough to find the best way to share that message effectively with others.
Paul understood his assignment from God – to share the gospel – and he found a way to do just that. He writes, “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people.”
We might read this today and think it makes Paul sound inauthentic, fake, or phony. We all know someone who only ever says what they think people want to hear. Remember Eddie Haskell from “Leave it to Beaver?” He was a prime example of this. Always giving a compliment, always saying what he thought would put him in someone’s good graces, but rarely ever truly meaning what he said. That is not what Paul is doing here at all.
By the way, when I just mentioned an old TV show, I did so knowing that most of us here are of an age where we would know the reference. Even if we are too young to have watched the show in its original airing, many of us have seen reruns, or have learned about it through the years. I could never have used this same reference when teaching a confirmation class or leading a youth discussion. I would have to use a reference they would know and understand. Something that speaks to their generation. I would have to know which airline they fly for so I can speak their language.
Paul was an expert at “speaking the language” of the people he was with. When he was with Jews, he lived, ate, and spoke like a Jew. When he was with Gentiles, he lived, ate, and spoke like a Gentile. This didn’t make Paul inauthentic because he was a Jew, yet he knew that through Jesus, he was no longer bound to the Law, but to Christ, so he could rightfully also live like a Gentile. Paul always knew his audience so that he could more effectively share the gospel with them, meeting them where they were and showing them how Jesus lived, died, and rose again for even them.
How do we know this is what Paul meant? By his own words, as he wrote, “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some, I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a partner in it.” Paul’s motives are pure, here. He isn’t trying to fool anyone, he isn’t trying to trick anyone, he is trying to meet everyone on their level. By doing this, Paul is seeking to create a bond with the people to whom he wants to share the gospel with so that they will be willing to listen to him.
So, we hear what Paul is saying here, but we also have to be careful not put words in his mouth. If Paul were witnessing to a group of people who had tattoos, he would not have gotten a tattoo just to “fit in” with them. He wouldn’t have gone to the local piercing shop and pierced his nose, eyebrow, or tongue just to seem like “one of the guys.” There is nothing wrong with tattoos, piercings, funky hairstyles, or unique ways of dressing, but for Paul to have adopted any of those styles would have actually hindered his evangelization efforts.
Paul’s method of evangelization was not to adopt everyone’s culture or tradition, but to adapt to it for their sake in that moment. We do the same thing all the time without even thinking about it. We might speak to our spouses one way, to our children another, one way to our neighbors and yet another way to our best friends. Our way of speaking and interacting with others adapts to fit into how our relationship with that person works.
That is exactly what we mean by “Culturally Relevant Evangelism.” We adapt our words to fit what the other person knows or thinks, to how they live, to their traditions and beliefs so that they might be more receptive to the message.
It doesn’t have to be difficult. To some degree, we will automatically adjust to the person with whom we are speaking. But being aware of the need to adjust and adapt will help us do an even better job of it.
Now that we have discussed the “culturally relevant” part of this discipleship principle, let’s talk about the other part, the part about evangelism itself. Sadly, there are so many today who shy away from the word evangelism. They think that it is the pastor’s job, or it is for those who have big platforms, like the radio or TV preachers, or people from the past, like Billy Graham. The truth is it is every Christian’s job to evangelize.
The word used to describe the Christian message in the New Testament more than any other is the Greek word “euangelion.” This word simply means “Good News.” Our English word, “evangelism” comes from “euangelion,” and it just means “sharing the Good News.” So, when we evangelize, what we are doing is simply sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. It’s telling others who Jesus is, what he has done for us – died for our sins, rose for our eternal life – and he has done the same thing for them, too.
It really isn’t complicated. I know we tend to think it’s something we can’t do because it’s too difficult, but it really can be pretty simple. Just being willing to have a conversation about Jesus can change someone’s life. We can’t make them believe, but relax, that is not what we are told to do anyway. We are told to share the Good News, that is all we can do, but it is the best we can do.
In Matthew 28, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
Jesus never said, “If you feel like it,” or “If you are comfortable doing this,” or “Maybe you can think about doing this.” He said, “Go.” And he didn’t mean that we necessarily had to go to far away places, but that wherever we went, down the street, around the corner, to work, to school, to play, to the bank, to the grocery store, to the restaurant, to any place at all, we should be willing to share the Good News.
Jesus gave us our marching orders, and in Romans 10, Paul explained why it is so important that we obey. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15 And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
You have heard me say this so many times, but I will say it once again, somewhere along the way, someone told each of us about Jesus. Their sharing the Good News with us helped us to know Jesus and accept him as our Lord and Savior. Now, it is our turn to tell someone else, for how will they know if we keep silent? It is our command from Jesus, our responsibility as a Christian, and our privilege as a disciple to share the Good News so that others may know what we know, believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and receive the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
It isn’t difficult. At least it doesn’t have to be. The first step is to let the Light of Christ shine out from us in all we do and in wherever we go. Find ways to bring Jesus into the life of someone who does not yet know him. Tell one person this week that Jesus loves them and then pray for that person. Next week, tell them again and keep praying. Keep telling them and keep praying until they can no longer resist the love of God given to us through the gift of Jesus Christ.
Oh, and since we are all so good at multi-tasking, once in awhile we can add another person to our list. The more we do, the more we will find we can do, and the more we will discover that we want to share Jesus. The more people we share the Good News with, the easier it gets for us to keep sharing it. And if we don’t tell them, who will?
For some people it’s 1600, for others it’s 4 pm, and for still others, it’s Sunday. Whatever time or day it happens to be, now is the best time to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with someone who needs to know him.
Let’s do it for their benefit, in obedience to the Great commission from Jesus himself, and for the glory it will bring to God. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, you understand all the ways of men and women. You know how we think, how we talk, how we interact with others. You know that different people from different cultures hear and react to our words and intentions differently. Help us to discern the best path to telling others how much you love them. Help us share the Good News in a way that will catch their attention, sparks their curiosity, and open their hearts to your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us show them how much he loves them, enough to die for them as he did for us, to pay our sin debt and grant us the gift of eternal life with you. May we always be open to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with anyone and everyone we can, by the strength and leading of your Spirit who lives within us. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY January 19, 2025, continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "christian to the core" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "The power of vision".
January 19, 2024
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: The Power of Vision
Scripture: Nehemiah 1:1-3 and Habakkuk 2:2
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 one of my brothers, Hanani, came with certain men from Judah, and I asked them about the Jews who escaped, those who had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They replied, “The remnant there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
This week, our third core principle of discipleship is the power of vision. I have to confess; this is the one I struggle with the most. I have never seen myself as a visionary person, so when it comes to this particular principle, I feel inadequate. Maybe part of the problem comes from the vague usage of the word “vision” I have experienced.
Usually, the word is used in a context of “what direction you see for the future,” which is the part I don’t do well, and the Christian to the Core curriculum does somewhat use the term in that way. But there was a question in the book that asked, “Do you have a clear sense of God’s purpose, or vision, for your life?” They used the word “vision” almost as a synonym for “purpose,” and that spoke volumes to me.
I don’t have a “vision” for my future, per se, but I do know God’s purpose for my life in the right here and right now. That’s why I am here, right here, bringing a message to you all this day.
I never sat down and thought, gee, I’d like to be a pastor when I grow up. I wasn’t looking for a career change when God called me to pastoral ministry. It started as a seed planted in my heart to serve God in whatever way I could. When the seed was first planted, it led me to teaching Sunday school. Then, as it began to sprout, I was asked to serve on the SPPR committee at my home church. Over time, as it continued to grow within me, I began filling in for my pastor when he or she needed a Sunday off. God was working on me and he continued to call me to follow him until gradually that seed fully bloomed into realizing a call to serve God by preaching and teaching in a pastoral ministry setting.
I never thought of this as a “vision” because my vision didn’t see that far ahead, but I can definitely say this is my God ordained purpose. What has your experience been like? Do you see where God is leading you, or do you realize it as you go?
I don’t think vision always has to be born and nurtured for a long period of time. I am starting to believe that a vision can be given, and fulfilled in any amount of time, short or long. Nehemiah hadn’t pondered the people of Israel living in Jerusalem for years and then work up to fulfilling his vision. He had a conversation which led to a vision, which he put into practice in a matter of days and then he worked on it until it was completed. Let’s start with some background on Nehemiah.
It was in 586 B. C. that the Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, captured Jerusalem. They burned the Temple, broke down the city’s protective wall, destroyed everything of value, and stole the national treasures. They led the Israelites into captivity, marching them almost 900 miles to Babylon, which would be located today in Iraq.
After 70 years of captivity, God began to move through three men to restore the city of Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. One of those men was Nehemiah, who was serving the king as cupbearer, not to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, but to King Artaxerxes of Persia, 130-150 years after the Babylonian captivity began.
There have been Jews back in Israel, and Jerusalem, for some time, but Nehemiah was not one of them., In fact, Nehemiah had never been to Jerusalem at all. But one day, one of his brothers came to visit and Nehemiah asked how it was going for those who had moved back to Jerusalem.
Hanani told him it wasn’t going well, saying, “The remnant there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”
Now, Jerubbabel and Ezra had done some work in Jerusalem in years past. They had rebuilt the Temple, but they had not rebuilt the walls surrounding the city. The people who were living in Jerusalem were without protection; they were vulnerable to enemies, weather, wild animals. Anyone or anything could come right in and cause problems.
Nehemiah knew those broken-down walls and burned-out gates spoke of defeat and humiliation for the people living there. This news pierced his heart, and he sat down and wept for days for the plight of people he did not know living in a place he had never been. In those days of weeping and mourning, Nehemiah also fasted and prayed to God. He prayed for the Israelites, all of them everywhere, and he confessed their sins, his, and his “family’s,” which was all the Israelites, no matter where they lived.
He remembered God’s promise through Moses that if his people were scattered for their sin and disobedience, but then they turned back to God and kept his commandments, he would once again gather them from wherever they were and bring them to the place he has chosen for them. And he prayed that God would grant success for the vision, the purpose that God was placing on his heart in that moment.
Nehemiah was visioning going to Jerusalem, building those walls, and providing protection for the people. He knew he needed God’s blessing and guidance to make this work. He was in service to the king; he couldn’t just put in his two-weeks’ notice and call it a day. He had to find a way for the king to grant him permission to leave, to go to Jerusalem, to do the work God was calling him to do.
This is the power of vision, that Nehemiah didn’t say, “Wow, that’s too bad for those people. I wish I could help but I’m too far away. Best of luck to them.” No, Nehemiah knew that if God was calling him to this purpose, God would make a way, even where it seemed improbable, even impossible. And he did.
The king granted Nehemiah permission to go to Jerusalem, but then he went even further. The king wrote letters to the governors of the lands that Nehemiah would pass through so they would know he had permission to be there, and he directed the forest keeper to provide lumber to rebuild the gates, the walls, and a house for Nehemiah to live in while he was there. When the king not only granted Nehemiah permission, but threw in all the extras, Nehemiah knew beyond a doubt that the “gracious hand of my God was upon me.”
Let’s look at Nehemiah’s vision, at the parts of it and how they fit together. It began when a pressing need pierced his heart and bloomed into a desire to do something about it. Jeremiah understood the vulnerability of the people in Jerusalem, he felt sadness for their living conditions, and he knew something needed to be done – he knew he needed to do something. So, Nehemiah set out to make a plan and to carry out the plan, trusting God to help him, and he succeeded.
The power of vision, for a disciple of Jesus Christ, is to do exactly what Nehemiah did. No, I don’t mean we are all leaving here and going to build walls around Jerusalem. What I mean is, we need to follow the steps Nehemiah walked to bring his vision to life and to completion. Let me give you an example.
In early 2023, several church representatives gathered at the Habitat of Portage County office to discuss building a house for a family in need. After much discussion and planning, it was determined that each church would commit to raising $8,000 for the project.
I confess, that seemed like a huge amount of money to me, but I knew that if God was in this, if this is what he wanted us to do, he would provide a way, and he certainly did. We worked together, as a church, and we raised our share in almost no time at all. In fact, while I do not have a hard number, I believe we actually donated over $10,000 to this project.
It began when a pressing need pierced our hearts and bloomed into a desire to do something about it. We understood the vulnerability of a family who needed a safe, secure place to live. Our hearts were heavy with the burden of wanting to help where we could. So, we made a plan, we came up with some fundraising ideas to help us carry out the plan, we trusted God to help us, and we succeeded. We succeeded because we were obedient to God’s purpose for us in that time. That was our vision then, but that’s just one example.
I know we have all have experienced many visions over the years. Some on a personal level, some as a church. A vision is seeing God’s purpose and answering his call. That is a true definition of discipleship. Once we understand it this way, the power of vision is an exciting thing to experience. It’s a principle we can pursue, a principle that builds upon itself – the more we answer God’s call, the more God will call us. The more we are obedient, the more he will trust us with more.
While we were working on the Habitat house, we posted pictures of progress, we gave updates on the money we were raising, Debbie created a chart to show our progress. We did all this for a purpose – to show that we were doing what God had called us to do; to remind ourselves that this was not something we were doing on our own but through the power of God working in us.
In Habakkuk, God tells him, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.” That was our way of doing just that. In writing, in pictures, through graphs and announcements, we made it plain to everyone what God’s vision was for us and how we were fulfilling it. We did it to keep the vision fresh in our minds and hearts, to track where we were and measure how much further we needed to go, and to encourage each other to keep going forward. We did not do this to pat ourselves on the back and tell others how great we are for this, because we know it was God in us that made this all happen.
The Christian to the Core curriculum states that, “Vision is God’s tool to help a person discover and live God’s greater purposes for his or her life.” What I know now is that when we talk about the power of vision, we are talking about how we respond to God’s vision – not our own, because God’s vision is always for the benefit of others, for the building up of his kingdom, and for the sharing of the gospel.
No wonder I always struggled with this concept, I thought the vision was supposed to be mine; now I know it is God’s, always God’s. I can’t wait to see what vision he gives us next, but whatever it is, I know we will be ready and willing to obediently answer his call. AMEN.
PRAYER: All seeing God, you are the power of vision that we are learning about today. You see where we should go and what we should do; help us to see that, too. Help us to commit to your purpose for us, not our own. Show us where you want us to go and what you want us to do. Open our eyes to see the need, our ears to hear your call, our hearts to respond, our feet to be on the move, our hands to do the work. May we be ever in your service, for the benefit of others and for your glory forever. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: The Power of Vision
Scripture: Nehemiah 1:1-3 and Habakkuk 2:2
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 one of my brothers, Hanani, came with certain men from Judah, and I asked them about the Jews who escaped, those who had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They replied, “The remnant there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
This week, our third core principle of discipleship is the power of vision. I have to confess; this is the one I struggle with the most. I have never seen myself as a visionary person, so when it comes to this particular principle, I feel inadequate. Maybe part of the problem comes from the vague usage of the word “vision” I have experienced.
Usually, the word is used in a context of “what direction you see for the future,” which is the part I don’t do well, and the Christian to the Core curriculum does somewhat use the term in that way. But there was a question in the book that asked, “Do you have a clear sense of God’s purpose, or vision, for your life?” They used the word “vision” almost as a synonym for “purpose,” and that spoke volumes to me.
I don’t have a “vision” for my future, per se, but I do know God’s purpose for my life in the right here and right now. That’s why I am here, right here, bringing a message to you all this day.
I never sat down and thought, gee, I’d like to be a pastor when I grow up. I wasn’t looking for a career change when God called me to pastoral ministry. It started as a seed planted in my heart to serve God in whatever way I could. When the seed was first planted, it led me to teaching Sunday school. Then, as it began to sprout, I was asked to serve on the SPPR committee at my home church. Over time, as it continued to grow within me, I began filling in for my pastor when he or she needed a Sunday off. God was working on me and he continued to call me to follow him until gradually that seed fully bloomed into realizing a call to serve God by preaching and teaching in a pastoral ministry setting.
I never thought of this as a “vision” because my vision didn’t see that far ahead, but I can definitely say this is my God ordained purpose. What has your experience been like? Do you see where God is leading you, or do you realize it as you go?
I don’t think vision always has to be born and nurtured for a long period of time. I am starting to believe that a vision can be given, and fulfilled in any amount of time, short or long. Nehemiah hadn’t pondered the people of Israel living in Jerusalem for years and then work up to fulfilling his vision. He had a conversation which led to a vision, which he put into practice in a matter of days and then he worked on it until it was completed. Let’s start with some background on Nehemiah.
It was in 586 B. C. that the Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, captured Jerusalem. They burned the Temple, broke down the city’s protective wall, destroyed everything of value, and stole the national treasures. They led the Israelites into captivity, marching them almost 900 miles to Babylon, which would be located today in Iraq.
After 70 years of captivity, God began to move through three men to restore the city of Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. One of those men was Nehemiah, who was serving the king as cupbearer, not to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, but to King Artaxerxes of Persia, 130-150 years after the Babylonian captivity began.
There have been Jews back in Israel, and Jerusalem, for some time, but Nehemiah was not one of them., In fact, Nehemiah had never been to Jerusalem at all. But one day, one of his brothers came to visit and Nehemiah asked how it was going for those who had moved back to Jerusalem.
Hanani told him it wasn’t going well, saying, “The remnant there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”
Now, Jerubbabel and Ezra had done some work in Jerusalem in years past. They had rebuilt the Temple, but they had not rebuilt the walls surrounding the city. The people who were living in Jerusalem were without protection; they were vulnerable to enemies, weather, wild animals. Anyone or anything could come right in and cause problems.
Nehemiah knew those broken-down walls and burned-out gates spoke of defeat and humiliation for the people living there. This news pierced his heart, and he sat down and wept for days for the plight of people he did not know living in a place he had never been. In those days of weeping and mourning, Nehemiah also fasted and prayed to God. He prayed for the Israelites, all of them everywhere, and he confessed their sins, his, and his “family’s,” which was all the Israelites, no matter where they lived.
He remembered God’s promise through Moses that if his people were scattered for their sin and disobedience, but then they turned back to God and kept his commandments, he would once again gather them from wherever they were and bring them to the place he has chosen for them. And he prayed that God would grant success for the vision, the purpose that God was placing on his heart in that moment.
Nehemiah was visioning going to Jerusalem, building those walls, and providing protection for the people. He knew he needed God’s blessing and guidance to make this work. He was in service to the king; he couldn’t just put in his two-weeks’ notice and call it a day. He had to find a way for the king to grant him permission to leave, to go to Jerusalem, to do the work God was calling him to do.
This is the power of vision, that Nehemiah didn’t say, “Wow, that’s too bad for those people. I wish I could help but I’m too far away. Best of luck to them.” No, Nehemiah knew that if God was calling him to this purpose, God would make a way, even where it seemed improbable, even impossible. And he did.
The king granted Nehemiah permission to go to Jerusalem, but then he went even further. The king wrote letters to the governors of the lands that Nehemiah would pass through so they would know he had permission to be there, and he directed the forest keeper to provide lumber to rebuild the gates, the walls, and a house for Nehemiah to live in while he was there. When the king not only granted Nehemiah permission, but threw in all the extras, Nehemiah knew beyond a doubt that the “gracious hand of my God was upon me.”
Let’s look at Nehemiah’s vision, at the parts of it and how they fit together. It began when a pressing need pierced his heart and bloomed into a desire to do something about it. Jeremiah understood the vulnerability of the people in Jerusalem, he felt sadness for their living conditions, and he knew something needed to be done – he knew he needed to do something. So, Nehemiah set out to make a plan and to carry out the plan, trusting God to help him, and he succeeded.
The power of vision, for a disciple of Jesus Christ, is to do exactly what Nehemiah did. No, I don’t mean we are all leaving here and going to build walls around Jerusalem. What I mean is, we need to follow the steps Nehemiah walked to bring his vision to life and to completion. Let me give you an example.
In early 2023, several church representatives gathered at the Habitat of Portage County office to discuss building a house for a family in need. After much discussion and planning, it was determined that each church would commit to raising $8,000 for the project.
I confess, that seemed like a huge amount of money to me, but I knew that if God was in this, if this is what he wanted us to do, he would provide a way, and he certainly did. We worked together, as a church, and we raised our share in almost no time at all. In fact, while I do not have a hard number, I believe we actually donated over $10,000 to this project.
It began when a pressing need pierced our hearts and bloomed into a desire to do something about it. We understood the vulnerability of a family who needed a safe, secure place to live. Our hearts were heavy with the burden of wanting to help where we could. So, we made a plan, we came up with some fundraising ideas to help us carry out the plan, we trusted God to help us, and we succeeded. We succeeded because we were obedient to God’s purpose for us in that time. That was our vision then, but that’s just one example.
I know we have all have experienced many visions over the years. Some on a personal level, some as a church. A vision is seeing God’s purpose and answering his call. That is a true definition of discipleship. Once we understand it this way, the power of vision is an exciting thing to experience. It’s a principle we can pursue, a principle that builds upon itself – the more we answer God’s call, the more God will call us. The more we are obedient, the more he will trust us with more.
While we were working on the Habitat house, we posted pictures of progress, we gave updates on the money we were raising, Debbie created a chart to show our progress. We did all this for a purpose – to show that we were doing what God had called us to do; to remind ourselves that this was not something we were doing on our own but through the power of God working in us.
In Habakkuk, God tells him, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.” That was our way of doing just that. In writing, in pictures, through graphs and announcements, we made it plain to everyone what God’s vision was for us and how we were fulfilling it. We did it to keep the vision fresh in our minds and hearts, to track where we were and measure how much further we needed to go, and to encourage each other to keep going forward. We did not do this to pat ourselves on the back and tell others how great we are for this, because we know it was God in us that made this all happen.
The Christian to the Core curriculum states that, “Vision is God’s tool to help a person discover and live God’s greater purposes for his or her life.” What I know now is that when we talk about the power of vision, we are talking about how we respond to God’s vision – not our own, because God’s vision is always for the benefit of others, for the building up of his kingdom, and for the sharing of the gospel.
No wonder I always struggled with this concept, I thought the vision was supposed to be mine; now I know it is God’s, always God’s. I can’t wait to see what vision he gives us next, but whatever it is, I know we will be ready and willing to obediently answer his call. AMEN.
PRAYER: All seeing God, you are the power of vision that we are learning about today. You see where we should go and what we should do; help us to see that, too. Help us to commit to your purpose for us, not our own. Show us where you want us to go and what you want us to do. Open our eyes to see the need, our ears to hear your call, our hearts to respond, our feet to be on the move, our hands to do the work. May we be ever in your service, for the benefit of others and for your glory forever. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY January 12, 2025, continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "christian to the core" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Passion for the harvest".
January 12, 2024
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Passion for the Harvest
Scripture: Matthew 9:35-38
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The prophet Jeremiah had a hard job to do. He was God’s faithful spokesperson in a time when the leaders and people of Israel didn’t want to hear God’s message. Jeremiah would deliver the word of God to the people and for his effort, he might be rewarded by being put in the stocks or lowered into a cistern. Most people would just give up in defeat, but Jeremiah did not; he remained a faithful servant, giving God’s messages and warnings to people whose ears were too stopped up to listen and whose hearts were too hard to care.
Why did Jeremiah persevere in such circumstances? He tells us in his own words in Jeremiah 20:7-9:
O Lord, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out;
I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
Jeremiah had a passion for following God and trying to reach his people. He knew that if he were to ignore God’s call and keep silent, his very bones would rebuke him, and he would feel like there was fire running through him. He could no more keep quiet than he could breathe underwater. So, in spite of his public persecution, Jeremiah continued to prophesy God’s warnings about coming destruction to those who refused to listen or to care.
In the “Christian to the Core” curriculum, “passion” is defined as “a force burning in you which seizes you and provides a power that moves you beyond ordinary human activity. Passion will not let you go until God’s goals are reached. Passion is the fire and urgency that vision needs to remain alive and active.”
In some of our greatest Christian leaders we see passion, that burning desire to do God’s will. John Wesley wrote, “Let us all be of one business. We live only for this, to save our own souls and the souls of those who hear us.” His passion sparked revival in England, and today there are more than 80 million people world-wide who claim Christ as Savior through one or another iteration of Methodism.
One of those souls is William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. When the King of England asked Booth what the ruling force of his life was, Booth replied, “Sir, some men’s passion is for gold, other men’s passion is for fame, but my passion is for souls.”
In recent history, we can remember Billy Graham as perhaps the greatest evangelist in the 20th century. When he was a young man preaching to the youth of America, he wrote, “We are kindling a fire in this cold old world full of hatred and selfishness. Our little blaze may seem to be unavailing, but we must keep our fire burning.”
Finally, once, when Mother Teresa was on a train going from Calcutta to Darjeeling, she heard Jesus ask of her, “The thirst you had for souls brought you so far. Are you afraid to take one more step… for Me – for souls.” Mother Teresa’s response that day was to fully surrender herself to God as she answered, “I desire to burn myself completely for him and for souls.”
God’s desire for us is that we be filled with a passion for souls, that we want other people to know what we know – the saving grace of God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son, sustained within us by the Holy Spirit.
But what all of these people had, what we all need to have, before we have the burning fire of passion, is the spark of compassion that lights our fire.
In today’s scripture, we read, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus’ heart was moved by the plight of the people he was seeing and touching, teaching and healing. Jesus said, in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Who are more lost than those who are harassed and helpless, those who are sheep without a shepherd? Jesus’ heart was full of compassion for the people who needed him the most, and that is everyone, whether they know it or not.
It was because Jesus had compassion for these people that he wanted to be with them, he wanted to teach them, he wanted to heal them, he wanted to save them – even though that meant being put to death on a cross. Jesus knew the outcome of his coming even before he took that first step across the stars and entered into the womb of Mary, to be born as a helpless infant. Jesus knew what would happen, and because he had compassion for the lost, he chose to go through with the plan at great cost to himself, but for our glorious and eternal gain.
There is no passion without compassion. There is no seeking and saving without first loving and caring. Because Jesus loved, his compassion created a passion for him to do God’s will and seek the harvest of souls that were destined to perish without him.
A prime example of no compassion comes from twenty years ago, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Chicago Tribune reported this on November 3, 2005, and the story was picked up by PreachingToday.com shortly afterward. Here is the story:
“On August 31, 2005, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) regional director Marty Bahamonde emailed the FEMA director regarding the situation in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina. Bahamonde wrote: “Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical. Here [are] some things you might not know. Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Hundreds still being rescued from homes.
“There are dying patients at the DMAT [disaster medical assistance team] tent. Estimates are many will die within hours. Evacuation in process. Plans developing for dome evacuation, but hotel situation adding to problem. We are out of food and running out of water at the dome, plans in works to address the critical need.
“FEMA staff is OK and holding own. DMAT staff working in deplorable conditions… “Phone connectivity impossible.”
The director responded: “Thanks for update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?”
Can you imagine the reaction of those who were on the ground in New Orleans trying to weather the aftermath of Katrina, trying to cobble together anything they could that would help the people who were left without homes and jobs, missing family members, some even fighting for their life? Imagine telling the medical teams who were running out of water and supplies that the director says, “Good luck, let me know if there is something I can “tweak” from here to help you.”
Can you imagine if God the Father had presented his plan for the redemption of humanity to Jesus the Son and Jesus’ response was, “Maybe we can just tweak something from up here and they’ll be fine on their own.”? Aren’t you so grateful that isn’t the way it happened?
When you find out that the FEMA director was fired right after that incident, you might feel like he got what he deserved. He was insensitive to the real needs of real people in a dire situation; that is unacceptable. But have you ever thought how we can sometimes be just as insensitive to the real needs of real people in dire circumstances?
When Jesus saw the crowds, “he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” so Jesus took care of their immediate needs. But then he did something that should catch our attention.
Listen to what he says next: “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Jesus knew he would not be able to reach every single person all by himself, so he looked at who could help.
Jesus had been teaching and training his disciples to do as he did, to love as he loved, to have compassion as he had, so they would also have the passion he had for seeking and saving the lost. And Jesus knew that even the disciples he was speaking to in that moment would not be able to reach everyone so he instructed them to pray for even more people who would have love and compassion so that a passion might be kindled within them to seek and save the lost, too.
The second core principle of discipleship is passion for the harvest, but we cannot have the fire of passion flowing through us if we do not first have the spark of compassion within our hearts. How do we get that? By opening our eyes and seeing those around us as they are. Jesus spent much of his time with the people who were outcasts from “acceptable society.”
He ate with sinners, he touched the lepers, he healed the sick. Jesus saw everyone as the much-loved creation of God that they were, and his desire was to snatch them from death and save them to eternity with him.
Friends, for all of us who have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are snatched from death and saved for eternity with Jesus. We are the sinners Jesus ate with, the lepers he touched, the sick he healed, the souls he saved. If we have nothing else in this life to be grateful for, this is enough. This is the gift of Christmas and the Cross – all in one person, the One who chose to love the world so much that, though he was perfect, he would willingly die a sinner’s death to save souls – even ours.
Now, I don’t know about you all, but I suspect we aren’t so very different, when I receive a gift of such great magnitude, and I feel such a load of gratitude, I want to do something for that person. But what can I possibly do for Jesus? What can I do to show him how much I appreciate his priceless, precious, perfect gift of life, given to me out of love?
I can share that gift with others. We all can. Jesus’ gift of salvation and eternal life was never meant to be held and hoarded; it is meant to be shared, joyously and generously. Today, we are the Lord’s laborers. We are the ones he is counting on to show compassion to the least, the lost, the lonely. We are the ones who are called to give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, justice to the poor, and love to everyone – no matter who they are.
Jesus calls us to do all that, because he knows just a tiny spark of compassion can fan the flame that will become a burning passion within us. That if we start now, we can affect the lives of those who are still living in darkness by being the light of Jesus in their dark world.
It begins with our having an intimate relationship with God, as we talked about last week. In that relationship, we will discover the truth of Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” I can have compassion. I can have passion. I can be the laborer God calls me to be, and I can pray for even more laborers to work alongside me. Because even now, as in Jesus’ day, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
May we all work together, be of one mind, and goal: “To save our own souls, and the souls of those who hear us.” With God’s blessing, in Jesus, powered by the Holy Spirit, we can do this. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you have taught us by your example what it means to have a passion for the least, the lost, and the lonely, but sometimes, we become blinded to those around us, we become insensitive to the real needs of real people. Open our eyes that we might see, our ears that we might hear, and our hearts, that we might love more fully and more passionately than we ever have before. With your help, working together, let us seek and save the lost, for their eternal benefit and for your glory. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/73946/hurricane-katrina-fema-leadership-by-sermon-central
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Passion for the Harvest
Scripture: Matthew 9:35-38
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The prophet Jeremiah had a hard job to do. He was God’s faithful spokesperson in a time when the leaders and people of Israel didn’t want to hear God’s message. Jeremiah would deliver the word of God to the people and for his effort, he might be rewarded by being put in the stocks or lowered into a cistern. Most people would just give up in defeat, but Jeremiah did not; he remained a faithful servant, giving God’s messages and warnings to people whose ears were too stopped up to listen and whose hearts were too hard to care.
Why did Jeremiah persevere in such circumstances? He tells us in his own words in Jeremiah 20:7-9:
O Lord, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out;
I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
Jeremiah had a passion for following God and trying to reach his people. He knew that if he were to ignore God’s call and keep silent, his very bones would rebuke him, and he would feel like there was fire running through him. He could no more keep quiet than he could breathe underwater. So, in spite of his public persecution, Jeremiah continued to prophesy God’s warnings about coming destruction to those who refused to listen or to care.
In the “Christian to the Core” curriculum, “passion” is defined as “a force burning in you which seizes you and provides a power that moves you beyond ordinary human activity. Passion will not let you go until God’s goals are reached. Passion is the fire and urgency that vision needs to remain alive and active.”
In some of our greatest Christian leaders we see passion, that burning desire to do God’s will. John Wesley wrote, “Let us all be of one business. We live only for this, to save our own souls and the souls of those who hear us.” His passion sparked revival in England, and today there are more than 80 million people world-wide who claim Christ as Savior through one or another iteration of Methodism.
One of those souls is William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. When the King of England asked Booth what the ruling force of his life was, Booth replied, “Sir, some men’s passion is for gold, other men’s passion is for fame, but my passion is for souls.”
In recent history, we can remember Billy Graham as perhaps the greatest evangelist in the 20th century. When he was a young man preaching to the youth of America, he wrote, “We are kindling a fire in this cold old world full of hatred and selfishness. Our little blaze may seem to be unavailing, but we must keep our fire burning.”
Finally, once, when Mother Teresa was on a train going from Calcutta to Darjeeling, she heard Jesus ask of her, “The thirst you had for souls brought you so far. Are you afraid to take one more step… for Me – for souls.” Mother Teresa’s response that day was to fully surrender herself to God as she answered, “I desire to burn myself completely for him and for souls.”
God’s desire for us is that we be filled with a passion for souls, that we want other people to know what we know – the saving grace of God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son, sustained within us by the Holy Spirit.
But what all of these people had, what we all need to have, before we have the burning fire of passion, is the spark of compassion that lights our fire.
In today’s scripture, we read, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus’ heart was moved by the plight of the people he was seeing and touching, teaching and healing. Jesus said, in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Who are more lost than those who are harassed and helpless, those who are sheep without a shepherd? Jesus’ heart was full of compassion for the people who needed him the most, and that is everyone, whether they know it or not.
It was because Jesus had compassion for these people that he wanted to be with them, he wanted to teach them, he wanted to heal them, he wanted to save them – even though that meant being put to death on a cross. Jesus knew the outcome of his coming even before he took that first step across the stars and entered into the womb of Mary, to be born as a helpless infant. Jesus knew what would happen, and because he had compassion for the lost, he chose to go through with the plan at great cost to himself, but for our glorious and eternal gain.
There is no passion without compassion. There is no seeking and saving without first loving and caring. Because Jesus loved, his compassion created a passion for him to do God’s will and seek the harvest of souls that were destined to perish without him.
A prime example of no compassion comes from twenty years ago, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Chicago Tribune reported this on November 3, 2005, and the story was picked up by PreachingToday.com shortly afterward. Here is the story:
“On August 31, 2005, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) regional director Marty Bahamonde emailed the FEMA director regarding the situation in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina. Bahamonde wrote: “Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical. Here [are] some things you might not know. Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Hundreds still being rescued from homes.
“There are dying patients at the DMAT [disaster medical assistance team] tent. Estimates are many will die within hours. Evacuation in process. Plans developing for dome evacuation, but hotel situation adding to problem. We are out of food and running out of water at the dome, plans in works to address the critical need.
“FEMA staff is OK and holding own. DMAT staff working in deplorable conditions… “Phone connectivity impossible.”
The director responded: “Thanks for update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?”
Can you imagine the reaction of those who were on the ground in New Orleans trying to weather the aftermath of Katrina, trying to cobble together anything they could that would help the people who were left without homes and jobs, missing family members, some even fighting for their life? Imagine telling the medical teams who were running out of water and supplies that the director says, “Good luck, let me know if there is something I can “tweak” from here to help you.”
Can you imagine if God the Father had presented his plan for the redemption of humanity to Jesus the Son and Jesus’ response was, “Maybe we can just tweak something from up here and they’ll be fine on their own.”? Aren’t you so grateful that isn’t the way it happened?
When you find out that the FEMA director was fired right after that incident, you might feel like he got what he deserved. He was insensitive to the real needs of real people in a dire situation; that is unacceptable. But have you ever thought how we can sometimes be just as insensitive to the real needs of real people in dire circumstances?
When Jesus saw the crowds, “he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” so Jesus took care of their immediate needs. But then he did something that should catch our attention.
Listen to what he says next: “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Jesus knew he would not be able to reach every single person all by himself, so he looked at who could help.
Jesus had been teaching and training his disciples to do as he did, to love as he loved, to have compassion as he had, so they would also have the passion he had for seeking and saving the lost. And Jesus knew that even the disciples he was speaking to in that moment would not be able to reach everyone so he instructed them to pray for even more people who would have love and compassion so that a passion might be kindled within them to seek and save the lost, too.
The second core principle of discipleship is passion for the harvest, but we cannot have the fire of passion flowing through us if we do not first have the spark of compassion within our hearts. How do we get that? By opening our eyes and seeing those around us as they are. Jesus spent much of his time with the people who were outcasts from “acceptable society.”
He ate with sinners, he touched the lepers, he healed the sick. Jesus saw everyone as the much-loved creation of God that they were, and his desire was to snatch them from death and save them to eternity with him.
Friends, for all of us who have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are snatched from death and saved for eternity with Jesus. We are the sinners Jesus ate with, the lepers he touched, the sick he healed, the souls he saved. If we have nothing else in this life to be grateful for, this is enough. This is the gift of Christmas and the Cross – all in one person, the One who chose to love the world so much that, though he was perfect, he would willingly die a sinner’s death to save souls – even ours.
Now, I don’t know about you all, but I suspect we aren’t so very different, when I receive a gift of such great magnitude, and I feel such a load of gratitude, I want to do something for that person. But what can I possibly do for Jesus? What can I do to show him how much I appreciate his priceless, precious, perfect gift of life, given to me out of love?
I can share that gift with others. We all can. Jesus’ gift of salvation and eternal life was never meant to be held and hoarded; it is meant to be shared, joyously and generously. Today, we are the Lord’s laborers. We are the ones he is counting on to show compassion to the least, the lost, the lonely. We are the ones who are called to give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, justice to the poor, and love to everyone – no matter who they are.
Jesus calls us to do all that, because he knows just a tiny spark of compassion can fan the flame that will become a burning passion within us. That if we start now, we can affect the lives of those who are still living in darkness by being the light of Jesus in their dark world.
It begins with our having an intimate relationship with God, as we talked about last week. In that relationship, we will discover the truth of Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” I can have compassion. I can have passion. I can be the laborer God calls me to be, and I can pray for even more laborers to work alongside me. Because even now, as in Jesus’ day, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
May we all work together, be of one mind, and goal: “To save our own souls, and the souls of those who hear us.” With God’s blessing, in Jesus, powered by the Holy Spirit, we can do this. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you have taught us by your example what it means to have a passion for the least, the lost, and the lonely, but sometimes, we become blinded to those around us, we become insensitive to the real needs of real people. Open our eyes that we might see, our ears that we might hear, and our hearts, that we might love more fully and more passionately than we ever have before. With your help, working together, let us seek and save the lost, for their eternal benefit and for your glory. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/73946/hurricane-katrina-fema-leadership-by-sermon-central
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY January 5, 2025, began a new SERMON SERIES CALLED "christian to the core" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "intimacy with god".
January 5, 2024
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Intimacy with God
Scripture: Exodus 33:8-11
Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each of them, at the entrance of their tents and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and bow down, all of them, at the entrance of their tent. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then he would return to the camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, would not leave the tent.
In January of last year, the leadership of the Allegheny West Annual Conference gathered for a week-long retreat. During that week, we went through a training called History Makers Training, where we spent considerable time going over the eight core values that make followers of Jesus into disciples.
In this eight-week series, we are going to touch on those core principles of discipleship, see where scripture points them out to us, how this principle was applied in that time, and ask how it is relevant to us today. Each week, the sermon title will reflect the core principle we are focusing on, with the goal that by the end of this series we will all better understand what it is to be a disciple of Jesus and how we might live that out in our everyday lives.
Twenty-five years ago, as the uncertainty of the new millennium loomed for many people, a group of 100 Christian leaders from all around the world met in Amsterdam to discuss and dream about the future. Together, they wanted to find a way to impact the world for Jesus Christ. The result of this meeting was global research that identified the eight core values that we will be looking at over the next eight weeks. Now, twenty-five years later, these values have been, and are being, taught on many levels in over 100 countries all around the world.
This first week, the principle we are learning is “Intimacy with God.” The book, “Christian to the Core,” tells us that, “True intimacy with God occurs through intentional effort over a long period of time as your relationship grows deeper.” That makes sense, doesn’t it? It works that way in our earthly relationships, too. If you meet a person at a party or the kids’ soccer game, you wouldn’t say you have an intimate relationship with them. It takes time to get to know another person, to learn their likes and dislikes, their habits and routines, their good and not so good character traits.
We might call that person a friend after a few meetings, but they only become a good friend, a best friend, a “can’t live without them” friend as time goes by and the relationship grows. Intimacy requires that we get to know one another on a deeper level than just saying hello as you pass in the hall, the grocery store, or the bank.
Today’s scripture is a good example of this deeper relationship and how, over time, Moses found an intimacy with God that would sustain him as he led the Israelites through the wilderness for forty years.
Remember when Moses first met God? He had been tending the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law when suddenly a bush caught his attention. This bush was on fire, but it was not burning up! What was that all about? Moses had to see, so he turned aside to investigate. When God saw that Moses was coming to see the burning bush, he called Moses by name and told him to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground.
Then God introduced himself to Moses, saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And how did Moses react? Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. We would definitely not classify this first encounter as an intimate relationship.
Then, when God gave Moses his assignment of going to Egypt and freeing the Israelites, Moses tried to talk God out of it. He gave excuses as to why he would not be able to do what God was asking of him. Have you ever done that?
Haven’t we all, at some time or another, made an excuse to God as to why we cannot do what he is asking of us at that moment? “Go where? No, I couldn’t do that. I have too much to do right here where I am, but thanks anyway.” “Pray for that person? Okay, I will do that when I get home. What? Right now, in front of everyone? I don’t think I can pray in public like that. What will people think?”
“Tell that person about Jesus? What if they ask me a question and I don’t know the answer? What if they get mad at me? What if they just don’t want to hear about him? I don’t want to look like one of “those” people who push Jesus on everyone they see. What will people think?”
How many times have these thoughts, or something like them, ever raced through our minds when God is trying to give us a job to do? I confess, I am guilty. That isn’t how I want to be, but unfortunately, sometimes I fail as an obedient disciple.
In that first encounter with God, Moses was failing. God was calling him to be the leader who would set his people free from oppression and guide them to the Promised Land and Moses was busy making excuses.
We know the story from Exodus 3, how God used signs and wonders, Moses kept declining, and finally, God assigned Aaron to help him get the job done. Moses accepted the compromise and the rest is history.
Moses did go back to Egypt, and God and Aaron went with him. God directed Moses what to do, Moses told Aaron what to say to Pharaoh, and after ten awful displays of God’s power through plagues, the Israelites left Egypt. They were led by Moses and guided by God, and headed for the Promised land, the land of freedom, the land of milk and honey. But first they had to go through the wilderness.
It was during the journey from the burning bush to the edge of the Promised land that Moses’ relationship with God developed. Moses spent time with God and got to know him as Moses led the people and God provided everything they needed. During this time, Moses learned that God was reliable and could be trusted.
When Moses first met God, he covered his face in fear, but time has passed, and their relationship has grown. Now, God called Moses to come up on the mountain and Moses went. Exodus 24:15-18 tells us, “Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.”
God appeared to Moses as a devouring fire in a cloud and Moses, no longer afraid of God, entered into that cloud to be with God for forty days. That is an intimate relationship built on trust and knowledge of character. Moses has spent time with God, he has talked with God, he has witnessed God working as he leads the Israelites through the wilderness. Moses knows God now. He is no longer a stranger standing in front of a burning bush, but a friend who spends time with God regularly and intentionally.
Imagine for a moment that you are on vacation. You are in a boat off the coast of Australia, over the Great Barrier Reef. If you look over the side of the boat, you can see some coral, some rock formations, and a few fish. It’s a nice view. But now, imagine you put on a snorkeling mask and enter the water. The view of coral and rock becomes clearer, more detailed. You see colors that you didn’t notice from the surface. You see so many more fish in the water that couldn’t be seen when you were still in the boat. You realize that while the view was nice from the surface, it became one hundred times better when you entered into the water.
That is how a relationship goes from casual acquaintance to friendship to intimacy, whether it’s an earthly friendship or a heavenly one.
Today’s scripture tells us that Moses’ relationship with God had grown to the point where Moses intentionally and regularly sought God’s presence. He set up a tent outside of the camp and called it the “tent of meeting.” The tent was available to anyone who wanted to seek the Lord’s presence, but we don’t have any evidence that anyone went there except Moses and Joshua.
It seems the people were aware of the invitation, but instead of going there themselves, they watched Moses as he walked to the tent, standing in front of their own dwelling place, and worshiping God from where they were. They were missing out on a deeper relationship because they chose to stay in the boat, so to speak, rather than go into the water.
I love verse nine that says, “When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.” Can you imagine that? Because Moses was willing to put forward effort to be with God and know God, God was willing to spend time with Moses. Verse 11 says, “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”
I want that kind of relationship with God, don’t you? So, how do we get it?
When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we began a relationship with God. We may have known about him at the time, but we didn’t really know him yet. Over time, as we get to know God through reading his word and spending time with him in prayer, our relationship, our friendship begins to grow. As in any other relationship, it takes work. If we neglect our friends, our friendship suffers, we drift apart, no longer have contact. When we neglect to read God’s word, when we become too busy to spend time with God, our relationship suffers, and we begin to grow apart.
Here's the thing, though, when that happens, it is all on us. God doesn’t neglect us; he doesn’t forget us. We are the ones who allow our lives to become too busy for God. Intimacy with God serves as the foundation for every other aspect of our lives, not just as Christians on Sunday morning, but as disciples of Jesus every single day of the week and it is up to us to make sure we make time to develop that relationship so that we, too, might be called a friend of God..
Our closing hymn today is “In the Garden.” I want you to pay close attention to the words as we sing, “And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”
Friends, God truly loves us and desires a relationship with us, but what he wants is more than a passing acquaintance, he wants a deep, in the water, intimate friendship with us. If that were not the case, he would not have sent his own Son to come and die for our sins so that we could be with him in his heavenly kingdom forever.
This truth is reflected in Jesus’ prayer in John 10:30, “Father, just as you are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us.” The “they” Jesus is referring to is us. Before we were born, Jesus was praying for us, that we might have a close, intimate relationship with God, just as the Son has with the Father.
Psalm 139 tells us that God made us, and he knew us when we were yet unformed. Even then he knew the number of our days. He formed our inward parts and knit us together in our mother’s womb. God loved us before we existed, and he will never stop loving us. His greatest desire is that we love him, too, and that we want to know him and spend time with him.
We are in the first week of the new year. It is not too late to make a New Year’s resolution. Perhaps, this year, we might all resolve to put God first in our lives, to become the disciples he is calling us to be, to spend time reading God’s word, to spend time with God, with the goal of growing and deepening our relationship with our Creator, our Heavenly Father, of developing an intimate friendship with the One who loves us with a depth, and height, a width, and length that we cannot begin to comprehend. Nothing could benefit us more. Nothing would please God more. May it be so. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, you created us, and you love us beyond measure. Thank you for that. And now we see that you want a relationship with us, and we are astounded. Help us, Lord, to seek your presence every day, to get to know you more deeply, to develop a friendship based upon trust and love as we come to know who you are to the best of our ability. And let this be our first step out of the boat and into the water as you call us to be faithful disciples, knowing you will be with us always. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
Series: Christian to the Core
Message: Intimacy with God
Scripture: Exodus 33:8-11
Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each of them, at the entrance of their tents and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and bow down, all of them, at the entrance of their tent. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then he would return to the camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, would not leave the tent.
In January of last year, the leadership of the Allegheny West Annual Conference gathered for a week-long retreat. During that week, we went through a training called History Makers Training, where we spent considerable time going over the eight core values that make followers of Jesus into disciples.
In this eight-week series, we are going to touch on those core principles of discipleship, see where scripture points them out to us, how this principle was applied in that time, and ask how it is relevant to us today. Each week, the sermon title will reflect the core principle we are focusing on, with the goal that by the end of this series we will all better understand what it is to be a disciple of Jesus and how we might live that out in our everyday lives.
Twenty-five years ago, as the uncertainty of the new millennium loomed for many people, a group of 100 Christian leaders from all around the world met in Amsterdam to discuss and dream about the future. Together, they wanted to find a way to impact the world for Jesus Christ. The result of this meeting was global research that identified the eight core values that we will be looking at over the next eight weeks. Now, twenty-five years later, these values have been, and are being, taught on many levels in over 100 countries all around the world.
This first week, the principle we are learning is “Intimacy with God.” The book, “Christian to the Core,” tells us that, “True intimacy with God occurs through intentional effort over a long period of time as your relationship grows deeper.” That makes sense, doesn’t it? It works that way in our earthly relationships, too. If you meet a person at a party or the kids’ soccer game, you wouldn’t say you have an intimate relationship with them. It takes time to get to know another person, to learn their likes and dislikes, their habits and routines, their good and not so good character traits.
We might call that person a friend after a few meetings, but they only become a good friend, a best friend, a “can’t live without them” friend as time goes by and the relationship grows. Intimacy requires that we get to know one another on a deeper level than just saying hello as you pass in the hall, the grocery store, or the bank.
Today’s scripture is a good example of this deeper relationship and how, over time, Moses found an intimacy with God that would sustain him as he led the Israelites through the wilderness for forty years.
Remember when Moses first met God? He had been tending the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law when suddenly a bush caught his attention. This bush was on fire, but it was not burning up! What was that all about? Moses had to see, so he turned aside to investigate. When God saw that Moses was coming to see the burning bush, he called Moses by name and told him to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground.
Then God introduced himself to Moses, saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And how did Moses react? Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. We would definitely not classify this first encounter as an intimate relationship.
Then, when God gave Moses his assignment of going to Egypt and freeing the Israelites, Moses tried to talk God out of it. He gave excuses as to why he would not be able to do what God was asking of him. Have you ever done that?
Haven’t we all, at some time or another, made an excuse to God as to why we cannot do what he is asking of us at that moment? “Go where? No, I couldn’t do that. I have too much to do right here where I am, but thanks anyway.” “Pray for that person? Okay, I will do that when I get home. What? Right now, in front of everyone? I don’t think I can pray in public like that. What will people think?”
“Tell that person about Jesus? What if they ask me a question and I don’t know the answer? What if they get mad at me? What if they just don’t want to hear about him? I don’t want to look like one of “those” people who push Jesus on everyone they see. What will people think?”
How many times have these thoughts, or something like them, ever raced through our minds when God is trying to give us a job to do? I confess, I am guilty. That isn’t how I want to be, but unfortunately, sometimes I fail as an obedient disciple.
In that first encounter with God, Moses was failing. God was calling him to be the leader who would set his people free from oppression and guide them to the Promised Land and Moses was busy making excuses.
We know the story from Exodus 3, how God used signs and wonders, Moses kept declining, and finally, God assigned Aaron to help him get the job done. Moses accepted the compromise and the rest is history.
Moses did go back to Egypt, and God and Aaron went with him. God directed Moses what to do, Moses told Aaron what to say to Pharaoh, and after ten awful displays of God’s power through plagues, the Israelites left Egypt. They were led by Moses and guided by God, and headed for the Promised land, the land of freedom, the land of milk and honey. But first they had to go through the wilderness.
It was during the journey from the burning bush to the edge of the Promised land that Moses’ relationship with God developed. Moses spent time with God and got to know him as Moses led the people and God provided everything they needed. During this time, Moses learned that God was reliable and could be trusted.
When Moses first met God, he covered his face in fear, but time has passed, and their relationship has grown. Now, God called Moses to come up on the mountain and Moses went. Exodus 24:15-18 tells us, “Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.”
God appeared to Moses as a devouring fire in a cloud and Moses, no longer afraid of God, entered into that cloud to be with God for forty days. That is an intimate relationship built on trust and knowledge of character. Moses has spent time with God, he has talked with God, he has witnessed God working as he leads the Israelites through the wilderness. Moses knows God now. He is no longer a stranger standing in front of a burning bush, but a friend who spends time with God regularly and intentionally.
Imagine for a moment that you are on vacation. You are in a boat off the coast of Australia, over the Great Barrier Reef. If you look over the side of the boat, you can see some coral, some rock formations, and a few fish. It’s a nice view. But now, imagine you put on a snorkeling mask and enter the water. The view of coral and rock becomes clearer, more detailed. You see colors that you didn’t notice from the surface. You see so many more fish in the water that couldn’t be seen when you were still in the boat. You realize that while the view was nice from the surface, it became one hundred times better when you entered into the water.
That is how a relationship goes from casual acquaintance to friendship to intimacy, whether it’s an earthly friendship or a heavenly one.
Today’s scripture tells us that Moses’ relationship with God had grown to the point where Moses intentionally and regularly sought God’s presence. He set up a tent outside of the camp and called it the “tent of meeting.” The tent was available to anyone who wanted to seek the Lord’s presence, but we don’t have any evidence that anyone went there except Moses and Joshua.
It seems the people were aware of the invitation, but instead of going there themselves, they watched Moses as he walked to the tent, standing in front of their own dwelling place, and worshiping God from where they were. They were missing out on a deeper relationship because they chose to stay in the boat, so to speak, rather than go into the water.
I love verse nine that says, “When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.” Can you imagine that? Because Moses was willing to put forward effort to be with God and know God, God was willing to spend time with Moses. Verse 11 says, “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”
I want that kind of relationship with God, don’t you? So, how do we get it?
When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we began a relationship with God. We may have known about him at the time, but we didn’t really know him yet. Over time, as we get to know God through reading his word and spending time with him in prayer, our relationship, our friendship begins to grow. As in any other relationship, it takes work. If we neglect our friends, our friendship suffers, we drift apart, no longer have contact. When we neglect to read God’s word, when we become too busy to spend time with God, our relationship suffers, and we begin to grow apart.
Here's the thing, though, when that happens, it is all on us. God doesn’t neglect us; he doesn’t forget us. We are the ones who allow our lives to become too busy for God. Intimacy with God serves as the foundation for every other aspect of our lives, not just as Christians on Sunday morning, but as disciples of Jesus every single day of the week and it is up to us to make sure we make time to develop that relationship so that we, too, might be called a friend of God..
Our closing hymn today is “In the Garden.” I want you to pay close attention to the words as we sing, “And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”
Friends, God truly loves us and desires a relationship with us, but what he wants is more than a passing acquaintance, he wants a deep, in the water, intimate friendship with us. If that were not the case, he would not have sent his own Son to come and die for our sins so that we could be with him in his heavenly kingdom forever.
This truth is reflected in Jesus’ prayer in John 10:30, “Father, just as you are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us.” The “they” Jesus is referring to is us. Before we were born, Jesus was praying for us, that we might have a close, intimate relationship with God, just as the Son has with the Father.
Psalm 139 tells us that God made us, and he knew us when we were yet unformed. Even then he knew the number of our days. He formed our inward parts and knit us together in our mother’s womb. God loved us before we existed, and he will never stop loving us. His greatest desire is that we love him, too, and that we want to know him and spend time with him.
We are in the first week of the new year. It is not too late to make a New Year’s resolution. Perhaps, this year, we might all resolve to put God first in our lives, to become the disciples he is calling us to be, to spend time reading God’s word, to spend time with God, with the goal of growing and deepening our relationship with our Creator, our Heavenly Father, of developing an intimate friendship with the One who loves us with a depth, and height, a width, and length that we cannot begin to comprehend. Nothing could benefit us more. Nothing would please God more. May it be so. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, you created us, and you love us beyond measure. Thank you for that. And now we see that you want a relationship with us, and we are astounded. Help us, Lord, to seek your presence every day, to get to know you more deeply, to develop a friendship based upon trust and love as we come to know who you are to the best of our ability. And let this be our first step out of the boat and into the water as you call us to be faithful disciples, knowing you will be with us always. AMEN.
References
“Christian to the Core,” by International Leadership Institute, 2023
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY December 29, 2024, COmpleted A SERMON SERIES CALLED "on the way to bethlehem" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Persia: A Place of Return".
December 29, 2024
Series: On the Way to Bethlehem
Message: Persia: A Place of Return
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Our journey to Bethlehem has been accomplished. We began in Rome by discovering what it is we long for. We then moved on to Jerusalem where we learned waiting is not a waste of time but a holy sacred practice of drawing near to God. In Nazareth, we witnessed how simplicity of living can help clear the chaos and clutter from our lives and our hearts. Down the road in Bethlehem, in that humble little town, we found a stable where the Christ child laid wrapped in swaddling clothes, and we looked on as God displayed how much he cares for humanity in the giving of his only son.
Our journey through this Advent season was all about the places we stopped on the way to our destination. This week after Christmas, finds us caught between the feeling of “whew… we did it, we’ve arrived,” and “now that we are here, we never want to leave.” But life does go on, and our journey must continue. It is a rare person who sets off on a journey and does not make the return trip home.
Before we leave for home, though, we will witness the last of the visitors who came to worship the Messiah after he was born. Sometime after the birth of the baby in the manger, Matthew’s gospel tells us of these visitors who came to seek and find the King of the Jews. We don’t know how many there were in this party of travelers; by tradition, based upon the mentioned gifts that were given, we tend to imagine there were three.
We do not know exactly from where they came, but it is generally believed they came from the area of Persia, what we know today as Iran. Sometimes we call them magi, sometimes we call them kings, sometimes we refer to them as the wisemen. We don’t really know who or what they were. We do know they knew about the stars; they noticed a new star rising and they knew what it meant. They packed up and made ready for their own journey to see where this star would lead them, bringing gifts to pay homage to the one whom the Hebrew scriptures had told them they would find.
Were they Jews from old who had moved to a new land and lived there for generations? Were they simply learned men who knew of the world’s religions and studied them frequently? Again, we do not have a definitive answer to any of these questions. All we know is they knew the Hebrew scriptures, they knew how to read the stars, they understood the meaning of the new star they were suddenly seeing, and they decided to make a trip to see the new King for themselves.
They followed the star until they came to Jerusalem, and there they seem to have lost sight of it temporarily. If they hadn’t, they would not have needed to ask, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” We don’t ask for directions when we know the way, only when we are uncertain. They had no idea their innocent question would cause so much alarm.
Matthew tells us that when Herod heard the question he was frightened and all Jerusalem with him. The mood of the king sets the tone for the people over whom he rules. If Herod is scared, his people also become scared, because they don’t know what their leader may do. This was especially true for Herod, a paranoid king who would do anything to protect the little bit of power afforded to him when Rome set him up as king over the Jews in the area. Herod was so worried about anyone else trying to dethrone him that he was willing to kill to protect his position.
He had already ordered the execution of his wife, as well as her mother and grandfather. He even went so far as to murder three of his sons. The Roman emperor, Augustus, made the remark that “It is better to be Herod’s pig than his son,” because Herod’s ruthlessness and paranoia meant that no one was ever safe from his temper, his delusions, his insatiable need for control in order to retain his throne.
Herod immediately recognized the possibility of a threat in the magi’s inquiry. So, feigning cooperation, he called together his advisors, the chief priests and scribes, and passed the question to them. They told him that scripture said the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. Herod passed this information on to the men who were seeking and pointed them in the direction of the little town five miles down the road, with the request that after they had found the child they come back and let him know his exact location so he could also go and pay him homage to the new King.
Once the magi were on their way to Bethlehem, the star reappeared to them, and they followed it right to the place where Jesus was, and they found him with his mother. It is not likely they arrived at the stable on the night Jesus was born, they did not meet up with the shepherds who came to witness the baby the angels had told them about.
Matthew tells us that when the star they were following stopped, the magi were filled with joy at finding the right place and they entered the house, not a stable, saw the child with his mother, not an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes. They immediately knelt down and worshipped, then they opened their treasure chests and gave the child some very impressive gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We might think of these as peculiar gifts to give a baby, but they would prove quite valuable in helping the holy family live in Egypt where the angel told them to flee as they escaped from Herod to save their child’s life.
For their part, the magi, after having presented their gifts, were warned in a dream not to return to their home by the route from which they came. The angel revealed that Herod had no plan to worship the child but to kill him to protect his own power. When the magi awoke, they headed home, taking a different road, as directed. They had made their journey, now it was time to be on their way home, but they were leaving different people from who they were before they arrived; now they had seen the Messiah and knew who he was.
What about us, as we prepare to leave this Advent season and return to our regular lives? What have we learned from our journey that has changed us? No one can truly approach the manger of the Christ child without coming away a different person. That is the reason Jesus came in the first place – to change the world by changing its people. We have come, we have seen, we have witnessed, we cannot be the same.
When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem there was no room for them in the inn that night, but is there room for their child in our hearts today? Do we have the capacity to hold the love of God, wrapped in swaddling clothes in our heart, in our lives? The truth is that there will be days when we do this well, and there will be days when we might struggle doing so.
As we approach the beginning of a new year, we often take this as a time to take stock of our lives, especially thinking over the past year. We spend time in contemplation and discernment, determining what might need to be removed, restored, or refreshed in our lives. But, just as the magi came and worshipped, then went home by a different route, we should remember that we have come to the manger this season and worshipped, and perhaps it is time for us to travel back home by a different route, also.
Not different because there is a threat to the One whom we worship, but because the One we worship has changed us from who we were to who he knows we can be. The continuing story of the birth of Christ invites us to inquire where the King of kings fits in our daily routine. Do we acknowledge him on Sunday morning only? Or is he an integral part of our lives every single day?
Do we speak the name of Jesus as our Lord and Savior freely and lovingly, or do we hide that part of ourselves in certain company? Have we, on this journey, recognized our longings, learned to wait, acknowledged simplicity and humility are traits we desire, and come to care for the baby in a manger who would grow up to die on a cross for us?
Three wise “seekers” came to visit the newborn Christ. They were guided by a new star which they faithfully followed. On this last day of our series, the last Sunday of 2024, we must ask ourselves, “What are we seeking? Where is our attention focused? What new stars may be calling to us? Or, more importantly, whom do we seek?
Having found him, will we just go back to our old routines of life, or will we take this moment to understand more deeply how we can return home, not the same person, but, having come to Bethlehem and finding the newborn King, realizing we have been made new? We are renewed, we are restored by what we observed, where we went, and who we saw as we traveled together on our way to Bethlehem this year.
I pray that we are all made better for this journey we took together, made stronger for going together, made new by the baby who was born on that night long ago. I pray that we will continue our journey throughout the new year as we grow in our faith, support one another, use our gifts for the good of the church and the community around us to bring the light and the love of Jesus to everyone who does not yet know who he is, for their benefit and for the glory of the kingdom of God. Finally, Christ has come, and the world has not been the same ever since. Thankfully, when Christ is born in our hearts, we are never the same again, either. Thanks be to God. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of giving, thank you for giving us the gift of Jesus Christ. As we have journeyed through this Advent season, help us remember we also live with the expectation of the second Advent, the coming again of Jesus Christ, not as a baby, but as our King of kings, our Lord of lords. May we welcome him then as we have done these past weeks. May our hearts always have room for our Savior and may his presence within us make us a new creation. AMEN.
Series: On the Way to Bethlehem
Message: Persia: A Place of Return
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Our journey to Bethlehem has been accomplished. We began in Rome by discovering what it is we long for. We then moved on to Jerusalem where we learned waiting is not a waste of time but a holy sacred practice of drawing near to God. In Nazareth, we witnessed how simplicity of living can help clear the chaos and clutter from our lives and our hearts. Down the road in Bethlehem, in that humble little town, we found a stable where the Christ child laid wrapped in swaddling clothes, and we looked on as God displayed how much he cares for humanity in the giving of his only son.
Our journey through this Advent season was all about the places we stopped on the way to our destination. This week after Christmas, finds us caught between the feeling of “whew… we did it, we’ve arrived,” and “now that we are here, we never want to leave.” But life does go on, and our journey must continue. It is a rare person who sets off on a journey and does not make the return trip home.
Before we leave for home, though, we will witness the last of the visitors who came to worship the Messiah after he was born. Sometime after the birth of the baby in the manger, Matthew’s gospel tells us of these visitors who came to seek and find the King of the Jews. We don’t know how many there were in this party of travelers; by tradition, based upon the mentioned gifts that were given, we tend to imagine there were three.
We do not know exactly from where they came, but it is generally believed they came from the area of Persia, what we know today as Iran. Sometimes we call them magi, sometimes we call them kings, sometimes we refer to them as the wisemen. We don’t really know who or what they were. We do know they knew about the stars; they noticed a new star rising and they knew what it meant. They packed up and made ready for their own journey to see where this star would lead them, bringing gifts to pay homage to the one whom the Hebrew scriptures had told them they would find.
Were they Jews from old who had moved to a new land and lived there for generations? Were they simply learned men who knew of the world’s religions and studied them frequently? Again, we do not have a definitive answer to any of these questions. All we know is they knew the Hebrew scriptures, they knew how to read the stars, they understood the meaning of the new star they were suddenly seeing, and they decided to make a trip to see the new King for themselves.
They followed the star until they came to Jerusalem, and there they seem to have lost sight of it temporarily. If they hadn’t, they would not have needed to ask, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” We don’t ask for directions when we know the way, only when we are uncertain. They had no idea their innocent question would cause so much alarm.
Matthew tells us that when Herod heard the question he was frightened and all Jerusalem with him. The mood of the king sets the tone for the people over whom he rules. If Herod is scared, his people also become scared, because they don’t know what their leader may do. This was especially true for Herod, a paranoid king who would do anything to protect the little bit of power afforded to him when Rome set him up as king over the Jews in the area. Herod was so worried about anyone else trying to dethrone him that he was willing to kill to protect his position.
He had already ordered the execution of his wife, as well as her mother and grandfather. He even went so far as to murder three of his sons. The Roman emperor, Augustus, made the remark that “It is better to be Herod’s pig than his son,” because Herod’s ruthlessness and paranoia meant that no one was ever safe from his temper, his delusions, his insatiable need for control in order to retain his throne.
Herod immediately recognized the possibility of a threat in the magi’s inquiry. So, feigning cooperation, he called together his advisors, the chief priests and scribes, and passed the question to them. They told him that scripture said the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. Herod passed this information on to the men who were seeking and pointed them in the direction of the little town five miles down the road, with the request that after they had found the child they come back and let him know his exact location so he could also go and pay him homage to the new King.
Once the magi were on their way to Bethlehem, the star reappeared to them, and they followed it right to the place where Jesus was, and they found him with his mother. It is not likely they arrived at the stable on the night Jesus was born, they did not meet up with the shepherds who came to witness the baby the angels had told them about.
Matthew tells us that when the star they were following stopped, the magi were filled with joy at finding the right place and they entered the house, not a stable, saw the child with his mother, not an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes. They immediately knelt down and worshipped, then they opened their treasure chests and gave the child some very impressive gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We might think of these as peculiar gifts to give a baby, but they would prove quite valuable in helping the holy family live in Egypt where the angel told them to flee as they escaped from Herod to save their child’s life.
For their part, the magi, after having presented their gifts, were warned in a dream not to return to their home by the route from which they came. The angel revealed that Herod had no plan to worship the child but to kill him to protect his own power. When the magi awoke, they headed home, taking a different road, as directed. They had made their journey, now it was time to be on their way home, but they were leaving different people from who they were before they arrived; now they had seen the Messiah and knew who he was.
What about us, as we prepare to leave this Advent season and return to our regular lives? What have we learned from our journey that has changed us? No one can truly approach the manger of the Christ child without coming away a different person. That is the reason Jesus came in the first place – to change the world by changing its people. We have come, we have seen, we have witnessed, we cannot be the same.
When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem there was no room for them in the inn that night, but is there room for their child in our hearts today? Do we have the capacity to hold the love of God, wrapped in swaddling clothes in our heart, in our lives? The truth is that there will be days when we do this well, and there will be days when we might struggle doing so.
As we approach the beginning of a new year, we often take this as a time to take stock of our lives, especially thinking over the past year. We spend time in contemplation and discernment, determining what might need to be removed, restored, or refreshed in our lives. But, just as the magi came and worshipped, then went home by a different route, we should remember that we have come to the manger this season and worshipped, and perhaps it is time for us to travel back home by a different route, also.
Not different because there is a threat to the One whom we worship, but because the One we worship has changed us from who we were to who he knows we can be. The continuing story of the birth of Christ invites us to inquire where the King of kings fits in our daily routine. Do we acknowledge him on Sunday morning only? Or is he an integral part of our lives every single day?
Do we speak the name of Jesus as our Lord and Savior freely and lovingly, or do we hide that part of ourselves in certain company? Have we, on this journey, recognized our longings, learned to wait, acknowledged simplicity and humility are traits we desire, and come to care for the baby in a manger who would grow up to die on a cross for us?
Three wise “seekers” came to visit the newborn Christ. They were guided by a new star which they faithfully followed. On this last day of our series, the last Sunday of 2024, we must ask ourselves, “What are we seeking? Where is our attention focused? What new stars may be calling to us? Or, more importantly, whom do we seek?
Having found him, will we just go back to our old routines of life, or will we take this moment to understand more deeply how we can return home, not the same person, but, having come to Bethlehem and finding the newborn King, realizing we have been made new? We are renewed, we are restored by what we observed, where we went, and who we saw as we traveled together on our way to Bethlehem this year.
I pray that we are all made better for this journey we took together, made stronger for going together, made new by the baby who was born on that night long ago. I pray that we will continue our journey throughout the new year as we grow in our faith, support one another, use our gifts for the good of the church and the community around us to bring the light and the love of Jesus to everyone who does not yet know who he is, for their benefit and for the glory of the kingdom of God. Finally, Christ has come, and the world has not been the same ever since. Thankfully, when Christ is born in our hearts, we are never the same again, either. Thanks be to God. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of giving, thank you for giving us the gift of Jesus Christ. As we have journeyed through this Advent season, help us remember we also live with the expectation of the second Advent, the coming again of Jesus Christ, not as a baby, but as our King of kings, our Lord of lords. May we welcome him then as we have done these past weeks. May our hearts always have room for our Savior and may his presence within us make us a new creation. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY December 22, 2024, CONTINUED A SERMON SERIES CALLED "on the way to bethlehem" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "bETHLEHEM: a pLACE OF hUMILITY".
December 22, 2024
Series: On the Way to Bethlehem
Message: Bethlehem: A Place of Humility
Scripture: Luke 2:1-5
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.
Romans 13:8-12
Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Well, we’ve made it to Bethlehem. You probably didn’t realize where we were on our journey since we had such a great time last week watching Jill direct her cast and crew in a behind the scenes look at the Christmas story. Now we know why car manufacturers started putting video screens in minivans; they keep the kids occupied and the drive goes better. Before you know it, you have arrived at your destination. So, here we are.
We don’t get a lot of information in today’s verses about the decree that required all people to return to the towns of their ancestors to be counted for the purpose of being taxed. Perhaps in our minds we think the decree was issued and the next day the great migrations began, but that is not likely what happened.
Rome is 1400 miles from Jerusalem, and Nazareth is another 90 miles further down the road from there. Communication wasn’t instant as it is now. It is estimated that the decree from Caesar Augustus may have been issued a year or more before word reached Nazareth, months before Mary and Joseph each received their angelic visitations. It was probably several weeks after hearing the news that the newly married couple, expecting their first child, packed up and began the 90-mile, weeklong trek to Bethlehem.
It is amazing, really, when you think about how everything had to play out in a precise fashion for Jesus to be born in the tiny little town of Bethlehem. A decree from Rome by the highest authority affected the lives of two poor newlyweds, requiring them to move to Bethlehem temporarily, which led to the fulfillment of the prophesy from Micah who wrote, “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days,” and from Jeremiah, “I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
Micah’s prophesy came about 700 years before the birth of Jesus, and Jeremiah’s from about 600 years before. But why Bethlehem? Shouldn’t a king come from an important city? Especially the King of Kings, the Messiah?
The answer to why Bethlehem can be traced back to 1200 years before Jesus was born. That was when a widow named Naomi returned to her hometown of Bethlehem from the land of Moab, bringing with her a woman named Ruth, a Moabite, her widowed daughter in law.
We know Naomi and Ruth’s story, how Ruth went out to glean in the fields and happened to find herself in the field of Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s, a family redeemer. Ruth caught Boaz’s attention. He favored her, protected her, and eventually married her, and they had a son, whom they named Obed. Obed would eventually have a son of his own, Jesse, who would grow up and have several sons, the youngest of whom was named David.
David would go on to be king, ruling the Israelites from Jerusalem, but he came from a little place 90 miles outside that city, a place called Bethlehem. Both Matthew and Luke, the only two gospel writers who include any information about the birth of the Messiah, provide a genealogy from Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, all the way back to King David. Since Joseph was a descendant of David, when Caesar Augustus issued that decree Joseph was required to travel to Bethlehem for the census, putting him and Mary in the right place at the right time.
It probably didn’t feel like the right place or the right time for either of them, though. Traveling was not easy. We typically think of Mary riding on a donkey into Bethlehem, and perhaps she did ride sometimes, but she would have also walked a great deal of the time. And even when she did ride, how comfortable could that have been? Walk until you get tired, then ride until your backside is tired, back and forth, back and forth.
They would have had to sleep on the ground, eat whatever they had brought with them, and hope they didn’t run out of water on the way. Now, here they are in Bethlehem, the little sleepy town that was suddenly teeming with people. This normally quiet little town was bursting at the seams with people who had come for the same reason they had – because they had no choice.
Maybe, if they had gotten the news sooner, or had made travel arrangements a little faster, or had been able to travel more quickly, they would have had a nice, warm, safe place to stay. But now was not the time to think about all the could haves and should haves; now was the time to find somewhere, anywhere, to stay. A place to sleep, a place to be out of the weather, a place out of the crowds and the chaos, a place for their baby to be born.
I wonder, as all this was going on, what the two of them were thinking? What were they saying to one another? They had both been visited by an angel, right? They had listened, accepted, and obeyed the messages each had been given. Now, here they are, in a situation that doesn’t feel like a blessing in any way, shape, or form. Where was God in this? If this was his Son whom Mary was carrying, shouldn’t God have provided a better place for him to be born?
After Jesus was born, and Mary wrapped him in those swaddling clothes and laid him in that manger, did she wonder if she had gotten the message wrong? No mother ever dreams of delivering her child in a stable, surrounded by animals, with no soft blankets or a comfortable crib to lay the baby in. Did she and Joseph ever feel like God had abandoned them? Have we ever felt that way?
Have we ever had a moment, or a season, when we wonder if we have been abandoned by God? I mean, we try to live faithful lives, so why do we have to endure so much hardship, sickness, worry, strife, pain? Where is God in all the hard stuff? Is God even with us in our hardest times?
Yes, God is with us, always. And even in our hard times, God still finds ways to bless us. Let’s go back to Naomi for a minute. As a woman who had lost her husband and both of her sons, she felt like God had abandoned her. She said to Ruth and Orpah, “the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Naomi was a woman who had lost everything, even hope.
In fact, Naomi had not lost everything. Yes, she had suffered great loss in her life, but those words she spoke were to her two daughters-in-law as she tried to convince them to return to their family homes while she traveled back to Bethlehem. In Naomi’s grief and pain, she did not recognize that God had blessed her with these two women. When she first tried to send them away, both refused to leave her. It took more pleading before Orpah finally relented and left her, but no matter what she said or how she pleaded, Ruth refused to leave Naomi.
She could not see, in that moment, that God was working out an even bigger blessing for her. God was already setting the stage for Ruth to meet Boaz, for a marriage to take place, for a child to be born. Naomi could not know what God had planned for her then, but she did finally recognize his work as she held her grandchild in her arms, and so did the women of Bethlehem. When the women saw baby Obed cradled in Naomi’s arms, they said to her, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin.”
Sometimes, when we are in distress, it takes other people to open our eyes to what God has given us. The women reminded Naomi of the blessing God had given her through Ruth. It wasn’t a flashy blessing that came with a sign and marquee lights, it was a humble, gradual shifting of circumstances from being a woman who felt alone and abandoned by God to a woman surrounded by friends, loved by her daughter in law, and gifted with life and joy through a baby. Over time, Naomi was able to realize God had never left her, he had been with her all along.
I told you a few weeks ago about the group of friends who were so dear to me for a season of my life and whom I no longer see. When that happened, I was so confused. I wondered how God could have given me such good friends and strong supporters to then just move me past that season and into one where there was no longer a connection.
What I have come to realize is that if God hadn’t made this change, I would not have been able to be the person he wants me to be today. I can now see the blessing in what God did then, but at the time, it sure didn’t feel like a blessing; it was so very hard to accept. But God’s plan was so much bigger than I had ever dreamed for myself. God used my circumstances to make a way for me to serve him through pastoral ministry.
God had a plan for Naomi that included her being back in Bethlehem, so God used her circumstances to get her there. God had a plan for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem and so he used the circumstances of a Roman decree to get Mary and Joseph to the place where they needed to be right when they needed to be there.
That night, the night Jesus was born, Neither Mary nor Jospeh heard angels sing, no special light shone upon them in that stable, the animals made no great announcement about the birth of God’s son. Perhaps in the still, quiet, darkness of that night after Jesus was born, the new parents wondered where was God in all this? Perhaps they wondered if he was even aware of them, or that the baby had come.
Meanwhile, outside of Bethlehem, in a field of sheep, there were shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks. They were there to protect the sheep, keeping them safe from predators, making sure they did not wander off on their own. It was just an ordinary night, until suddenly it was anything but ordinary.
One minute it was dark and quiet, and the next, there stood an angel announcing to them the birth of the Messiah and telling them where he could be found and how he would look, “you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger? Well, that was an exact description of what they did to the most perfect of the lambs when they were born, to protect them and help them grow up to be used in the Temple sacrifices. The shepherds understood exactly what this news meant.
Then, suddenly there was no longer just one angel, there was a whole host of angels praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those he favors!” Then the angels left them to go back from where they came, and the shepherds wasted no time. They left at once for Bethlehem to seek and find this child.
You know, we spend a lot of time talking about how awesome it was for the shepherds to be the first ones to receive the birth announcement of the Messiah, but maybe there was more to their part in the story.
In that quiet stable, with a new baby and questions running through their minds, Mary and Joseph were visited, not by an angelic host, but by a band of shepherds. As the shepherds told the couple what had happened out in the field, and what the angel had said to them, Mary and Joseph realized that God had not abandoned them after all. The testimony of the shepherds reminded the new parents that it isn’t the circumstances that matter, it is the child himself who matters to God. They were blessed by the visit of the shepherds as much as the shepherds had been blessed by their visit from the angels.
So, why Bethlehem? Why wasn’t the Savior of the world born in a lively, important city in a regal palace as we would have expected? Because God’s gift was for everyone – everyone who would realize the need for him. Rob Fuquay writes, “God blesses those who recognize their need to be blessed. God blesses those who understand their need for God is more important than wealth, success, or recognition.” That is the real reason God chose for his Son, the Messiah, the Savior, to be born in a little town called Bethlehem.
Bethlehem represents how Jesus ministered to others while he lived among us. Jesus was concerned for the least, the lost, the lonely, those who were outcasts from society, those who lived humble lives. Jesus healed lepers, he saved a fallen woman from stoning, he showed grace to tax collectors, he stopped the bleeding of a woman who had suffered for 18 years. Jesus gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the lame, and love to everyone. Because Jesus was accessible, people flocked to him.
Imagine if he had been born in a palace, raised as a prince. He would have been groomed into high society where people had everything that they thought they needed. He would have been cushioned, protected, and separated from the very people for whom he had come to bring light and love and hope.
Yes, it is true that Jesus came for all people but think about the majority of folks who followed him because of faith. Very few were wealthy, very few were educated. Most were poor, oppressed, outcasts of society who knew they needed saving. Jesus came to heal those who knew they needed healing, not those who thought they were just fine as they were. Bethlehem was the perfect place for the Messiah to be born.
Bethlehem was a humble, quiet little town, known only for being the “House of Bread,” which is the meaning of the name Bethlehem. Their grains were easily accessible to bigger markets because of nearby trade routes. How fitting that the Bread of Life was born in a town that is called House of Bread. Humble, unassuming, welcoming, life-giving, these are all words that describe the little town of Bethlehem. They are also words that fittingly describe the Messiah who was born there.
Isn’t it amazing how God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose? A child is born, restoring faith and hope to a Jewish woman; a king comes from the line of that child; prophesies tell of a future king and where he will be born; a Roman emperor gives a decree; an angel visits a betrothed couple; a journey to Bethlehem brings about the fulfillment of prophesy. In Bethlehem a child is born, a Son is given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In Advent, we wait for Jesus’ birth, we celebrate that he was born, and we wait for his return, and while we wait, we praise God for all the blessings he pours out upon us, those we recognize and those we cannot see until someone else points them out to us, because Good is always with us and God is always good. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, on this day, as Christmas Ever draws near, help us to remember the reason we celebrate this season. It isn’t about the tree, the presents, or the food, it is about the gift that was given on a cold, dark night so long ago, when the quiet of the evening was broken by the cry of a baby and an angelic announcement. Thank you for the gift of Jesus, the Messiah, born to be a humble King, willing to become the Savior of the world. It is a priceless gift, and in return, we give to you the only gift we can, our lives and our hearts. AMEN.
References
Fuquay, Rob. On the Way to Bethlehem. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2024.
Series: On the Way to Bethlehem
Message: Bethlehem: A Place of Humility
Scripture: Luke 2:1-5
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.
Romans 13:8-12
Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Well, we’ve made it to Bethlehem. You probably didn’t realize where we were on our journey since we had such a great time last week watching Jill direct her cast and crew in a behind the scenes look at the Christmas story. Now we know why car manufacturers started putting video screens in minivans; they keep the kids occupied and the drive goes better. Before you know it, you have arrived at your destination. So, here we are.
We don’t get a lot of information in today’s verses about the decree that required all people to return to the towns of their ancestors to be counted for the purpose of being taxed. Perhaps in our minds we think the decree was issued and the next day the great migrations began, but that is not likely what happened.
Rome is 1400 miles from Jerusalem, and Nazareth is another 90 miles further down the road from there. Communication wasn’t instant as it is now. It is estimated that the decree from Caesar Augustus may have been issued a year or more before word reached Nazareth, months before Mary and Joseph each received their angelic visitations. It was probably several weeks after hearing the news that the newly married couple, expecting their first child, packed up and began the 90-mile, weeklong trek to Bethlehem.
It is amazing, really, when you think about how everything had to play out in a precise fashion for Jesus to be born in the tiny little town of Bethlehem. A decree from Rome by the highest authority affected the lives of two poor newlyweds, requiring them to move to Bethlehem temporarily, which led to the fulfillment of the prophesy from Micah who wrote, “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days,” and from Jeremiah, “I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
Micah’s prophesy came about 700 years before the birth of Jesus, and Jeremiah’s from about 600 years before. But why Bethlehem? Shouldn’t a king come from an important city? Especially the King of Kings, the Messiah?
The answer to why Bethlehem can be traced back to 1200 years before Jesus was born. That was when a widow named Naomi returned to her hometown of Bethlehem from the land of Moab, bringing with her a woman named Ruth, a Moabite, her widowed daughter in law.
We know Naomi and Ruth’s story, how Ruth went out to glean in the fields and happened to find herself in the field of Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s, a family redeemer. Ruth caught Boaz’s attention. He favored her, protected her, and eventually married her, and they had a son, whom they named Obed. Obed would eventually have a son of his own, Jesse, who would grow up and have several sons, the youngest of whom was named David.
David would go on to be king, ruling the Israelites from Jerusalem, but he came from a little place 90 miles outside that city, a place called Bethlehem. Both Matthew and Luke, the only two gospel writers who include any information about the birth of the Messiah, provide a genealogy from Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, all the way back to King David. Since Joseph was a descendant of David, when Caesar Augustus issued that decree Joseph was required to travel to Bethlehem for the census, putting him and Mary in the right place at the right time.
It probably didn’t feel like the right place or the right time for either of them, though. Traveling was not easy. We typically think of Mary riding on a donkey into Bethlehem, and perhaps she did ride sometimes, but she would have also walked a great deal of the time. And even when she did ride, how comfortable could that have been? Walk until you get tired, then ride until your backside is tired, back and forth, back and forth.
They would have had to sleep on the ground, eat whatever they had brought with them, and hope they didn’t run out of water on the way. Now, here they are in Bethlehem, the little sleepy town that was suddenly teeming with people. This normally quiet little town was bursting at the seams with people who had come for the same reason they had – because they had no choice.
Maybe, if they had gotten the news sooner, or had made travel arrangements a little faster, or had been able to travel more quickly, they would have had a nice, warm, safe place to stay. But now was not the time to think about all the could haves and should haves; now was the time to find somewhere, anywhere, to stay. A place to sleep, a place to be out of the weather, a place out of the crowds and the chaos, a place for their baby to be born.
I wonder, as all this was going on, what the two of them were thinking? What were they saying to one another? They had both been visited by an angel, right? They had listened, accepted, and obeyed the messages each had been given. Now, here they are, in a situation that doesn’t feel like a blessing in any way, shape, or form. Where was God in this? If this was his Son whom Mary was carrying, shouldn’t God have provided a better place for him to be born?
After Jesus was born, and Mary wrapped him in those swaddling clothes and laid him in that manger, did she wonder if she had gotten the message wrong? No mother ever dreams of delivering her child in a stable, surrounded by animals, with no soft blankets or a comfortable crib to lay the baby in. Did she and Joseph ever feel like God had abandoned them? Have we ever felt that way?
Have we ever had a moment, or a season, when we wonder if we have been abandoned by God? I mean, we try to live faithful lives, so why do we have to endure so much hardship, sickness, worry, strife, pain? Where is God in all the hard stuff? Is God even with us in our hardest times?
Yes, God is with us, always. And even in our hard times, God still finds ways to bless us. Let’s go back to Naomi for a minute. As a woman who had lost her husband and both of her sons, she felt like God had abandoned her. She said to Ruth and Orpah, “the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Naomi was a woman who had lost everything, even hope.
In fact, Naomi had not lost everything. Yes, she had suffered great loss in her life, but those words she spoke were to her two daughters-in-law as she tried to convince them to return to their family homes while she traveled back to Bethlehem. In Naomi’s grief and pain, she did not recognize that God had blessed her with these two women. When she first tried to send them away, both refused to leave her. It took more pleading before Orpah finally relented and left her, but no matter what she said or how she pleaded, Ruth refused to leave Naomi.
She could not see, in that moment, that God was working out an even bigger blessing for her. God was already setting the stage for Ruth to meet Boaz, for a marriage to take place, for a child to be born. Naomi could not know what God had planned for her then, but she did finally recognize his work as she held her grandchild in her arms, and so did the women of Bethlehem. When the women saw baby Obed cradled in Naomi’s arms, they said to her, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin.”
Sometimes, when we are in distress, it takes other people to open our eyes to what God has given us. The women reminded Naomi of the blessing God had given her through Ruth. It wasn’t a flashy blessing that came with a sign and marquee lights, it was a humble, gradual shifting of circumstances from being a woman who felt alone and abandoned by God to a woman surrounded by friends, loved by her daughter in law, and gifted with life and joy through a baby. Over time, Naomi was able to realize God had never left her, he had been with her all along.
I told you a few weeks ago about the group of friends who were so dear to me for a season of my life and whom I no longer see. When that happened, I was so confused. I wondered how God could have given me such good friends and strong supporters to then just move me past that season and into one where there was no longer a connection.
What I have come to realize is that if God hadn’t made this change, I would not have been able to be the person he wants me to be today. I can now see the blessing in what God did then, but at the time, it sure didn’t feel like a blessing; it was so very hard to accept. But God’s plan was so much bigger than I had ever dreamed for myself. God used my circumstances to make a way for me to serve him through pastoral ministry.
God had a plan for Naomi that included her being back in Bethlehem, so God used her circumstances to get her there. God had a plan for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem and so he used the circumstances of a Roman decree to get Mary and Joseph to the place where they needed to be right when they needed to be there.
That night, the night Jesus was born, Neither Mary nor Jospeh heard angels sing, no special light shone upon them in that stable, the animals made no great announcement about the birth of God’s son. Perhaps in the still, quiet, darkness of that night after Jesus was born, the new parents wondered where was God in all this? Perhaps they wondered if he was even aware of them, or that the baby had come.
Meanwhile, outside of Bethlehem, in a field of sheep, there were shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks. They were there to protect the sheep, keeping them safe from predators, making sure they did not wander off on their own. It was just an ordinary night, until suddenly it was anything but ordinary.
One minute it was dark and quiet, and the next, there stood an angel announcing to them the birth of the Messiah and telling them where he could be found and how he would look, “you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger? Well, that was an exact description of what they did to the most perfect of the lambs when they were born, to protect them and help them grow up to be used in the Temple sacrifices. The shepherds understood exactly what this news meant.
Then, suddenly there was no longer just one angel, there was a whole host of angels praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those he favors!” Then the angels left them to go back from where they came, and the shepherds wasted no time. They left at once for Bethlehem to seek and find this child.
You know, we spend a lot of time talking about how awesome it was for the shepherds to be the first ones to receive the birth announcement of the Messiah, but maybe there was more to their part in the story.
In that quiet stable, with a new baby and questions running through their minds, Mary and Joseph were visited, not by an angelic host, but by a band of shepherds. As the shepherds told the couple what had happened out in the field, and what the angel had said to them, Mary and Joseph realized that God had not abandoned them after all. The testimony of the shepherds reminded the new parents that it isn’t the circumstances that matter, it is the child himself who matters to God. They were blessed by the visit of the shepherds as much as the shepherds had been blessed by their visit from the angels.
So, why Bethlehem? Why wasn’t the Savior of the world born in a lively, important city in a regal palace as we would have expected? Because God’s gift was for everyone – everyone who would realize the need for him. Rob Fuquay writes, “God blesses those who recognize their need to be blessed. God blesses those who understand their need for God is more important than wealth, success, or recognition.” That is the real reason God chose for his Son, the Messiah, the Savior, to be born in a little town called Bethlehem.
Bethlehem represents how Jesus ministered to others while he lived among us. Jesus was concerned for the least, the lost, the lonely, those who were outcasts from society, those who lived humble lives. Jesus healed lepers, he saved a fallen woman from stoning, he showed grace to tax collectors, he stopped the bleeding of a woman who had suffered for 18 years. Jesus gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the lame, and love to everyone. Because Jesus was accessible, people flocked to him.
Imagine if he had been born in a palace, raised as a prince. He would have been groomed into high society where people had everything that they thought they needed. He would have been cushioned, protected, and separated from the very people for whom he had come to bring light and love and hope.
Yes, it is true that Jesus came for all people but think about the majority of folks who followed him because of faith. Very few were wealthy, very few were educated. Most were poor, oppressed, outcasts of society who knew they needed saving. Jesus came to heal those who knew they needed healing, not those who thought they were just fine as they were. Bethlehem was the perfect place for the Messiah to be born.
Bethlehem was a humble, quiet little town, known only for being the “House of Bread,” which is the meaning of the name Bethlehem. Their grains were easily accessible to bigger markets because of nearby trade routes. How fitting that the Bread of Life was born in a town that is called House of Bread. Humble, unassuming, welcoming, life-giving, these are all words that describe the little town of Bethlehem. They are also words that fittingly describe the Messiah who was born there.
Isn’t it amazing how God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose? A child is born, restoring faith and hope to a Jewish woman; a king comes from the line of that child; prophesies tell of a future king and where he will be born; a Roman emperor gives a decree; an angel visits a betrothed couple; a journey to Bethlehem brings about the fulfillment of prophesy. In Bethlehem a child is born, a Son is given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In Advent, we wait for Jesus’ birth, we celebrate that he was born, and we wait for his return, and while we wait, we praise God for all the blessings he pours out upon us, those we recognize and those we cannot see until someone else points them out to us, because Good is always with us and God is always good. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, on this day, as Christmas Ever draws near, help us to remember the reason we celebrate this season. It isn’t about the tree, the presents, or the food, it is about the gift that was given on a cold, dark night so long ago, when the quiet of the evening was broken by the cry of a baby and an angelic announcement. Thank you for the gift of Jesus, the Messiah, born to be a humble King, willing to become the Savior of the world. It is a priceless gift, and in return, we give to you the only gift we can, our lives and our hearts. AMEN.
References
Fuquay, Rob. On the Way to Bethlehem. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2024.
THERE WAS NO SERMON BECAUSE WE PRESENTED OUR cHRISTMAS pLAY!
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY December 8, 2024, CONTINUED A SERMON SERIES CALLED "on the way to bethlehem" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "A PLACE OF WAITING".
December 8, 2024
Series: On the Way to Bethlehem
Message: Jerusalem: A Place of Waiting
Scripture: Luke 1:5-17
In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
8 Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
1400 miles. That is how far we have traveled this week from Rome to Jerusalem. We have arrived ahead of the announcement about the census and the order for all men to be counted. We have arrived on a momentous day for one of the descendants of Aaron.
Jerusalem is a city whose people are waiting. Most are waiting for the long-promised Messiah. Many are waiting for the day when Rome will no longer rule over them. Some, like Zechariah, are waiting to see whose name will be drawn by lot to enter the Holy Place in the Temple and light the incense to God.
It is estimated that a priest had a one in six hundred chance of his name being drawn. It was the chance of a lifetime. Each year, only fourteen priests from each division of priests was chosen to do this work; most would never be picked for this sacred job. But on this particular day, Zechariah was chosen. Zechariah was a descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses, and from the line of Abijah.
From today’s scripture, we also learn that Zechariah is married to a woman named Elizabeth, also descended from Aaron, and that God considered them both to be righteous, both living blameless lives, both upholding the laws and regulations of the Lord. We also learn that they were both “getting on in years,” and that they had no children because Elizabeth was barren.
How heartbreaking for them to have no children in a day and age where the culture placed such an emphasis on offspring. How many years had they been hoping and praying and waiting for a baby? Did they even have any hope left at this point? Had they finally accepted that this was the way it was to be and resigned themselves to the point where they no longer discussed a child, no longer prayed for a miracle?
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that God may have plans he has not revealed to us. Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for years and now assumed God’s answer was “no.” They were about to find out that God had simply said, “Not yet.”
Zechariah and his particular section of priests came on duty this day, a day like any other, and much to his surprise and delight, Zechariah’s name was chosen to be the one to enter the Holy Place, to empty the ashes from yesterday’s incense burning, to pour fresh incense into the gold bowl and light it so its pleasing aroma would reach God, representing the prayers of the people. Zechariah had waited for this day since he first became old enough to serve as a priest to the people.
Have you ever waited for something for so long that you didn’t really think you’d ever get it? I remember when I first started seminary and discovered that as part of the Masters of Divinity program, I would be required to go on an intercultural trip. The three options were Cuba, Zimbabwe, or Israel. I immediately knew which one was for me.
I have wanted to go to the Holy Land for as long as I can remember. To be in a place that is so old, to see the Temple Mount, the city of Jerusalem, the Western wall, was beyond exciting to me. Jesus had been there! I wanted to go where Jesus had been. I wanted to see the place, experience the sights and sounds, walk the streets. I couldn’t wait to go.
Then Covid changed our world. Trips were cancelled. No one was going anywhere. Those who were set to graduate that year had to write a twenty-page paper in lieu of their trip. The next year, the trip was cancelled again. That year, the graduates took a “virtual” trip. They stayed at home and watched on their laptops while a guide took them around the city and into various parts of Israel.
I was set to finish my classes in December of 2021, but that summer, the seminary announced that there was a live trip planned for January 2022. I got permission to defer graduation until May so that I could go on the trip. I couldn’t wait! Then, right before Christmas, it was announced that the trip was once again cancelled. I was devastated.
Now, I had to do the virtual trip to fulfill graduation requirements. I saw my hopes and dreams of traveling to the Holy Land evaporate with one email. I just knew this was my only chance and it had just been nixed. I endured the virtual trip and graduated in May, happy to be done, but still sad about an unfulfilled dream.
As I was packing up to make the move here, I got a notice that the seminary was refunding to students the difference between what we had paid for the actual trips we had planned and the cost of the virtual trip. That same week, God placed an opportunity in my lap that reopened my hopes for going to Israel. The refund more than covered all my expenses, I finally got to go to a place I had only dreamed of going, and I got to go with some friends. God hadn’t said “no,” he had said “wait.” His plan was so much better than mine had been.
Waiting is hard. Remember when we were kids waiting for Christmas to come? Oh, the excitement. We counted the days until school was out, then the days left till Christmas, then the hours until it would be morning. Waiting is hard for kids, but it is also hard for grownups.
Zechariah and Elizabeth had been waiting for so long for a child that they had given up hope it would happen, after all, they were too old now. Zechariah had waited for years to see if he would ever be chosen to serve in the Holy Place in the Temple. Zechariah was about to see that God hadn’t said “no” to either prayer, he had only said, “not yet.”
That day, when the lot was drawn, Zechariah’s name was called. As he prepared himself and entered the special space in the Temple where the incense was burned, all the rest of the priests remained outside in prayer. Suddenly, as Zecharia was performing his sacred duty, he discovered he was not alone.
An angel was with him, standing on the right side of the altar where the incense was burned. Zechariah was terrified; who could blame him? One second it was just him, then the next there is an angelic visitor.
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah,” the angel reassured him, “Your prayers, yours and Elizabeth’s have been heard and God has said now is the time.” The angel then said something so surprising that Zechariah could scarcely believe him, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to name him John.”
The angel didn’t stop there. He went on to say, “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah hadn’t even gotten over his shock at the news that he would finally be a father, now the angel was saying something more, instructing Zechariah how to raise the boy, and proclaiming that he would be well-known by the people and used by God to prepare themselves for the coming of the long-awaited Messiah.
Reeling from all this news, Zechariah now says the one thing almost any of us might have said, if we were in his place, “How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” In effect, he is saying, don’t toy with me here. I’m old, Elizabeth is old, how can I be sure you are telling the truth? Are you sure you’re talking to the right person here?
We’ve all heard the adage, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” and this is where Zechariah is now. He’s probably expecting the angel to say, “Oh, sorry, my bad, that message was for someone else. So sorry for the mix up.” But that is not what the angel said.
Instead, this is what Zechariah heard, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.” Oops! Just like that, Gabriel’s prediction came true. Zechariah could not speak.
When he finally emerged from the sanctuary, his fellow priests, who were beginning to worry about what was taking so long, immediately knew something special had just taken place, but Zechariah could not convey to them what he had just experienced. He finished out his time in the rotation in silence, and then went home to Elizabeth.
Zechariah and Elizabeth had been waiting for a baby their entire married lives, now they only had to wait nine more months. I wonder which waiting was harder. Waiting, any kind of waiting is hard. And here in Jerusalem, we can’t help but notice the history of waiting for these people called God’s Chosen.
Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, Abraham and Sarah had waited for decades for a child. Joseph waited in prison for several years before the king’s cup bearer remembered him and he was let out of prison to later become second in command in Egypt. The Israelites had to wait four hundred years to be set free from Egyptian rule, then they waited for forty years in the wilderness before they could enter the Promised Land.
In the time of Zechariah, the whole nation of Israel had been waiting for thousands of years for the arrival of the promised Messiah and they had been waiting for about four hundred years for a prophetic word from God, and Simeon and Anna were waiting daily in the Temple for God’s sign of salvation even before Zechariah’s visit from Gabriel.
When Jesus ascended to heaven, he told the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and we are in the season of Advent, a season of waiting to celebrate the birth of the baby who has already been born, and waiting for the promise of the return of Jesus Christ.
Waiting is hard, but it is not meant to be a time of doing nothing. Even in the waiting, we can find ways to be about the work of the kingdom of God. Waiting is not wasted time, it is an opportunity to draw closer to God, to increase our faith and trust, to sit quietly in God’s presence to hear his message for us today. Waiting can be holy and sacred. It is a time, a season, of preparation.
When we wait for a baby to be born, we furnish the nursery and stock up on necessities. When we wait for Christmas, we make lists, shop for gifts and wrap them, buy food and cook it, sign cards and send them. In this season of Advent, we are preparing our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus even as we patiently wait for his second coming, and as we wait, we share the Good News of the saving grace of God through that baby who would become the Savior of the world.
We live in a season of waiting for the hope of this promise to be fulfilled, knowing it will, wondering when. It is in the waiting that we can examine the longings we recognized last week in Rome and realize that while waiting may not be an easy thing to do, it can be a time of spiritual growth. Waiting can bring us a peace and a heightened awareness of God, if we let it. Waiting is also a reminder that God’s plans for us really are better than what we have planned for ourselves.
I got to realize my dream of going to Israel, but not in the way I thought I would. Frankly, I am grateful for the delay, because I know when I did finally get to go, my experience was so much better because of the people with whom I traveled and the new friendships I was blessed to receive.
We all have longings that we live with, hopes we dream of, and waiting we endure. In this season of Advent, we are more aware of how we are waiting for Jesus, and so, in our waiting, we cry out, Come, Lord Jesus. Come Emmanuel. And as we wait, we share the Good News with others who will then learn to wait with us. This is a holy, sacred time of waiting and we thank God for it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord, in our waiting, we cry out come, Lord Jesus, and we hope for him to come soon. We pray for his return, and we wonder at the delay. Holy God, in this season of waiting, help us to not waste the opportunity to grow closer to you, to shine your light and love into the world around us, and to honor you in all we do. As we wait, may we be about the work of your kingdom here on earth, until the day your answer changes from “Not yet,” to “Right now.” For your glory forever, AMEN.
Series: On the Way to Bethlehem
Message: Jerusalem: A Place of Waiting
Scripture: Luke 1:5-17
In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
8 Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
1400 miles. That is how far we have traveled this week from Rome to Jerusalem. We have arrived ahead of the announcement about the census and the order for all men to be counted. We have arrived on a momentous day for one of the descendants of Aaron.
Jerusalem is a city whose people are waiting. Most are waiting for the long-promised Messiah. Many are waiting for the day when Rome will no longer rule over them. Some, like Zechariah, are waiting to see whose name will be drawn by lot to enter the Holy Place in the Temple and light the incense to God.
It is estimated that a priest had a one in six hundred chance of his name being drawn. It was the chance of a lifetime. Each year, only fourteen priests from each division of priests was chosen to do this work; most would never be picked for this sacred job. But on this particular day, Zechariah was chosen. Zechariah was a descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses, and from the line of Abijah.
From today’s scripture, we also learn that Zechariah is married to a woman named Elizabeth, also descended from Aaron, and that God considered them both to be righteous, both living blameless lives, both upholding the laws and regulations of the Lord. We also learn that they were both “getting on in years,” and that they had no children because Elizabeth was barren.
How heartbreaking for them to have no children in a day and age where the culture placed such an emphasis on offspring. How many years had they been hoping and praying and waiting for a baby? Did they even have any hope left at this point? Had they finally accepted that this was the way it was to be and resigned themselves to the point where they no longer discussed a child, no longer prayed for a miracle?
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that God may have plans he has not revealed to us. Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for years and now assumed God’s answer was “no.” They were about to find out that God had simply said, “Not yet.”
Zechariah and his particular section of priests came on duty this day, a day like any other, and much to his surprise and delight, Zechariah’s name was chosen to be the one to enter the Holy Place, to empty the ashes from yesterday’s incense burning, to pour fresh incense into the gold bowl and light it so its pleasing aroma would reach God, representing the prayers of the people. Zechariah had waited for this day since he first became old enough to serve as a priest to the people.
Have you ever waited for something for so long that you didn’t really think you’d ever get it? I remember when I first started seminary and discovered that as part of the Masters of Divinity program, I would be required to go on an intercultural trip. The three options were Cuba, Zimbabwe, or Israel. I immediately knew which one was for me.
I have wanted to go to the Holy Land for as long as I can remember. To be in a place that is so old, to see the Temple Mount, the city of Jerusalem, the Western wall, was beyond exciting to me. Jesus had been there! I wanted to go where Jesus had been. I wanted to see the place, experience the sights and sounds, walk the streets. I couldn’t wait to go.
Then Covid changed our world. Trips were cancelled. No one was going anywhere. Those who were set to graduate that year had to write a twenty-page paper in lieu of their trip. The next year, the trip was cancelled again. That year, the graduates took a “virtual” trip. They stayed at home and watched on their laptops while a guide took them around the city and into various parts of Israel.
I was set to finish my classes in December of 2021, but that summer, the seminary announced that there was a live trip planned for January 2022. I got permission to defer graduation until May so that I could go on the trip. I couldn’t wait! Then, right before Christmas, it was announced that the trip was once again cancelled. I was devastated.
Now, I had to do the virtual trip to fulfill graduation requirements. I saw my hopes and dreams of traveling to the Holy Land evaporate with one email. I just knew this was my only chance and it had just been nixed. I endured the virtual trip and graduated in May, happy to be done, but still sad about an unfulfilled dream.
As I was packing up to make the move here, I got a notice that the seminary was refunding to students the difference between what we had paid for the actual trips we had planned and the cost of the virtual trip. That same week, God placed an opportunity in my lap that reopened my hopes for going to Israel. The refund more than covered all my expenses, I finally got to go to a place I had only dreamed of going, and I got to go with some friends. God hadn’t said “no,” he had said “wait.” His plan was so much better than mine had been.
Waiting is hard. Remember when we were kids waiting for Christmas to come? Oh, the excitement. We counted the days until school was out, then the days left till Christmas, then the hours until it would be morning. Waiting is hard for kids, but it is also hard for grownups.
Zechariah and Elizabeth had been waiting for so long for a child that they had given up hope it would happen, after all, they were too old now. Zechariah had waited for years to see if he would ever be chosen to serve in the Holy Place in the Temple. Zechariah was about to see that God hadn’t said “no” to either prayer, he had only said, “not yet.”
That day, when the lot was drawn, Zechariah’s name was called. As he prepared himself and entered the special space in the Temple where the incense was burned, all the rest of the priests remained outside in prayer. Suddenly, as Zecharia was performing his sacred duty, he discovered he was not alone.
An angel was with him, standing on the right side of the altar where the incense was burned. Zechariah was terrified; who could blame him? One second it was just him, then the next there is an angelic visitor.
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah,” the angel reassured him, “Your prayers, yours and Elizabeth’s have been heard and God has said now is the time.” The angel then said something so surprising that Zechariah could scarcely believe him, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to name him John.”
The angel didn’t stop there. He went on to say, “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah hadn’t even gotten over his shock at the news that he would finally be a father, now the angel was saying something more, instructing Zechariah how to raise the boy, and proclaiming that he would be well-known by the people and used by God to prepare themselves for the coming of the long-awaited Messiah.
Reeling from all this news, Zechariah now says the one thing almost any of us might have said, if we were in his place, “How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” In effect, he is saying, don’t toy with me here. I’m old, Elizabeth is old, how can I be sure you are telling the truth? Are you sure you’re talking to the right person here?
We’ve all heard the adage, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” and this is where Zechariah is now. He’s probably expecting the angel to say, “Oh, sorry, my bad, that message was for someone else. So sorry for the mix up.” But that is not what the angel said.
Instead, this is what Zechariah heard, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.” Oops! Just like that, Gabriel’s prediction came true. Zechariah could not speak.
When he finally emerged from the sanctuary, his fellow priests, who were beginning to worry about what was taking so long, immediately knew something special had just taken place, but Zechariah could not convey to them what he had just experienced. He finished out his time in the rotation in silence, and then went home to Elizabeth.
Zechariah and Elizabeth had been waiting for a baby their entire married lives, now they only had to wait nine more months. I wonder which waiting was harder. Waiting, any kind of waiting is hard. And here in Jerusalem, we can’t help but notice the history of waiting for these people called God’s Chosen.
Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, Abraham and Sarah had waited for decades for a child. Joseph waited in prison for several years before the king’s cup bearer remembered him and he was let out of prison to later become second in command in Egypt. The Israelites had to wait four hundred years to be set free from Egyptian rule, then they waited for forty years in the wilderness before they could enter the Promised Land.
In the time of Zechariah, the whole nation of Israel had been waiting for thousands of years for the arrival of the promised Messiah and they had been waiting for about four hundred years for a prophetic word from God, and Simeon and Anna were waiting daily in the Temple for God’s sign of salvation even before Zechariah’s visit from Gabriel.
When Jesus ascended to heaven, he told the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and we are in the season of Advent, a season of waiting to celebrate the birth of the baby who has already been born, and waiting for the promise of the return of Jesus Christ.
Waiting is hard, but it is not meant to be a time of doing nothing. Even in the waiting, we can find ways to be about the work of the kingdom of God. Waiting is not wasted time, it is an opportunity to draw closer to God, to increase our faith and trust, to sit quietly in God’s presence to hear his message for us today. Waiting can be holy and sacred. It is a time, a season, of preparation.
When we wait for a baby to be born, we furnish the nursery and stock up on necessities. When we wait for Christmas, we make lists, shop for gifts and wrap them, buy food and cook it, sign cards and send them. In this season of Advent, we are preparing our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus even as we patiently wait for his second coming, and as we wait, we share the Good News of the saving grace of God through that baby who would become the Savior of the world.
We live in a season of waiting for the hope of this promise to be fulfilled, knowing it will, wondering when. It is in the waiting that we can examine the longings we recognized last week in Rome and realize that while waiting may not be an easy thing to do, it can be a time of spiritual growth. Waiting can bring us a peace and a heightened awareness of God, if we let it. Waiting is also a reminder that God’s plans for us really are better than what we have planned for ourselves.
I got to realize my dream of going to Israel, but not in the way I thought I would. Frankly, I am grateful for the delay, because I know when I did finally get to go, my experience was so much better because of the people with whom I traveled and the new friendships I was blessed to receive.
We all have longings that we live with, hopes we dream of, and waiting we endure. In this season of Advent, we are more aware of how we are waiting for Jesus, and so, in our waiting, we cry out, Come, Lord Jesus. Come Emmanuel. And as we wait, we share the Good News with others who will then learn to wait with us. This is a holy, sacred time of waiting and we thank God for it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord, in our waiting, we cry out come, Lord Jesus, and we hope for him to come soon. We pray for his return, and we wonder at the delay. Holy God, in this season of waiting, help us to not waste the opportunity to grow closer to you, to shine your light and love into the world around us, and to honor you in all we do. As we wait, may we be about the work of your kingdom here on earth, until the day your answer changes from “Not yet,” to “Right now.” For your glory forever, AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY December 1, 2024 began a new SERMON SERIES CALLED "on the way to bethlehem" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "rome: A Place of Longing".
December 1, 2024
Series: On the Way to Bethlehem
Message: Rome: A Place of Longing
Scripture: Luke 2:1-3
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered.
When was the last time you made plans to go on a journey? A journey, by definition, is simply traveling from one place to another. That means we can journey across town, which usually takes little preparation. Or it can be a longer journey, such as a vacation, a pilgrimage, or, like what we learn from Luke’s story, traveling back to an ancestral home under orders from the ruling government.
This Advent season, we are taking a journey. We are going to Bethlehem. This journey won’t require us to pack a suitcase or stop the mail. We won’t need to board the puppy or worry whether we have turned off the stove. This is the kind of journey we take by using our eyes to see what life was like in the days leading up to the birth of Jesus. A journey that requires us to use our ears to hear God’s message at each stop along the way. This is a journey where, hopefully, our hearts will be opened to receiving the message of the gospel, the Good News of Jesus the Christ, whose birth we are awaiting, yet celebrating, and whose second coming is still to come.
As happens when our journey is long, there will be stops along the way. At each of our stops, we will look at the place, see what it was like in the time of Joseph and Mary, and glean what we can from what we learn while being there. This week, our first stop on the way to Bethlehem is in Rome.
Rome was the seat of power in those days, the home of those who ruled most of the known world. Rome was a huge superpower, and they boasted of the Pax Romana, or “Peace of Rome.” This was a period of time, when most of the empire was at “peace,” a peace that was generally only experienced by the Roman citizens, because for others, that “peace” was sometimes violently enforced by the Roman government.
Rome wanted the world to view it as powerful, and a doer of good. They did make some major improvements, such as implementing a system of aqueducts to bring in water and a sewer system to dispose of waste. Both of these systems greatly reduced sickness and disease in the city. While the military was greatly feared on one hand, their presence did cut down on crime and made the city safer for the citizens of the empire.
And one of the greatest improvements made by the Roman government was the creation of thousands and thousands of miles of roads that made travel easier and safer for those who traveled for a living, or those who were on a journey by decree of the emperor.
Caesar Augustus was the emperor at the time of our visit, and he had made a decree that everyone in the empire must be counted, probably for the purpose of being taxed. At this time, Roman authorities considered Israel a backwater Roman province where the people were rather cantankerous and had some strange religious beliefs. As long as everyone behaved themselves and kept the Roman law, they were left alone, at least officially.
Anyone who broke the law was severely punished, and publicly so. Crucifixion was the ultimate punishment and those who were sentenced to die in this method would be hung on their cross by the side of the roads, able to be viewed by everyone passing by, and serving as a warning and a deterrent to anyone else who had ideas contrary to what Rome might allow.
There were some Jews who were Roman citizens, for example the apostle Paul, and that status came with certain rights and privileges. For instance, Roman citizens were not subjected to the same forms of severe and public punishment as non-citizens. The reality, though, is that most of the people of Israel, or any other Roman-ruled province, had very little actual autonomy. Paying taxes was a requirement, even though the coin that was used carried the message that Caesar was a god, going against the Jews’ religious beliefs. Roman laws were strictly, and swiftly, enforced by the local authorities who were appointed by Rome.
So, now, Caesar Augustus had ordered a census. Every male Jew twenty years and older, was required to travel to his ancestral home to be counted. This would have been unsettling to the Jews. Not just for the inconvenience of leaving their homes and their work, but because they had to be wondering why this census had been ordered.
A census was usually Rome’s way of gauging how much could be collected in taxes. The Jews of the day had to be wondering for what purpose this tax would be required. It took a lot of money to pay the vast army Rome commanded. Was this new tax to pay the soldiers for regular service, or was Rome planning to expand the empire again? Would this tax help pay for more public improvements, or was there about to be war?
In some ways, we all live in a Roman world, even today. No, we aren’t governed by a Roman emperor, but we have all been affected by decisions made by other people, people who live far away and are disconnected from our present circumstances. If not us, then someone we know has been.
War is one circumstance where this is blatantly evident. Think of the war in Ukraine. One day life is as it always has been, the next a decision is made in another country that your country should be their country, and you are now fleeing your home as an army invades. Or you live in a rental home for years and suddenly, the landlord, living far away, instructs the rental agency to raise the rent a significant amount in the next lease agreement. How can you afford that increase?
Maybe none of us have ever had to deal with either of those scenarios, but what about working for a company for years and suddenly lay-offs are announced due to downsizing, or cost savings? I confess, I have lived that one. In 2004, two weeks before Christmas, my husband and the other plant supervisor were let go because they were the two highest paid employees, and the company wanted to save money. We have all, at one time or another, found ourselves living our lives and trying to get through a hard time because of someone else’s decisions, someone else’s actions.
That is where Joseph and Mary find themselves. Life hadn’t been easy for either of them lately. Mary had been chosen by God to be the one to bear the Messiah. Joseph, when he found out, had decided to quietly divorce her, but an angelic visit had convinced him to change his mind and take Mary as his wife. They were living with these decisions, finding their way forward, and suddenly they are faced with our scripture reading today:
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered.”
And just like that, someone else made a decision that affected thousands of other people’s lives. Joseph and Mary had to pack up and make the long journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth, because Jospeh’s family tree traced back to King David, who was from that little town. Side note, Mary’s family also traced their lineage back to Bethlehem.
Today, this journey would take us from 2 to 2 ½ hours, depending on which route we might choose to drive. For this couple, walking all the way, it would probably have taken anywhere from four days to a week. Likely, it would have been closer to a week, due to not being able to travel at a harder pace. A week of traveling, followed by an unknown amount of time in Bethlehem, and then a week of traveling back home. Not something any of us would look forward to, even with our modern conveniences.
I’m sure Joseph and Mary, on the road to Bethlehem, longed for their journey to be over. They longed to reach their destination, find a warm, safe place to stay, to reconnect with family, and have a warm meal.
Advent is a time when we explore our longings, and our stop in Rome is where we recognize their beginnings. As we see the decisions made by those in power in Rome, we realize the longings for the people far away, in Israel. Caught in a time when they were ruled by outside powers, they longed for liberation from Roman rule. Caught up in a time when God had been silent, not speaking for four hundred years to his people through his prophets, they longed for his presence. After thousands of years of waiting, they longed for the promised Messiah to come and set them free.
What are we longing for this Advent? Better job, financial freedom, restored family relationships? There are many things we long for, this season and even beyond. But underlying all those longings, we long for the return of Jesus. In this season of Advent, in this time of anticipation of the birth of Jesus, with the knowledge that he has already been born, and in the expectation of his second coming, our hearts are full of longing for our Savior’s return.
One thing we may have never considered before though, is what does God long for? Peace on earth? Absolutely. Perhaps, more than peace, God longs for us to love him above everything else, and to love our neighbor – after all, those are the two greatest commandments. If we could live those out, that would bring about peace. Perhaps this season, as we make our gift giving list, we can add “love more” as the gift we choose to give to God. After all, he has already given us the most perfect, precious gift ever in Jesus. Perhaps it’s time to give back to the One who gave us life and breath, freedom and love, hope and eternity.
As our Advent reading from the book of Romans said earlier, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Our longings in this season spring from the hope we have from the promise we have been given that the Messiah who has come will come again.
The good news is that these longings will one day be our reality. Our longings, our hopes, are not for “if” but for “when.” We do not live with an ethereal hope that may or may not come true, we live with a hope that is a foregone conclusion and we are only waiting for its fulfillment.
No matter what government is in power here on earth, no matter who makes decisions that affect us, even when they do not know us, no matter what else is going on in our day-to-day living, we can confidently know that the greatest longing of our hearts will one day be a lived reality. For the baby whose birth we await and celebrate in Advent, is the Savior who lived, died, and rose again to save us and give us eternal life. And he is the One who will one day return. And because we know our hope will one day be fulfilled, we can wait with patience for the day our longing will be satisfied.
It is time to move on from Rome now. We still have miles to go to get to Bethlehem. It was good to stop here and recognize this as a place of longing, to realize what we long for, and to acknowledge that we do not long in vain, but in sure and certain confidence for what is to come. Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Emmanuel. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of hope, you have placed a longing in our hearts for your presence, and then you waited patiently for us to recognize that longing and turn to you. Father, as we celebrate the coming birth of the Messiah this Advent, we are simultaneously celebrating that he has already come on that night so long ago in Bethlehem. Now we live with the hope of his return, longing for the day, yet not knowing when. As we wait, help us to love you more, and to love our neighbor more, that we might be an instrument of your peace in this world. We put our hope in you, no matter where life’s journey takes us. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-was-there-a-roman-census-at-the-time-of-jesus-birth.html
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=sor_fac_pubs
Series: On the Way to Bethlehem
Message: Rome: A Place of Longing
Scripture: Luke 2:1-3
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered.
When was the last time you made plans to go on a journey? A journey, by definition, is simply traveling from one place to another. That means we can journey across town, which usually takes little preparation. Or it can be a longer journey, such as a vacation, a pilgrimage, or, like what we learn from Luke’s story, traveling back to an ancestral home under orders from the ruling government.
This Advent season, we are taking a journey. We are going to Bethlehem. This journey won’t require us to pack a suitcase or stop the mail. We won’t need to board the puppy or worry whether we have turned off the stove. This is the kind of journey we take by using our eyes to see what life was like in the days leading up to the birth of Jesus. A journey that requires us to use our ears to hear God’s message at each stop along the way. This is a journey where, hopefully, our hearts will be opened to receiving the message of the gospel, the Good News of Jesus the Christ, whose birth we are awaiting, yet celebrating, and whose second coming is still to come.
As happens when our journey is long, there will be stops along the way. At each of our stops, we will look at the place, see what it was like in the time of Joseph and Mary, and glean what we can from what we learn while being there. This week, our first stop on the way to Bethlehem is in Rome.
Rome was the seat of power in those days, the home of those who ruled most of the known world. Rome was a huge superpower, and they boasted of the Pax Romana, or “Peace of Rome.” This was a period of time, when most of the empire was at “peace,” a peace that was generally only experienced by the Roman citizens, because for others, that “peace” was sometimes violently enforced by the Roman government.
Rome wanted the world to view it as powerful, and a doer of good. They did make some major improvements, such as implementing a system of aqueducts to bring in water and a sewer system to dispose of waste. Both of these systems greatly reduced sickness and disease in the city. While the military was greatly feared on one hand, their presence did cut down on crime and made the city safer for the citizens of the empire.
And one of the greatest improvements made by the Roman government was the creation of thousands and thousands of miles of roads that made travel easier and safer for those who traveled for a living, or those who were on a journey by decree of the emperor.
Caesar Augustus was the emperor at the time of our visit, and he had made a decree that everyone in the empire must be counted, probably for the purpose of being taxed. At this time, Roman authorities considered Israel a backwater Roman province where the people were rather cantankerous and had some strange religious beliefs. As long as everyone behaved themselves and kept the Roman law, they were left alone, at least officially.
Anyone who broke the law was severely punished, and publicly so. Crucifixion was the ultimate punishment and those who were sentenced to die in this method would be hung on their cross by the side of the roads, able to be viewed by everyone passing by, and serving as a warning and a deterrent to anyone else who had ideas contrary to what Rome might allow.
There were some Jews who were Roman citizens, for example the apostle Paul, and that status came with certain rights and privileges. For instance, Roman citizens were not subjected to the same forms of severe and public punishment as non-citizens. The reality, though, is that most of the people of Israel, or any other Roman-ruled province, had very little actual autonomy. Paying taxes was a requirement, even though the coin that was used carried the message that Caesar was a god, going against the Jews’ religious beliefs. Roman laws were strictly, and swiftly, enforced by the local authorities who were appointed by Rome.
So, now, Caesar Augustus had ordered a census. Every male Jew twenty years and older, was required to travel to his ancestral home to be counted. This would have been unsettling to the Jews. Not just for the inconvenience of leaving their homes and their work, but because they had to be wondering why this census had been ordered.
A census was usually Rome’s way of gauging how much could be collected in taxes. The Jews of the day had to be wondering for what purpose this tax would be required. It took a lot of money to pay the vast army Rome commanded. Was this new tax to pay the soldiers for regular service, or was Rome planning to expand the empire again? Would this tax help pay for more public improvements, or was there about to be war?
In some ways, we all live in a Roman world, even today. No, we aren’t governed by a Roman emperor, but we have all been affected by decisions made by other people, people who live far away and are disconnected from our present circumstances. If not us, then someone we know has been.
War is one circumstance where this is blatantly evident. Think of the war in Ukraine. One day life is as it always has been, the next a decision is made in another country that your country should be their country, and you are now fleeing your home as an army invades. Or you live in a rental home for years and suddenly, the landlord, living far away, instructs the rental agency to raise the rent a significant amount in the next lease agreement. How can you afford that increase?
Maybe none of us have ever had to deal with either of those scenarios, but what about working for a company for years and suddenly lay-offs are announced due to downsizing, or cost savings? I confess, I have lived that one. In 2004, two weeks before Christmas, my husband and the other plant supervisor were let go because they were the two highest paid employees, and the company wanted to save money. We have all, at one time or another, found ourselves living our lives and trying to get through a hard time because of someone else’s decisions, someone else’s actions.
That is where Joseph and Mary find themselves. Life hadn’t been easy for either of them lately. Mary had been chosen by God to be the one to bear the Messiah. Joseph, when he found out, had decided to quietly divorce her, but an angelic visit had convinced him to change his mind and take Mary as his wife. They were living with these decisions, finding their way forward, and suddenly they are faced with our scripture reading today:
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered.”
And just like that, someone else made a decision that affected thousands of other people’s lives. Joseph and Mary had to pack up and make the long journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth, because Jospeh’s family tree traced back to King David, who was from that little town. Side note, Mary’s family also traced their lineage back to Bethlehem.
Today, this journey would take us from 2 to 2 ½ hours, depending on which route we might choose to drive. For this couple, walking all the way, it would probably have taken anywhere from four days to a week. Likely, it would have been closer to a week, due to not being able to travel at a harder pace. A week of traveling, followed by an unknown amount of time in Bethlehem, and then a week of traveling back home. Not something any of us would look forward to, even with our modern conveniences.
I’m sure Joseph and Mary, on the road to Bethlehem, longed for their journey to be over. They longed to reach their destination, find a warm, safe place to stay, to reconnect with family, and have a warm meal.
Advent is a time when we explore our longings, and our stop in Rome is where we recognize their beginnings. As we see the decisions made by those in power in Rome, we realize the longings for the people far away, in Israel. Caught in a time when they were ruled by outside powers, they longed for liberation from Roman rule. Caught up in a time when God had been silent, not speaking for four hundred years to his people through his prophets, they longed for his presence. After thousands of years of waiting, they longed for the promised Messiah to come and set them free.
What are we longing for this Advent? Better job, financial freedom, restored family relationships? There are many things we long for, this season and even beyond. But underlying all those longings, we long for the return of Jesus. In this season of Advent, in this time of anticipation of the birth of Jesus, with the knowledge that he has already been born, and in the expectation of his second coming, our hearts are full of longing for our Savior’s return.
One thing we may have never considered before though, is what does God long for? Peace on earth? Absolutely. Perhaps, more than peace, God longs for us to love him above everything else, and to love our neighbor – after all, those are the two greatest commandments. If we could live those out, that would bring about peace. Perhaps this season, as we make our gift giving list, we can add “love more” as the gift we choose to give to God. After all, he has already given us the most perfect, precious gift ever in Jesus. Perhaps it’s time to give back to the One who gave us life and breath, freedom and love, hope and eternity.
As our Advent reading from the book of Romans said earlier, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Our longings in this season spring from the hope we have from the promise we have been given that the Messiah who has come will come again.
The good news is that these longings will one day be our reality. Our longings, our hopes, are not for “if” but for “when.” We do not live with an ethereal hope that may or may not come true, we live with a hope that is a foregone conclusion and we are only waiting for its fulfillment.
No matter what government is in power here on earth, no matter who makes decisions that affect us, even when they do not know us, no matter what else is going on in our day-to-day living, we can confidently know that the greatest longing of our hearts will one day be a lived reality. For the baby whose birth we await and celebrate in Advent, is the Savior who lived, died, and rose again to save us and give us eternal life. And he is the One who will one day return. And because we know our hope will one day be fulfilled, we can wait with patience for the day our longing will be satisfied.
It is time to move on from Rome now. We still have miles to go to get to Bethlehem. It was good to stop here and recognize this as a place of longing, to realize what we long for, and to acknowledge that we do not long in vain, but in sure and certain confidence for what is to come. Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Emmanuel. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of hope, you have placed a longing in our hearts for your presence, and then you waited patiently for us to recognize that longing and turn to you. Father, as we celebrate the coming birth of the Messiah this Advent, we are simultaneously celebrating that he has already come on that night so long ago in Bethlehem. Now we live with the hope of his return, longing for the day, yet not knowing when. As we wait, help us to love you more, and to love our neighbor more, that we might be an instrument of your peace in this world. We put our hope in you, no matter where life’s journey takes us. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-was-there-a-roman-census-at-the-time-of-jesus-birth.html
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=sor_fac_pubs
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY November 24, 2024 finished a SERMON SERIES CALLED "THE APOSTLES CREED" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "THE holy spirit".
November 24, 2024
Series: The Apostles Creed
Message: The Holy Spirit
Scripture: John 16:7-14
But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
I find it interesting that the Apostles Creed has only one short, simple declaration about the Holy Spirit: “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” Unlike the previous declarations about God as Father and Jesus as Son, there is nothing here about why we believe in the Holy Spirit, just that we do.
In John’s gospel, from chapters 13-16, from the washing of the disciples’ feet at the last supper to the arrival of the Roman soldiers to arrest him, Jesus has been preparing the disciples for what was to come. He modeled how they should serve one another by how he served them, he promised that where he was going there would be a place for each of them and for all believers, and he urged them to remain in him as a branch must remain a part of the vine to live and thrive and produce fruit.
Throughout all this, Jesus keeps telling the disciples that it is good that he is going away because when he goes, he will send them someone new. He says, ““When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.” And as we heard in today’s scripture, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.”
I can only imagine the confusion and grief this caused the disciples. Jesus is trying to reassure them, but all they hear is that he is leaving them. We can relate to that, can’t we? We have someone we love in our lives, and we think they will be with us forever, but then life throws a curveball, and they are no longer there, and we don’t know what to do.
I have experienced this. I had a group of friends, once. We were close, meeting together weekly, supporting one another, cheering for one another, commiserating with one another. We knew the names of all the spouses and the names and ages of all the children. These women were a vital part of my life, until suddenly they weren’t. Not because of any disagreement or falling out, but simply through changes in circumstances in our lives.
If you had told me ahead of time that this group of women would not be a part of my life in the next year, but that there would be new, stronger, friendships that would come along, I would have never believed you. Yet, that is exactly what happened. God had placed me in just the right place for just the right time, but then it was time to move from that season of my life into the next. I would have never chosen to do that on my own. I would have argued against it with everything in me if I had known it was coming or if I had been given a choice.
God knows this. He knows what is best for me; he knows that I only think I know what is best for me. God moved me on from where I was because he had a better plan for me. Of course, he was right. I see that now. I would not be where I am today, I would not be blessed with the friendships I have today, if I had stayed where I was. God always knows best.
That is what Jesus was trying to convey to the disciples. He knew they couldn’t understand what he was telling them at that moment, but he also knew they would understand when the time came. Of course it didn’t make any sense to them right then. How could it be better for this man, their teacher, their leader, their friend, to go away. Who could be a better companion to them than Jesus had been for the past three years?
When Jesus told his disciples that it would be better for them for him to go and send the Advocate, he also meant it would be better for all the believers who would come to be a part of the body of Christ. Jesus, while he was on this earth in human form, was bound by human limitations. He could only be in one place at any given time. That was fine when the disciples were all together with him, learning from him, following him as a group.
Soon, though, the day would come when they would no longer be together; they would be disbursed throughout the known world, traveling to preach the good news of Jesus as Messiah and Savior to people in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and in all the world. Jesus wouldn’t have been able to be with all of them at the same time, but he knew who could.
Jesus had almost reached the end of his mission. He had come to earth, been born of a virgin and laid in a manger. He had lived and ministered to great crowds of people, and many now believed in who he was. He was about to go to the cross, taking on the sins of the world, suffering in unimaginable ways, willing to die so that humanity could be saved. He knew that his time here on earth was ending, but the disciples would need someone who would help them in the difficult times that lay ahead. They would need someone who would strengthen them in the face of persecution and hatred, someone who would guide them as they learned to live as a follower of Jesus who was no longer a visible presence, someone who would help them teach new believers how to live as a Christian.
Jesus knew all this, so he wanted to prepare them. He wanted to comfort them with the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. He wanted them to know that even when he was no longer with them, they would not be alone, even when they were all scattered in different directions. They were grieved by his words; they didn’t understand. How could they then?
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.” It didn’t sound much like comfort that night, but weeks later, on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were gathered in the upper room, when suddenly the sound of a mighty wind and something like tongues of fire swept into the room and came upon them, they began to understand. THIS is what Jesus meant! And they believed in the Holy Spirit. Now they were becoming familiar with the whole Trinity – God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Advocate and Counselor.
What about us, though? One simple line in the Apostles Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” What does that tell us about the Holy Spirit, so we know we believe? What does scripture say about the Holy Spirit?
We know the Holy Spirit was present at creation. Genesis 1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” God, the Creator of everything from nothing, Jesus, the One through whom all things were made, and the Spirit, who hovered over all, are all God, are all infinite because they are One God, yet they are all part of the Trinity, the three separate entities that together make One God over all.
Scripture tells us more about the Holy Spirit, and because it does, we can believe in him. We can believe the Holy Spirit is God, equal in status and nature with God the Father and Jesus the Son. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells his disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” If they were not all equal, then they would not all be part of our baptismal vows.
We believe the Holy Spirit helps us recognize our sin and leads us into repentance. In the days before Jesus, the Holy Spirit worked through the prophets, such as we see in Micah 3:8, “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”
We read today that the Holy Spirit works directly with each and every person, “And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”
We believe the Holy Spirit unites us as followers of Jesus and teaches us how to respond faithfully to the gospel. In Ephesians 2, Paul writes, “For through him (Jesus) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple of the Lord. In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
It is through the Holy Spirit that we, as believers, are comforted, sustained, and guided to the truth of the gospel, as we heard from John in today’s scripture. He wrote, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
We see evidence of the Holy Spirit throughout scripture. If we say we believe in the Bible being God’s holy word, written for the teaching of those who would believe, then we must believe Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 3:16, which says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” And if we believe that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, as believers, then we must say we believe in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ promise to the disciples was kept. Jesus went away from this earth, returning to his heavenly home, but he sent us the Holy Spirit who dwells within each and every believer so guide us, strengthen us, convict us of our sin, lead us to repentance, and assure us we are never alone.
The other day as I was reading about a Christian who died and arrived in Heaven. There he meets the heroes of his faith, those people he had only read about in the Old Testament. He was so excited, and he began to ask each of them a question.
To Noah, he asked what it was like to be in the ark with all those animals.
To Joseph, he asked what it was like to understand dreams and be 2nd in command of all of Egypt.
To Moses, he asked what it was like to witness the Red Sea being parted.
To David, he asked what it was like to take down a giant like Goliath.
To Solomon, he asked what it was like to have so much wisdom.
To Daniel, he asked what it was like to spend the night in the lions’ den.
As each one responded, they asked him one question, and it was always the same question…
What is it like to have the Spirit of God IN You?
That’s a good question for each of us, and we must all answer it for ourselves. I believe in the Holy Spirit who dwells in me – what is it like for me to have the Spirit of God in me? I don’t know if I have words to even begin to describe what it’s like, but this I know: Any word I use would be one of gratitude, and every one of them would be inadequate. My best answer, my best response is simply to say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” It’s the best response any of us can give, and the one that pleases God the most. AMEN.
PRAYER: Come, Holy Spirit, and fill this place, we pray. Fill this room, but more importantly, fill our hearts with your presence. Thank you for being our Helper, our Counselor, our Advocate, and our Guide on our walk of faith. May we seek you more than we have before, may we acknowledge your work in our lives, and may we share you with others so you can fill them, too. In the name of God, the Father, Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three in One, AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/102013/holy-spirit-in-you-by-william-akehurst
Series: The Apostles Creed
Message: The Holy Spirit
Scripture: John 16:7-14
But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
I find it interesting that the Apostles Creed has only one short, simple declaration about the Holy Spirit: “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” Unlike the previous declarations about God as Father and Jesus as Son, there is nothing here about why we believe in the Holy Spirit, just that we do.
In John’s gospel, from chapters 13-16, from the washing of the disciples’ feet at the last supper to the arrival of the Roman soldiers to arrest him, Jesus has been preparing the disciples for what was to come. He modeled how they should serve one another by how he served them, he promised that where he was going there would be a place for each of them and for all believers, and he urged them to remain in him as a branch must remain a part of the vine to live and thrive and produce fruit.
Throughout all this, Jesus keeps telling the disciples that it is good that he is going away because when he goes, he will send them someone new. He says, ““When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.” And as we heard in today’s scripture, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.”
I can only imagine the confusion and grief this caused the disciples. Jesus is trying to reassure them, but all they hear is that he is leaving them. We can relate to that, can’t we? We have someone we love in our lives, and we think they will be with us forever, but then life throws a curveball, and they are no longer there, and we don’t know what to do.
I have experienced this. I had a group of friends, once. We were close, meeting together weekly, supporting one another, cheering for one another, commiserating with one another. We knew the names of all the spouses and the names and ages of all the children. These women were a vital part of my life, until suddenly they weren’t. Not because of any disagreement or falling out, but simply through changes in circumstances in our lives.
If you had told me ahead of time that this group of women would not be a part of my life in the next year, but that there would be new, stronger, friendships that would come along, I would have never believed you. Yet, that is exactly what happened. God had placed me in just the right place for just the right time, but then it was time to move from that season of my life into the next. I would have never chosen to do that on my own. I would have argued against it with everything in me if I had known it was coming or if I had been given a choice.
God knows this. He knows what is best for me; he knows that I only think I know what is best for me. God moved me on from where I was because he had a better plan for me. Of course, he was right. I see that now. I would not be where I am today, I would not be blessed with the friendships I have today, if I had stayed where I was. God always knows best.
That is what Jesus was trying to convey to the disciples. He knew they couldn’t understand what he was telling them at that moment, but he also knew they would understand when the time came. Of course it didn’t make any sense to them right then. How could it be better for this man, their teacher, their leader, their friend, to go away. Who could be a better companion to them than Jesus had been for the past three years?
When Jesus told his disciples that it would be better for them for him to go and send the Advocate, he also meant it would be better for all the believers who would come to be a part of the body of Christ. Jesus, while he was on this earth in human form, was bound by human limitations. He could only be in one place at any given time. That was fine when the disciples were all together with him, learning from him, following him as a group.
Soon, though, the day would come when they would no longer be together; they would be disbursed throughout the known world, traveling to preach the good news of Jesus as Messiah and Savior to people in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and in all the world. Jesus wouldn’t have been able to be with all of them at the same time, but he knew who could.
Jesus had almost reached the end of his mission. He had come to earth, been born of a virgin and laid in a manger. He had lived and ministered to great crowds of people, and many now believed in who he was. He was about to go to the cross, taking on the sins of the world, suffering in unimaginable ways, willing to die so that humanity could be saved. He knew that his time here on earth was ending, but the disciples would need someone who would help them in the difficult times that lay ahead. They would need someone who would strengthen them in the face of persecution and hatred, someone who would guide them as they learned to live as a follower of Jesus who was no longer a visible presence, someone who would help them teach new believers how to live as a Christian.
Jesus knew all this, so he wanted to prepare them. He wanted to comfort them with the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. He wanted them to know that even when he was no longer with them, they would not be alone, even when they were all scattered in different directions. They were grieved by his words; they didn’t understand. How could they then?
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.” It didn’t sound much like comfort that night, but weeks later, on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were gathered in the upper room, when suddenly the sound of a mighty wind and something like tongues of fire swept into the room and came upon them, they began to understand. THIS is what Jesus meant! And they believed in the Holy Spirit. Now they were becoming familiar with the whole Trinity – God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Advocate and Counselor.
What about us, though? One simple line in the Apostles Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” What does that tell us about the Holy Spirit, so we know we believe? What does scripture say about the Holy Spirit?
We know the Holy Spirit was present at creation. Genesis 1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” God, the Creator of everything from nothing, Jesus, the One through whom all things were made, and the Spirit, who hovered over all, are all God, are all infinite because they are One God, yet they are all part of the Trinity, the three separate entities that together make One God over all.
Scripture tells us more about the Holy Spirit, and because it does, we can believe in him. We can believe the Holy Spirit is God, equal in status and nature with God the Father and Jesus the Son. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells his disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” If they were not all equal, then they would not all be part of our baptismal vows.
We believe the Holy Spirit helps us recognize our sin and leads us into repentance. In the days before Jesus, the Holy Spirit worked through the prophets, such as we see in Micah 3:8, “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”
We read today that the Holy Spirit works directly with each and every person, “And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”
We believe the Holy Spirit unites us as followers of Jesus and teaches us how to respond faithfully to the gospel. In Ephesians 2, Paul writes, “For through him (Jesus) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple of the Lord. In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
It is through the Holy Spirit that we, as believers, are comforted, sustained, and guided to the truth of the gospel, as we heard from John in today’s scripture. He wrote, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
We see evidence of the Holy Spirit throughout scripture. If we say we believe in the Bible being God’s holy word, written for the teaching of those who would believe, then we must believe Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 3:16, which says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” And if we believe that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, as believers, then we must say we believe in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ promise to the disciples was kept. Jesus went away from this earth, returning to his heavenly home, but he sent us the Holy Spirit who dwells within each and every believer so guide us, strengthen us, convict us of our sin, lead us to repentance, and assure us we are never alone.
The other day as I was reading about a Christian who died and arrived in Heaven. There he meets the heroes of his faith, those people he had only read about in the Old Testament. He was so excited, and he began to ask each of them a question.
To Noah, he asked what it was like to be in the ark with all those animals.
To Joseph, he asked what it was like to understand dreams and be 2nd in command of all of Egypt.
To Moses, he asked what it was like to witness the Red Sea being parted.
To David, he asked what it was like to take down a giant like Goliath.
To Solomon, he asked what it was like to have so much wisdom.
To Daniel, he asked what it was like to spend the night in the lions’ den.
As each one responded, they asked him one question, and it was always the same question…
What is it like to have the Spirit of God IN You?
That’s a good question for each of us, and we must all answer it for ourselves. I believe in the Holy Spirit who dwells in me – what is it like for me to have the Spirit of God in me? I don’t know if I have words to even begin to describe what it’s like, but this I know: Any word I use would be one of gratitude, and every one of them would be inadequate. My best answer, my best response is simply to say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” It’s the best response any of us can give, and the one that pleases God the most. AMEN.
PRAYER: Come, Holy Spirit, and fill this place, we pray. Fill this room, but more importantly, fill our hearts with your presence. Thank you for being our Helper, our Counselor, our Advocate, and our Guide on our walk of faith. May we seek you more than we have before, may we acknowledge your work in our lives, and may we share you with others so you can fill them, too. In the name of God, the Father, Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three in One, AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/102013/holy-spirit-in-you-by-william-akehurst
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY November 17, 2024 CONTINUED a new SERMON SERIES CALLED "THE APOSTLES CREED" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "THE SON".
November 17, 2024
Series: The Apostles Creed
Message: The Son
Scripture: John 3:13-18
No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time recently sitting in airports. It’s interesting to watch the people come and go as you sit at the gate, waiting for your flight to be ready to board. You see a lot of different people and it’s easy to make comparisons.
There are those who arrive early and those who come running up at the last minute, barely making it on board at all. There are those who sit quietly and read, those who carry on a conversation with others around them, and some who talk on the phone the whole time. There are parents who pay attention to where their children are at all times and those who don’t seem to notice when their little one runs off.
One of the biggest differences I have noticed though, is the difference between the travelers who have a ticket and those who are flying stand-by. Even in the chaos and conversations, those with a ticket that gives them a definite seat on the plane have an air of confidence and assurance about them. Those who are on stand-by and hoping to get on the plane have no assurance and no confidence.
They are the ones who seem to pace close by the gate, waiting, hoping for their name to be called. Often, they check in with the gate attendants to see if there has been an opening yet. They don’t know if they will be on this plane, but they are hoping they will. Only a couple of times did I see a stand-by flyer get a seat on the plane I was on. The look on their faces, as they boarded and walked to their newly designated seat, was one of relief.
I don’t know their stories. I don’t know why they were flying stand-by instead of purchasing a regular ticket, but I can tell you, in every instance, I was happy to be in the crowd who had a ticket and was assured of getting my seat. I have learned that the stress of stand-by flying is not something I want to experience.
I thought about that a lot this week as I was working on today’s message. I realized that our beliefs, stated in the Apostles Creed, are like having a ticket on an airplane. This Creed, and others like it, defines our beliefs and gives us assurance and confidence in how we live our lives. We don’t have to worry we might miss the plane, so to speak, because our faith gives us a seat that cannot be taken from us.
Last week, we began by stating our belief in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. We looked at several instances where scripture affirms and confirms the truth of this belief. We can confidently state that our belief that God is Father, God is almighty, God is maker of heaven and earth, and that our belief can be backed up by scripture.
Now, this week, we move to the next part of the Creed, which is the section that declares what we believe about Jesus Christ. We say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
One of the most known verses of scripture is John 3:16, which begins “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” and Colossians 1:3 says, “In our prayers for you, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In these two brief scriptures, we find confirmation that Jesus is the Son of God, and he is our Lord.
If we turn to Luke 1, we read about the angel, Gabriel, visiting a young girl named Mary. Gabriel tells Mary that she is highly favored by God and God has chosen her to be the one to bear the long-promised Messiah, to be named Jesus. Mary hears this message and her question to Gabriel is, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The answer she received was this, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.”
Not only does this cover the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, but that he was also conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary as prophesied by Isaiah in chapter 7 of his book. Matthew 1:18 also gives us this same confirmation, while Mark and John each skip saying anything about the birth of Jesus and begin their gospels when he is already an adult.
Okay, Jesus is the Son of God, check. Jesus is Lord, check. Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin named Mary, check. So far so good; let’s keep going.
When we say the Apostles Creed we recite the line, “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” Isaiah 53:1-9 foretells to the people of Israel what we read happened in Matthew 27:1-2. Matthew writes, “When the morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people took council against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.” They did this after arresting Jesus, questioning him, falsely accusing him, beating him, spitting upon him, and mocking him.
All four gospel writes tell us that after this, Jesus was taken to Pilate, was found innocent, was flogged, and then was sentenced to crucifixion. I think it is safe to say that we can confidently declare that Jesus suffered, Pilate was involved, and in fact ordered Jesus’ crucifixion, which was carried out by the Roman soldiers.
In John’s scripture today, Jesus even told Nicodemus this would happen, saying, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus knew he would suffer and die on a cross, yet out of love for us, he remained obedient to the plan of God the Father for our benefit, to pay our sin debt and give us eternal life.
Now we come to a controversial line in the Apostles Creed. Some versions say, “He descended into Hell,” Ours says, “He descended to the dead.” Many churches leave out this line altogether. I confess I have never been comfortable with saying Jesus descended to into Hell, because I couldn’t find that evidence in scripture. It seems this was perhaps not part of the Creed as it was originally written, but was added in somewhere about 390 A D, and it was translated as, “He descended into Hell.”
The idea for this comes from 1 Peter 3:18-20 which reads, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey,”
From this passage, came the belief that Jesus descended into Hell while his body lay in the tomb after the crucifixion, to preach the gospel to those who had died in their sins before he became the atoning sacrifice for our salvation. It is important to know the words that were originally used for this description of where Jesus was for three days. Biblestudytools.com gives a good explanation.
They write, “Since the Apostle’s Creed was originally written in Greek, we will focus closely on this language. Translating Greek into English is difficult because two words describe the “abode of the dead.”
The word in Greek that speaks of the place of hell is “Gehenna.” This word describes a final retribution or physical place. The Apostles Creed does not use this word.
In the Apostle’s Creed, we find the statement “he descended into Hell” using the Greek word “Hades.” The word Hades, in Greek, refers to the state of death. It could be translated as “descended to those below.” It does not refer to the place we recognize today as hell – it refers to the physical state of death.”
We know that when Jesus was taken down off the cross, he was dead. There was no life in his body, so this makes sense to say that “He descended to the dead,” if we are talking about the state of being dead. In this way, we can affirm our belief by reciting this line along with the rest of the Creed, but I believe it is also okay to leave out this line to avoid any misunderstanding it might cause.
The point of a Creed is to state a belief in a simple, effective manner that would allow others to understand and come to agree with your belief. If this line becomes a stumbling block, perhaps it is best to leave it out. But since we now have an explanation of what it means, we will continue to say it when we recite the Creed again next week.
As we move on to the next line, “On the third day he rose again,” we once more find the evidence for the resurrection in all four gospel accounts. We celebrate this event every Easter, also known as Resurrection Sunday, or Resurrection Day. If we did not believe this, we could all sleep in on Sunday instead of getting up and coming to church. If there is no resurrection, then the entire Christian faith falls apart.
There are hundreds of witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, and Paul lays them out for us in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures 4 and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”
I guess that means we should continue to get out of bed every Sunday and come to worship, because we can confidently say that the resurrection is truth, and our faith is not for nothing.
Where is Jesus now? If we believe what we say in the Creed, Jesus has ascended into heaven, and he sits at the right hand of the Father. Mark says it almost exactly the same way in the last paragraph of his gospel, “So then, the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” Hebrews 9 and Luke 24:51 make a reference to this, but not with as much clarity as Mark’s account.
Everything that we say we believe in the Creed about Jesus that has already happened can be verified by scripture, but there is still a promise yet to come that we say by faith, “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
We are waiting for the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus’ return, found in Luke 21:27 and Mark 13:26, “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” The Creed says, “He will come again.” It’s a promise that was made and we believe will be kept, because God has been faithful to keep so many of his other promises. We speak our belief of this as a future truth, no less important or viable than one that has already played out.
Finally, we believe that when Jesus does return, he will “judge the living and the dead.” In 2 Timothy 4:1-2 Paul writes, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.”
Paul clearly states that Jesus Christ will judge both the living and the dead. But in today’s scripture, Jesus said he did not come into the world to condemn, but to save. What’s up with these two statements that seem to contradict each other?
While it looks contradictory on the surface, lets also look at Revelation 20:11-13 where John writes, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”
This judgement isn’t about separating the sheep from the goats, it’s about an accounting of what the saints had done while they were still living on earth. Jesus will look at the accounts of how we lived our lives, how we served in the ways he called us to serve, and how we loved God and neighbor. Jesus will return one day and when he does, he will gather up all his followers and take them to heaven to be with him forever, and he will check the book to see what we have done, and he will check the book of life to see if our name is written on its pages.
Then, just like when we sit at the gate, waiting to board a flight, we can be confident that, as followers of Jesus, our place is secured. Not because we bought a ticket this time, though, but because we have accepted the free gift of life given to us by God the Father through Jesus Christ his Son, because in Christ alone God has given us the ticket to eternal life with him in heaven. I believe. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, Thank you for the assurance of salvation, our secure ticket to eternal life with you. It is amazing to think how you gave up your seat in heaven for the time you came to earth to be born, live, and die for us. You have paid our debt, a debt we could never hope to pay ourselves. Thank you, Jesus, for taking what was ours and making it your own for our benefit. May the words of this Creed ring true in our words, in our hearts, and in how we live each day. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/did-jesus-actually-descend-into-hell.html
https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2022/08/where-is-the-apostles-creed-found-in-the-bible/
Series: The Apostles Creed
Message: The Son
Scripture: John 3:13-18
No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time recently sitting in airports. It’s interesting to watch the people come and go as you sit at the gate, waiting for your flight to be ready to board. You see a lot of different people and it’s easy to make comparisons.
There are those who arrive early and those who come running up at the last minute, barely making it on board at all. There are those who sit quietly and read, those who carry on a conversation with others around them, and some who talk on the phone the whole time. There are parents who pay attention to where their children are at all times and those who don’t seem to notice when their little one runs off.
One of the biggest differences I have noticed though, is the difference between the travelers who have a ticket and those who are flying stand-by. Even in the chaos and conversations, those with a ticket that gives them a definite seat on the plane have an air of confidence and assurance about them. Those who are on stand-by and hoping to get on the plane have no assurance and no confidence.
They are the ones who seem to pace close by the gate, waiting, hoping for their name to be called. Often, they check in with the gate attendants to see if there has been an opening yet. They don’t know if they will be on this plane, but they are hoping they will. Only a couple of times did I see a stand-by flyer get a seat on the plane I was on. The look on their faces, as they boarded and walked to their newly designated seat, was one of relief.
I don’t know their stories. I don’t know why they were flying stand-by instead of purchasing a regular ticket, but I can tell you, in every instance, I was happy to be in the crowd who had a ticket and was assured of getting my seat. I have learned that the stress of stand-by flying is not something I want to experience.
I thought about that a lot this week as I was working on today’s message. I realized that our beliefs, stated in the Apostles Creed, are like having a ticket on an airplane. This Creed, and others like it, defines our beliefs and gives us assurance and confidence in how we live our lives. We don’t have to worry we might miss the plane, so to speak, because our faith gives us a seat that cannot be taken from us.
Last week, we began by stating our belief in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. We looked at several instances where scripture affirms and confirms the truth of this belief. We can confidently state that our belief that God is Father, God is almighty, God is maker of heaven and earth, and that our belief can be backed up by scripture.
Now, this week, we move to the next part of the Creed, which is the section that declares what we believe about Jesus Christ. We say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
One of the most known verses of scripture is John 3:16, which begins “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” and Colossians 1:3 says, “In our prayers for you, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In these two brief scriptures, we find confirmation that Jesus is the Son of God, and he is our Lord.
If we turn to Luke 1, we read about the angel, Gabriel, visiting a young girl named Mary. Gabriel tells Mary that she is highly favored by God and God has chosen her to be the one to bear the long-promised Messiah, to be named Jesus. Mary hears this message and her question to Gabriel is, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The answer she received was this, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.”
Not only does this cover the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, but that he was also conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary as prophesied by Isaiah in chapter 7 of his book. Matthew 1:18 also gives us this same confirmation, while Mark and John each skip saying anything about the birth of Jesus and begin their gospels when he is already an adult.
Okay, Jesus is the Son of God, check. Jesus is Lord, check. Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin named Mary, check. So far so good; let’s keep going.
When we say the Apostles Creed we recite the line, “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” Isaiah 53:1-9 foretells to the people of Israel what we read happened in Matthew 27:1-2. Matthew writes, “When the morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people took council against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.” They did this after arresting Jesus, questioning him, falsely accusing him, beating him, spitting upon him, and mocking him.
All four gospel writes tell us that after this, Jesus was taken to Pilate, was found innocent, was flogged, and then was sentenced to crucifixion. I think it is safe to say that we can confidently declare that Jesus suffered, Pilate was involved, and in fact ordered Jesus’ crucifixion, which was carried out by the Roman soldiers.
In John’s scripture today, Jesus even told Nicodemus this would happen, saying, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus knew he would suffer and die on a cross, yet out of love for us, he remained obedient to the plan of God the Father for our benefit, to pay our sin debt and give us eternal life.
Now we come to a controversial line in the Apostles Creed. Some versions say, “He descended into Hell,” Ours says, “He descended to the dead.” Many churches leave out this line altogether. I confess I have never been comfortable with saying Jesus descended to into Hell, because I couldn’t find that evidence in scripture. It seems this was perhaps not part of the Creed as it was originally written, but was added in somewhere about 390 A D, and it was translated as, “He descended into Hell.”
The idea for this comes from 1 Peter 3:18-20 which reads, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey,”
From this passage, came the belief that Jesus descended into Hell while his body lay in the tomb after the crucifixion, to preach the gospel to those who had died in their sins before he became the atoning sacrifice for our salvation. It is important to know the words that were originally used for this description of where Jesus was for three days. Biblestudytools.com gives a good explanation.
They write, “Since the Apostle’s Creed was originally written in Greek, we will focus closely on this language. Translating Greek into English is difficult because two words describe the “abode of the dead.”
The word in Greek that speaks of the place of hell is “Gehenna.” This word describes a final retribution or physical place. The Apostles Creed does not use this word.
In the Apostle’s Creed, we find the statement “he descended into Hell” using the Greek word “Hades.” The word Hades, in Greek, refers to the state of death. It could be translated as “descended to those below.” It does not refer to the place we recognize today as hell – it refers to the physical state of death.”
We know that when Jesus was taken down off the cross, he was dead. There was no life in his body, so this makes sense to say that “He descended to the dead,” if we are talking about the state of being dead. In this way, we can affirm our belief by reciting this line along with the rest of the Creed, but I believe it is also okay to leave out this line to avoid any misunderstanding it might cause.
The point of a Creed is to state a belief in a simple, effective manner that would allow others to understand and come to agree with your belief. If this line becomes a stumbling block, perhaps it is best to leave it out. But since we now have an explanation of what it means, we will continue to say it when we recite the Creed again next week.
As we move on to the next line, “On the third day he rose again,” we once more find the evidence for the resurrection in all four gospel accounts. We celebrate this event every Easter, also known as Resurrection Sunday, or Resurrection Day. If we did not believe this, we could all sleep in on Sunday instead of getting up and coming to church. If there is no resurrection, then the entire Christian faith falls apart.
There are hundreds of witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, and Paul lays them out for us in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures 4 and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”
I guess that means we should continue to get out of bed every Sunday and come to worship, because we can confidently say that the resurrection is truth, and our faith is not for nothing.
Where is Jesus now? If we believe what we say in the Creed, Jesus has ascended into heaven, and he sits at the right hand of the Father. Mark says it almost exactly the same way in the last paragraph of his gospel, “So then, the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” Hebrews 9 and Luke 24:51 make a reference to this, but not with as much clarity as Mark’s account.
Everything that we say we believe in the Creed about Jesus that has already happened can be verified by scripture, but there is still a promise yet to come that we say by faith, “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
We are waiting for the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus’ return, found in Luke 21:27 and Mark 13:26, “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” The Creed says, “He will come again.” It’s a promise that was made and we believe will be kept, because God has been faithful to keep so many of his other promises. We speak our belief of this as a future truth, no less important or viable than one that has already played out.
Finally, we believe that when Jesus does return, he will “judge the living and the dead.” In 2 Timothy 4:1-2 Paul writes, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.”
Paul clearly states that Jesus Christ will judge both the living and the dead. But in today’s scripture, Jesus said he did not come into the world to condemn, but to save. What’s up with these two statements that seem to contradict each other?
While it looks contradictory on the surface, lets also look at Revelation 20:11-13 where John writes, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”
This judgement isn’t about separating the sheep from the goats, it’s about an accounting of what the saints had done while they were still living on earth. Jesus will look at the accounts of how we lived our lives, how we served in the ways he called us to serve, and how we loved God and neighbor. Jesus will return one day and when he does, he will gather up all his followers and take them to heaven to be with him forever, and he will check the book to see what we have done, and he will check the book of life to see if our name is written on its pages.
Then, just like when we sit at the gate, waiting to board a flight, we can be confident that, as followers of Jesus, our place is secured. Not because we bought a ticket this time, though, but because we have accepted the free gift of life given to us by God the Father through Jesus Christ his Son, because in Christ alone God has given us the ticket to eternal life with him in heaven. I believe. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, Thank you for the assurance of salvation, our secure ticket to eternal life with you. It is amazing to think how you gave up your seat in heaven for the time you came to earth to be born, live, and die for us. You have paid our debt, a debt we could never hope to pay ourselves. Thank you, Jesus, for taking what was ours and making it your own for our benefit. May the words of this Creed ring true in our words, in our hearts, and in how we live each day. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/did-jesus-actually-descend-into-hell.html
https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2022/08/where-is-the-apostles-creed-found-in-the-bible/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY November 10, 2024 began a new SERMON SERIES CALLED "THE APOSTLES CREED" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "THE FATHER".
November 10, 2024
Series: The Apostles Creed
Message: The Father
Scripture: Isaiah 45:1-12
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their robes,
to open doors before him— and the gates shall not be closed: 2 I will go before you
and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron; 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name;
I give you a title, though you do not know me. 5 I am the Lord, and there is no other;
besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me, 6 so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other. 7 I form light and create darkness; I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things.
8 Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up, and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also; I the Lord have created it. 9 Woe to those who strive with their Maker, earthen vessels with the potter! Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”? or “Your work has no handles”?
10 Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you fathering?” or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?” 11 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker:
Will you question me about my children or command me concerning the work of my hands? 12 I made the earth and created humankind upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
Today we will begin a three-week series on the Apostles Creed. We won’t have time to do a deep dive into all the points and nuances of it, but rather we will likely only get the Cliff’s Notes version right now.
The Apostles Creed was not written by the apostles. It was used in its early form by the Church to inquire of the faith of those being baptized and accepted into membership. At some time around the turn of the 13th century, the Creed came to be pretty much as it is today. We still use it in much the same way as it was originally used when we do baptisms and memberships here in our church. We ask those folks to join us in affirming their belief in the components of the Creed. A creed, in case you are wondering, is a statement of belief.
We don’t recite the Apostles Creed regularly in our service, but most of us know it, even if we don’t have it memorized; it is familiar in some way. On those occasions when we do say it, do we think about what the words mean as we say them? Have you ever thought about what it is we are really saying when we say these ancient words that are the building blocks of our faith expression? Let’s start at the beginning.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.”
When we say the Apostles’ Creed, we are stating our belief in God as the Father Almighty, and our belief that he is the creator of heaven and earth as we read about in the Genesis account. Genesis is the beginning – it is the beginning of scripture, and it is the beginning of everything that God created.
He made the heavens and the earth, the light and the dark, and the sky. God separated the land from the seas, created the plants and the trees, and hung the sun, the moon, and all the stars. He created the fish in the sea, the birds of the air, and all the animals on the land. And then, after all of that, God made humankind in his own image. God is so good, and God is so BIG! He is the Father Almighty, able to create with a word, yet willing to give life by giving us his very own breath.
That’s not all! This God whom we worship is the One who not only created the world and all that is in it, but who also chooses to be involved with his creation. He did not simply create and walk away, leaving the world to its own devices as the deists believe.
God is involved in this world – if he were not, why would we bother to pray? If God were not present in our daily lives, who would we be praying to? And if he were not active and present, then our prayers would be nothing more than empty words spoken into the void of the universe. But we pray because we know God listens and responds to our prayers because God desires a relationship with his creation – especially with men and women.
He met with Adam and Eve daily in the Garden of Eden. When they sinned and had to be expelled from paradise, he clothed them before sending them out into the cold, hard world. God called Abraham to leave his people and travel to a foreign land God would show him. He placed Joseph in a place of honor to save his family and multitudes of others from starving during the famine.
God gave Israel a king when they asked for one, and he sent prophets to mediate between himself and his people. And when the time was right, he sent his only Son into this world to suffer and die for the sins of humanity so that those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God could live with him in heaven for all of eternity.
God is not a disinterested creator, he is a loving Father who created everything, called it good, and then created humans and called them very good. I believe in God the Father who is the creator of heaven and earth, everything seen and unseen, who loves his created beings and desires an ongoing relationship with them.
In verse seven of today’s scripture, God tells us that, “I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I the Lord do all these things.” Then in verse 12 he says, “I made the earth and created humankind upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.” Believing in God the Father as creator of all is probably the easiest part of this statement of belief we make in the beginning of the Creed, because we read the truth of it in scripture, and we see evidence of his work all around us.
But we say more than that in the opening line. We say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Almighty – meaning having complete power; being omnipotent. God is certainly all knowing and all powerful, and in our scripture reading we see a significant piece of evidence to prove just how powerful our God really is.
Isaiah is writing this passage to the Jews in exile in Babylon, and God is promising deliverance is coming. He writes, “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their robes,
to open doors before him— and the gates shall not be closed:
2 I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron; 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.”
God says he will use this new king, Cyrus to overthrow the Babylonian empire and through him God will deliver the Israelites from their seventy years of captivity. Cyrus is a pagan, not a Jew, yet God is calling him by name and claiming him as an instrument of God’s will. Only a mighty, all-powerful God can say that and then make it happen.
God tells Cyrus, “For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name; I give you a title, though you do not know me. 5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me”
“Though you do not know me,” God says. God proves he can use even a pagan to accomplish good things for his people. God, the Almighty One, proves through his actions that he can do anything, through anyone, to bring his plans to fruition. If we ponder this passage, it becomes clear that we can confidently proclaim that we can truly believe in God as Almighty.
Could God have freed the Israelites without Cyrus? Of course, he could, but as he always does, God has a purpose and a plan for why he chooses to work in certain ways and through certain means or people. Verse six reveals this purpose: “so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.”
When we see God work in mighty ways, we are reminded that he is God and there is no other god. He is God almighty, all powerful, all seeing, all knowing. He is the God who created the heavens and the earth, the one who created humankind. He is God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, which is what we say when we say the Apostles Creed.
We use a creed to clarify what we believe and make it clear to others. The Apostles Creed does exactly that. In its first line we declare that “I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Today we learned just a few examples that point to this truth, but there are others to be found, if we search and study the scriptures.
Perhaps this can be an invitation for us all to do just that – to search God’s word for ourselves to find the evidence that proves our belief to be true. What do we see in the pages of the Bible that make us go, “Yes! That’s it! That proves it, and I believe.”
God is waiting for us to do just that, after all, it is his story, we are his creation, and he wants us to know, from the rising of the sun in the east to the setting of the sun in the west, that he is God and there is no other God but him, our powerful, almighty Father who is the creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them. For that I say AMEN.
PRAYER: Oh Lord God, Almighty Father, Creator of all, thank you for the work of your hands that created this world and created all of us. Thank you for your might and your power in a world that would be lost without your perfect plans. And thank you for your word, which points us to the truth about who you are – that you are the one, true God, and there is no other. May we boldly and proudly proclaim your truth to the world from this day forward. AMEN.
Series: The Apostles Creed
Message: The Father
Scripture: Isaiah 45:1-12
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their robes,
to open doors before him— and the gates shall not be closed: 2 I will go before you
and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron; 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name;
I give you a title, though you do not know me. 5 I am the Lord, and there is no other;
besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me, 6 so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other. 7 I form light and create darkness; I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things.
8 Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up, and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also; I the Lord have created it. 9 Woe to those who strive with their Maker, earthen vessels with the potter! Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”? or “Your work has no handles”?
10 Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you fathering?” or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?” 11 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker:
Will you question me about my children or command me concerning the work of my hands? 12 I made the earth and created humankind upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
Today we will begin a three-week series on the Apostles Creed. We won’t have time to do a deep dive into all the points and nuances of it, but rather we will likely only get the Cliff’s Notes version right now.
The Apostles Creed was not written by the apostles. It was used in its early form by the Church to inquire of the faith of those being baptized and accepted into membership. At some time around the turn of the 13th century, the Creed came to be pretty much as it is today. We still use it in much the same way as it was originally used when we do baptisms and memberships here in our church. We ask those folks to join us in affirming their belief in the components of the Creed. A creed, in case you are wondering, is a statement of belief.
We don’t recite the Apostles Creed regularly in our service, but most of us know it, even if we don’t have it memorized; it is familiar in some way. On those occasions when we do say it, do we think about what the words mean as we say them? Have you ever thought about what it is we are really saying when we say these ancient words that are the building blocks of our faith expression? Let’s start at the beginning.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.”
When we say the Apostles’ Creed, we are stating our belief in God as the Father Almighty, and our belief that he is the creator of heaven and earth as we read about in the Genesis account. Genesis is the beginning – it is the beginning of scripture, and it is the beginning of everything that God created.
He made the heavens and the earth, the light and the dark, and the sky. God separated the land from the seas, created the plants and the trees, and hung the sun, the moon, and all the stars. He created the fish in the sea, the birds of the air, and all the animals on the land. And then, after all of that, God made humankind in his own image. God is so good, and God is so BIG! He is the Father Almighty, able to create with a word, yet willing to give life by giving us his very own breath.
That’s not all! This God whom we worship is the One who not only created the world and all that is in it, but who also chooses to be involved with his creation. He did not simply create and walk away, leaving the world to its own devices as the deists believe.
God is involved in this world – if he were not, why would we bother to pray? If God were not present in our daily lives, who would we be praying to? And if he were not active and present, then our prayers would be nothing more than empty words spoken into the void of the universe. But we pray because we know God listens and responds to our prayers because God desires a relationship with his creation – especially with men and women.
He met with Adam and Eve daily in the Garden of Eden. When they sinned and had to be expelled from paradise, he clothed them before sending them out into the cold, hard world. God called Abraham to leave his people and travel to a foreign land God would show him. He placed Joseph in a place of honor to save his family and multitudes of others from starving during the famine.
God gave Israel a king when they asked for one, and he sent prophets to mediate between himself and his people. And when the time was right, he sent his only Son into this world to suffer and die for the sins of humanity so that those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God could live with him in heaven for all of eternity.
God is not a disinterested creator, he is a loving Father who created everything, called it good, and then created humans and called them very good. I believe in God the Father who is the creator of heaven and earth, everything seen and unseen, who loves his created beings and desires an ongoing relationship with them.
In verse seven of today’s scripture, God tells us that, “I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I the Lord do all these things.” Then in verse 12 he says, “I made the earth and created humankind upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.” Believing in God the Father as creator of all is probably the easiest part of this statement of belief we make in the beginning of the Creed, because we read the truth of it in scripture, and we see evidence of his work all around us.
But we say more than that in the opening line. We say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Almighty – meaning having complete power; being omnipotent. God is certainly all knowing and all powerful, and in our scripture reading we see a significant piece of evidence to prove just how powerful our God really is.
Isaiah is writing this passage to the Jews in exile in Babylon, and God is promising deliverance is coming. He writes, “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their robes,
to open doors before him— and the gates shall not be closed:
2 I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron; 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.”
God says he will use this new king, Cyrus to overthrow the Babylonian empire and through him God will deliver the Israelites from their seventy years of captivity. Cyrus is a pagan, not a Jew, yet God is calling him by name and claiming him as an instrument of God’s will. Only a mighty, all-powerful God can say that and then make it happen.
God tells Cyrus, “For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name; I give you a title, though you do not know me. 5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me”
“Though you do not know me,” God says. God proves he can use even a pagan to accomplish good things for his people. God, the Almighty One, proves through his actions that he can do anything, through anyone, to bring his plans to fruition. If we ponder this passage, it becomes clear that we can confidently proclaim that we can truly believe in God as Almighty.
Could God have freed the Israelites without Cyrus? Of course, he could, but as he always does, God has a purpose and a plan for why he chooses to work in certain ways and through certain means or people. Verse six reveals this purpose: “so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.”
When we see God work in mighty ways, we are reminded that he is God and there is no other god. He is God almighty, all powerful, all seeing, all knowing. He is the God who created the heavens and the earth, the one who created humankind. He is God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, which is what we say when we say the Apostles Creed.
We use a creed to clarify what we believe and make it clear to others. The Apostles Creed does exactly that. In its first line we declare that “I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Today we learned just a few examples that point to this truth, but there are others to be found, if we search and study the scriptures.
Perhaps this can be an invitation for us all to do just that – to search God’s word for ourselves to find the evidence that proves our belief to be true. What do we see in the pages of the Bible that make us go, “Yes! That’s it! That proves it, and I believe.”
God is waiting for us to do just that, after all, it is his story, we are his creation, and he wants us to know, from the rising of the sun in the east to the setting of the sun in the west, that he is God and there is no other God but him, our powerful, almighty Father who is the creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them. For that I say AMEN.
PRAYER: Oh Lord God, Almighty Father, Creator of all, thank you for the work of your hands that created this world and created all of us. Thank you for your might and your power in a world that would be lost without your perfect plans. And thank you for your word, which points us to the truth about who you are – that you are the one, true God, and there is no other. May we boldly and proudly proclaim your truth to the world from this day forward. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY October 20, 2024 finished the SERMON SERIES CALLED "tHE gOSPEL IN DISNEY" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "up".
October 20, 2024
Series: The Gospel in Disney
Message: Up
Scripture: Ruth 1:15-22
So she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you,
to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people
and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
and there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”
18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them,
“Call me no longer Naomi;
call me Mara,
for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
21 I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty;
why call me Naomi
when the Lord has dealt harshly with me
and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
22 So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
We are wrapping up our series on the Gospel in Disney this week with one of my favorite movies – “Up,” and it is paired with one of my favorite books of the Bible – Ruth. So, like all good stories, let’s begin this one in classic fashion.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a faraway land called Bethlehem, a famine came upon the land. It was in the days when the judges ruled in Israel, before the time of King Saul and all the other kings who would follow him. This famine grew very severe, so bad that a man named Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, moved with their two sons to the land of Moab, where they settled down and began to make a life for themselves as a family living in a foreign land.
While they were living in this land, Elimelech died. The two boys went on to marry Moabite women, but about ten years later, both of Naomi’s sons also died, leaving her alone with her two daughters-in-law. Soon after, word came to Naomi that the famine had ended, and crops were growing again in her homeland. Naomi made the decision to leave Moab and go back to Judah, to Bethlehem.
At first the two daughters-in-law – Orpah and Ruth - go with her. But at some point, Naomi stops and tells them they should go back home. They have been faithful wives to her sons, and they have remained faithful to Naomi, but she is concerned about them going so far away from their own people, from their own families of origin. The journey will be difficult, even dangerous, and Naomi can’t even guarantee that she can provide a home for them once they arrive in her hometown. They are young enough to marry again and have a family. It is better for them to stay in Moab.
Most Bible scholars see Naomi’s act of sending the women home an act of love, and I am sure it is, but on the other hand, perhaps Naomi is also thinking of herself. These two women remind her of her losses. She went to Moab with a husband and two sons, but they are all gone now. She is a grieving widow and a grieving mother. Perhaps she wants to be alone with her grief. Perhaps she wants to wrap it around herself like a blanket and hide from the rest of the world. Maybe she doesn’t feel up to being responsible for two other women when she can barely take care of herself.
That’s how Carl felt in the movie, “UP.” Carl had had a long and happy marriage with his childhood sweetheart, Ellie, but she had died some years earlier. Now, Carl lives alone in their house, wanting to be left alone with his sweet memories of his Ellie. But the world goes on and progress is happening all around him – construction noise and dust is getting on his nerves, the boss of the crew wants to buy his house, and all Carl wants is for everyone to go away and leave him alone.
And then there is a knock on his door. When he opens the door, there stands Russell, an eight-year-old boy wearing a Wilderness Explorer uniform and wanting to know if he can assist Carl with anything. He offers to help him cross the street, cross his yard, or even cross the room. Russell is willing to do anything Carl wants him to do because, as a Wilderness Explorer, he has earned all his badges except one – assisting the elderly. If Russell can do that task and earn his badge, he will get to graduate to Senior Wilderness Explorer, and that’s a big deal for this eight-year-old.
But Carl isn’t interested. He tries to close the door, but he underestimates Russell’s determination. Russell sticks his foot in the door like any good salesperson is trained to do, so Carl has to open it back up. Finally, just to get rid of this kid and find some peace, Carl gives Russell a job to do. He sends him on a snipe hunt. He tells Russell that the snipe comes into his yard every night and eats all the azaleas. Russell immediately volunteers to catch the snipe and Carl tells him he thinks its burrow is two blocks down the street. Russell runs off clapping his hands three times and calling for the snipe, and Carl thinks that’s the last of him, as he closes his door and returns to his favorite chair, and his memories of Ellie.
As he sits there, remembering the good old days, dreaming of good times with Ellie, and being ticked about all the noise that signals change and progress outside his door, Carl gets an idea. He remembers how he and Ellie had always planned to take a vacation to South America. Carl decides to take himself there, in his house, to get away from everything and everyone.
Even if you have never seen the movie, you may have seen a picture of the house that is floating through the air powered by helium balloons. Yep, Carl fills enough helium balloons to pick up his house and head off to South America, to Paradise Falls, that place where he and Ellie had always dreamed of going. All seems good until there is a knock at his door – after he is already way up in the air. You guessed it – it is Russell. Russell’s snipe trail had led him under Carl’s house and when it had started to move, he had jumped on the porch. Carl has a stow-away. He didn’t want anyone to come with him, this was a trip that was planned in Ellie’s memory and that is all Carl wanted for a companion – a memory - but it seems that doesn’t matter now.
Both Carl and Naomi want to be left alone, but they each have someone who just won’t allow it.
When Naomi told her daughters-in-law to go back to their families, they both initially refused. But when Naomi tells them again to leave her and go back home, Orpah finally agreed and left. But Ruth still refused. She clung to Naomi, and in a great act of faith and love, she told her mother-in-law, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”
Ruth is determined that Naomi should not go alone. She is willing to give up everything and everyone she knows to stay with Naomi; she is making a lifetime commitment to live in a foreign land with strangers, and she is even willing to accept Naomi’s God as her own.
We don’t really know if Naomi was happy about this new plan; all we read in scripture is that “When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.” And so, the two women made their journey to Naomi’s hometown. When they arrived, there was a lot of excitement. Naomi is home! Her old friends are happy to see her. But Naomi tells them not to call her Naomi any longer, a name that means “pleasant.” Now she wants to be known as Mara, which means “bitter,” for how can Naomi be anything but bitter when she believes that the Lord has caused her suffering and brought about the tragedies that have occurred in her life.
Can we really blame Naomi for how she feels? To lose a spouse is hard enough, but then to also lose her two sons was just too much for her to handle. Some might say she has a right to be bitter, to want to just be left alone in her grief, perhaps to even ask, “Why me?” of God. Naomi is bitter, and bitter people usually look for someone to blame - and God is an easy target.
We’ve all been there before. Sometimes it feels like life just piles up on us. No matter what we do or where we go it’s always there and it’s not always good. But the challenge we face is not allowing ourselves to become bitter about our circumstances. What we have to remember is that our circumstances, good or bad, are temporary.
Ecclesiastes 3, written by King Solomon, is the chapter that reminds us that for everything there is a season and a time for every activity under heaven. He teaches us of the tension between the positive and the negative pairs that are listed in the verses. Pairs such as: “A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to harvest, and a time to cry and a time to laugh.” For everything we experience in life, there is an opposite that we also must endure. We celebrate birth and mourn death, we plant the seed and then harvest the crop, and there are joyful times in our lives where laughter flows, and harder times when it is our tears that flow instead.
There is good news here, though – the hope that the writer is giving us is that even when we are in a season of hardship, it doesn’t last forever. Every season comes to an end so that another can begin. We may not like the hard seasons, we may not understand them, we may even get angry or bitter about them, but we have to hang onto the promise that life’s current difficulty will end, and better days are coming.
You see, while Carl didn’t want Russell tagging along to Paradise Falls, in the end, they formed a relationship that was good for both of them. And even if Naomi may not have wanted Ruth to come back home with her, they, too, had a relationship built on love and loyalty and they were good for each other.
Ruth, being younger, was willing to work to help support them both and to put food on the table. She went and gleaned in the fields. While there she caught the eye of the owner, Boaz. When Naomi heard whose field Ruth was working in, she advised her to continue working in Boaz’s fields because she knew Ruth would be safe there. And she devised a way to ensure that Ruth would be taken care of – by having Ruth marry Boaz.
Ruth and Boaz would soon have a baby boy, whom they named Obed. And Naomi eventually came to see that God had not abandoned her, even in her time of bitterness. He was still working in her life and through her, in Ruth’s life too. At the end of the book of Ruth, we read that, “Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”
And Naomi’s response was to take that precious baby in her arms and cuddle him , close, and she loved him like he was her own. This was the change in circumstances that Naomi needed. God had found a way to bring joy into her life once more. Seasons come and seasons go, such is the rhythm of life.
Did this new season of joy mean that she stopped missing her husband and her sons? No, anyone who has lost a loved one knows that we never stop missing them, but eventually we find a way to refocus ourselves so that we don’t dwell on the grief but remember the good times. Did this change in circumstance mean that Naomi would never have hard times again? Well, scripture doesn’t tell us anything after this, but I think it is pretty safe to say that the answer is again no. We know that life is a series of ups and downs, of changing seasons. Just because there was joy once more doesn’t mean that troubles never visited again, but the joy we feel in the good times helps us deal with the hard times by giving us the strength to endure.
What Naomi failed to remember when she was experiencing her season of bitterness, is that God was still with her, and that God still loved her. She felt like God was far away and she blamed God for all her troubles. But when she stopped blaming him and began to recognize and accept his blessings, she found joy.
When we go through a season where bitterness threatens to overtake us, I pray that we will remember that God is with us, that he loves us more than we can ever imagine, and that there is joy heading our way. We don’t know what God has planned for us, but we know that he has promised us that he has good plans for us, plans for good and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11, paraphrased).
God’s plans for Naomi included a loyal, faithful daughter-in-law who would carry on the family name by marrying Boaz and having a baby named Obed. And did you know that Obed was the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David? Oh, what plans God had – and the joy that was to be found when those plans came into being. And just think, God has a plan for you too, so remember, when life is hard and times get tough, it’s temporary.
Even if we can’t see the end from the beginning, God can. So, keep putting your trust and your faith in him, because he will never leave us or forsake us in all of our days. There’s no need to tie a gazillion balloons to your house to get away from everyone, because no matter where we go, God is with us. I’ll count that as a joy, and I pray you do too. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, sometimes when life gets hard, we get bitter. We blame you for all the bad and we turn away from you. But you never give up on us, just as Ruth did not give up on Naomi. Help us, Lord to abide in you, to trust in you, to turn to you, not only in the easy times, but even in the hard seasons of our lives. Thank you for your faithfulness, thank you for your presence, and thank you for your love, today and always. AMEN.
Series: The Gospel in Disney
Message: Up
Scripture: Ruth 1:15-22
So she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you,
to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people
and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
and there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”
18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them,
“Call me no longer Naomi;
call me Mara,
for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
21 I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty;
why call me Naomi
when the Lord has dealt harshly with me
and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
22 So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
We are wrapping up our series on the Gospel in Disney this week with one of my favorite movies – “Up,” and it is paired with one of my favorite books of the Bible – Ruth. So, like all good stories, let’s begin this one in classic fashion.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a faraway land called Bethlehem, a famine came upon the land. It was in the days when the judges ruled in Israel, before the time of King Saul and all the other kings who would follow him. This famine grew very severe, so bad that a man named Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, moved with their two sons to the land of Moab, where they settled down and began to make a life for themselves as a family living in a foreign land.
While they were living in this land, Elimelech died. The two boys went on to marry Moabite women, but about ten years later, both of Naomi’s sons also died, leaving her alone with her two daughters-in-law. Soon after, word came to Naomi that the famine had ended, and crops were growing again in her homeland. Naomi made the decision to leave Moab and go back to Judah, to Bethlehem.
At first the two daughters-in-law – Orpah and Ruth - go with her. But at some point, Naomi stops and tells them they should go back home. They have been faithful wives to her sons, and they have remained faithful to Naomi, but she is concerned about them going so far away from their own people, from their own families of origin. The journey will be difficult, even dangerous, and Naomi can’t even guarantee that she can provide a home for them once they arrive in her hometown. They are young enough to marry again and have a family. It is better for them to stay in Moab.
Most Bible scholars see Naomi’s act of sending the women home an act of love, and I am sure it is, but on the other hand, perhaps Naomi is also thinking of herself. These two women remind her of her losses. She went to Moab with a husband and two sons, but they are all gone now. She is a grieving widow and a grieving mother. Perhaps she wants to be alone with her grief. Perhaps she wants to wrap it around herself like a blanket and hide from the rest of the world. Maybe she doesn’t feel up to being responsible for two other women when she can barely take care of herself.
That’s how Carl felt in the movie, “UP.” Carl had had a long and happy marriage with his childhood sweetheart, Ellie, but she had died some years earlier. Now, Carl lives alone in their house, wanting to be left alone with his sweet memories of his Ellie. But the world goes on and progress is happening all around him – construction noise and dust is getting on his nerves, the boss of the crew wants to buy his house, and all Carl wants is for everyone to go away and leave him alone.
And then there is a knock on his door. When he opens the door, there stands Russell, an eight-year-old boy wearing a Wilderness Explorer uniform and wanting to know if he can assist Carl with anything. He offers to help him cross the street, cross his yard, or even cross the room. Russell is willing to do anything Carl wants him to do because, as a Wilderness Explorer, he has earned all his badges except one – assisting the elderly. If Russell can do that task and earn his badge, he will get to graduate to Senior Wilderness Explorer, and that’s a big deal for this eight-year-old.
But Carl isn’t interested. He tries to close the door, but he underestimates Russell’s determination. Russell sticks his foot in the door like any good salesperson is trained to do, so Carl has to open it back up. Finally, just to get rid of this kid and find some peace, Carl gives Russell a job to do. He sends him on a snipe hunt. He tells Russell that the snipe comes into his yard every night and eats all the azaleas. Russell immediately volunteers to catch the snipe and Carl tells him he thinks its burrow is two blocks down the street. Russell runs off clapping his hands three times and calling for the snipe, and Carl thinks that’s the last of him, as he closes his door and returns to his favorite chair, and his memories of Ellie.
As he sits there, remembering the good old days, dreaming of good times with Ellie, and being ticked about all the noise that signals change and progress outside his door, Carl gets an idea. He remembers how he and Ellie had always planned to take a vacation to South America. Carl decides to take himself there, in his house, to get away from everything and everyone.
Even if you have never seen the movie, you may have seen a picture of the house that is floating through the air powered by helium balloons. Yep, Carl fills enough helium balloons to pick up his house and head off to South America, to Paradise Falls, that place where he and Ellie had always dreamed of going. All seems good until there is a knock at his door – after he is already way up in the air. You guessed it – it is Russell. Russell’s snipe trail had led him under Carl’s house and when it had started to move, he had jumped on the porch. Carl has a stow-away. He didn’t want anyone to come with him, this was a trip that was planned in Ellie’s memory and that is all Carl wanted for a companion – a memory - but it seems that doesn’t matter now.
Both Carl and Naomi want to be left alone, but they each have someone who just won’t allow it.
When Naomi told her daughters-in-law to go back to their families, they both initially refused. But when Naomi tells them again to leave her and go back home, Orpah finally agreed and left. But Ruth still refused. She clung to Naomi, and in a great act of faith and love, she told her mother-in-law, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”
Ruth is determined that Naomi should not go alone. She is willing to give up everything and everyone she knows to stay with Naomi; she is making a lifetime commitment to live in a foreign land with strangers, and she is even willing to accept Naomi’s God as her own.
We don’t really know if Naomi was happy about this new plan; all we read in scripture is that “When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.” And so, the two women made their journey to Naomi’s hometown. When they arrived, there was a lot of excitement. Naomi is home! Her old friends are happy to see her. But Naomi tells them not to call her Naomi any longer, a name that means “pleasant.” Now she wants to be known as Mara, which means “bitter,” for how can Naomi be anything but bitter when she believes that the Lord has caused her suffering and brought about the tragedies that have occurred in her life.
Can we really blame Naomi for how she feels? To lose a spouse is hard enough, but then to also lose her two sons was just too much for her to handle. Some might say she has a right to be bitter, to want to just be left alone in her grief, perhaps to even ask, “Why me?” of God. Naomi is bitter, and bitter people usually look for someone to blame - and God is an easy target.
We’ve all been there before. Sometimes it feels like life just piles up on us. No matter what we do or where we go it’s always there and it’s not always good. But the challenge we face is not allowing ourselves to become bitter about our circumstances. What we have to remember is that our circumstances, good or bad, are temporary.
Ecclesiastes 3, written by King Solomon, is the chapter that reminds us that for everything there is a season and a time for every activity under heaven. He teaches us of the tension between the positive and the negative pairs that are listed in the verses. Pairs such as: “A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to harvest, and a time to cry and a time to laugh.” For everything we experience in life, there is an opposite that we also must endure. We celebrate birth and mourn death, we plant the seed and then harvest the crop, and there are joyful times in our lives where laughter flows, and harder times when it is our tears that flow instead.
There is good news here, though – the hope that the writer is giving us is that even when we are in a season of hardship, it doesn’t last forever. Every season comes to an end so that another can begin. We may not like the hard seasons, we may not understand them, we may even get angry or bitter about them, but we have to hang onto the promise that life’s current difficulty will end, and better days are coming.
You see, while Carl didn’t want Russell tagging along to Paradise Falls, in the end, they formed a relationship that was good for both of them. And even if Naomi may not have wanted Ruth to come back home with her, they, too, had a relationship built on love and loyalty and they were good for each other.
Ruth, being younger, was willing to work to help support them both and to put food on the table. She went and gleaned in the fields. While there she caught the eye of the owner, Boaz. When Naomi heard whose field Ruth was working in, she advised her to continue working in Boaz’s fields because she knew Ruth would be safe there. And she devised a way to ensure that Ruth would be taken care of – by having Ruth marry Boaz.
Ruth and Boaz would soon have a baby boy, whom they named Obed. And Naomi eventually came to see that God had not abandoned her, even in her time of bitterness. He was still working in her life and through her, in Ruth’s life too. At the end of the book of Ruth, we read that, “Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”
And Naomi’s response was to take that precious baby in her arms and cuddle him , close, and she loved him like he was her own. This was the change in circumstances that Naomi needed. God had found a way to bring joy into her life once more. Seasons come and seasons go, such is the rhythm of life.
Did this new season of joy mean that she stopped missing her husband and her sons? No, anyone who has lost a loved one knows that we never stop missing them, but eventually we find a way to refocus ourselves so that we don’t dwell on the grief but remember the good times. Did this change in circumstance mean that Naomi would never have hard times again? Well, scripture doesn’t tell us anything after this, but I think it is pretty safe to say that the answer is again no. We know that life is a series of ups and downs, of changing seasons. Just because there was joy once more doesn’t mean that troubles never visited again, but the joy we feel in the good times helps us deal with the hard times by giving us the strength to endure.
What Naomi failed to remember when she was experiencing her season of bitterness, is that God was still with her, and that God still loved her. She felt like God was far away and she blamed God for all her troubles. But when she stopped blaming him and began to recognize and accept his blessings, she found joy.
When we go through a season where bitterness threatens to overtake us, I pray that we will remember that God is with us, that he loves us more than we can ever imagine, and that there is joy heading our way. We don’t know what God has planned for us, but we know that he has promised us that he has good plans for us, plans for good and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11, paraphrased).
God’s plans for Naomi included a loyal, faithful daughter-in-law who would carry on the family name by marrying Boaz and having a baby named Obed. And did you know that Obed was the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David? Oh, what plans God had – and the joy that was to be found when those plans came into being. And just think, God has a plan for you too, so remember, when life is hard and times get tough, it’s temporary.
Even if we can’t see the end from the beginning, God can. So, keep putting your trust and your faith in him, because he will never leave us or forsake us in all of our days. There’s no need to tie a gazillion balloons to your house to get away from everyone, because no matter where we go, God is with us. I’ll count that as a joy, and I pray you do too. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, sometimes when life gets hard, we get bitter. We blame you for all the bad and we turn away from you. But you never give up on us, just as Ruth did not give up on Naomi. Help us, Lord to abide in you, to trust in you, to turn to you, not only in the easy times, but even in the hard seasons of our lives. Thank you for your faithfulness, thank you for your presence, and thank you for your love, today and always. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY October 13, 2024 continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "tHE gOSPEL IN DISNEY" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Tangled".
October 13, 2024
Series: The Gospel in Disney
Message: Tangled
Scripture: Judges 16:4-6, 15-17
After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him, and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes your strength so great and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you.”
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.” 16 Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day and pestered him, he was tired to death. 17 So he told her his whole secret and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak and be like anyone else.”
This week our Disney movie is “Tangled.” For those who have not seen the movie, you might know this story better as the story of Rapunzel, the girl with all the hair who was kept locked in a tower. In the movie, Rapunzel’s hair has magic healing, which is a trait that doesn’t go unnoticed by one evil person. Before long, the child is stolen from her crib by Gothel, an old woman whose desire is to use the magic of Rapunzel’s hair to stay young forever. To do that, Gothel keeps Rapunzel locked up in a tower that has no doors, a place hidden deep in the forest where no one can find her.
Gothel raises Rapunzel as her own daughter, teaching her that the world is a dangerous place and telling her that is the reason Rapunzel can never leave the tower; it is a way of protecting her from harm. The truth is that Gothel needs the power of Rapunzel’s hair – she cares nothing for the person she is keeping prisoner. The “love” that Gothel has for Rapunzel is fake, the life she lives is a lie.
Gothel makes sure that Rapunzel never cuts her hair because that would eliminate the power that Gothel needs. Everything is all about what Gothel needs, anything done for Rapunzel is just to keep her under Gothel’s control so that she can have access to the power of that hair whenever she needs it so that she might live and look young forever. Gother had given in to vanity. Vanity can be a cruel master because pride is the driving force of our vanity. We are all susceptible to vanity at times. Even strong men like Samson.
The story of Samson begins in the thirteenth chapter of Judges. The Israelites were living under the authority of the Philistines who oppressed them, this time it had been for about forty years. During this time, an angel of the Lord came to the wife of a man named Manoah and announced that she would become pregnant and give birth to a son. Just like Sarah and Abraham, Elkanah and Hannah, and Zechariah and Elizabeth, Manoah and his wife had longed for a child for many years. And just like the other couples, finally the day was coming when their prayers would be answered.
But the angel of the Lord told Manoah’s wife that she must follow some specific directions: for the entire pregnancy she was not to drink wine or eat any forbidden food. She was told that the child to be born would be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth and that his hair must never be cut. Scripture tells us that when he was born, he was given the name Samson and as he grew up, he was blessed by the Lord, and that the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in him. Sounds like a promising beginning, doesn’t it?
What does it mean to be a Nazarite? The instructions came from God to Moses and are found in Numbers 6, which explains that any person may take a special vow as a Nazirite, and set themselves apart to the Lord, for a period of time of their choosing. For that stated period of time, the person who has taken the vow may not eat or drink anything that contains any grapes or grape juice. They may not drink any alcoholic beverages, they may not touch any dead bodies, and they may not cut their hair for the duration of their vow. Their long hair is a symbol that allows others to see that a vow has been taken and that this is someone who has been set apart for God.
The angel of the Lord had told Manoah’s wife that her son would be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from the moment of his birth until the day he died because God was planning to use Samson to help rescue Israel from the Philistines. But Samson didn’t seem to keep himself separated from others for God’s service very well, did he? For example, one day he saw a Philistine woman and immediately just decided he wanted to marry her. So, he went with his parents to her hometown for the wedding.
While there, he throws a big bachelor party with his 30 companions, men of his wedding party. In the middle of the party, Samson boasts to the other men that he has a riddle for them and if they cannot answer the riddle by the end of the wedding celebration, they each owe him a new wardrobe. If they figure it out, he will give each of them new clothes instead.
The men can’t figure out the riddle and so they get Samson’s new wife to find out the answer for them. She pouts and she cries until Samson can’t take it anymore and finally tells her the answer, which she then relays to the others. They men win the bet, and Samson provides the new clothes as promised. (If you want to know how he did that, read Judges 14.)
What follows is a series of attacks and retaliations that would keep a soap opera going for a few seasons, at least. But eventually Samson meets another woman whose name is Delilah. Oh, yes, that Delilah. And when they found out that Samson loved Delilah, the Philistine rulers sought her out and offered her a deal. They said to her, “Entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be over-powered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
Remember when I said that Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah? Well, the scripture never says she loved him back. And that offer of silver was a strong temptation for her, so Delilah set to work to find out the secret of Samson’s strength. She asked him his secret and he made something up and told her. Thinking she knew the truth, she relayed the news, but when the Philistines came, they found out Samson had been pranking them. Delilah asked again, Samson gave a different answer, Delilah relayed that message and again their attempts to capture Samson failed. And this was repeated again, a third time, with the same results.
Delilah then resorted to pouting, to begging, probably to crying, and certainly to nagging. She just wouldn’t let up, until finally, Samson just got sick of listening to her, sick of her nagging him all the time. And so, Samson finally told her the truth – that his hair had never been cut and that if it were, then his strength would leave him. This time, when Delilah relayed the secret, and his hair was cut off while Samson slept, they discovered that he had really been telling the truth. When he woke up, he was too weak to defeat the men and he was captured, his eyes were gouged out, and he was taken as a prisoner to Gaza. His hair was gone, and his strength was gone.
In the “Tangled” movie, Rapunzel escapes from her tower and meets a boy and falls in love. Gothel eventually tracks Rapunzel down and tries to manipulate her into returning to the tower. Like Delilah, Gothel is a master at getting her own way by pouting and crying and being devious. Rapunzel at first believes she is better off in the tower, and she goes back “home” with Gothel. However, she soon comes to realize that she isn’t being protected from the world, she is being kept a prisoner.
When Flynn Rider, or Eugene (which is his real name) comes to save Rapunzel, Gothel stabs him and leaves him to die while trying to take Rapunzel somewhere where she will never be found again. But Rapunzel makes her a deal – let me use the power of my hair to save him and I will go with you willingly.
Seeing that a willing prisoner is easier to manage than one who is fighting, Gothel agrees. As Rapunzel leans down to heal Eugene, though, he quickly pulls out a knife and cuts off her hair. What has he done? He has doomed himself to die without the magical healing power of Rapunzel’s hair. But what Eugene really did was ensure Rapunzel’s freedom. With no more magic hair to keep her young, Gothel suddenly ages to her real self, falls out a window, and is no more.
Rapunzel kneels beside Eugene as he takes his last breath, and in her grief, she begins to cry. When her tears fall on Eugene, though, something miraculous happens! We discover that the magic that was always believed to be in Rapunzel’s hair was not – it is in Rapunzel herself! Her tears touch him, and they revive him. He is saved – brought back to life. And in true Disney style they live happily ever after.
Just like Rapunzel, Samson thought his strength came from his hair and now that it was cut, he had become as weak as a kitten. But was Samson’s hair really the source of his strength? Let’s look at this story a little more closely and see if we can find clarification.
It is true that Samson’s parents had been told that their son would be dedicated to the Lord as a Nazirite from his birth, and that meant that he could not cut his hair. But did the angel ever say anything about his hair giving him strength? No. The first time we see Samson’s display of strength is when he killed a lion with his bare hands. But that scripture says, “At that moment, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands” (Judges 14:6).
When Samson lost his bet over the riddle and he went to find the new clothes for the ones who had won, we read that, “Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.” Then, later, when the men of Judah tied Samson up and intended to hand him over to the Philistines as a prisoner, we read “But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists” (Judges 15:14).
It wasn’t Samson’s hair that made him strong – it was God working through the Holy Spirit. Only through the power of God could Samson have such strength to do the things he had done. And now that his hair was cut off? Is that what made him weak? No, if it wasn’t his hair that made him strong, it couldn’t be that losing his hair would make him lose his strength. If we read the text again, we see that “When he woke up, he thought, ‘I will do as before and shake myself free.’ But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him” (Judges 16:20). It was the Lord who gave Samson his strength and it was the Lord who took it away.
It’s not about the hair. It wasn’t for the fictional Rapunzel, and it wasn’t for the real-life Samson. And it’s not for us today. Whatever it is that we do, we have to understand that we do it through the grace and the power of God himself, by way of the Holy Spirit. In James 1:17, we are reminded that, “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.”
And Paul reminds us of the same thing in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6:
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.”
God gifted Samson with superhuman strength because that is what Samson needed in order to do the work that God called him to do. The Israelites had been under Philistine authority for many years and were anxious to be free. God used Samson, through his great strength, to bring this about.
After Samson had been held captive for some time, there came a day when the leaders brought him out so they could taunt him and be amused by him. They brought him out and stood him between two pillars that supported the roof where they were celebrating. Samson put his hands on those pillars, and he prayed to God, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time.” And Samson began to push.
As he pushed, he prayed again, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And as he prayed, and as he pushed, God gave Samson the strength he needed one last time – not because his hair had grown back, but because Samson finally understood that his true strength could be found only in God. And the pillars gave way, and the roof collapsed, and Samson’s wish was granted.
God had given Samson his strength back when Samson finally realized where it came from in the first place. And he used that gift to accomplish what God wanted him to do – to bring about the liberation of the Israelites from the Philistines. God gives us our gifts so that we will use them to accomplish what God wants us to do – to strengthen and support each other as the body of Christ – as the church in this world – and to reach out together to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to others.
Our strengths, our talents, our gifts – they all come from God. Not from any other source. Rapunzel, and more importantly, Samson, learned that lesson. Now, perhaps it is time we do the same. God gives us what we need for when we need it. The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts we are meant to have and then we are expected to use those gifts for the good of the body and the world in which we live. Not in our strength, but in God’s. AMEN.
PRAYER: Dear Lord, in the story of Samson, we are reminded that sometimes we give credit for what we have to the wrong person or the wrong thing. We think we are so talented because we try hard, we think we are strong, we think we are smart, we think we are all that and more. But what we forget is that everything we have, everything we do, and everything we are, is because of you. You give us the strength, you give us the knowledge, and you make us who we are. By your grace and your power, you give us what we need to go out and do what you have called us to do. Lord, today we praise you and thank you for your gifts, and we ask that you help us to honor you in our actions towards others. AMEN.
Series: The Gospel in Disney
Message: Tangled
Scripture: Judges 16:4-6, 15-17
After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him, and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes your strength so great and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you.”
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.” 16 Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day and pestered him, he was tired to death. 17 So he told her his whole secret and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak and be like anyone else.”
This week our Disney movie is “Tangled.” For those who have not seen the movie, you might know this story better as the story of Rapunzel, the girl with all the hair who was kept locked in a tower. In the movie, Rapunzel’s hair has magic healing, which is a trait that doesn’t go unnoticed by one evil person. Before long, the child is stolen from her crib by Gothel, an old woman whose desire is to use the magic of Rapunzel’s hair to stay young forever. To do that, Gothel keeps Rapunzel locked up in a tower that has no doors, a place hidden deep in the forest where no one can find her.
Gothel raises Rapunzel as her own daughter, teaching her that the world is a dangerous place and telling her that is the reason Rapunzel can never leave the tower; it is a way of protecting her from harm. The truth is that Gothel needs the power of Rapunzel’s hair – she cares nothing for the person she is keeping prisoner. The “love” that Gothel has for Rapunzel is fake, the life she lives is a lie.
Gothel makes sure that Rapunzel never cuts her hair because that would eliminate the power that Gothel needs. Everything is all about what Gothel needs, anything done for Rapunzel is just to keep her under Gothel’s control so that she can have access to the power of that hair whenever she needs it so that she might live and look young forever. Gother had given in to vanity. Vanity can be a cruel master because pride is the driving force of our vanity. We are all susceptible to vanity at times. Even strong men like Samson.
The story of Samson begins in the thirteenth chapter of Judges. The Israelites were living under the authority of the Philistines who oppressed them, this time it had been for about forty years. During this time, an angel of the Lord came to the wife of a man named Manoah and announced that she would become pregnant and give birth to a son. Just like Sarah and Abraham, Elkanah and Hannah, and Zechariah and Elizabeth, Manoah and his wife had longed for a child for many years. And just like the other couples, finally the day was coming when their prayers would be answered.
But the angel of the Lord told Manoah’s wife that she must follow some specific directions: for the entire pregnancy she was not to drink wine or eat any forbidden food. She was told that the child to be born would be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth and that his hair must never be cut. Scripture tells us that when he was born, he was given the name Samson and as he grew up, he was blessed by the Lord, and that the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in him. Sounds like a promising beginning, doesn’t it?
What does it mean to be a Nazarite? The instructions came from God to Moses and are found in Numbers 6, which explains that any person may take a special vow as a Nazirite, and set themselves apart to the Lord, for a period of time of their choosing. For that stated period of time, the person who has taken the vow may not eat or drink anything that contains any grapes or grape juice. They may not drink any alcoholic beverages, they may not touch any dead bodies, and they may not cut their hair for the duration of their vow. Their long hair is a symbol that allows others to see that a vow has been taken and that this is someone who has been set apart for God.
The angel of the Lord had told Manoah’s wife that her son would be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from the moment of his birth until the day he died because God was planning to use Samson to help rescue Israel from the Philistines. But Samson didn’t seem to keep himself separated from others for God’s service very well, did he? For example, one day he saw a Philistine woman and immediately just decided he wanted to marry her. So, he went with his parents to her hometown for the wedding.
While there, he throws a big bachelor party with his 30 companions, men of his wedding party. In the middle of the party, Samson boasts to the other men that he has a riddle for them and if they cannot answer the riddle by the end of the wedding celebration, they each owe him a new wardrobe. If they figure it out, he will give each of them new clothes instead.
The men can’t figure out the riddle and so they get Samson’s new wife to find out the answer for them. She pouts and she cries until Samson can’t take it anymore and finally tells her the answer, which she then relays to the others. They men win the bet, and Samson provides the new clothes as promised. (If you want to know how he did that, read Judges 14.)
What follows is a series of attacks and retaliations that would keep a soap opera going for a few seasons, at least. But eventually Samson meets another woman whose name is Delilah. Oh, yes, that Delilah. And when they found out that Samson loved Delilah, the Philistine rulers sought her out and offered her a deal. They said to her, “Entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be over-powered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
Remember when I said that Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah? Well, the scripture never says she loved him back. And that offer of silver was a strong temptation for her, so Delilah set to work to find out the secret of Samson’s strength. She asked him his secret and he made something up and told her. Thinking she knew the truth, she relayed the news, but when the Philistines came, they found out Samson had been pranking them. Delilah asked again, Samson gave a different answer, Delilah relayed that message and again their attempts to capture Samson failed. And this was repeated again, a third time, with the same results.
Delilah then resorted to pouting, to begging, probably to crying, and certainly to nagging. She just wouldn’t let up, until finally, Samson just got sick of listening to her, sick of her nagging him all the time. And so, Samson finally told her the truth – that his hair had never been cut and that if it were, then his strength would leave him. This time, when Delilah relayed the secret, and his hair was cut off while Samson slept, they discovered that he had really been telling the truth. When he woke up, he was too weak to defeat the men and he was captured, his eyes were gouged out, and he was taken as a prisoner to Gaza. His hair was gone, and his strength was gone.
In the “Tangled” movie, Rapunzel escapes from her tower and meets a boy and falls in love. Gothel eventually tracks Rapunzel down and tries to manipulate her into returning to the tower. Like Delilah, Gothel is a master at getting her own way by pouting and crying and being devious. Rapunzel at first believes she is better off in the tower, and she goes back “home” with Gothel. However, she soon comes to realize that she isn’t being protected from the world, she is being kept a prisoner.
When Flynn Rider, or Eugene (which is his real name) comes to save Rapunzel, Gothel stabs him and leaves him to die while trying to take Rapunzel somewhere where she will never be found again. But Rapunzel makes her a deal – let me use the power of my hair to save him and I will go with you willingly.
Seeing that a willing prisoner is easier to manage than one who is fighting, Gothel agrees. As Rapunzel leans down to heal Eugene, though, he quickly pulls out a knife and cuts off her hair. What has he done? He has doomed himself to die without the magical healing power of Rapunzel’s hair. But what Eugene really did was ensure Rapunzel’s freedom. With no more magic hair to keep her young, Gothel suddenly ages to her real self, falls out a window, and is no more.
Rapunzel kneels beside Eugene as he takes his last breath, and in her grief, she begins to cry. When her tears fall on Eugene, though, something miraculous happens! We discover that the magic that was always believed to be in Rapunzel’s hair was not – it is in Rapunzel herself! Her tears touch him, and they revive him. He is saved – brought back to life. And in true Disney style they live happily ever after.
Just like Rapunzel, Samson thought his strength came from his hair and now that it was cut, he had become as weak as a kitten. But was Samson’s hair really the source of his strength? Let’s look at this story a little more closely and see if we can find clarification.
It is true that Samson’s parents had been told that their son would be dedicated to the Lord as a Nazirite from his birth, and that meant that he could not cut his hair. But did the angel ever say anything about his hair giving him strength? No. The first time we see Samson’s display of strength is when he killed a lion with his bare hands. But that scripture says, “At that moment, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands” (Judges 14:6).
When Samson lost his bet over the riddle and he went to find the new clothes for the ones who had won, we read that, “Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.” Then, later, when the men of Judah tied Samson up and intended to hand him over to the Philistines as a prisoner, we read “But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists” (Judges 15:14).
It wasn’t Samson’s hair that made him strong – it was God working through the Holy Spirit. Only through the power of God could Samson have such strength to do the things he had done. And now that his hair was cut off? Is that what made him weak? No, if it wasn’t his hair that made him strong, it couldn’t be that losing his hair would make him lose his strength. If we read the text again, we see that “When he woke up, he thought, ‘I will do as before and shake myself free.’ But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him” (Judges 16:20). It was the Lord who gave Samson his strength and it was the Lord who took it away.
It’s not about the hair. It wasn’t for the fictional Rapunzel, and it wasn’t for the real-life Samson. And it’s not for us today. Whatever it is that we do, we have to understand that we do it through the grace and the power of God himself, by way of the Holy Spirit. In James 1:17, we are reminded that, “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.”
And Paul reminds us of the same thing in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6:
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.”
God gifted Samson with superhuman strength because that is what Samson needed in order to do the work that God called him to do. The Israelites had been under Philistine authority for many years and were anxious to be free. God used Samson, through his great strength, to bring this about.
After Samson had been held captive for some time, there came a day when the leaders brought him out so they could taunt him and be amused by him. They brought him out and stood him between two pillars that supported the roof where they were celebrating. Samson put his hands on those pillars, and he prayed to God, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time.” And Samson began to push.
As he pushed, he prayed again, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And as he prayed, and as he pushed, God gave Samson the strength he needed one last time – not because his hair had grown back, but because Samson finally understood that his true strength could be found only in God. And the pillars gave way, and the roof collapsed, and Samson’s wish was granted.
God had given Samson his strength back when Samson finally realized where it came from in the first place. And he used that gift to accomplish what God wanted him to do – to bring about the liberation of the Israelites from the Philistines. God gives us our gifts so that we will use them to accomplish what God wants us to do – to strengthen and support each other as the body of Christ – as the church in this world – and to reach out together to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to others.
Our strengths, our talents, our gifts – they all come from God. Not from any other source. Rapunzel, and more importantly, Samson, learned that lesson. Now, perhaps it is time we do the same. God gives us what we need for when we need it. The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts we are meant to have and then we are expected to use those gifts for the good of the body and the world in which we live. Not in our strength, but in God’s. AMEN.
PRAYER: Dear Lord, in the story of Samson, we are reminded that sometimes we give credit for what we have to the wrong person or the wrong thing. We think we are so talented because we try hard, we think we are strong, we think we are smart, we think we are all that and more. But what we forget is that everything we have, everything we do, and everything we are, is because of you. You give us the strength, you give us the knowledge, and you make us who we are. By your grace and your power, you give us what we need to go out and do what you have called us to do. Lord, today we praise you and thank you for your gifts, and we ask that you help us to honor you in our actions towards others. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY October 6, 2024 continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "tHE gOSPEL IN DISNEY" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "The Little Mermaid".
October 6, 2024
Series: The Gospel in Disney
Message: The Little mermaid
Scripture: Psalm 8:1-9
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I didn’t see the movie The Little Mermaid until several years after it had originally been released. My three-year-old wasn’t awfully interested in Disney movies when it came out, and it would be about a decade before I had nieces who swooned over all the princess movies. Somehow, I wouldn’t actually watch this popular movie until about five years ago. I knew the basic premise of the movie – a mermaid falls in love with a human prince and wants to become human. But that is about all I knew when the girls and I sat down to watch it one night when they were sleeping over.
In case you have never seen the movie, Ariel is the mermaid. She is a princess – her father is the King, the ruler over all the oceans. She has the freedom to roam anywhere she wants in the sea with only one real rule, she is not to go to the surface of the water where she might be seen by humans, which could be dangerous.
As you can imagine, Ariel is fascinated by the world on the surface. She has a secret room where she stores the treasures that she finds in sunken ships and these treasures only add to her curiosity; they tempt her to want to know more about the world from which they came. She has everything a mermaid could want, and yet, she feels like something is missing. She sings, and the words to her song reveal the longing in her heart:
Look at this stuff
Isn't it neat?
Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?
Wouldn't you think I'm the girl
The girl who has ev'rything?
Look at this trove
Treasures untold
How many wonders can one cavern hold?
Lookin' around here you'd think
(Sure) she's got everything
I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty
I've got whozits and whatzits galore
(You want thingamabobs?
I got twenty)
But who cares?
No big deal
I want more
Even though she is pointing out the items piled around her secret hiding place, Ariel is not talking about wanting more “things” here. She wants more than just things. She has lots of things, but even with all she has, she wants something more; she wants something to fill her heart, to give her purpose, to make her feel complete. She seems to have completely human feelings. How many of us have had a moment where we look around at all of our “stuff” and think to ourselves, I want more, not more stuff but something more, something deeper, something more important than all of this stuff?
Ariel is fascinated with humans, she wants to be around them, she wants to be like them, she wants to be them. She wants to be where humans are so she can see them dance, and jump, and stroll down the street, and she wants to join in with them. She wants to be where they walk, where they run, where they stay all day in the sun. This is the more that she dreams of.
And then she meets Prince Eric, and she falls in love. So now, her desire to be with humans grows even stronger– so much so that Ariel allows herself to be tricked into trading her voice for the joy of becoming a human. She barely pays attention to the fine print of the contract where it says if she doesn’t get the prince to kiss her within three days, she forfeits her voice forever and must become a prisoner of Ursula, the wicked sea witch.
Why would Ariel do this? Why is she so fascinated by humans? Why does she want so desperately to become one?
Perhaps the answer can be found in today’s scripture, a Psalm by King David. David is another person who seems to have everything. The difference between the real David and our fictional mermaid is that David has found an answer to the longing of his heart. David has found the love of God, and he worships God with words and deeds.
David, as the King of Israel, has all the “stuff” he needs and wants, but there was a time when he had nothing. There was a time when David was a refugee on the run from Saul who wanted to kill him. Yet, even during all those years where he had almost nothing, to David, as long as he has God that was all that mattered.
This psalm is one David wrote to worship God. David is awestruck as he acknowledges the greatness of God. He says, “O, Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers – the moon and the stars you set in place – what are mere mortals that you should think about them?”
When is the last time you were outside at night and stood staring at the stars and the moon? When was the last time you really took the time to appreciate the view, the endless vista, the light they give? When was the last time you looked at all of this and remembered that it was all created by God from nothing? And then remembered that the same God who made all that – and so much more – is the same God who made you? Who made every single one of us?
Why? Why would he do that? Why would the God who made everything choose to make humans – and then, as David said, he “made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.” Wow! That is love, my friends. Think about this. God, the very One who created the moon and the stars, the sun, the mountains, the oceans, horses, whales, dogs, cats, and butterflies, and everything else, would then decide to create humans and crown them with honor and glory – that is nothing more than pure, unadulterated love!
And God didn’t stop there – David goes on to say that “You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority – the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.” That is trust. God made all these things, and he called them good – and then he put man in charge of all the things he had created, trusting humans to care for, maintain, and love all they were given. God placed a high importance on humans. It’s easy to see why Ariel wanted to be human, isn’t it?
Well, sadly, it didn’t take long before we fallible humans started messing up. We didn’t care for, maintain, and love all that we had been put in charge of. God knew we would mess up. He knew we would let our own selfish desires get in the way of taking care of the beauty of his earth. So, God devised a plan. He decided to enter into humanity himself. It was the only way to save the sinful creatures we had become. The honor and glory God had bestowed upon humanity was sorely lacking – we had traded it in for whatever trivial thing we thought we wanted at the moment, but we didn’t bother to pay attention to the fine print of the contract that told us that “the wages of sin is death.”
We ignored all that and went after what we wanted, instead of looking all around and seeing the wonders that had been created for our pleasure and realizing that we already had everything we needed – given to us by the God who loved us enough to make us only a little lower than himself.
And so, God became human, in Jesus Christ. For about thirty years, God walked this earth as a human – never relinquishing his sovereignty but taking on the fullness of humanity. And he did it out of love. Love for us, love for you and for me. That is a powerful love.
Israel Houghton wrote a song called, “Friend of God” and it asks the question, “Who am I that you are mindful of me? That you hear me when I call? Is it true that you are thinking of me?” In these words, I am reminded once again of David, standing in the open on a dark night, staring at the sky and marveling at the greatness of what he sees. And I can’t help but echo his words, “what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” And I am overwhelmed, that the One who made everything felt it was important to make me, that he loves me, and that he became human, and that he died for me.
I think if I were a little mermaid, I would want to become human, too. I would want to live as someone who is so loved by God that he would die for them. Isn’t it amazing that we do get to do that?
Who am I that You are mindful of me?
That You hear me when I call
Is it true that You are thinking of me?
How You love me
It's amazing
Yes, it is amazing, and wonderful, and awesome. So, when you leave here today, I want you to look up at the sky, see how big it is. Look at the colors of the leaves on the trees; see how beautiful they are. Tonight, take a peek at the sky; see how full it is with stars. And remember that the God who made all of this also made you – because he loves you. Now, isn’t that amazing? AMEN
PRAYER: Amazing God, the world you created includes the sun and moon, the waves and the forests, night and day, all four seasons, and every living creature. And you saw fit to include humans in it too. We can only take in a tiny fraction of your greatness and yet, we are told that you made us only a little lower than yourself and you crowned us with honor and glory. And then, you became one of us and came to earth. You lived as a man, you lived with us, and when the time was right, you died for us. Lord, we praise you and thank you for all of this, for the beauty of your earth, for the love that you pour out on us, for all that you do. We thank you. AMEN.
Series: The Gospel in Disney
Message: The Little mermaid
Scripture: Psalm 8:1-9
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I didn’t see the movie The Little Mermaid until several years after it had originally been released. My three-year-old wasn’t awfully interested in Disney movies when it came out, and it would be about a decade before I had nieces who swooned over all the princess movies. Somehow, I wouldn’t actually watch this popular movie until about five years ago. I knew the basic premise of the movie – a mermaid falls in love with a human prince and wants to become human. But that is about all I knew when the girls and I sat down to watch it one night when they were sleeping over.
In case you have never seen the movie, Ariel is the mermaid. She is a princess – her father is the King, the ruler over all the oceans. She has the freedom to roam anywhere she wants in the sea with only one real rule, she is not to go to the surface of the water where she might be seen by humans, which could be dangerous.
As you can imagine, Ariel is fascinated by the world on the surface. She has a secret room where she stores the treasures that she finds in sunken ships and these treasures only add to her curiosity; they tempt her to want to know more about the world from which they came. She has everything a mermaid could want, and yet, she feels like something is missing. She sings, and the words to her song reveal the longing in her heart:
Look at this stuff
Isn't it neat?
Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?
Wouldn't you think I'm the girl
The girl who has ev'rything?
Look at this trove
Treasures untold
How many wonders can one cavern hold?
Lookin' around here you'd think
(Sure) she's got everything
I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty
I've got whozits and whatzits galore
(You want thingamabobs?
I got twenty)
But who cares?
No big deal
I want more
Even though she is pointing out the items piled around her secret hiding place, Ariel is not talking about wanting more “things” here. She wants more than just things. She has lots of things, but even with all she has, she wants something more; she wants something to fill her heart, to give her purpose, to make her feel complete. She seems to have completely human feelings. How many of us have had a moment where we look around at all of our “stuff” and think to ourselves, I want more, not more stuff but something more, something deeper, something more important than all of this stuff?
Ariel is fascinated with humans, she wants to be around them, she wants to be like them, she wants to be them. She wants to be where humans are so she can see them dance, and jump, and stroll down the street, and she wants to join in with them. She wants to be where they walk, where they run, where they stay all day in the sun. This is the more that she dreams of.
And then she meets Prince Eric, and she falls in love. So now, her desire to be with humans grows even stronger– so much so that Ariel allows herself to be tricked into trading her voice for the joy of becoming a human. She barely pays attention to the fine print of the contract where it says if she doesn’t get the prince to kiss her within three days, she forfeits her voice forever and must become a prisoner of Ursula, the wicked sea witch.
Why would Ariel do this? Why is she so fascinated by humans? Why does she want so desperately to become one?
Perhaps the answer can be found in today’s scripture, a Psalm by King David. David is another person who seems to have everything. The difference between the real David and our fictional mermaid is that David has found an answer to the longing of his heart. David has found the love of God, and he worships God with words and deeds.
David, as the King of Israel, has all the “stuff” he needs and wants, but there was a time when he had nothing. There was a time when David was a refugee on the run from Saul who wanted to kill him. Yet, even during all those years where he had almost nothing, to David, as long as he has God that was all that mattered.
This psalm is one David wrote to worship God. David is awestruck as he acknowledges the greatness of God. He says, “O, Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers – the moon and the stars you set in place – what are mere mortals that you should think about them?”
When is the last time you were outside at night and stood staring at the stars and the moon? When was the last time you really took the time to appreciate the view, the endless vista, the light they give? When was the last time you looked at all of this and remembered that it was all created by God from nothing? And then remembered that the same God who made all that – and so much more – is the same God who made you? Who made every single one of us?
Why? Why would he do that? Why would the God who made everything choose to make humans – and then, as David said, he “made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.” Wow! That is love, my friends. Think about this. God, the very One who created the moon and the stars, the sun, the mountains, the oceans, horses, whales, dogs, cats, and butterflies, and everything else, would then decide to create humans and crown them with honor and glory – that is nothing more than pure, unadulterated love!
And God didn’t stop there – David goes on to say that “You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority – the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.” That is trust. God made all these things, and he called them good – and then he put man in charge of all the things he had created, trusting humans to care for, maintain, and love all they were given. God placed a high importance on humans. It’s easy to see why Ariel wanted to be human, isn’t it?
Well, sadly, it didn’t take long before we fallible humans started messing up. We didn’t care for, maintain, and love all that we had been put in charge of. God knew we would mess up. He knew we would let our own selfish desires get in the way of taking care of the beauty of his earth. So, God devised a plan. He decided to enter into humanity himself. It was the only way to save the sinful creatures we had become. The honor and glory God had bestowed upon humanity was sorely lacking – we had traded it in for whatever trivial thing we thought we wanted at the moment, but we didn’t bother to pay attention to the fine print of the contract that told us that “the wages of sin is death.”
We ignored all that and went after what we wanted, instead of looking all around and seeing the wonders that had been created for our pleasure and realizing that we already had everything we needed – given to us by the God who loved us enough to make us only a little lower than himself.
And so, God became human, in Jesus Christ. For about thirty years, God walked this earth as a human – never relinquishing his sovereignty but taking on the fullness of humanity. And he did it out of love. Love for us, love for you and for me. That is a powerful love.
Israel Houghton wrote a song called, “Friend of God” and it asks the question, “Who am I that you are mindful of me? That you hear me when I call? Is it true that you are thinking of me?” In these words, I am reminded once again of David, standing in the open on a dark night, staring at the sky and marveling at the greatness of what he sees. And I can’t help but echo his words, “what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” And I am overwhelmed, that the One who made everything felt it was important to make me, that he loves me, and that he became human, and that he died for me.
I think if I were a little mermaid, I would want to become human, too. I would want to live as someone who is so loved by God that he would die for them. Isn’t it amazing that we do get to do that?
Who am I that You are mindful of me?
That You hear me when I call
Is it true that You are thinking of me?
How You love me
It's amazing
Yes, it is amazing, and wonderful, and awesome. So, when you leave here today, I want you to look up at the sky, see how big it is. Look at the colors of the leaves on the trees; see how beautiful they are. Tonight, take a peek at the sky; see how full it is with stars. And remember that the God who made all of this also made you – because he loves you. Now, isn’t that amazing? AMEN
PRAYER: Amazing God, the world you created includes the sun and moon, the waves and the forests, night and day, all four seasons, and every living creature. And you saw fit to include humans in it too. We can only take in a tiny fraction of your greatness and yet, we are told that you made us only a little lower than yourself and you crowned us with honor and glory. And then, you became one of us and came to earth. You lived as a man, you lived with us, and when the time was right, you died for us. Lord, we praise you and thank you for all of this, for the beauty of your earth, for the love that you pour out on us, for all that you do. We thank you. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY September 29, 2024 BEGAN A NEW SERMON SERIES CALLED "tHE gOSPEL IN DISNEY" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST".
September 29, 2024
Series: The Gospel in Disney
Message: Beauty and the Beast
Scripture: Acts 9:1-22
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” 22 Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a handsome prince. He had everything – good looks, lots of money, many friends, a beautiful castle, and servants to do all his work. If you were to meet him, you would think that he was the luckiest man in the world. This prince was the type of person who men dreamed of being and women dreamed of marrying.
But as we know, sometimes what we see on the outside is not a true reflection of what a person is like on the inside. You see, this prince was proud, and he let that pride harden his heart against anything that didn’t “fit” with his viewpoint. He saw beauty all around him – especially when he looked into the mirror – and his hard, proud heart would not allow anything that was not beautiful to intrude into his world. He was spoiled, and unkind.
Then one evening, a poor old beggar knocked on his door looking for a place to stay the night. She had no money, but she offered the prince an exquisite rose in exchange for his hospitality. The sight of the old beggar offended the prince, and he ordered her away. The beggar pleaded with him to change his mind, warning him that true beauty is not what is on the outside but what is in a person’s heart. He refused to listen and repeated his order that she leave.
At that moment, the old beggar transformed into a beautiful enchantress. Seeing the beauty of the woman who now stood in front of him, the prince fell to his knees and begged her forgiveness. It was too late. The enchantress put the prince and the entire castle under a spell. The prince was turned into a hideous beast, doomed to live as such until the day he found true love – someone who would love him in spite of his beastly appearance. If the prince did not find this true love before the last petal fell off the beautiful rose that had originally been offered to him, he would be doomed to remain a beast forever. Love was the key to his freedom, and yet, who could love such an ugly beast? This is the story of Beauty and the Beast.
Some might compare Saul of Tarsus to such a beast. The first time we meet Saul in scripture is in Acts 7, at the stoning of Stephen. Stephen, an early Christian. He was one of the seven men appointed by the apostles to serve the daily needs of the Church so the apostles could devote themselves to preaching the word and winning new converts. Stephen was falsely accused of speaking against the Temple and the Law, and in his defense, he gave a beautiful testimony, but even as he was still speaking, the crowd of people “put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.” (Acts 7:57-58, 8:1).
Saul may not have participated in Stephen’s stoning that day, but he was certainly in agreement with those who did the work. But that was just the beginning. Because somewhere between that fateful day and today’s scripture, Saul has become very active in the rounding up, arresting, and killing of those who follow the Way – that is, those who follow Christ. Today, he is on his way to Damascus; clutched in his hand are letters written by the high priest from the synagogue in Jerusalem to his counterpart in Damascus. Letters that give Saul authority to do the dirty work he has come to do, find, arrest, and return Followers of the Way back to Jerusalem for trial.
Saul has gone from approving bystander to active participant in the persecution of the early Christians. Saul shares with the Beast a hard, prideful heart that leaves no room for anything except what he wants – the beast wanted parties and beauty all around him, Saul wanted the death of people whom he believed were promoting a false new religion.
As Saul and his traveling companions were approaching Damascus, however, there was suddenly a blinding light, causing Saul to fall to the ground. And as he did so, he heard a voice speak directly to him saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” The men who were with Saul stood still and looked all around; they could hear the voice but could not see anyone. And Saul asked the one who was speaking, “Who are you, lord?”
This lord that Saul used was what we might use as “sir” today. Small “l”, not capital “L” that we use when addressing Jesus. Saul didn’t know Jesus, so he didn’t know who was speaking to him. “Who are you, sir?” Saul asked.
Imagine Saul’s shock to hear the answer come to him, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.” Shock, maybe even fear, is what Saul was likely feeling. This is not what Saul expected today – it’s not what any of them expected when they had left Jerusalem earlier, so eager to get to Damascus to take care of those Christians. And yet, here they are, on the road, not quite to their destination, and there’s this brilliant light and this voice saying, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”
Saul must have thought that this was the end for him. The stories are real? This is Jesus, the One he had heard about, the one he didn’t believe was the Messiah because who in their right mind would believe a tale like dying and rising from the dead? What have I done? How could I have been so wrong? And what will this Jesus do to me now?
I don’t think anyone would have been surprised if Jesus had struck Saul dead right there in the middle of the road. After all, Saul had appointed himself chief persecutor and tormentor of the ones who followed Jesus. It was because of this beast dressed as a devout Jew, that so many Christians had already been arrested and killed. To kill Saul now, many would think, is just what he deserves.
In the fairy tale, the Beast is alone in his castle when a beautiful girl named Belle wanders in looking for her father, whom the Beast has locked up in the tower. Finding her father cold and sick, Belle offers to stay as the Beast’s prisoner if he will let her father go. The Beast agrees. He has been alone so long and has been less than human for so long that the Beast has forgotten his manners, he has forgotten how to act like the gentleman he used to be. Now, he is used to snarling and shouting to get his way and Belle should have been frightened, but she wasn’t. Being kept a prisoner, Belle should have hated the Beast, but she doesn’t.
Instead, Belle sees something in the Beast that no one else can see. And because of that, she comes to love him – as he is. And because she loves him – the Beast begins to become a better version of himself. Here is the love will break the spell that the enchantress has put on the Beast. Here is the love that transforms someone from what they were to what they can be.
Jesus saw in Saul something of worth, someone worth loving. Jesus doesn’t strike Saul dead on the road to Damascus, instead, Jesus calls Saul to himself. “Now, get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Saul doesn’t ask any more questions. He gets up, opens his eyes, and suddenly realizes he is blind.
It’s a little ironic that when Saul had perfect vision, he was spiritually blind, but now that he is beginning to see the light – the Light of Christ, that is – he is now physically blind. Saul’s companions led him into Damascus where he waited for three days without eating or drinking anything. We know what happened next, how after three days, Jesus sent a man named Ananias to Saul, how Ananias laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
At that moment, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see once again. Then he got up, was baptized, and had something to eat. Saul went on to be one of the hardest working apostles, an extensive traveler, and a church planter. Saul, whom we know better by his Greek name of Paul, wrote a large part of our New Testament through the epistles that he sent to many of the churches that he had founded in many cities.
This man, who had been a beast intent on killing and destroying Christians, was transformed by love from what he was to the man we know him to be. A man who was on fire for God, who made it his mission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the world without regard for his own comfort or safety. Love was the key that set him free from the spiritual blindness that was a barrier between him and Jesus.
Love freed the Beast from a dreaded curse. Love freed Saul from the hatred that brewed in his heart. And love will do the same for each one of us – the love of Jesus will free us from whatever it is that is keeping us from being the person that God created us to be, the person God wants us to be, the person God calls us to be.
And the best part? It doesn’t matter what we are like, what we have done, how we have acted, God still loves us. Jesus still calls us to himself just like he did to Saul on the road to Damascus so long ago. Have you had your encounter with the risen Lord? In a message from the Waverly Baptist Church, we are asked:
“At what point in your life did you realize that everything you thought about Jesus was wrong? When did you come to the conclusion that Jesus is real, that He is alive, that He loves you unconditionally and wants you to love him in return? Every believer has to come to this point. Perhaps it was when the faith of your parents became your faith. Perhaps it was a time when you saw something, maybe not as brilliant as Saul’s blinding light, but something brilliant enough to convince you that you were wrong, and suddenly you just knew Jesus was real, and the Christian faith was the only thing that made sense. That question, “Who are you, Lord?” has to be answered by each of us as we begin our life of faith.”
And when we ask it, Jesus will answer, and he will answer it with love, no matter who we are, no matter where we are, no matter who we have been or what we have done – because Jesus’ love is the love that truly sets us free to be the beautiful person God created us to be. And we are all the better for it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, when we think about your servant Paul, we often forget that he wasn’t always a faithful apostle. We forget that he was once someone who did not know you and who persecuted your people. And yet, even knowing that, Jesus, you loved him. You called him to you and when he came, you changed him. Jesus, we are so grateful that you do the same for us. When we did not yet know you, you called us to come to you. You loved us as we were, and your love has changed us. Now, we ask that you keep working on us, that you keep helping us to love others even more and that we might be more like you each and every day. AMEN.
References
http://fbcwaverly.weebly.com/sermons/god-on-film-beauty-and-the-beast
Series: The Gospel in Disney
Message: Beauty and the Beast
Scripture: Acts 9:1-22
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” 22 Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a handsome prince. He had everything – good looks, lots of money, many friends, a beautiful castle, and servants to do all his work. If you were to meet him, you would think that he was the luckiest man in the world. This prince was the type of person who men dreamed of being and women dreamed of marrying.
But as we know, sometimes what we see on the outside is not a true reflection of what a person is like on the inside. You see, this prince was proud, and he let that pride harden his heart against anything that didn’t “fit” with his viewpoint. He saw beauty all around him – especially when he looked into the mirror – and his hard, proud heart would not allow anything that was not beautiful to intrude into his world. He was spoiled, and unkind.
Then one evening, a poor old beggar knocked on his door looking for a place to stay the night. She had no money, but she offered the prince an exquisite rose in exchange for his hospitality. The sight of the old beggar offended the prince, and he ordered her away. The beggar pleaded with him to change his mind, warning him that true beauty is not what is on the outside but what is in a person’s heart. He refused to listen and repeated his order that she leave.
At that moment, the old beggar transformed into a beautiful enchantress. Seeing the beauty of the woman who now stood in front of him, the prince fell to his knees and begged her forgiveness. It was too late. The enchantress put the prince and the entire castle under a spell. The prince was turned into a hideous beast, doomed to live as such until the day he found true love – someone who would love him in spite of his beastly appearance. If the prince did not find this true love before the last petal fell off the beautiful rose that had originally been offered to him, he would be doomed to remain a beast forever. Love was the key to his freedom, and yet, who could love such an ugly beast? This is the story of Beauty and the Beast.
Some might compare Saul of Tarsus to such a beast. The first time we meet Saul in scripture is in Acts 7, at the stoning of Stephen. Stephen, an early Christian. He was one of the seven men appointed by the apostles to serve the daily needs of the Church so the apostles could devote themselves to preaching the word and winning new converts. Stephen was falsely accused of speaking against the Temple and the Law, and in his defense, he gave a beautiful testimony, but even as he was still speaking, the crowd of people “put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.” (Acts 7:57-58, 8:1).
Saul may not have participated in Stephen’s stoning that day, but he was certainly in agreement with those who did the work. But that was just the beginning. Because somewhere between that fateful day and today’s scripture, Saul has become very active in the rounding up, arresting, and killing of those who follow the Way – that is, those who follow Christ. Today, he is on his way to Damascus; clutched in his hand are letters written by the high priest from the synagogue in Jerusalem to his counterpart in Damascus. Letters that give Saul authority to do the dirty work he has come to do, find, arrest, and return Followers of the Way back to Jerusalem for trial.
Saul has gone from approving bystander to active participant in the persecution of the early Christians. Saul shares with the Beast a hard, prideful heart that leaves no room for anything except what he wants – the beast wanted parties and beauty all around him, Saul wanted the death of people whom he believed were promoting a false new religion.
As Saul and his traveling companions were approaching Damascus, however, there was suddenly a blinding light, causing Saul to fall to the ground. And as he did so, he heard a voice speak directly to him saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” The men who were with Saul stood still and looked all around; they could hear the voice but could not see anyone. And Saul asked the one who was speaking, “Who are you, lord?”
This lord that Saul used was what we might use as “sir” today. Small “l”, not capital “L” that we use when addressing Jesus. Saul didn’t know Jesus, so he didn’t know who was speaking to him. “Who are you, sir?” Saul asked.
Imagine Saul’s shock to hear the answer come to him, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.” Shock, maybe even fear, is what Saul was likely feeling. This is not what Saul expected today – it’s not what any of them expected when they had left Jerusalem earlier, so eager to get to Damascus to take care of those Christians. And yet, here they are, on the road, not quite to their destination, and there’s this brilliant light and this voice saying, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”
Saul must have thought that this was the end for him. The stories are real? This is Jesus, the One he had heard about, the one he didn’t believe was the Messiah because who in their right mind would believe a tale like dying and rising from the dead? What have I done? How could I have been so wrong? And what will this Jesus do to me now?
I don’t think anyone would have been surprised if Jesus had struck Saul dead right there in the middle of the road. After all, Saul had appointed himself chief persecutor and tormentor of the ones who followed Jesus. It was because of this beast dressed as a devout Jew, that so many Christians had already been arrested and killed. To kill Saul now, many would think, is just what he deserves.
In the fairy tale, the Beast is alone in his castle when a beautiful girl named Belle wanders in looking for her father, whom the Beast has locked up in the tower. Finding her father cold and sick, Belle offers to stay as the Beast’s prisoner if he will let her father go. The Beast agrees. He has been alone so long and has been less than human for so long that the Beast has forgotten his manners, he has forgotten how to act like the gentleman he used to be. Now, he is used to snarling and shouting to get his way and Belle should have been frightened, but she wasn’t. Being kept a prisoner, Belle should have hated the Beast, but she doesn’t.
Instead, Belle sees something in the Beast that no one else can see. And because of that, she comes to love him – as he is. And because she loves him – the Beast begins to become a better version of himself. Here is the love will break the spell that the enchantress has put on the Beast. Here is the love that transforms someone from what they were to what they can be.
Jesus saw in Saul something of worth, someone worth loving. Jesus doesn’t strike Saul dead on the road to Damascus, instead, Jesus calls Saul to himself. “Now, get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Saul doesn’t ask any more questions. He gets up, opens his eyes, and suddenly realizes he is blind.
It’s a little ironic that when Saul had perfect vision, he was spiritually blind, but now that he is beginning to see the light – the Light of Christ, that is – he is now physically blind. Saul’s companions led him into Damascus where he waited for three days without eating or drinking anything. We know what happened next, how after three days, Jesus sent a man named Ananias to Saul, how Ananias laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
At that moment, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see once again. Then he got up, was baptized, and had something to eat. Saul went on to be one of the hardest working apostles, an extensive traveler, and a church planter. Saul, whom we know better by his Greek name of Paul, wrote a large part of our New Testament through the epistles that he sent to many of the churches that he had founded in many cities.
This man, who had been a beast intent on killing and destroying Christians, was transformed by love from what he was to the man we know him to be. A man who was on fire for God, who made it his mission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the world without regard for his own comfort or safety. Love was the key that set him free from the spiritual blindness that was a barrier between him and Jesus.
Love freed the Beast from a dreaded curse. Love freed Saul from the hatred that brewed in his heart. And love will do the same for each one of us – the love of Jesus will free us from whatever it is that is keeping us from being the person that God created us to be, the person God wants us to be, the person God calls us to be.
And the best part? It doesn’t matter what we are like, what we have done, how we have acted, God still loves us. Jesus still calls us to himself just like he did to Saul on the road to Damascus so long ago. Have you had your encounter with the risen Lord? In a message from the Waverly Baptist Church, we are asked:
“At what point in your life did you realize that everything you thought about Jesus was wrong? When did you come to the conclusion that Jesus is real, that He is alive, that He loves you unconditionally and wants you to love him in return? Every believer has to come to this point. Perhaps it was when the faith of your parents became your faith. Perhaps it was a time when you saw something, maybe not as brilliant as Saul’s blinding light, but something brilliant enough to convince you that you were wrong, and suddenly you just knew Jesus was real, and the Christian faith was the only thing that made sense. That question, “Who are you, Lord?” has to be answered by each of us as we begin our life of faith.”
And when we ask it, Jesus will answer, and he will answer it with love, no matter who we are, no matter where we are, no matter who we have been or what we have done – because Jesus’ love is the love that truly sets us free to be the beautiful person God created us to be. And we are all the better for it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, when we think about your servant Paul, we often forget that he wasn’t always a faithful apostle. We forget that he was once someone who did not know you and who persecuted your people. And yet, even knowing that, Jesus, you loved him. You called him to you and when he came, you changed him. Jesus, we are so grateful that you do the same for us. When we did not yet know you, you called us to come to you. You loved us as we were, and your love has changed us. Now, we ask that you keep working on us, that you keep helping us to love others even more and that we might be more like you each and every day. AMEN.
References
http://fbcwaverly.weebly.com/sermons/god-on-film-beauty-and-the-beast
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY September 15, 2024 continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "The Lord's prayer" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "how to ask".
September 15, 2024
Series: The Lord’s Prayer
Message: How to Ask
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15 (11-15)
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread,
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
I came across this outline for the Lord’s Prayer this week. It lists the 6 Ps of the prayer, breaking it down section by section, as written by Rev. Dr. Larry Petton:
First, we have the paternity of prayer: “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
Then, the priority of prayer: “Hallowed be your name.”
Next is the program of prayer: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Fourth, is the provision of prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Then comes the pardon of prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Finally, there is the protection of prayer: “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”
When Jesus gave this prayer to his disciples, he knew what he was giving them – a tool to help them become more aware of who God is, a conversation to bring them deeper into God’s presence, a way of acknowledging who and whose they were, and an understanding of their relationship with the One who not only created them, but loved them beyond measure, no matter what.
In the last two weeks, we have learned that we should prepare ourselves to pray. We should find a quiet place, shut out all the distractions of the outside world, and speak to Our Father. We learned how to begin our prayer, by greeting God and acknowledging who he is to us. That even in private, individual prayer time, we still address God as Our Father because we understand that at all times, we are a part of a community – the body of Christ.
We revere God’s holiness with the words, “hallowed be thy name,” as we aspire to be more like him every day, and with those same words, we are also praying that all of our brothers and sisters in Christ will come along with us, and that we will help each other when any of us slip off the path of righteousness.
We offer up a petition for God’s kingdom to come and that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven because we live in the desire for God’s kingdom right here, right now, but also, in the promise of what is yet to come as we learn to surrender our will to his daily.
Now, today, we continue in the last few verses of the Lord’s Prayer beginning with our asking for God’s provision. “Give us this day our daily bread,” we say, but what does that even mean?
Christianity.com tells us that “’Daily bread’ refers to our daily needs and sustenance. It signifies our reliance on God for provision and reminds us to trust Him for our everyday necessities.” Remember when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for those forty years? Remember how God fed them?
Exodus 16 reads, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.’”
God wanted these people to learn that they could trust him for what they needed every single day. There was no need to worry about what to eat tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after. God rained down manna, bread from heaven, on the Israelites camp every day. And the rule was, they were to only gather what they needed for that day. Any extra that someone might try to save up for the next day would spoil in the night and become inedible.
Give us this day our daily bread means we are asking God to give us what we need right now and trusting that he will do that. Tomorrow, he will give us what we need for tomorrow. Nest Tuesday he will give us what we need for next Tuesday. He is a God we can trust, a God we can depend on, with our very lives. Just as God provided manna everyday for the Israelites for the food they needed, he also provided water when they needed it, and their clothes and shoes never wore out in the 40 years they word them. That is a God who has proven to be dependable for his provisions.
As often happens, there is another meaning to our petition to give us this day our daily bread. We know that good food nourishes the body, and is necessary for life, but the Good News, God’s own word, nourishes the soul and is also necessary for life. In Deuteronomy 8:3 the Bible teaches us that “man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus even quoted this text when the enemy was trying to tempt him in the desert.
In asking for God to give us this day our daily bread, we are praying for both physical and spiritual sustenance so that we will have the strength and determination to go out into the world and spread His Message through our words and actions. Spiritual nourishment comes from reading and studying the Word of God regularly, and from communion with Christ, who is the “bread of life” that has come down from Heaven so that “whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” as stated in John 6.
Give us this day our daily bread is asking for enough of God’s provision to get us through today. We will worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes, or more accurately, we will trust that when tomorrow comes we will have no need to worry at all, because God will provide.
The next line is perhaps the most overlooked line in the prayer. We pray it weekly; do we mean it? Do we think about what we are saying when we pray “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?”
We like to talk about the forgiveness of God, and rightly so. Without his forgiveness of our sins through the bloodshed of Jesus Christ, we would still be living as lost souls doomed for hell. Praise God that he sent Jesus, who came willingly to be the perfect atoning sacrifice in our place, paying our sin debt so we don’t have to, restoring our relationship with our heavenly Father, and granting us access to eternal life when he rose from the grave. Again, I say, “Praise God and add a Hallelujah!”
Pay close attention, though, to all the words as we plead for pardon in this prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Uh-oh. What we are doing when we pray this prayer is asking for God’s forgiveness to the same extent that we are willing to forgive others ourselves. This is getting real, here.
Think for a minute. Who in your life are you holding a grudge against? Who has wronged you in any way and you just cannot bring yourself to forgive them? I get it, this is hard stuff. “Pastor,” you say, “you just don’t know what that person has done. I just can’t forgive right now – maybe never.”
You’re right. I don’t know. I don’t know what you have been dealing with, I don’t know the wrongs done to you, I don’t know how you are struggling to forgive and maybe failing. But this I do know – forgiveness is not about the one we are forgiving – it’s about us. It’s about our hearts and our relationship with God.
Does that person deserve to be forgiven? Maybe not. Does that person even know you harbor anger in your heart toward them? Perhaps not. Does it matter if they know this or not? No, it does not. I know it would help if they came up to us and admitted their guilt and asked for our forgiveness, but that’s not how it usually works, is it?
We stew in our anger, we plot our revenge, we fan the flame of our vendetta, but that other person goes right on living their life like it’s no big deal. So, you see, when we withhold forgiveness, it isn’t about them – it’s about us. It has been said that refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. My friends, when we refuse to forgive, we are the ones dying, not them.
I will say this again, I know it might not be easy. I know it might be the hardest thing you have ever done. I know you might be struggling with this and have been for years, but ask yourself this, was it easy for God to send his Son to die on a cross to forgive our sins? Was it easy for Jesus, the perfect, sinless Lamb of God to leave his place in heaven, step across the stars, and come to earth as a human, knowing how it would end? No, it wasn’t easy at all, but he did it. He did that for you. He did that for me. He did that for everyone who calls on his name to be saved.
My friends, when Jesus gave this prayer to his disciples, knowing what was coming for him in the next few months, he knew how hard forgiveness would be for us, but he loves us too much to hold us back from truly experiencing a relationship with God. When we finally come to the place where we can forgive, we are reflecting God’s love and mercy that he has already poured out upon us, and through that reflection, we just might be pointing a nonbeliever toward forgiveness, restoration, salvation, and eternal life. And pointing ourselves more fully in that direction, too.
Jesus says that we must forgive those who have harmed us because God has already forgiven us much. To the extent we are willing to offer forgiveness, we will receive it from our heavenly Father. Even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. Later, Jesus would absolutely model this for the disciples and for all of his followers when he said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.”
Jesus then goes on to give us the protection we need in our prayer. We know that the enemy is always prowling around, trying to knock us off track in our faith walk, but in God’s strength we can recognize the enemy and send him packing. “Lead us not into temptation” is not saying that God would ever lead us into temptation, but that he will always provide a way for us to escape when that is where we find ourselves and we are ready to get out of it.
Lead us not into temptation is us confessing to God that we are vulnerable and without him we are lost. We need God to overcome our human weaknesses as he guides us on the right path, drawing us ever closer to him. It is how we ask God to give us the discernment we need to thwart the temptations that are thrown at us from the spiritual forces of darkness.
Finally, we pray, “deliver us from evil,” which is really an extension of lead us not into temptation. We know that we will succumb to sin from time to time, not that we plan to, but because that is our human nature. So, when we do succumb, when we do recognize where we are, when we realize this isn’t where we want to be, then we plead with God to deliver us from the evil in which we find ourselves. This isn’t just a wish, or a hope, but we confidently pray this knowing God will do as we ask. He doesn’t want us to languish in sin for even one moment, so he will be quick to lead us away from it when we wake up and recognize our need for repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.
This is the prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer. We have looked at each line individually, but what does it mean for us beyond knowing what each line means for us as believers? Do the parts all add up to equal anything as a whole?
First of all, Jesus himself taught this prayer, so there is deep significance to its words. We’ve learned that as we have walked through it line by line. It is a template for prayer. That means we can pray in whatever way we choose, but this is the outline that will bring us into closer communion with God, show us who he is and who we are in him. This is one type of prayer, not the only way to pray. We also pray breath prayers, urgent prayers, corporate prayers, and praise prayers. There will never be too many ways to pray because remember, prayer is putting us in connection with God, and there is no better place to be than in his presence.
It's also nice to know that the Lord’s Prayer is universal. Almost every Christian either knows, or knows of this prayer, and as we say it each week, we are reminding ourselves that we are part of a community, a family. We are, as followers of Jesus Christ, given the privilege of being called a child of God. The Lord’s Prayer is simply one thread that binds us together, as his children, across communities, countries, and even denominations.
Had you, before these three weeks, ever realized how important the Lord’s Prayer really is? We say it every week. My hope is that having studied it for just a little bit, we will all now begin to not only say it, but mean it, that we will not only mean it but live it – for our benefit and for God’s glory. AMEN.
PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, Holy are you and grateful are we for the lesson we have received through the words of this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples all those years ago. As we pray this prayer, whether together or in our private time with you, may these words help us examine our hearts, draw us closer to you, bind us one to another, and strengthen our faith. Thank you for teaching us who you are and who we are. Thank you for making us yours. AMEN.
References
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/prayer/breakdown-of-the-lords-prayer.html#:~:text=It%20conveys%20the%20idea%20of,sins%2C%20and%20deliverance%20from%20evil.
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101368/outline-of-the-lord-39-s-prayer-by-dr-larry-petton
Series: The Lord’s Prayer
Message: How to Ask
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15 (11-15)
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread,
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
I came across this outline for the Lord’s Prayer this week. It lists the 6 Ps of the prayer, breaking it down section by section, as written by Rev. Dr. Larry Petton:
First, we have the paternity of prayer: “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
Then, the priority of prayer: “Hallowed be your name.”
Next is the program of prayer: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Fourth, is the provision of prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Then comes the pardon of prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Finally, there is the protection of prayer: “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”
When Jesus gave this prayer to his disciples, he knew what he was giving them – a tool to help them become more aware of who God is, a conversation to bring them deeper into God’s presence, a way of acknowledging who and whose they were, and an understanding of their relationship with the One who not only created them, but loved them beyond measure, no matter what.
In the last two weeks, we have learned that we should prepare ourselves to pray. We should find a quiet place, shut out all the distractions of the outside world, and speak to Our Father. We learned how to begin our prayer, by greeting God and acknowledging who he is to us. That even in private, individual prayer time, we still address God as Our Father because we understand that at all times, we are a part of a community – the body of Christ.
We revere God’s holiness with the words, “hallowed be thy name,” as we aspire to be more like him every day, and with those same words, we are also praying that all of our brothers and sisters in Christ will come along with us, and that we will help each other when any of us slip off the path of righteousness.
We offer up a petition for God’s kingdom to come and that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven because we live in the desire for God’s kingdom right here, right now, but also, in the promise of what is yet to come as we learn to surrender our will to his daily.
Now, today, we continue in the last few verses of the Lord’s Prayer beginning with our asking for God’s provision. “Give us this day our daily bread,” we say, but what does that even mean?
Christianity.com tells us that “’Daily bread’ refers to our daily needs and sustenance. It signifies our reliance on God for provision and reminds us to trust Him for our everyday necessities.” Remember when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for those forty years? Remember how God fed them?
Exodus 16 reads, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.’”
God wanted these people to learn that they could trust him for what they needed every single day. There was no need to worry about what to eat tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after. God rained down manna, bread from heaven, on the Israelites camp every day. And the rule was, they were to only gather what they needed for that day. Any extra that someone might try to save up for the next day would spoil in the night and become inedible.
Give us this day our daily bread means we are asking God to give us what we need right now and trusting that he will do that. Tomorrow, he will give us what we need for tomorrow. Nest Tuesday he will give us what we need for next Tuesday. He is a God we can trust, a God we can depend on, with our very lives. Just as God provided manna everyday for the Israelites for the food they needed, he also provided water when they needed it, and their clothes and shoes never wore out in the 40 years they word them. That is a God who has proven to be dependable for his provisions.
As often happens, there is another meaning to our petition to give us this day our daily bread. We know that good food nourishes the body, and is necessary for life, but the Good News, God’s own word, nourishes the soul and is also necessary for life. In Deuteronomy 8:3 the Bible teaches us that “man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus even quoted this text when the enemy was trying to tempt him in the desert.
In asking for God to give us this day our daily bread, we are praying for both physical and spiritual sustenance so that we will have the strength and determination to go out into the world and spread His Message through our words and actions. Spiritual nourishment comes from reading and studying the Word of God regularly, and from communion with Christ, who is the “bread of life” that has come down from Heaven so that “whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” as stated in John 6.
Give us this day our daily bread is asking for enough of God’s provision to get us through today. We will worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes, or more accurately, we will trust that when tomorrow comes we will have no need to worry at all, because God will provide.
The next line is perhaps the most overlooked line in the prayer. We pray it weekly; do we mean it? Do we think about what we are saying when we pray “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?”
We like to talk about the forgiveness of God, and rightly so. Without his forgiveness of our sins through the bloodshed of Jesus Christ, we would still be living as lost souls doomed for hell. Praise God that he sent Jesus, who came willingly to be the perfect atoning sacrifice in our place, paying our sin debt so we don’t have to, restoring our relationship with our heavenly Father, and granting us access to eternal life when he rose from the grave. Again, I say, “Praise God and add a Hallelujah!”
Pay close attention, though, to all the words as we plead for pardon in this prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Uh-oh. What we are doing when we pray this prayer is asking for God’s forgiveness to the same extent that we are willing to forgive others ourselves. This is getting real, here.
Think for a minute. Who in your life are you holding a grudge against? Who has wronged you in any way and you just cannot bring yourself to forgive them? I get it, this is hard stuff. “Pastor,” you say, “you just don’t know what that person has done. I just can’t forgive right now – maybe never.”
You’re right. I don’t know. I don’t know what you have been dealing with, I don’t know the wrongs done to you, I don’t know how you are struggling to forgive and maybe failing. But this I do know – forgiveness is not about the one we are forgiving – it’s about us. It’s about our hearts and our relationship with God.
Does that person deserve to be forgiven? Maybe not. Does that person even know you harbor anger in your heart toward them? Perhaps not. Does it matter if they know this or not? No, it does not. I know it would help if they came up to us and admitted their guilt and asked for our forgiveness, but that’s not how it usually works, is it?
We stew in our anger, we plot our revenge, we fan the flame of our vendetta, but that other person goes right on living their life like it’s no big deal. So, you see, when we withhold forgiveness, it isn’t about them – it’s about us. It has been said that refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. My friends, when we refuse to forgive, we are the ones dying, not them.
I will say this again, I know it might not be easy. I know it might be the hardest thing you have ever done. I know you might be struggling with this and have been for years, but ask yourself this, was it easy for God to send his Son to die on a cross to forgive our sins? Was it easy for Jesus, the perfect, sinless Lamb of God to leave his place in heaven, step across the stars, and come to earth as a human, knowing how it would end? No, it wasn’t easy at all, but he did it. He did that for you. He did that for me. He did that for everyone who calls on his name to be saved.
My friends, when Jesus gave this prayer to his disciples, knowing what was coming for him in the next few months, he knew how hard forgiveness would be for us, but he loves us too much to hold us back from truly experiencing a relationship with God. When we finally come to the place where we can forgive, we are reflecting God’s love and mercy that he has already poured out upon us, and through that reflection, we just might be pointing a nonbeliever toward forgiveness, restoration, salvation, and eternal life. And pointing ourselves more fully in that direction, too.
Jesus says that we must forgive those who have harmed us because God has already forgiven us much. To the extent we are willing to offer forgiveness, we will receive it from our heavenly Father. Even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. Later, Jesus would absolutely model this for the disciples and for all of his followers when he said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.”
Jesus then goes on to give us the protection we need in our prayer. We know that the enemy is always prowling around, trying to knock us off track in our faith walk, but in God’s strength we can recognize the enemy and send him packing. “Lead us not into temptation” is not saying that God would ever lead us into temptation, but that he will always provide a way for us to escape when that is where we find ourselves and we are ready to get out of it.
Lead us not into temptation is us confessing to God that we are vulnerable and without him we are lost. We need God to overcome our human weaknesses as he guides us on the right path, drawing us ever closer to him. It is how we ask God to give us the discernment we need to thwart the temptations that are thrown at us from the spiritual forces of darkness.
Finally, we pray, “deliver us from evil,” which is really an extension of lead us not into temptation. We know that we will succumb to sin from time to time, not that we plan to, but because that is our human nature. So, when we do succumb, when we do recognize where we are, when we realize this isn’t where we want to be, then we plead with God to deliver us from the evil in which we find ourselves. This isn’t just a wish, or a hope, but we confidently pray this knowing God will do as we ask. He doesn’t want us to languish in sin for even one moment, so he will be quick to lead us away from it when we wake up and recognize our need for repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.
This is the prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer. We have looked at each line individually, but what does it mean for us beyond knowing what each line means for us as believers? Do the parts all add up to equal anything as a whole?
First of all, Jesus himself taught this prayer, so there is deep significance to its words. We’ve learned that as we have walked through it line by line. It is a template for prayer. That means we can pray in whatever way we choose, but this is the outline that will bring us into closer communion with God, show us who he is and who we are in him. This is one type of prayer, not the only way to pray. We also pray breath prayers, urgent prayers, corporate prayers, and praise prayers. There will never be too many ways to pray because remember, prayer is putting us in connection with God, and there is no better place to be than in his presence.
It's also nice to know that the Lord’s Prayer is universal. Almost every Christian either knows, or knows of this prayer, and as we say it each week, we are reminding ourselves that we are part of a community, a family. We are, as followers of Jesus Christ, given the privilege of being called a child of God. The Lord’s Prayer is simply one thread that binds us together, as his children, across communities, countries, and even denominations.
Had you, before these three weeks, ever realized how important the Lord’s Prayer really is? We say it every week. My hope is that having studied it for just a little bit, we will all now begin to not only say it, but mean it, that we will not only mean it but live it – for our benefit and for God’s glory. AMEN.
PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, Holy are you and grateful are we for the lesson we have received through the words of this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples all those years ago. As we pray this prayer, whether together or in our private time with you, may these words help us examine our hearts, draw us closer to you, bind us one to another, and strengthen our faith. Thank you for teaching us who you are and who we are. Thank you for making us yours. AMEN.
References
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/prayer/breakdown-of-the-lords-prayer.html#:~:text=It%20conveys%20the%20idea%20of,sins%2C%20and%20deliverance%20from%20evil.
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101368/outline-of-the-lord-39-s-prayer-by-dr-larry-petton
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY September 8, 2024 continued A SERMON SERIES CALLED "The Lord's prayer" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "how to Begin".
September 8, 2024
Series: The Lord’s Prayer
Message: How to Begin
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15 (9-10)
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Last week, as we began this series on the Lord’s Prayer, we learned from Jesus that we need to prayer with a right heart attitude. We aren’t to pray in a way that draws attention to ourselves while not honoring God. We aren’t to pray using the same words over and over again, getting louder as we go because we think maybe God didn’t hear us the first ten times or so. Instead, we should make intentional, regular time to go off by ourselves, close out the world of distractions, set our focus, and tune our hearts to God as we pray.
Now, this week Jesus is teaching us how to begin our prayer because, once again, Jesus knows our ways; he knows how easy it is for us to just jump into prayer by presenting to God our long list of wants and needs. I call those our “please dos.” Why do we do that? I mean, we wouldn’t appreciate it if every time we met up with a friend of ours, the first thing they did was ask for something, would we? If that were the case, we might decide not to hang out with that person anymore, we would start to find ways to avoid being around them so they couldn’t ask.
As we begin to pray, we should greet the One to whom we are speaking. Prayer is a conversation, after all. “Our Father in heaven,” Jesus says, is a good way to begin. This is a way to bring us into God’s presence. We greet our Father and acknowledge just who he is – Our Father in heaven.
For those of us who get stuck on grammar issues, we might think, why are we praying to “Our Father” if we are praying in private? Wouldn’t we simply say, “My Father” then? When we say, “Our Father,” even in the privacy of our prayer closet with no one else around, we are conveying to God that we know we are part of a community of believers; we are one person who makes up the body of Christ here on earth. Yes, we have a personal relationship with our Father in heaven through Jesus Christ, but we are always one part of a whole community of believers.
After the greeting, we acknowledge who God is – “hallowed be thy name.” God is holy, he is perfect. When we say this, when we admit that God is holy, we are honoring God and showing him respect for who he is. We are, in our declaration of God’s holiness, committing ourselves to aspire to live a holy life as we see modeled in him.
Hannah did just that when she was praying for a child. Her prayer is found in 1 Samual 2, and in verse 2 she says, “There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” This is Hannah’s version of “Hallowed be thy name.” She knew God is holy, that is why she was praying to him in the first place. She was acknowledging her awareness of God’s holiness before she even began to offer up her petition for a child.
As Hannah began her prayer, so too, should we. “Hallowed be thy name,” is our way of acknowledging our awareness of God’s holiness in our lives, even while knowing we will sometimes fail in our attempt at holiness, or sanctification as we might call it. Still, we know God will forgive us and continue to model for us how to follow in his ways.
Another aspect of our admission of God’s holiness is that we are also praying for all other believers to aspire to God’s holiness along with us. Our desire is that all believers will walk along the path of faith together, helping and supporting one another as we make our journey toward perfection. When we see a brother or a sister in need, we will stop and lend a hand, and when we are in need ourselves, we will reach out to the hand that is reaching for us.
We, as believers, are all members of the family of God, and we all want what is best for every member of our family. I don’t think I ever realized that “Hallowed be thy name” conveys so much in just four words, did you?
“Thy kingdom come” is a petition with two meanings. The first meaning is the desire we have for God’s kingdom to reign on earth right here and now. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” We long to live in a world where faith and hope come together and create in us a love of God and neighbor. As Christianity.com puts it: “It is an expression of our desire for God's reign and rule to be fully realized on earth. It is a call for God's justice, peace, and love to prevail in the world.”
In “Thy kingdom come,” we are also praying the promise we have been given through John’s vision in Revelation 21 of the day when we will see what he saw: “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’”
“Thy kingdom come” is our prayer for right now, and yet to come. Praying this expresses our confidence in the One who is working in the right now and simultaneously in the yet to come for the good of his children.
The words “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven can also be found in God’s promise to his people through Isaiah 30:18 when God says, “Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are those who wait for him.”
This promise from God to his people was given while they were still living in rebellion. They weren’t faithfully worshipping God; they were trying to make an alliance with the king of Egypt for protection from their enemies instead of relying on God to protect them. They worshiped idols and false gods instead of the One, True God who had brought them out of Egypt and fought many battles for them.
Because of all this, because of their unfaithfulness, God had warned them if they didn’t change their ways they would be conquered and sent into exile in a foreign land. Now God is saying it’s too late, there is no longer any hope that this generation will listen, repent, and turn back to him. Yet, God isn’t saying he is washing his hands of them all.
God promised his people, this rebellious bunch, that even though they will endure hardships, exile, and life in a foreign land, he will spare a remnant who will come back to Jerusalem and learn to worship him once again.
Isaiah tells his people, “O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.” This is God’s will; that his people will learn to love him, praise him, worship him, recognize him for who he is, and that we will love our neighbor. This is God’s plan for his people, and he will bring it to pass.
When we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we are surrendering our will to the will of God. We are confessing that God’s ways are better than our human ways; that God’s plan for our lives is better than our own plans. This is saying, “Not my will, but yours be done” and, hopefully, meaning it. And in these words, we are asking God to infuse us with his strength to live this way because we know our will is strong and we can’t do it on our own, but God’s strength in us can carry us through anything.
E. Stanley Jones, in his book, “Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome,” explains the act of surrender this way: “Prayer is surrender - surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.”
The act of pulling a boat to shore takes work; so does surrendering our will to God’s will. Neither is easy, both are worth it. We cannot live a real life if we are always adrift at sea. Likewise, we cannot live life, eternal life, if we are always adrift in the sea of our own will and desires. What we need to do is to pull ourselves to shore, get out of the boat, bow down and worship God with praise and thanksgiving for the safety he has provided.
When we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” that is exactly what we are doing. That is why this line in our prayer is so important, because we must daily surrender our will to God. If only it were a once and done, how great that would be. Unfortunately, in our human hearts, we have to surrender daily so that we don’t take it back and try pulling the shore out to sea to save ourselves. How wise of Jesus to include this in our model prayer.
Well, that’s the beginning of how Jesus is teaching us to pray. He teaches us to, “Pray, then, in this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
His prayer model includes a greeting to the One to whom we are speaking, an acknowledgement that God is holy and our commitment to try to emulate his holiness in our own lives. There is a two-fold petition for God’s kingdom to reign here on earth – both in the right now and in the future to come, and a declaration of surrender, giving up our own will so that God’s will can rule our lives.
I want to challenge us, each of us, to think on the Lord’s Prayer this week, to pray this prayer on our own, in our own private time with God, and as we say the words, perhaps they will have a deeper meaning than they had before. Perhaps, this prayer can bring us closer to God than we were before, all for our gain and God’s glory. AMEN.
PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, you are the Holy One who reaches out to us and brings us into your family through your Son, Jesus Christ. You have given us your word to teach us and show us the way to be more like you. Your kingdom has come near, and you have given us the promise of a time when your kingdom will be evident to everyone, when we see you seated on your throne in the new Jerusalem. You give us the strength to surrender ourselves to you so that you can be LORD of our lives, and we are so very grateful for all of this. Lord God, the more we learn of you and your plans for us, the more we want of you and your rule in our lives, and the more we realize the importance of sharing you with others. Fill us with your Spirit, your strength, your love, that we might be your disciples who are passionate to make disciples, for the gain of your people and your glory forever. AMEN.
References
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/prayer/breakdown-of-the-lords-prayer.html#:~:text=It%20conveys%20the%20idea%20of,sins%2C%20and%20deliverance%20from%20evil.
Series: The Lord’s Prayer
Message: How to Begin
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15 (9-10)
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Last week, as we began this series on the Lord’s Prayer, we learned from Jesus that we need to prayer with a right heart attitude. We aren’t to pray in a way that draws attention to ourselves while not honoring God. We aren’t to pray using the same words over and over again, getting louder as we go because we think maybe God didn’t hear us the first ten times or so. Instead, we should make intentional, regular time to go off by ourselves, close out the world of distractions, set our focus, and tune our hearts to God as we pray.
Now, this week Jesus is teaching us how to begin our prayer because, once again, Jesus knows our ways; he knows how easy it is for us to just jump into prayer by presenting to God our long list of wants and needs. I call those our “please dos.” Why do we do that? I mean, we wouldn’t appreciate it if every time we met up with a friend of ours, the first thing they did was ask for something, would we? If that were the case, we might decide not to hang out with that person anymore, we would start to find ways to avoid being around them so they couldn’t ask.
As we begin to pray, we should greet the One to whom we are speaking. Prayer is a conversation, after all. “Our Father in heaven,” Jesus says, is a good way to begin. This is a way to bring us into God’s presence. We greet our Father and acknowledge just who he is – Our Father in heaven.
For those of us who get stuck on grammar issues, we might think, why are we praying to “Our Father” if we are praying in private? Wouldn’t we simply say, “My Father” then? When we say, “Our Father,” even in the privacy of our prayer closet with no one else around, we are conveying to God that we know we are part of a community of believers; we are one person who makes up the body of Christ here on earth. Yes, we have a personal relationship with our Father in heaven through Jesus Christ, but we are always one part of a whole community of believers.
After the greeting, we acknowledge who God is – “hallowed be thy name.” God is holy, he is perfect. When we say this, when we admit that God is holy, we are honoring God and showing him respect for who he is. We are, in our declaration of God’s holiness, committing ourselves to aspire to live a holy life as we see modeled in him.
Hannah did just that when she was praying for a child. Her prayer is found in 1 Samual 2, and in verse 2 she says, “There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” This is Hannah’s version of “Hallowed be thy name.” She knew God is holy, that is why she was praying to him in the first place. She was acknowledging her awareness of God’s holiness before she even began to offer up her petition for a child.
As Hannah began her prayer, so too, should we. “Hallowed be thy name,” is our way of acknowledging our awareness of God’s holiness in our lives, even while knowing we will sometimes fail in our attempt at holiness, or sanctification as we might call it. Still, we know God will forgive us and continue to model for us how to follow in his ways.
Another aspect of our admission of God’s holiness is that we are also praying for all other believers to aspire to God’s holiness along with us. Our desire is that all believers will walk along the path of faith together, helping and supporting one another as we make our journey toward perfection. When we see a brother or a sister in need, we will stop and lend a hand, and when we are in need ourselves, we will reach out to the hand that is reaching for us.
We, as believers, are all members of the family of God, and we all want what is best for every member of our family. I don’t think I ever realized that “Hallowed be thy name” conveys so much in just four words, did you?
“Thy kingdom come” is a petition with two meanings. The first meaning is the desire we have for God’s kingdom to reign on earth right here and now. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” We long to live in a world where faith and hope come together and create in us a love of God and neighbor. As Christianity.com puts it: “It is an expression of our desire for God's reign and rule to be fully realized on earth. It is a call for God's justice, peace, and love to prevail in the world.”
In “Thy kingdom come,” we are also praying the promise we have been given through John’s vision in Revelation 21 of the day when we will see what he saw: “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’”
“Thy kingdom come” is our prayer for right now, and yet to come. Praying this expresses our confidence in the One who is working in the right now and simultaneously in the yet to come for the good of his children.
The words “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven can also be found in God’s promise to his people through Isaiah 30:18 when God says, “Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are those who wait for him.”
This promise from God to his people was given while they were still living in rebellion. They weren’t faithfully worshipping God; they were trying to make an alliance with the king of Egypt for protection from their enemies instead of relying on God to protect them. They worshiped idols and false gods instead of the One, True God who had brought them out of Egypt and fought many battles for them.
Because of all this, because of their unfaithfulness, God had warned them if they didn’t change their ways they would be conquered and sent into exile in a foreign land. Now God is saying it’s too late, there is no longer any hope that this generation will listen, repent, and turn back to him. Yet, God isn’t saying he is washing his hands of them all.
God promised his people, this rebellious bunch, that even though they will endure hardships, exile, and life in a foreign land, he will spare a remnant who will come back to Jerusalem and learn to worship him once again.
Isaiah tells his people, “O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.” This is God’s will; that his people will learn to love him, praise him, worship him, recognize him for who he is, and that we will love our neighbor. This is God’s plan for his people, and he will bring it to pass.
When we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we are surrendering our will to the will of God. We are confessing that God’s ways are better than our human ways; that God’s plan for our lives is better than our own plans. This is saying, “Not my will, but yours be done” and, hopefully, meaning it. And in these words, we are asking God to infuse us with his strength to live this way because we know our will is strong and we can’t do it on our own, but God’s strength in us can carry us through anything.
E. Stanley Jones, in his book, “Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome,” explains the act of surrender this way: “Prayer is surrender - surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.”
The act of pulling a boat to shore takes work; so does surrendering our will to God’s will. Neither is easy, both are worth it. We cannot live a real life if we are always adrift at sea. Likewise, we cannot live life, eternal life, if we are always adrift in the sea of our own will and desires. What we need to do is to pull ourselves to shore, get out of the boat, bow down and worship God with praise and thanksgiving for the safety he has provided.
When we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” that is exactly what we are doing. That is why this line in our prayer is so important, because we must daily surrender our will to God. If only it were a once and done, how great that would be. Unfortunately, in our human hearts, we have to surrender daily so that we don’t take it back and try pulling the shore out to sea to save ourselves. How wise of Jesus to include this in our model prayer.
Well, that’s the beginning of how Jesus is teaching us to pray. He teaches us to, “Pray, then, in this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
His prayer model includes a greeting to the One to whom we are speaking, an acknowledgement that God is holy and our commitment to try to emulate his holiness in our own lives. There is a two-fold petition for God’s kingdom to reign here on earth – both in the right now and in the future to come, and a declaration of surrender, giving up our own will so that God’s will can rule our lives.
I want to challenge us, each of us, to think on the Lord’s Prayer this week, to pray this prayer on our own, in our own private time with God, and as we say the words, perhaps they will have a deeper meaning than they had before. Perhaps, this prayer can bring us closer to God than we were before, all for our gain and God’s glory. AMEN.
PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, you are the Holy One who reaches out to us and brings us into your family through your Son, Jesus Christ. You have given us your word to teach us and show us the way to be more like you. Your kingdom has come near, and you have given us the promise of a time when your kingdom will be evident to everyone, when we see you seated on your throne in the new Jerusalem. You give us the strength to surrender ourselves to you so that you can be LORD of our lives, and we are so very grateful for all of this. Lord God, the more we learn of you and your plans for us, the more we want of you and your rule in our lives, and the more we realize the importance of sharing you with others. Fill us with your Spirit, your strength, your love, that we might be your disciples who are passionate to make disciples, for the gain of your people and your glory forever. AMEN.
References
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/prayer/breakdown-of-the-lords-prayer.html#:~:text=It%20conveys%20the%20idea%20of,sins%2C%20and%20deliverance%20from%20evil.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY September 1, 2024 began A SERMON SERIES CALLED "The Lord's prayer" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "how to pray?".
September 1, 2024
Series: The Lord’s Prayer
Message: How to Pray
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15 (5-8)
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others. neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This week we begin a short series on the Lord’s Prayer. We say the Lord’s Prayer every week here; in fact, we just said it, right after we lifted up our prayers and our praises, we closed with the Lord’s Prayer before we moved into our scripture reading. But even though we say it regularly, and even though most of us know it by heart, do we really pay attention to what we are saying? Do the words matter, or are they just a bunch of words we say to get from one part of our worship service to the next, just a transitional tool, so to speak?
It is easy to be lured into saying something so familiar that it becomes rote, or just a habit. I hope that in the next couple of weeks we will find a renewed focus on these words that will renew our hearts and open our minds as we recite one of the most well-known prayers of all time.
It was Jesus himself who gave us the words to the Lord’s Prayer, but before he did, he wanted to lay some groundwork first. He knew how the religious leaders of the day viewed prayer and how they practiced it, and he did not want his disciples – then and now – to fall into their ways.
He begins by telling them, “Whenever you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who stand on the street corners or in the synagogues where they can be seen by passersby who will notice them.” They do this so they will be noticed by men, not because their hearts are attuned to God. Since their goal is to be noticed and admired, they have already received all the reward they are seeking right then and there. These prayers said in public in just this way, will have no lasting value because they mean nothing.
Some people have perfected putting on a show to gain attention. The proof of that statement becomes clear when we see the slew of “reality” TV shows being offered. People will do really strange or stupid stuff to be in the spotlight.
Some want that spotlight so much they will even drag others, including their own children, into their scheme to get it. How many remember back in 2009, when the nation was focused on the plight of a six-year-old boy from Colorado whose parents claimed he had floated away in a spaceship shaped balloon the family had been building in their backyard?
The boy’s parents were distraught at the danger their son was in. The nation was stunned and worried about this child who was accidentally caught up in a balloon that floated up over 7,000 feet, drifted for an hour and a half, and finally landed about 50 miles away from where it started. Denver Airport was shut down, National Guard helicopters were called in, and local authorities joined the search and rescue scene.
Finally, the balloon landed, but no little boy was inside. But wait! There’s more! It was reported that someone had seen something fall from the balloon before it landed, so the search continued. The faces of his frantic parents, worried sick about their child, filled our TV screens as we all held our breath and prayed for a good ending for this family.
Finally, the six-year-old was found, safe and sound – in the family home – hiding in the attic. Kids! We all say. What are you going to do? Never mind that so many people put everything on hold to search for this child, don’t think about the $14,000+ of taxpayer money that was spent, at least a family found their missing child and he was alright.
Later that night, as the family appeared on the Larry King show, guest host Wolf Blitzer asked the young lad why he had been hiding. No one expected the answer he gave when he turned and said to his father, “You guys said that, um, we did it for the show.” Uh, what now?
Turns out, the family had been on a reality TV show called “Wife Swap,” and they decided that was pretty cool and maybe they should find a way to get their own reality TV show, and this was how they thought it would come about. It was a hoax all along.
But you know what? That couple got exactly what they were looking for – kind of. They wanted to be famous; they wanted to be in the spotlight; they wanted to be known; they wanted to be seen. And so they were, but they got more than what they bargained for, they got more than fame, they got jail time, and they got notoriety. They now live in the shadow of the hoax. Everyone knows that they had put on a show to get everyone’s attention. Nothing was real. That is how the religious leaders, the hypocrites were that Jesus was warning the disciples not to emulate.
Do not be like the hypocrites who stand on the street corners or in the synagogues to pray loud and long so that they will be noticed and admired for their piety and their loyalty to God. They are already getting what they want – noticed – and there will be no other reward for them.
Does that mean we should never pray in public? Should we forgo public prayer so as to never draw attention to our praying? No, not at all. The warning Jesus is giving is not about praying in public, it’s about the reason we pray in public. Public prayers can have meaning and lasting value, they can draw the person who is praying closer to God as well as the ones who are listening. The important part is the intent. Does the prayer honor God? Is the intention of the prayer to thank God, ask for his blessing, petition God on someone’s behalf, or offer a praise? Is the heart of the person saying the prayer focused on God and being in his presence instead of drawing attention to him or herself?
If the answer is yes, then that public prayer is just as valid an offering as if it were said in private where no one would hear except the two parties involved – the prayer and God. Jesus is teaching us to get our hearts right with God before we pray.
If that young boy had somehow been in that balloon instead of in his attic, then the parents would have been doing what was right in drawing attention, doing whatever they could to save their child or get someone who could. If he had really been in danger, then no amount of manpower and no dollar amount spent would have been too much. It was their motivation that was wrong, their hearts were full of deceit.
Perhaps that is why Jesus’ next instruction to the disciples was to prepare to pray by going into their room, closing the door, and praying to the Father in secret. It’s hard to get our hearts right with God in a roomful of other people, but in a quiet place, with no interruptions, we can just be our own true, authentic selves as we pray.
In this manner, we don’t have anyone to impress because no one is watching or listening except the One to whom we are praying. And be assured, our Father in heaven wants us to pray to him. Prayer is simply a conversation we have with God, it is time spent in his presence, it is time we should not take for granted, not waste, and not avoid.
Don’t take the presence of God for granted, becoming so blasé about him that you always find time for other things. God is always there, always ready for us, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make him a priority. Think about your relationships with the people closest to you. We all make time to spend time with the ones we love.
God should be just as important in our lives. He should not be an afterthought, or the one we only go to when we need something, or the one we put on a shelf for a rainy day. Do not take intentional prayer time for granted – make it a daily priority. If we love God, as we claim to do, then we will want to be with him. A private place to pray cultivates our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
We shouldn’t avoid our prayer time. Maybe it’s been a while, and we think God gave up on us; we are wrong. Perhaps we’ve done something that we don’t want to talk to God about; he already knows and is just waiting for us to come to him and confess so he can forgive us. Prayer time, spending time in God’s presence is not the same as getting sent to the principal’s office, he isn’t just waiting for us to show up so he can slam us with all our misdoings and dole out punishment, he is waiting for us to want to come to him because he loves us, and he actually wants us to want to be with him.
We shouldn’t waste time in prayer, either. Jesus said, “When you are praying, don’t pile up empty words and phrases like the gentiles do.” The gentiles, in this case, anyone who was not a Jew, and especially those who worshipped other Gods, would pray often, pray loud, and pray long. They thought that if they were loud enough and used enough words, then their god would hear them and maybe answer their prayer. Jesus says, don’t do that. It isn’t the number of words we use or the volume with which we say the words, it is the heartfelt attitude with which we pray that brings our words to God.
Our Heavenly Father knows what we want and what we need even before we do; he doesn’t need us to tell him or remind him. So, why bother at all then?
Even though God knows, he still wants us to say it. God wants us to use our words to thank him, praise him, ask him for what we want or need. Not to make him feel big, but so that we can know he is bigger than our wants and needs.
In the next two weeks, we will study the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, but since Jesus wanted to show them the way to prepare themselves for prayer, I thought we should do the same. There are times when we pray differently, silently, urgently, in a particular situation, that doesn’t lend itself time or require preparation, and that is okay.
When I’m scrolling Facebook and someone makes a post asking for prayer, I pray right then. When I hear the sirens cry out from the fire station I say a prayer. When I am getting ready to drive on the freeway, I pray for safety. There is no need to always stop and go into a private place to pray these types of prayer, but Jesus was teaching about times when preparation is necessary.
Those quick prayers on the go, or the breath prayers we send up, or the “Praise God” moments we have are like sending a text – short, sweet, and to the point. Our intentional time of prayer, away from everyone, in our private prayer time sitting in God’s presence to pray, are the long phone conversations we have with our family or our best friend. Texting keeps us connected on the fly; phone conversations show our love for the other person on a deeper level.
When was the last time you phoned God instead of sending a text? He is waiting to hear from you. He is waiting to hear from all of us – regularly. He delights in our prayers to him when they are given with the right heart, the right attitude. There is power in our prayers, because we pray to a powerful God! AMEN.
PRAYER: Almighty God, we are so grateful for the reminder that there are many ways to pray. We may be good at the quick text kind of prayer, but Lord, help us to remember that you also delight in hearing from us when we make intentional time to go into our room, close the door, and make spending time in your presence our only focus. May this day be the beginning of a deeper relationship, a newfound joy, and a greater blessing as we prepare our hearts and adjust our attitudes to intentionally seek you daily. AMEN.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_boy_hoax
Series: The Lord’s Prayer
Message: How to Pray
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15 (5-8)
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others. neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This week we begin a short series on the Lord’s Prayer. We say the Lord’s Prayer every week here; in fact, we just said it, right after we lifted up our prayers and our praises, we closed with the Lord’s Prayer before we moved into our scripture reading. But even though we say it regularly, and even though most of us know it by heart, do we really pay attention to what we are saying? Do the words matter, or are they just a bunch of words we say to get from one part of our worship service to the next, just a transitional tool, so to speak?
It is easy to be lured into saying something so familiar that it becomes rote, or just a habit. I hope that in the next couple of weeks we will find a renewed focus on these words that will renew our hearts and open our minds as we recite one of the most well-known prayers of all time.
It was Jesus himself who gave us the words to the Lord’s Prayer, but before he did, he wanted to lay some groundwork first. He knew how the religious leaders of the day viewed prayer and how they practiced it, and he did not want his disciples – then and now – to fall into their ways.
He begins by telling them, “Whenever you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who stand on the street corners or in the synagogues where they can be seen by passersby who will notice them.” They do this so they will be noticed by men, not because their hearts are attuned to God. Since their goal is to be noticed and admired, they have already received all the reward they are seeking right then and there. These prayers said in public in just this way, will have no lasting value because they mean nothing.
Some people have perfected putting on a show to gain attention. The proof of that statement becomes clear when we see the slew of “reality” TV shows being offered. People will do really strange or stupid stuff to be in the spotlight.
Some want that spotlight so much they will even drag others, including their own children, into their scheme to get it. How many remember back in 2009, when the nation was focused on the plight of a six-year-old boy from Colorado whose parents claimed he had floated away in a spaceship shaped balloon the family had been building in their backyard?
The boy’s parents were distraught at the danger their son was in. The nation was stunned and worried about this child who was accidentally caught up in a balloon that floated up over 7,000 feet, drifted for an hour and a half, and finally landed about 50 miles away from where it started. Denver Airport was shut down, National Guard helicopters were called in, and local authorities joined the search and rescue scene.
Finally, the balloon landed, but no little boy was inside. But wait! There’s more! It was reported that someone had seen something fall from the balloon before it landed, so the search continued. The faces of his frantic parents, worried sick about their child, filled our TV screens as we all held our breath and prayed for a good ending for this family.
Finally, the six-year-old was found, safe and sound – in the family home – hiding in the attic. Kids! We all say. What are you going to do? Never mind that so many people put everything on hold to search for this child, don’t think about the $14,000+ of taxpayer money that was spent, at least a family found their missing child and he was alright.
Later that night, as the family appeared on the Larry King show, guest host Wolf Blitzer asked the young lad why he had been hiding. No one expected the answer he gave when he turned and said to his father, “You guys said that, um, we did it for the show.” Uh, what now?
Turns out, the family had been on a reality TV show called “Wife Swap,” and they decided that was pretty cool and maybe they should find a way to get their own reality TV show, and this was how they thought it would come about. It was a hoax all along.
But you know what? That couple got exactly what they were looking for – kind of. They wanted to be famous; they wanted to be in the spotlight; they wanted to be known; they wanted to be seen. And so they were, but they got more than what they bargained for, they got more than fame, they got jail time, and they got notoriety. They now live in the shadow of the hoax. Everyone knows that they had put on a show to get everyone’s attention. Nothing was real. That is how the religious leaders, the hypocrites were that Jesus was warning the disciples not to emulate.
Do not be like the hypocrites who stand on the street corners or in the synagogues to pray loud and long so that they will be noticed and admired for their piety and their loyalty to God. They are already getting what they want – noticed – and there will be no other reward for them.
Does that mean we should never pray in public? Should we forgo public prayer so as to never draw attention to our praying? No, not at all. The warning Jesus is giving is not about praying in public, it’s about the reason we pray in public. Public prayers can have meaning and lasting value, they can draw the person who is praying closer to God as well as the ones who are listening. The important part is the intent. Does the prayer honor God? Is the intention of the prayer to thank God, ask for his blessing, petition God on someone’s behalf, or offer a praise? Is the heart of the person saying the prayer focused on God and being in his presence instead of drawing attention to him or herself?
If the answer is yes, then that public prayer is just as valid an offering as if it were said in private where no one would hear except the two parties involved – the prayer and God. Jesus is teaching us to get our hearts right with God before we pray.
If that young boy had somehow been in that balloon instead of in his attic, then the parents would have been doing what was right in drawing attention, doing whatever they could to save their child or get someone who could. If he had really been in danger, then no amount of manpower and no dollar amount spent would have been too much. It was their motivation that was wrong, their hearts were full of deceit.
Perhaps that is why Jesus’ next instruction to the disciples was to prepare to pray by going into their room, closing the door, and praying to the Father in secret. It’s hard to get our hearts right with God in a roomful of other people, but in a quiet place, with no interruptions, we can just be our own true, authentic selves as we pray.
In this manner, we don’t have anyone to impress because no one is watching or listening except the One to whom we are praying. And be assured, our Father in heaven wants us to pray to him. Prayer is simply a conversation we have with God, it is time spent in his presence, it is time we should not take for granted, not waste, and not avoid.
Don’t take the presence of God for granted, becoming so blasé about him that you always find time for other things. God is always there, always ready for us, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make him a priority. Think about your relationships with the people closest to you. We all make time to spend time with the ones we love.
God should be just as important in our lives. He should not be an afterthought, or the one we only go to when we need something, or the one we put on a shelf for a rainy day. Do not take intentional prayer time for granted – make it a daily priority. If we love God, as we claim to do, then we will want to be with him. A private place to pray cultivates our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
We shouldn’t avoid our prayer time. Maybe it’s been a while, and we think God gave up on us; we are wrong. Perhaps we’ve done something that we don’t want to talk to God about; he already knows and is just waiting for us to come to him and confess so he can forgive us. Prayer time, spending time in God’s presence is not the same as getting sent to the principal’s office, he isn’t just waiting for us to show up so he can slam us with all our misdoings and dole out punishment, he is waiting for us to want to come to him because he loves us, and he actually wants us to want to be with him.
We shouldn’t waste time in prayer, either. Jesus said, “When you are praying, don’t pile up empty words and phrases like the gentiles do.” The gentiles, in this case, anyone who was not a Jew, and especially those who worshipped other Gods, would pray often, pray loud, and pray long. They thought that if they were loud enough and used enough words, then their god would hear them and maybe answer their prayer. Jesus says, don’t do that. It isn’t the number of words we use or the volume with which we say the words, it is the heartfelt attitude with which we pray that brings our words to God.
Our Heavenly Father knows what we want and what we need even before we do; he doesn’t need us to tell him or remind him. So, why bother at all then?
Even though God knows, he still wants us to say it. God wants us to use our words to thank him, praise him, ask him for what we want or need. Not to make him feel big, but so that we can know he is bigger than our wants and needs.
In the next two weeks, we will study the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, but since Jesus wanted to show them the way to prepare themselves for prayer, I thought we should do the same. There are times when we pray differently, silently, urgently, in a particular situation, that doesn’t lend itself time or require preparation, and that is okay.
When I’m scrolling Facebook and someone makes a post asking for prayer, I pray right then. When I hear the sirens cry out from the fire station I say a prayer. When I am getting ready to drive on the freeway, I pray for safety. There is no need to always stop and go into a private place to pray these types of prayer, but Jesus was teaching about times when preparation is necessary.
Those quick prayers on the go, or the breath prayers we send up, or the “Praise God” moments we have are like sending a text – short, sweet, and to the point. Our intentional time of prayer, away from everyone, in our private prayer time sitting in God’s presence to pray, are the long phone conversations we have with our family or our best friend. Texting keeps us connected on the fly; phone conversations show our love for the other person on a deeper level.
When was the last time you phoned God instead of sending a text? He is waiting to hear from you. He is waiting to hear from all of us – regularly. He delights in our prayers to him when they are given with the right heart, the right attitude. There is power in our prayers, because we pray to a powerful God! AMEN.
PRAYER: Almighty God, we are so grateful for the reminder that there are many ways to pray. We may be good at the quick text kind of prayer, but Lord, help us to remember that you also delight in hearing from us when we make intentional time to go into our room, close the door, and make spending time in your presence our only focus. May this day be the beginning of a deeper relationship, a newfound joy, and a greater blessing as we prepare our hearts and adjust our attitudes to intentionally seek you daily. AMEN.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_boy_hoax
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY AUGUST 25, 2024 FINISHED A SERMON SERIES CALLED "SUMMER OF LOVE-ISH" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "fOR LOVE OR MONEY?".
August 25, 2024
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: For Love or Money?
Scripture: Judges 16:4-6
After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him, and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes your strength so great and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you.”
This is our last week of this series. Our last week of reviewing some of the biggest stories from the Old Testament and seeing if what is written is a love story of Biblical proportions, or if it falls within the “ish” part of the title of the series. We began in the beginning with Adam and Eve, we watched the promise of God come true for Abram and Sarai, we rode along with Rebecca as she journeyed into a new land, trusting that God would protect her as she began her new life as Isaac’s wife.
We watched the drama unfold in the love triangle among Jacob, Leah, and Rachel and understood anew why it is better to have only one wife and one husband at a time. We learned from Ruth and Boaz how love inspires us to put others first, while Michal taught us that love can sometimes drive us to take desperate measures to protect our loved ones – and our own hide.
Last week we learned that Hollywood can take great liberties in creating a love story out of what is really only an excise of power, as David saw Bathsheba and decided his pleasure was more important than other peoples’ lives. This week once again, we will notice that Hollywood often creates a love story even when no love exists in the story of the lives of the main characters, as we examine the story of Samson and Delilah.
Let’s right away hear from our Bible romance commentator, Lucas, as this is our last week to hear his input on our stories. He writes of this chapter, “the Philistines approach Delilah and offer her 1100 silver coins in order to seduce Samson and find out the source of his great strength. She accepts and politely asks where his source of great strength is drawn from (as subtly as that) to which Samson lies a few times, tricking her into thinking his power is diminished if his hair is tied up, or if he is tied up in certain pieces of rope.
In the end, Delilah gets annoyed and plays the “If you love me, you’d tell me” card – and like all men before and after him, Samson folds under the pressure and tells his love where the source of his power emanates from. Shortly after, Delilah cuts his hair, and the Philistines seize him with ease and take him to become a sort of circus performer. With one final burst of strength, however, Samson manages to pull the building down where he is and kill himself while taking a load of Philistines with him.”
In answer to the question, what does this tell us about love, Lucas says, “Some people will quite happily sell the secrets of their loved ones for money. For some, the love lies with material goods, rather than the person they are sharing love with.”
Man, Lucas hit this one out of the park on a couple notes but needs some clarification on others. This is definitely not a love story. There isn’t even a little bit of “ish” in this story. Delilah did not sell the secret of her “loved one,” because we never see any evidence of love from Delilah to Samson. But he is right, where money is offered, there are those who will sell out anyone and everyone around them for the “protection” and “security” they think they will have with enough funds in their bank account.
For some people, the love of money, or the material goods that money can buy, is stronger than their feelings for anyone else. This is what we see in Delilah, in her actions to find out Samson’s secret so she can cash in big time. Delilah didn’t just receive 1100 pieces of silver for her betrayal, she was paid 1100 pieces of silver from every man in the delegation who came to her; we do not know how many that was.
What we have in today’s scripture is a story of two people who see what they want and set out to get it at all costs. Two selfish, self-serving people, and it’s really a sad story when we think about it.
We want to like Samson, but he makes it difficult. His parents were visited by the Angel of the Lord and told they would have a son who would be dedicated as a Nazirite from birth – he was never to drink wine or any alcohol, and his hair was never to be cut. He was destined to be a Judge over Israel from before he was born, one who would rise up and save his people from their enemies, the Philistines.
Maybe because he was an only child to parents who thought they would never have a child, or perhaps because he was prideful of his special status from birth, but Samson seems to have turned out to be quite the selfish person. One day he was out and about, and he saw a Philistine woman. He went home and ordered his parents to go get her to be his wife.
They tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted, so they relented, and a wedding day was set. At the wedding feast, an arrogant Samson proposed a riddle and a bet to his 30 “groomsmen.” The men had no way to answer the riddle within the seven-day deadline, so on the third day they began to threaten Samson’s wife. Basically, it was “figure out a way to get the answer for us or you and your family are toast.”
The wife asked, she begged, she pleaded, and she wept, but Samson refused to give her the answer, until finally, on the seventh day, tired of her nagging, Samson gave in and told her the answer. She promptly told the groomsmen, they won the bet, and to pay it off, Samson killed thirty men in Ashkelon, and went back home in a rage, leaving his new wife behind. She ended up marrying the “best man” and later died in the same way she had been threatened by the wedding party. This made Samson mad again and he went on a rampage and killed a bunch more people.
Time passes, battles are fought, and one day, Samson goes to Gaza, where he spends some time with a woman of ill-repute, and as he was leaving, he saw a woman named Delilah and he fell in love with her. That’s not Hollywood made-up love, that is what the scripture tells us, he fell in love. Oh, is there hope for a love story after all? Don’t hold your breath.
Scripture never once tells us that Delilah loves Samson. Immediately after learning about Delilah, we read that the Philistine leaders came to her to coax her into finding out Samson’s secret to his great strength so they could overpower him. Better than asking pretty please, or even making threats, they offer her something – 1100 pieces of silver from each one of them. We don’t know how many men there were, but the lure of money has steered a good many people in the wrong direction. Delilah doesn’t seem the type to let a good opportunity get away from her.
She immediately sets out to earn her reward. First, she asked please; then she pouted. After that she became angry. Finally, she used the “if you loved me” line and resorted to crying, and nagging, and pestering Samson until he just couldn’t take it anymore. This time, Samson told Delilah the truth instead of a lie. “If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak and be like anyone else.”
Ah-ha! Now she has his secret, and she acts fast. She calls the Philistines to come that night and bring the money, and when Samson falls asleep with his head in her lap, she calls out to the man with the razor, he cuts off Samson’s seven locks of hair, and Samson is no longer the strong man he once was. Delilah gets paid and we never see her again in Samson’s story.
You know, I just want to say, Samson might have been a freakishly strong man, but that was countered by his very little brain. How could he have forgotten how he lost his wife so quickly? Let’s be honest, we all have our weaknesses, not one of us is perfect, and Samson’s weakness is evidently beautiful women. He just can’t resist them.
He tried. He tried not to tell his wife the secret to his riddle. He held off for six days, but finally, he just could help but give in to her whining and complaining, her wheedling and nagging. Samson had told not one other soul the answer to his riddle, but he gave in and told his wife – who immediately told her kinsmen who were threatening her.
Now, here is Samson, with another woman, and he has a secret that she desperately wants to know the answer to. He fends her off with some made up stories and every single time he tells her one of those stories, she uses it to try to subdue him. How could he not see what she was up to? How could he have given in?
We have all heard the expression, “Love is blind,” but Samson is taking this to the extreme. After teasing and deceiving Delilah, after her temper tantrums, pouting, crying, pestering, and nagging him, Samson tells Delilah the truth. But I don’t believe he told her because he loved and trusted her. He just wanted her to stop.
Giving in to Delilah cost Samson his strength, his freedom, his eyesight, and his life. That is a steep price to pay – more valuable than all those silver pieces the men paid Delilah to find out his secret.
We read Samson’s story, and we wonder how he could have been deceived so easily; how could he have succumbed to just another pretty face with a cold heart? But perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge this Judge of Israel.
What have we given in to that we never thought we would? What has the enemy offered us that tempted us, even for a moment, to turn away from our faith? What carrot does he dangle in front of our eyes as he promises to give us what we really want if we just follow him?
For some, like Delilah, it is the desire for money, or material possessions. We want to feel secure in our world, and deep pockets, a wealth of stuff, and a good portfolio helps insulate us from the “what ifs” of our future. There is nothing wrong with having money and there is nothing wrong with having security. We just have to make sure we know the source from whom everything is coming to us. Is it from the enemy? Then we need a robot to yell, “Danger, Will Robinson!” so we can wake up and change our ways.
If we recognize that all we have comes from our heavenly father, then are we honoring him by living a life of gratitude and generosity? That is how we keep the enemy at bay, keep growing in our faith, and continue to put God first in our lives – to put love over money, love over stuff.
For others, it is status; how we are viewed by the people around us. We feel the need to have the latest and greatest – a new car, a bigger house, perfect children, exotic vacations, designer clothes, the most up-to-date electronics. Again, there is nothing wrong with any one of these things, as long as we are not acquiring them for the purpose of gaining status, looking good before man instead of seeking God’s approval, or allowing our pride of status to rule our lives. If we have the means, if we are not putting our family into deep debt over and over to get the newest, the latest, or the greatest, and if we are honoring God in how we live daily, then we can more easily silence the lure of the enemy who tells us we are not enough, because God says we are.
God says we are his, we are loved, and we are enough for him. It’s not about a hierarchy, it’s about a family – God’s family which puts love over status, love over stuff. These are just two examples, there are many more if we are honest with ourselves.
Friends, when we take time to dig deep into the story of Samson and Delilah, we see it is a hard story, not a love story. At least not love between this man and this woman. But once again, as we have seen every single week in this series, we see God’s love story.
In spite of his failings and his weaknesses, God never stopped loving Samson. Through his pride and arrogance, through his womanizing, and his spiritual blindness, God still loved Samson. Samson’s flaws did not cause God to stop loving him, which tells us that our flaws do not cause God to stop loving us.
It does not matter who we are, how much we are worth, whether much or nothing, who has the most expensive house, or the smallest shack, the biggest bank account, or is just getting by, God’s love is poured out on one and all. How do we know this? We know it because when God sent his son to come into this world and be the atonement for the sins of men and women, he didn’t leave anyone out.
Jesus came to save everyone. He came to save the least and the lonely, the wealthy and the famous, the beggar and the biker, the pauper and the president. Jesus came for everyone, because everyone is lost without him. Everyone. And in Jesus, we are all made equal, we are all brothers and sisters, children of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And entrance into this family is to simply believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, crucified for our sins and risen to life for our eternity.
This proves, once again, that God’s love story is the love story of all times, a love story that began in a garden and will continue forever. Hollywood can never top that love story – no matter who plays the part, no matter how big the screen is, because God’s love story is the love story of all times. Praise be to God! AMEN.
PRAYER: God of love and glory, you are the author, not of a love story, but of THE love story. Oh, how you love us, all of us, no matter who we are, where we are, or how flawed we are. It is unimaginable to us how you do this, but we are so very grateful that you do. Lord, when the enemy comes whispering lies in our ears and turning our eyes and hearts away from you, help us refocus, put us back on the right path, bring our brothers and sisters alongside us as we come alongside them in their times of need and distress. May we be your family, your adopted children, sharing your love with others so they, too, can learn of your love for them, so they can become a part of our family – your family. Thank you, Father, that your love story will never end, and that you have written us into it. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: For Love or Money?
Scripture: Judges 16:4-6
After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him, and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes your strength so great and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you.”
This is our last week of this series. Our last week of reviewing some of the biggest stories from the Old Testament and seeing if what is written is a love story of Biblical proportions, or if it falls within the “ish” part of the title of the series. We began in the beginning with Adam and Eve, we watched the promise of God come true for Abram and Sarai, we rode along with Rebecca as she journeyed into a new land, trusting that God would protect her as she began her new life as Isaac’s wife.
We watched the drama unfold in the love triangle among Jacob, Leah, and Rachel and understood anew why it is better to have only one wife and one husband at a time. We learned from Ruth and Boaz how love inspires us to put others first, while Michal taught us that love can sometimes drive us to take desperate measures to protect our loved ones – and our own hide.
Last week we learned that Hollywood can take great liberties in creating a love story out of what is really only an excise of power, as David saw Bathsheba and decided his pleasure was more important than other peoples’ lives. This week once again, we will notice that Hollywood often creates a love story even when no love exists in the story of the lives of the main characters, as we examine the story of Samson and Delilah.
Let’s right away hear from our Bible romance commentator, Lucas, as this is our last week to hear his input on our stories. He writes of this chapter, “the Philistines approach Delilah and offer her 1100 silver coins in order to seduce Samson and find out the source of his great strength. She accepts and politely asks where his source of great strength is drawn from (as subtly as that) to which Samson lies a few times, tricking her into thinking his power is diminished if his hair is tied up, or if he is tied up in certain pieces of rope.
In the end, Delilah gets annoyed and plays the “If you love me, you’d tell me” card – and like all men before and after him, Samson folds under the pressure and tells his love where the source of his power emanates from. Shortly after, Delilah cuts his hair, and the Philistines seize him with ease and take him to become a sort of circus performer. With one final burst of strength, however, Samson manages to pull the building down where he is and kill himself while taking a load of Philistines with him.”
In answer to the question, what does this tell us about love, Lucas says, “Some people will quite happily sell the secrets of their loved ones for money. For some, the love lies with material goods, rather than the person they are sharing love with.”
Man, Lucas hit this one out of the park on a couple notes but needs some clarification on others. This is definitely not a love story. There isn’t even a little bit of “ish” in this story. Delilah did not sell the secret of her “loved one,” because we never see any evidence of love from Delilah to Samson. But he is right, where money is offered, there are those who will sell out anyone and everyone around them for the “protection” and “security” they think they will have with enough funds in their bank account.
For some people, the love of money, or the material goods that money can buy, is stronger than their feelings for anyone else. This is what we see in Delilah, in her actions to find out Samson’s secret so she can cash in big time. Delilah didn’t just receive 1100 pieces of silver for her betrayal, she was paid 1100 pieces of silver from every man in the delegation who came to her; we do not know how many that was.
What we have in today’s scripture is a story of two people who see what they want and set out to get it at all costs. Two selfish, self-serving people, and it’s really a sad story when we think about it.
We want to like Samson, but he makes it difficult. His parents were visited by the Angel of the Lord and told they would have a son who would be dedicated as a Nazirite from birth – he was never to drink wine or any alcohol, and his hair was never to be cut. He was destined to be a Judge over Israel from before he was born, one who would rise up and save his people from their enemies, the Philistines.
Maybe because he was an only child to parents who thought they would never have a child, or perhaps because he was prideful of his special status from birth, but Samson seems to have turned out to be quite the selfish person. One day he was out and about, and he saw a Philistine woman. He went home and ordered his parents to go get her to be his wife.
They tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted, so they relented, and a wedding day was set. At the wedding feast, an arrogant Samson proposed a riddle and a bet to his 30 “groomsmen.” The men had no way to answer the riddle within the seven-day deadline, so on the third day they began to threaten Samson’s wife. Basically, it was “figure out a way to get the answer for us or you and your family are toast.”
The wife asked, she begged, she pleaded, and she wept, but Samson refused to give her the answer, until finally, on the seventh day, tired of her nagging, Samson gave in and told her the answer. She promptly told the groomsmen, they won the bet, and to pay it off, Samson killed thirty men in Ashkelon, and went back home in a rage, leaving his new wife behind. She ended up marrying the “best man” and later died in the same way she had been threatened by the wedding party. This made Samson mad again and he went on a rampage and killed a bunch more people.
Time passes, battles are fought, and one day, Samson goes to Gaza, where he spends some time with a woman of ill-repute, and as he was leaving, he saw a woman named Delilah and he fell in love with her. That’s not Hollywood made-up love, that is what the scripture tells us, he fell in love. Oh, is there hope for a love story after all? Don’t hold your breath.
Scripture never once tells us that Delilah loves Samson. Immediately after learning about Delilah, we read that the Philistine leaders came to her to coax her into finding out Samson’s secret to his great strength so they could overpower him. Better than asking pretty please, or even making threats, they offer her something – 1100 pieces of silver from each one of them. We don’t know how many men there were, but the lure of money has steered a good many people in the wrong direction. Delilah doesn’t seem the type to let a good opportunity get away from her.
She immediately sets out to earn her reward. First, she asked please; then she pouted. After that she became angry. Finally, she used the “if you loved me” line and resorted to crying, and nagging, and pestering Samson until he just couldn’t take it anymore. This time, Samson told Delilah the truth instead of a lie. “If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak and be like anyone else.”
Ah-ha! Now she has his secret, and she acts fast. She calls the Philistines to come that night and bring the money, and when Samson falls asleep with his head in her lap, she calls out to the man with the razor, he cuts off Samson’s seven locks of hair, and Samson is no longer the strong man he once was. Delilah gets paid and we never see her again in Samson’s story.
You know, I just want to say, Samson might have been a freakishly strong man, but that was countered by his very little brain. How could he have forgotten how he lost his wife so quickly? Let’s be honest, we all have our weaknesses, not one of us is perfect, and Samson’s weakness is evidently beautiful women. He just can’t resist them.
He tried. He tried not to tell his wife the secret to his riddle. He held off for six days, but finally, he just could help but give in to her whining and complaining, her wheedling and nagging. Samson had told not one other soul the answer to his riddle, but he gave in and told his wife – who immediately told her kinsmen who were threatening her.
Now, here is Samson, with another woman, and he has a secret that she desperately wants to know the answer to. He fends her off with some made up stories and every single time he tells her one of those stories, she uses it to try to subdue him. How could he not see what she was up to? How could he have given in?
We have all heard the expression, “Love is blind,” but Samson is taking this to the extreme. After teasing and deceiving Delilah, after her temper tantrums, pouting, crying, pestering, and nagging him, Samson tells Delilah the truth. But I don’t believe he told her because he loved and trusted her. He just wanted her to stop.
Giving in to Delilah cost Samson his strength, his freedom, his eyesight, and his life. That is a steep price to pay – more valuable than all those silver pieces the men paid Delilah to find out his secret.
We read Samson’s story, and we wonder how he could have been deceived so easily; how could he have succumbed to just another pretty face with a cold heart? But perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge this Judge of Israel.
What have we given in to that we never thought we would? What has the enemy offered us that tempted us, even for a moment, to turn away from our faith? What carrot does he dangle in front of our eyes as he promises to give us what we really want if we just follow him?
For some, like Delilah, it is the desire for money, or material possessions. We want to feel secure in our world, and deep pockets, a wealth of stuff, and a good portfolio helps insulate us from the “what ifs” of our future. There is nothing wrong with having money and there is nothing wrong with having security. We just have to make sure we know the source from whom everything is coming to us. Is it from the enemy? Then we need a robot to yell, “Danger, Will Robinson!” so we can wake up and change our ways.
If we recognize that all we have comes from our heavenly father, then are we honoring him by living a life of gratitude and generosity? That is how we keep the enemy at bay, keep growing in our faith, and continue to put God first in our lives – to put love over money, love over stuff.
For others, it is status; how we are viewed by the people around us. We feel the need to have the latest and greatest – a new car, a bigger house, perfect children, exotic vacations, designer clothes, the most up-to-date electronics. Again, there is nothing wrong with any one of these things, as long as we are not acquiring them for the purpose of gaining status, looking good before man instead of seeking God’s approval, or allowing our pride of status to rule our lives. If we have the means, if we are not putting our family into deep debt over and over to get the newest, the latest, or the greatest, and if we are honoring God in how we live daily, then we can more easily silence the lure of the enemy who tells us we are not enough, because God says we are.
God says we are his, we are loved, and we are enough for him. It’s not about a hierarchy, it’s about a family – God’s family which puts love over status, love over stuff. These are just two examples, there are many more if we are honest with ourselves.
Friends, when we take time to dig deep into the story of Samson and Delilah, we see it is a hard story, not a love story. At least not love between this man and this woman. But once again, as we have seen every single week in this series, we see God’s love story.
In spite of his failings and his weaknesses, God never stopped loving Samson. Through his pride and arrogance, through his womanizing, and his spiritual blindness, God still loved Samson. Samson’s flaws did not cause God to stop loving him, which tells us that our flaws do not cause God to stop loving us.
It does not matter who we are, how much we are worth, whether much or nothing, who has the most expensive house, or the smallest shack, the biggest bank account, or is just getting by, God’s love is poured out on one and all. How do we know this? We know it because when God sent his son to come into this world and be the atonement for the sins of men and women, he didn’t leave anyone out.
Jesus came to save everyone. He came to save the least and the lonely, the wealthy and the famous, the beggar and the biker, the pauper and the president. Jesus came for everyone, because everyone is lost without him. Everyone. And in Jesus, we are all made equal, we are all brothers and sisters, children of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And entrance into this family is to simply believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, crucified for our sins and risen to life for our eternity.
This proves, once again, that God’s love story is the love story of all times, a love story that began in a garden and will continue forever. Hollywood can never top that love story – no matter who plays the part, no matter how big the screen is, because God’s love story is the love story of all times. Praise be to God! AMEN.
PRAYER: God of love and glory, you are the author, not of a love story, but of THE love story. Oh, how you love us, all of us, no matter who we are, where we are, or how flawed we are. It is unimaginable to us how you do this, but we are so very grateful that you do. Lord, when the enemy comes whispering lies in our ears and turning our eyes and hearts away from you, help us refocus, put us back on the right path, bring our brothers and sisters alongside us as we come alongside them in their times of need and distress. May we be your family, your adopted children, sharing your love with others so they, too, can learn of your love for them, so they can become a part of our family – your family. Thank you, Father, that your love story will never end, and that you have written us into it. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY AUGUST 18, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "SUMMER OF LOVE-ISH" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Flesh over feelings".
August 18, 2024
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Flesh Over Feelings
Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:1-5
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
2 It happened, late one afternoon when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
Have you ever read a book and then saw the movie based on that book and wondered how the movie could be so completely different from what you read? That is what we get if we compare the story of David and Bathsheba from the Bible with the Hollywood version from 1951.
Hollywood, especially in those days, loves to put rose-colored glasses on their audience, loves to make a love story of epic proportions that will sell tickets and make a ton of money. They aren’t too concerned with accuracy, sadly, and this is definitely one of the times when Hollywood went way off the tracks.
Our scripture reading today begins by telling us it’s springtime. Spring is when wars were typically fought because that is when the barley and wheat crops were ready for harvest. An invading army could harvest what they did not plant, but what they needed to survive, if the war lasted too long.
In those days, kings would go out to battle with their armies. For some reason, David did not go that year. David, as king, David, as the one who holds all the human power in the land of Israel, sent Joab with his officers and all the Israelite army off to battle against the Ammonites. David was separated from his army, which was not the normal way of life for him, but David was also separated from God, which was also not the normal way of life for him.
How do we know David was separated from God? Because David sent his army off to battle while he stayed home. When the army went off to battle, they took with them the Ark of God, the place where God’s presence was found in those days. God was with the army fighting the Ammonites, David was at home, napping and taking walks on his rooftop. When we take ourselves out of God’s presence, we leave ourselves open and vulnerable to the waiting, whispering wiles of the enemy.
As David walked across his rooftop, the tallest building in the city, he could see down onto every other rooftop, and David saw something he was never meant to see. He saw a beautiful woman taking a bath, her monthly purification bath ritual as was required by the Law of Moses. She was beautiful; David was intrigued. So, David sent a servant to find out who she was. The servant reported back that this was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. David sent some of his messengers to Bathsheba’s house to get her, and they brought her to David, and David brought her into his bed.
In true Hollywood style, this became a hot and steamy romance. In a movie recap it is said that David is attracted to Bathsheba and the attraction is mutual, and although both of them know an affair would break the Mosaic Law, they proceed anyway, and Bathsheba becomes pregnant.
That sounds all mushy happy, but we need to look at what is more likely to be the reality of their day. David was the king. He saw something and he wanted something, so he got something, no questions asked, because David is the king. In this case the “something” is a “someone,” and that someone is another man’s wife.
“David sent messengers to get her,” we are told. Bathsheba would not have been able to refuse if she wanted. She was a woman, she had no voice, was given no choice. She was brought to the king for his pleasure, and when David was finished, she was sent back home. There is no love here. There isn’t anything evidenced in this moment between these two people except one powerful person exercising that power over someone who had nothing. We don’t know if David even gave another thought to this woman once he got from her what he wanted, until a message arrived saying, “I’m pregnant.”
What to do, what to do? David did what most of us do when we are confronted with our own misconduct – he tried to cover it up. David called Uriah back from the battlefield in the hopes that some R&R would give Uriah time to be with his wife, then when her pregnancy became public knowledge, everyone would assume the child belonged to her husband. Great plan, except it didn’t go as expected. Uriah was more honorable than David at that point; he refused to go to the comforts of his own home and wife when his fellow soldiers were still fighting the war.
David tried a couple different tactics, but Uriah never set foot in his own house, so David resorted to Plam B. David wrote a letter to Joab detailing a plan to put Uriah on the front lines and then pull everyone back so Uriah would be vulnerable and be killed. David sealed the letter and handed it to Uriah to deliver to Joab himself. Uriah was unknowingly delivering his own death sentence to his commander. Certainly, we do not see any love in this part of the story, either, except perhaps Uriah’s love for his brother soldiers. We clearly do not see David loving anyone but himself here.
David has done wrong, he has sinned against Bathsheba, against Uriah, against Joab, and against God. How could he have fallen so far from the hero warrior, the man after God’s own heart? That’s what happens when we separate ourselves from God, when we put our fleshly desires over our feelings for God. David gave in to the desires of his flesh, a temporary gratification with long-term consequences.
Is there any love in this story at all? Let’s see what our Bible romance commentator, Lucas Howe sees in this story. He writes, “Love is shallow. There is very little justification of the love between David and Bathsheba, and in fact is more aimed toward the lust and the adulterous activities between the two. This romance, isn’t particularly romantic.”
Lucas is right, there is nothing particularly romantic in the story of David and Bathsheba, but it sounds like Lucas has also bought into the Hollywood narrative that Bathsheba was complicit in this relationship. We have already established that Bathsheba really had no voice and no choice but to submit to David.
There is one good side to David’s selfish act of self-preservation, though. Once word came to him that Uriah was dead, after Bathsheba’s period of mourning was over, David brought her into the palace and made her his wife. Again, she was probably not asked if this is what she wanted, but she was simply told this is how it would be. As a pregnant widow whose husband had been away at war, she would have been in a vulnerable position, so this move, whether desirable or not on Bathsheba’s part, was a safety measure for her.
If David had not decided to bring her into the palace as his wife, Bathsheba could have been accused of adultery, and according to the Law of Moses, she could have been punished and sentenced to death by stoning. As hard as it was to have endured everything that played out before her, at least living in the palace as the wife of the king, Bathsheba would be afforded a high level of protection.
Nothing in our story so far suggests love, though. Why do we always think of the story of David and Bathsheba as a love story? Because a movie made 70 years ago portrayed it as such and so we have bought into the hype? Because we like to think any story should end with a happy ending? We have deceit, intrigue, murder, all the makings of a dime-store novel or a Hollywood movie, but no love. What gives?
Maybe we tend to think of this as a love story because it involves David, a man after God’s own heart, a hero of the faith. David killed the giant and saved the Israelites, he fought battle after battle and won every time. He was anointed by God to be the next king, but when he was running for his life, he had two opportunities to kill Saul, stop running, and take the throne he had been promised was his, and he did not act on those opportunities.
Up until this time, David was a man of integrity and honor, and we don’t like to see him as anything less than that. But it is important to see David in his true light, because until we do, we won’t get to see where the real love is in this chapter of David’s story.
David was confronted by God for his sin through the prophet Nathan. Nathan rebuked David for what he had done and told him the child that was conceived would not live. The baby was born and became sick. David loved his son and sought God on behalf of his child. He fasted and laid with his face to the ground for seven days. Here we see the beginning of love, the love of a father for his son. A love that will beg and plead for life even when those pleas seem unlikely to be answered as he wanted.
After the death of their child, David went to Bathsheba and comforted her in her grief. This would seem to indicate that David had at least come to care for his wife. We don’t know if there was truly love there, but they would go on to have more children, including Solomon, so there is hope that they developed a relationship that grew into love.
There is more love to be found in this story, though, love that isn’t romantic love but is authentic, and can teach us how to live. When the baby died, and David was told, he got up from the ground, cleaned himself up, changed his clothes, went into the Tabernacle and worshiped God. Then he went home and ate. He hadn’t eaten in seven days, yet David first worshiped God, even in his grief, because David loved God. He had momentarily separated himself from God, he is suffering the consequences of that separation and the subsequent sin, but he still loves God.
David knew he had done wrong, and he knew he had brought discipline upon himself, but he did not let his own actions detract from his love of God. How many times have we messed up and either through grief, anger, shame, or because of the consequences of our actions, we turn away from God instead of toward him?
David owned up to what he had done and if we read Psalm 51, we find a perfect example of what confession and repentance for our sins looks like. David admits his sin, he confesses to God, he repents of his sin, and he asks for God’s forgiveness. David loves God so he steps up and takes responsibility. God loves David so David is forgiven.
David put his fleshly desires over his feelings for God and it cost him a great deal. The same happens to us when we allow the desire of our flesh to take charge over our feelings for God. But David never lost his love for God and God never lost his love for David. When we mess up, when we sin, we can look to David as our model of how to move forward in our relationship with God. We confess, repent, and ask for forgiveness.
And God, because once again his love story is greater than any other, will be generous to forgive our sins because he never stops loving us – never ever, ever. I am so grateful for this reminder, for David’s example of what God’s love looks like, and for the comfort in knowing that God’s love story is still being poured out over us all. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, loving Father, we know we have sinned and chosen the desires of our flesh over you. Forgive us, Lord, as you forgave David. Help us to follow David’s model of prayer where we confess our sins, repent and seek your forgiveness. David wrote, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.”
We echo these words and claim them as our own prayer this day. In the same way, Lord, we say, as David also said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.”
Lord, today, we come before you, each one just as we are. Have your way with us, that we will love you more, that we will serve you more, that we will be wholly and completely yours, forever and ever. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
https://kelleylattaministries.org/tag/at-the-time-when-kings-go-off-to-war-david-stayed-at-home/
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Flesh Over Feelings
Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:1-5
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
2 It happened, late one afternoon when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
Have you ever read a book and then saw the movie based on that book and wondered how the movie could be so completely different from what you read? That is what we get if we compare the story of David and Bathsheba from the Bible with the Hollywood version from 1951.
Hollywood, especially in those days, loves to put rose-colored glasses on their audience, loves to make a love story of epic proportions that will sell tickets and make a ton of money. They aren’t too concerned with accuracy, sadly, and this is definitely one of the times when Hollywood went way off the tracks.
Our scripture reading today begins by telling us it’s springtime. Spring is when wars were typically fought because that is when the barley and wheat crops were ready for harvest. An invading army could harvest what they did not plant, but what they needed to survive, if the war lasted too long.
In those days, kings would go out to battle with their armies. For some reason, David did not go that year. David, as king, David, as the one who holds all the human power in the land of Israel, sent Joab with his officers and all the Israelite army off to battle against the Ammonites. David was separated from his army, which was not the normal way of life for him, but David was also separated from God, which was also not the normal way of life for him.
How do we know David was separated from God? Because David sent his army off to battle while he stayed home. When the army went off to battle, they took with them the Ark of God, the place where God’s presence was found in those days. God was with the army fighting the Ammonites, David was at home, napping and taking walks on his rooftop. When we take ourselves out of God’s presence, we leave ourselves open and vulnerable to the waiting, whispering wiles of the enemy.
As David walked across his rooftop, the tallest building in the city, he could see down onto every other rooftop, and David saw something he was never meant to see. He saw a beautiful woman taking a bath, her monthly purification bath ritual as was required by the Law of Moses. She was beautiful; David was intrigued. So, David sent a servant to find out who she was. The servant reported back that this was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. David sent some of his messengers to Bathsheba’s house to get her, and they brought her to David, and David brought her into his bed.
In true Hollywood style, this became a hot and steamy romance. In a movie recap it is said that David is attracted to Bathsheba and the attraction is mutual, and although both of them know an affair would break the Mosaic Law, they proceed anyway, and Bathsheba becomes pregnant.
That sounds all mushy happy, but we need to look at what is more likely to be the reality of their day. David was the king. He saw something and he wanted something, so he got something, no questions asked, because David is the king. In this case the “something” is a “someone,” and that someone is another man’s wife.
“David sent messengers to get her,” we are told. Bathsheba would not have been able to refuse if she wanted. She was a woman, she had no voice, was given no choice. She was brought to the king for his pleasure, and when David was finished, she was sent back home. There is no love here. There isn’t anything evidenced in this moment between these two people except one powerful person exercising that power over someone who had nothing. We don’t know if David even gave another thought to this woman once he got from her what he wanted, until a message arrived saying, “I’m pregnant.”
What to do, what to do? David did what most of us do when we are confronted with our own misconduct – he tried to cover it up. David called Uriah back from the battlefield in the hopes that some R&R would give Uriah time to be with his wife, then when her pregnancy became public knowledge, everyone would assume the child belonged to her husband. Great plan, except it didn’t go as expected. Uriah was more honorable than David at that point; he refused to go to the comforts of his own home and wife when his fellow soldiers were still fighting the war.
David tried a couple different tactics, but Uriah never set foot in his own house, so David resorted to Plam B. David wrote a letter to Joab detailing a plan to put Uriah on the front lines and then pull everyone back so Uriah would be vulnerable and be killed. David sealed the letter and handed it to Uriah to deliver to Joab himself. Uriah was unknowingly delivering his own death sentence to his commander. Certainly, we do not see any love in this part of the story, either, except perhaps Uriah’s love for his brother soldiers. We clearly do not see David loving anyone but himself here.
David has done wrong, he has sinned against Bathsheba, against Uriah, against Joab, and against God. How could he have fallen so far from the hero warrior, the man after God’s own heart? That’s what happens when we separate ourselves from God, when we put our fleshly desires over our feelings for God. David gave in to the desires of his flesh, a temporary gratification with long-term consequences.
Is there any love in this story at all? Let’s see what our Bible romance commentator, Lucas Howe sees in this story. He writes, “Love is shallow. There is very little justification of the love between David and Bathsheba, and in fact is more aimed toward the lust and the adulterous activities between the two. This romance, isn’t particularly romantic.”
Lucas is right, there is nothing particularly romantic in the story of David and Bathsheba, but it sounds like Lucas has also bought into the Hollywood narrative that Bathsheba was complicit in this relationship. We have already established that Bathsheba really had no voice and no choice but to submit to David.
There is one good side to David’s selfish act of self-preservation, though. Once word came to him that Uriah was dead, after Bathsheba’s period of mourning was over, David brought her into the palace and made her his wife. Again, she was probably not asked if this is what she wanted, but she was simply told this is how it would be. As a pregnant widow whose husband had been away at war, she would have been in a vulnerable position, so this move, whether desirable or not on Bathsheba’s part, was a safety measure for her.
If David had not decided to bring her into the palace as his wife, Bathsheba could have been accused of adultery, and according to the Law of Moses, she could have been punished and sentenced to death by stoning. As hard as it was to have endured everything that played out before her, at least living in the palace as the wife of the king, Bathsheba would be afforded a high level of protection.
Nothing in our story so far suggests love, though. Why do we always think of the story of David and Bathsheba as a love story? Because a movie made 70 years ago portrayed it as such and so we have bought into the hype? Because we like to think any story should end with a happy ending? We have deceit, intrigue, murder, all the makings of a dime-store novel or a Hollywood movie, but no love. What gives?
Maybe we tend to think of this as a love story because it involves David, a man after God’s own heart, a hero of the faith. David killed the giant and saved the Israelites, he fought battle after battle and won every time. He was anointed by God to be the next king, but when he was running for his life, he had two opportunities to kill Saul, stop running, and take the throne he had been promised was his, and he did not act on those opportunities.
Up until this time, David was a man of integrity and honor, and we don’t like to see him as anything less than that. But it is important to see David in his true light, because until we do, we won’t get to see where the real love is in this chapter of David’s story.
David was confronted by God for his sin through the prophet Nathan. Nathan rebuked David for what he had done and told him the child that was conceived would not live. The baby was born and became sick. David loved his son and sought God on behalf of his child. He fasted and laid with his face to the ground for seven days. Here we see the beginning of love, the love of a father for his son. A love that will beg and plead for life even when those pleas seem unlikely to be answered as he wanted.
After the death of their child, David went to Bathsheba and comforted her in her grief. This would seem to indicate that David had at least come to care for his wife. We don’t know if there was truly love there, but they would go on to have more children, including Solomon, so there is hope that they developed a relationship that grew into love.
There is more love to be found in this story, though, love that isn’t romantic love but is authentic, and can teach us how to live. When the baby died, and David was told, he got up from the ground, cleaned himself up, changed his clothes, went into the Tabernacle and worshiped God. Then he went home and ate. He hadn’t eaten in seven days, yet David first worshiped God, even in his grief, because David loved God. He had momentarily separated himself from God, he is suffering the consequences of that separation and the subsequent sin, but he still loves God.
David knew he had done wrong, and he knew he had brought discipline upon himself, but he did not let his own actions detract from his love of God. How many times have we messed up and either through grief, anger, shame, or because of the consequences of our actions, we turn away from God instead of toward him?
David owned up to what he had done and if we read Psalm 51, we find a perfect example of what confession and repentance for our sins looks like. David admits his sin, he confesses to God, he repents of his sin, and he asks for God’s forgiveness. David loves God so he steps up and takes responsibility. God loves David so David is forgiven.
David put his fleshly desires over his feelings for God and it cost him a great deal. The same happens to us when we allow the desire of our flesh to take charge over our feelings for God. But David never lost his love for God and God never lost his love for David. When we mess up, when we sin, we can look to David as our model of how to move forward in our relationship with God. We confess, repent, and ask for forgiveness.
And God, because once again his love story is greater than any other, will be generous to forgive our sins because he never stops loving us – never ever, ever. I am so grateful for this reminder, for David’s example of what God’s love looks like, and for the comfort in knowing that God’s love story is still being poured out over us all. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, loving Father, we know we have sinned and chosen the desires of our flesh over you. Forgive us, Lord, as you forgave David. Help us to follow David’s model of prayer where we confess our sins, repent and seek your forgiveness. David wrote, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.”
We echo these words and claim them as our own prayer this day. In the same way, Lord, we say, as David also said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.”
Lord, today, we come before you, each one just as we are. Have your way with us, that we will love you more, that we will serve you more, that we will be wholly and completely yours, forever and ever. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
https://kelleylattaministries.org/tag/at-the-time-when-kings-go-off-to-war-david-stayed-at-home/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY AUGUST 11, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "SUMMER OF LOVE-ISH" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Desperate Measures".
August 11, 2024
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Desperate Measures
Scripture: 1 Samuel 19:11-17
Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him, planning to kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window; he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed; she put a net of goats’ hair on its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 When the messengers came in, the idol was in the bed, with the covering of goats’ hair on its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go; why should I kill you?’”
Today we come to David in our summer love series. David is the only character who gets two weeks – I guess he is just a guy who loves to love. This week we are reading about David and Saul, and Jonathan and Michal. Saul the king, David the soldier and darling of the people, Jonathan, Saul’s son and David’s best friend, and Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s wife. Love is evident here, as we will see, but sometimes love makes us do things we wish we didn’t have to do, sometimes love leads us to desperate measures to survive and protect – protect others and protect ourselves.
Remember back when the Israelites were pitted against the Philistines in battle? This battle was at a standstill, though, because the Philistines’ best fighting man, Goliath, had called for a one-on-one to decide the outcome of the war. “Send me your best warrior,” Goliath bellowed across the valley, “and whichever one of us wins will rule over the other side.”
The Israelites were all for this because this meant they didn’t all have to fight, but there was a problem. Goliath was a giant of a man; he was huge, and no one from the Israelites was willing to be the one to challenge him. No one, that is except a certain young shepherd boy who had come to the front lines to bring food to his brothers. David accepted Goliath’s challenge. He was taken to King Saul, who took one look at David and told him to go back home.
David was determined, though, and Saul finally relented and had his own armor put on David. This sounds like a cartoon strip, to see young David dressed in the armor of the king who was already one of the tallest in all of Israel. He couldn’t move with all that metal draped upon him. David said thanks but no thanks, took off the armor, went to the river, found five smooth stones, placed them in his pouch, went back to the front lines, called out the giant, and slayed him with one shot from his sling. That is how David became the darling of the people – he had saved them from the Philistines that day.
Saul took David to live in the palace, made him a leader and sent him out to battle. David was a successful warrior, and Saul became jealous of how the people were more devoted to David than to Saul himself. Now, back when the Philistine’s were taunting the Israelites and Goliath was challenging them to send their best man to fight him, Saul had promised his daughter as wife to the man who succeeded.
Saul saw that it was good to honor that promise, so he says to David, “Here is my elder daughter, Merab; I will give her to you as a wife if you will go out and fight our enemies. But Saul had an ulterior motive; the more David fought, the more chances he would be killed by the enemy. Saul was hoping the Philistines would kill David so the people would love Saul once again and his kingdom would be securely his.
David said no. I mean, he was more tactful than that, but the essence of what he said was “Thanks, but no thanks.” Drat! What was Saul to do now? Then Saul discovered a secret, a piece of news that put him right back on track to getting rid of David. Saul’s other daughter, Michal, loved David. This Saul could use. He made the offer again to David – this time through his servants, rather than approaching David directly.
David admitted to them that he couldn’t do it, he was too poor, he had no money. David had nothing to give to the king for the honor of marrying his daughter. Wow! Saul definitely saw an opportunity here – he told the servants to tell David not to worry, he didn’t want any money anyway, he only wanted David to bring him one hundred foreskins from the Philistines, thinking once again that David would be killed in trying and Saul would be rid of him. David complied, presented his gift to King Saul, and then married Michal, becoming the king’s son-in-law.
Now they are all one big happy family, at least three of them are. Jonathan and Michal are in a difficult situation. Both love David and it seems David loves both of them. Jonathan is his best friend; Michal is his wife; their father hates him and wants to kill him. At first, Jonathan couldn’t believe Saul would actually act upon his threats – this was his father, how could he not love him and want to see the best in him? But time won out and Jonathan finally saw the truth about how Saul hated David. For a while, Jonathan is able to calm Saul when he gets fired up and makes his plans to kill David, but Jonathan isn’t always around when Saul gets angry.
David is trying to keep the peace. He still plays music for Saul when Saul isn’t trying to pin him to the wall with his spear, but the day comes when David knows he has to get out. Saul throws a tantrum, and another spear, and David runs home to safety – he thinks. Saul sends some of his men to David’s house to watch it all night and kill David in the morning.
Michal is aware of what is going on and knows she has to act fast. She tells David that if he waits until morning, he will not make it through the day, so they devise an escape plan. Michal lowers David down through a window when no one is watching, David fleas for his life and Michal lays and idol in David’s bed, covers it up, and places a skin of goat’s hair to its head laying on the pillow.
When Saul’s men show up at her door, she tells them David is sick in bed. They leave. They tell Saul. Saul sends them back to get David. “Bring the bed with him in it if you have to,” Saul commands. They return to David’s house.
Poor Michal, how hard has this been for her? Her father is trying to kill her husband. She is afraid he might succeed. She has probably been up all night with worry. How far has David gotten? Is he far enough? Will he be safe? In helping David escape, Michal has put herself in a dangerous situation with her father, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and Michal’s love for David won out over her love for her father.
Saul confronts Michal, saying “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy escape?” She may be his daughter, but he is still the king, and he has the power to make her pay for what he perceives as her deceit. So, Michal does the only thing she can do to save herself; she throws David under the bus. She tells Saul that David threatened to kill her if she tried to stop him from leaving.
I used to wonder why she would lie about David like that, it took me a long time to realize that what she said that day to Saul may have been the only thing she could say that would spare her life.
This is a crazy story, perhaps a true Hollywood movie script or a tingling bestseller. There is love here, though, lots of love. Let’s look at the friendship between David and Jonathan for a minute. As the son of Saul, Jonathan would have expected to be the next in line to rule the kingdom, but somehow, he knew it was not to be. The very day David had killed Goliath, when David stood in front of Saul giving him a rundown of the event, Jonathan walked in and there was an instant connection between the two younger men.
Jonathan immediately gave David his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt. It’s as if Jonathan is telling David that he is the next king, even though Jonathan did not know how Samuel had anointed David as such. Jonathan defied his father in warning David that Saul was planning to kill him, and the two of them wept at their parting. Jonathan and David were BFFs from the get-go.
Now let’s look at David and Michal. Scripture flat tells us that Michal loved David, that’s not hidden from us. Did David love Michal? Well, he killed one hundred Philistines to pay her bride price, so it seems as though he did. I know, there is another story of David coming next week, one that everyone seems to know quite well, but I believe, at that time, David did love Michal. Although we learn later that their love didn’t last.
Maybe it was the pressure they both lived under from Saul that caused the first cracks. Maybe absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder. Perhaps when Saul gave Michal to another man later, she grew attached to him and that helped her get over David. Whatever the reason, what seemed to start out as a love story between these two eventually turned sour, sadly.
Love needs to be worked at to be kept alive. Due to time and circumstances, David and Michal either couldn’t or wouldn’t work on their relationship and it tanked.
Our relationship with God is kind of like that. We have to work on it, or we begin to drift away from him. If we don’t make time to spend time with God, our love for him will grow cold. We can’t have a relationship with God if we don’t make time for God.
That’s why it is so important to find a way to be with him. That happens when we read his word, the Bible. When we study it individually, and with others. Our relationship with God is strengthened through regular times of prayer, not just to list our “please dos,” but to include our “thank yous” and our praises. We can grow closer to God through our acts of service, which are works of gratitude for all he has done for us, especially in what he has done through Jesus Christ for us.
The love of God for David is evidenced in how he saw David’s heart, had Samuel anoint him the next king of Israel years before he took the throne, protected him from Saul, and brought the Messiah through his descendants. We see God’s love in every page of David’s story, through victorious battles, to life on the run, from the good times and the bad times.
If we take a look, we can see God’s love written all over our story, too. How he knew us before we were born, how he has walked with us even on the hard days, even on the days we didn’t know he was with us. God’s love is never ending, yet he waits for us to want to know him instead of forcing his way into our lives.
David’s life was nothing like how any of our lives are today, but there is one thing we have in common with him – God’s love. It began the moment he breathed his own breath into Adam, and it was poured out on David, and it is poured out on us even now.
David had to take desperate measures to elude Saul. Michal and Jonathan had to take desperate measures to protect David, and themselves. God took deliberate measure when he sent Jesus to die for us, to pay the debt for our sins, to rise from the grave so we could have eternal life in relationship with our loving God.
Once again, through this week’s story, we see that God’s love story is still the best love story of all, and I am okay with that, how about you? AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving Father, thank you for showing us that love needs to be an action word, that if we do not act to spend time with you, our love will fade like David and Michal’s love faded over time. Lord, rekindle in our hearts the desire to be with you through your word, through prayer, through acts of service in your name. And Lord, most of all, today we want to say thank you for loving us enough to send your Son to save us. This day, we choose you. Tomorrow, we choose you. May we choose you every day ever after. AMEN.
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Desperate Measures
Scripture: 1 Samuel 19:11-17
Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him, planning to kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window; he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed; she put a net of goats’ hair on its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 When the messengers came in, the idol was in the bed, with the covering of goats’ hair on its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go; why should I kill you?’”
Today we come to David in our summer love series. David is the only character who gets two weeks – I guess he is just a guy who loves to love. This week we are reading about David and Saul, and Jonathan and Michal. Saul the king, David the soldier and darling of the people, Jonathan, Saul’s son and David’s best friend, and Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s wife. Love is evident here, as we will see, but sometimes love makes us do things we wish we didn’t have to do, sometimes love leads us to desperate measures to survive and protect – protect others and protect ourselves.
Remember back when the Israelites were pitted against the Philistines in battle? This battle was at a standstill, though, because the Philistines’ best fighting man, Goliath, had called for a one-on-one to decide the outcome of the war. “Send me your best warrior,” Goliath bellowed across the valley, “and whichever one of us wins will rule over the other side.”
The Israelites were all for this because this meant they didn’t all have to fight, but there was a problem. Goliath was a giant of a man; he was huge, and no one from the Israelites was willing to be the one to challenge him. No one, that is except a certain young shepherd boy who had come to the front lines to bring food to his brothers. David accepted Goliath’s challenge. He was taken to King Saul, who took one look at David and told him to go back home.
David was determined, though, and Saul finally relented and had his own armor put on David. This sounds like a cartoon strip, to see young David dressed in the armor of the king who was already one of the tallest in all of Israel. He couldn’t move with all that metal draped upon him. David said thanks but no thanks, took off the armor, went to the river, found five smooth stones, placed them in his pouch, went back to the front lines, called out the giant, and slayed him with one shot from his sling. That is how David became the darling of the people – he had saved them from the Philistines that day.
Saul took David to live in the palace, made him a leader and sent him out to battle. David was a successful warrior, and Saul became jealous of how the people were more devoted to David than to Saul himself. Now, back when the Philistine’s were taunting the Israelites and Goliath was challenging them to send their best man to fight him, Saul had promised his daughter as wife to the man who succeeded.
Saul saw that it was good to honor that promise, so he says to David, “Here is my elder daughter, Merab; I will give her to you as a wife if you will go out and fight our enemies. But Saul had an ulterior motive; the more David fought, the more chances he would be killed by the enemy. Saul was hoping the Philistines would kill David so the people would love Saul once again and his kingdom would be securely his.
David said no. I mean, he was more tactful than that, but the essence of what he said was “Thanks, but no thanks.” Drat! What was Saul to do now? Then Saul discovered a secret, a piece of news that put him right back on track to getting rid of David. Saul’s other daughter, Michal, loved David. This Saul could use. He made the offer again to David – this time through his servants, rather than approaching David directly.
David admitted to them that he couldn’t do it, he was too poor, he had no money. David had nothing to give to the king for the honor of marrying his daughter. Wow! Saul definitely saw an opportunity here – he told the servants to tell David not to worry, he didn’t want any money anyway, he only wanted David to bring him one hundred foreskins from the Philistines, thinking once again that David would be killed in trying and Saul would be rid of him. David complied, presented his gift to King Saul, and then married Michal, becoming the king’s son-in-law.
Now they are all one big happy family, at least three of them are. Jonathan and Michal are in a difficult situation. Both love David and it seems David loves both of them. Jonathan is his best friend; Michal is his wife; their father hates him and wants to kill him. At first, Jonathan couldn’t believe Saul would actually act upon his threats – this was his father, how could he not love him and want to see the best in him? But time won out and Jonathan finally saw the truth about how Saul hated David. For a while, Jonathan is able to calm Saul when he gets fired up and makes his plans to kill David, but Jonathan isn’t always around when Saul gets angry.
David is trying to keep the peace. He still plays music for Saul when Saul isn’t trying to pin him to the wall with his spear, but the day comes when David knows he has to get out. Saul throws a tantrum, and another spear, and David runs home to safety – he thinks. Saul sends some of his men to David’s house to watch it all night and kill David in the morning.
Michal is aware of what is going on and knows she has to act fast. She tells David that if he waits until morning, he will not make it through the day, so they devise an escape plan. Michal lowers David down through a window when no one is watching, David fleas for his life and Michal lays and idol in David’s bed, covers it up, and places a skin of goat’s hair to its head laying on the pillow.
When Saul’s men show up at her door, she tells them David is sick in bed. They leave. They tell Saul. Saul sends them back to get David. “Bring the bed with him in it if you have to,” Saul commands. They return to David’s house.
Poor Michal, how hard has this been for her? Her father is trying to kill her husband. She is afraid he might succeed. She has probably been up all night with worry. How far has David gotten? Is he far enough? Will he be safe? In helping David escape, Michal has put herself in a dangerous situation with her father, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and Michal’s love for David won out over her love for her father.
Saul confronts Michal, saying “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy escape?” She may be his daughter, but he is still the king, and he has the power to make her pay for what he perceives as her deceit. So, Michal does the only thing she can do to save herself; she throws David under the bus. She tells Saul that David threatened to kill her if she tried to stop him from leaving.
I used to wonder why she would lie about David like that, it took me a long time to realize that what she said that day to Saul may have been the only thing she could say that would spare her life.
This is a crazy story, perhaps a true Hollywood movie script or a tingling bestseller. There is love here, though, lots of love. Let’s look at the friendship between David and Jonathan for a minute. As the son of Saul, Jonathan would have expected to be the next in line to rule the kingdom, but somehow, he knew it was not to be. The very day David had killed Goliath, when David stood in front of Saul giving him a rundown of the event, Jonathan walked in and there was an instant connection between the two younger men.
Jonathan immediately gave David his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt. It’s as if Jonathan is telling David that he is the next king, even though Jonathan did not know how Samuel had anointed David as such. Jonathan defied his father in warning David that Saul was planning to kill him, and the two of them wept at their parting. Jonathan and David were BFFs from the get-go.
Now let’s look at David and Michal. Scripture flat tells us that Michal loved David, that’s not hidden from us. Did David love Michal? Well, he killed one hundred Philistines to pay her bride price, so it seems as though he did. I know, there is another story of David coming next week, one that everyone seems to know quite well, but I believe, at that time, David did love Michal. Although we learn later that their love didn’t last.
Maybe it was the pressure they both lived under from Saul that caused the first cracks. Maybe absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder. Perhaps when Saul gave Michal to another man later, she grew attached to him and that helped her get over David. Whatever the reason, what seemed to start out as a love story between these two eventually turned sour, sadly.
Love needs to be worked at to be kept alive. Due to time and circumstances, David and Michal either couldn’t or wouldn’t work on their relationship and it tanked.
Our relationship with God is kind of like that. We have to work on it, or we begin to drift away from him. If we don’t make time to spend time with God, our love for him will grow cold. We can’t have a relationship with God if we don’t make time for God.
That’s why it is so important to find a way to be with him. That happens when we read his word, the Bible. When we study it individually, and with others. Our relationship with God is strengthened through regular times of prayer, not just to list our “please dos,” but to include our “thank yous” and our praises. We can grow closer to God through our acts of service, which are works of gratitude for all he has done for us, especially in what he has done through Jesus Christ for us.
The love of God for David is evidenced in how he saw David’s heart, had Samuel anoint him the next king of Israel years before he took the throne, protected him from Saul, and brought the Messiah through his descendants. We see God’s love in every page of David’s story, through victorious battles, to life on the run, from the good times and the bad times.
If we take a look, we can see God’s love written all over our story, too. How he knew us before we were born, how he has walked with us even on the hard days, even on the days we didn’t know he was with us. God’s love is never ending, yet he waits for us to want to know him instead of forcing his way into our lives.
David’s life was nothing like how any of our lives are today, but there is one thing we have in common with him – God’s love. It began the moment he breathed his own breath into Adam, and it was poured out on David, and it is poured out on us even now.
David had to take desperate measures to elude Saul. Michal and Jonathan had to take desperate measures to protect David, and themselves. God took deliberate measure when he sent Jesus to die for us, to pay the debt for our sins, to rise from the grave so we could have eternal life in relationship with our loving God.
Once again, through this week’s story, we see that God’s love story is still the best love story of all, and I am okay with that, how about you? AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving Father, thank you for showing us that love needs to be an action word, that if we do not act to spend time with you, our love will fade like David and Michal’s love faded over time. Lord, rekindle in our hearts the desire to be with you through your word, through prayer, through acts of service in your name. And Lord, most of all, today we want to say thank you for loving us enough to send your Son to save us. This day, we choose you. Tomorrow, we choose you. May we choose you every day ever after. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY AUGUST 4, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "SUMMER OF LOVE-ISH" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "PUTTING SOMEONE ELSE FIRST".
August 4, 2024
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Putting Someone Else First
Scripture: Ruth 2:8-9; 3:8-13
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”
At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and there, lying at his feet, was a woman! 9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin.” 10 He said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter; this last instance of your loyalty is better than the first; you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not be afraid, I will do for you all that you ask, for all the assembly of my people know that you are a worthy woman. 12 But now, though it is true that I am a near kinsman, there is another kinsman more closely related than I. 13 Remain this night, and in the morning, if he will act as next-of-kin for you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to act as next-of-kin for you, then, as the Lord lives, I will act as next-of-kin for you. Lie down until the morning.”
Oh, how I have been waiting to get to this story. If this were the only bible story in our series, there wouldn’t be the “ish” at the end of the title. This story is about love from beginning to end. Not all love stories are of the romantic kind, as we will see today, but the story of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz is definitely a love story.
This is a story about a journey, a life lived like any other, in that there are ups and downs, challenges and celebrations woven throughout the fabric of the lives of the people involved. This story takes place in the days of the judges, before Israel had a king, and a famine came upon the land. From Bethlehem, Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, moved to Moab with their two sons. It was a matter of survival, a way to live while the famine lasted in their homeland.
While they were in Moab, Elimelech died, and the two boys each found a wife. After a time, tragedy struck again and both of the boys also died, leaving three grieving widows to comfort and support one another. Eventually, word came that the famine in Judah was over, so Naomi made plans with her two daughters-in-law to move back home. They packed up and set out on their journey, but they didn’t get far before Naomi had second thoughts.
She told the two women to turn around and go home, back to their mothers’ houses where, as widows, they would be taken in and cared for. They would have a chance to marry again and have a family. At first, both women refused to leave her. Naomi, ever the practical woman, knowing the traditions of her culture, reminded them that she was too old to have another husband and children – and even if she were to marry that very night and had sons, these two women would not want to wait for them to grow up to marry again. It just made more sense for them to go home and be with their relatives, to find a new husband, to have a family of their own. Naomi was releasing them from any obligation they had for her because she loved them and wanted what would be best for them.
In the end, Orpah decided to follow Naomi’s wishes. She kissed her mother-in-law and turned back for home. Ruth, however, refused to follow Orpah; she was determined to stay with Naomi, saying, “Do not press me to leave you, to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God.” So, the two women continued on their way to Bethlehem, arriving in time for the barley harvest.
In those days, by the Law of Moses, the reapers of any field were required to leave a row around the perimeter of the field for the poor to harvest for themselves, and they were not to go back and pick up anything they dropped so the poor might also find and keep that. In this practice, the poor were provided for. When Naomi and Ruth got settled, Ruth offered to go and glean from the barley fields, bringing home what she gathered to be used to make bread or soup – some for them, and perhaps some to sell or trade for other essential items.
It just so happens, that when Ruth goes to glean in a field, she ends up in the field belonging to a man named Boaz. Boaz was actually a relative of Ruth’s father-in-law and he was a rich, respected man in the community. Some might see this as a happy accident, or a coincidence, but an old adage tells us that “A coincidence is a miracle in which God prefers to remain anonymous.” God was certainly at work in Ruth and Naomi’s lives, and in Boaz’s, too.
Boaz notices Ruth in the field, perhaps because she is the one person he does not yet know, and he asks his workers who she is. They tell him who she is, that she is part of Naomi’s family, and that she is a dedicated worker, not even stopping for a break. Boaz calls to Ruth and tells her, “Stay here in my field with my workers where you will be safe, and if you get thirsty, drink from the pitcher I provide for my people.” Ruth is grateful, but confused, “Why me? What have I done to deserve this special treatment?”
Boaz had been told about Naomi’s return and how her foreign daughter-in-law had stayed by her side, helping her, and caring for her, and he was impressed by Ruth’s character and her heart. Now he was seeing for himself why others were singing Ruth’s praises. Ruth wasn’t interested in only herself, she continually put Naomi’s interests, her welfare, first. Ruth truly loved her mother-in-law, and it showed in how she treated her.
When Ruth came home, with her abundant day’s work, Naomi inquired where she had worked all day. Upon hearing that Ruth had worked in the field belonging to Boaz, Naomi praised God, recognizing his hand in leading Ruth to exactly the right place for her to be. Naomi advised Ruth to remain with Boaz’s workers and so she worked in Boaz’s fields through the barley harvest and then through the wheat harvest.
All the while, as Ruth was working every day in the fields, Naomi was thinking of their future. Ruth was a foreigner in their land and as an unmarried woman with no children, she was in a vulnerable position. Finally, Naomi had an idea. Naomi knew Boaz would be winnowing barley that night at the threshing floor, so she told Ruth to go and clean herself up, put on some clean clothes, use the good smelling lotion, and go to the threshing floor, but be careful not to be seen.
Ruth was to look around, find out where Boaz laid down to sleep, and then when the coast was clear and everyone was sleeping, Ruth was to go up to Boaz, uncover his feet, and lay down beside them. This was an act of submission and surrender, a message to Boaz that Ruth trusted him to do the right thing.
Boaz, as one of the family’s kinsman redeemers, would be expected to marry Ruth, as the widow of his relative, but Ruth was a foreigner. Not many men in that day would be willing to marry a foreigner, so Ruth was trusting Boaz to make the right choice without demands and without resorting to making him pity her for her situation.
Naomi’s instructions to Ruth were exactly what was needed. Ruth’s actions walked the line that made her case yet allowed Boaz to make his decision. Boaz likely knew what he was supposed to do before this night, he just had not acted yet. Naomi was telling him, through Ruth’s actions, that the time to act was now.
I see this story as a love triangle, but not the type we saw last week with Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. In this week’s story there is no deception and no jealousy, only love. Ruth loved Naomi enough to travel with her to a new land, to adopt her culture, and to worship her God. Naomi loved Ruth enough to look out for her future and secure her a husband who would protect her, care for her, and with whom she could have a family.
Now, we don’t know for certain that Boaz loved Ruth, but from what I read in their story, I believe he did. He always treated Ruth with care and respect. He protected her by providing a safe working environment, and he never tried to take advantage of her. He was even honest about there being another man who was actually more closely related to Naomi, and he had the first choice to be their family redeemer. Boaz volunteered to speak to this man and give him the chance to follow tradition, redeem Naomi’s family, and marry Ruth.
Luca, our Bible romance commentator, also sees this as a love story. He wrote, “Boaz has Ruth’s best interests at heart, and does all he can to ensure that she remains safe. Indicating that true love is about protecting, caring and supporting for the one that you love.” Good job, Lucas – I think he is spot-on with his assessment.
So is Pastor Isaac Butterworth in his overview of the Book of Ruth. Naomi was living life the way she always thought it would be. She had a husband and two sons; life was good. Until it wasn’t. Until she lost her husband and both of her sons, until her life got turned upside down.
Butterworth writes, “Life has a way of “going south,” doesn’t it? And we wonder sometimes: “Are we merely the victims of fate? Is there any point to the unfolding events of our lives?” The book of Ruth addresses this question, and what it tells us is: There is a heart at the center of the universe. It’s not just a cold, empty expanse, indifferent to us or to our lives. Nor is it a machine driven by some cruel, malevolent force such as chance. No. What’s behind everything – this is what the book of Ruth tells us – what’s behind everything is a gracious Providence that is purposeful and loving.”
We know that what Butterworth called “a gracious Providence” is the God of creation. He is the force at work in all things, in all lives. In the account of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz, we see once again that the truest love in the story is God’s love. God gave Ruth the courage and the character to love Naomi, to follow her wherever she would go. God directed both Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem where Ruth would connect with Boaz while she worked to care for and support her mother-in-law. God inspired Naomi to act on Ruth’s behalf to secure her future. God moved Boaz to notice Ruth, to protect her, and to do what tradition expected of him, even though he could have been excused due to Ruth’s being a foreigner. And God blessed Ruth and Boaz with a son, Obed, who would father a son named Jesse, who would become the father of a man named David – King David, a man after God’s own heart.
Romans 8:28 reminds us “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God used Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz for his good purposes, and for their own benefit, and we can see the love he poured out upon them.
What is God working in your life right now? Maybe we can’t see the answer to that yet. Maybe we are living in the hard part, and we can’t see the way God will use our circumstance for good. I’m sure Naomi and Ruth didn’t’ see God’s work in their lives every day, either. They couldn’t know how God would use their losses to bring them to the place where they would be cared for the most. But they trusted that God was working, the God was with them, that God loved them. Not sometimes, but always. And God proved that in a big way.
When we hit a rough patch in our lives, we likely won’t see the good that it will bring until we are on the other side of it. In the midst of the trials and troubles, we are too busy just trying to survive, to breathe, to get through the day. But don’t give up, God is still at work whether we feel him or see him. God is always with us, always guiding us, always working things to our benefit, because he loves us with a love that is too deep to measure, too high to climb, too wide to go around, and too long to jump over.
Naomi put her daughters-in-law first by releasing them from their obligation to her and allowing them to return home. Ruth put Naomi first by staying with her and then working to support her when they reached Bethlehem. Naomi put Ruth first by securing a marriage for her through their family redeemer who was an honorable man. Boaz put Ruth first when he made a safe place for her to glean in his fields and fed her from his table. That makes a wonderful love story, but God’s love story is even better, because he put us first when he sent his son to die for our sins and then rise from death to give us eternal life with him in heaven. That’s love – real love, no “ish” about it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, thank you for reminding us through Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, that you are always working everything for our good, even when we don’t see it happening in the hardest moments. You are always with us, always loving us, always providing for us, and we are so grateful. Lord, may we turn our gratitude into praise, in the good times, in the hard times, in all times. And may that praise point others to you, too, so that with one voice and one heart, all your people will praise your name for the love you pour out, day in and day out, for all time. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83897/the-lonely-frog-by-isaac-butterworth
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Putting Someone Else First
Scripture: Ruth 2:8-9; 3:8-13
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”
At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and there, lying at his feet, was a woman! 9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin.” 10 He said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter; this last instance of your loyalty is better than the first; you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not be afraid, I will do for you all that you ask, for all the assembly of my people know that you are a worthy woman. 12 But now, though it is true that I am a near kinsman, there is another kinsman more closely related than I. 13 Remain this night, and in the morning, if he will act as next-of-kin for you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to act as next-of-kin for you, then, as the Lord lives, I will act as next-of-kin for you. Lie down until the morning.”
Oh, how I have been waiting to get to this story. If this were the only bible story in our series, there wouldn’t be the “ish” at the end of the title. This story is about love from beginning to end. Not all love stories are of the romantic kind, as we will see today, but the story of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz is definitely a love story.
This is a story about a journey, a life lived like any other, in that there are ups and downs, challenges and celebrations woven throughout the fabric of the lives of the people involved. This story takes place in the days of the judges, before Israel had a king, and a famine came upon the land. From Bethlehem, Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, moved to Moab with their two sons. It was a matter of survival, a way to live while the famine lasted in their homeland.
While they were in Moab, Elimelech died, and the two boys each found a wife. After a time, tragedy struck again and both of the boys also died, leaving three grieving widows to comfort and support one another. Eventually, word came that the famine in Judah was over, so Naomi made plans with her two daughters-in-law to move back home. They packed up and set out on their journey, but they didn’t get far before Naomi had second thoughts.
She told the two women to turn around and go home, back to their mothers’ houses where, as widows, they would be taken in and cared for. They would have a chance to marry again and have a family. At first, both women refused to leave her. Naomi, ever the practical woman, knowing the traditions of her culture, reminded them that she was too old to have another husband and children – and even if she were to marry that very night and had sons, these two women would not want to wait for them to grow up to marry again. It just made more sense for them to go home and be with their relatives, to find a new husband, to have a family of their own. Naomi was releasing them from any obligation they had for her because she loved them and wanted what would be best for them.
In the end, Orpah decided to follow Naomi’s wishes. She kissed her mother-in-law and turned back for home. Ruth, however, refused to follow Orpah; she was determined to stay with Naomi, saying, “Do not press me to leave you, to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God.” So, the two women continued on their way to Bethlehem, arriving in time for the barley harvest.
In those days, by the Law of Moses, the reapers of any field were required to leave a row around the perimeter of the field for the poor to harvest for themselves, and they were not to go back and pick up anything they dropped so the poor might also find and keep that. In this practice, the poor were provided for. When Naomi and Ruth got settled, Ruth offered to go and glean from the barley fields, bringing home what she gathered to be used to make bread or soup – some for them, and perhaps some to sell or trade for other essential items.
It just so happens, that when Ruth goes to glean in a field, she ends up in the field belonging to a man named Boaz. Boaz was actually a relative of Ruth’s father-in-law and he was a rich, respected man in the community. Some might see this as a happy accident, or a coincidence, but an old adage tells us that “A coincidence is a miracle in which God prefers to remain anonymous.” God was certainly at work in Ruth and Naomi’s lives, and in Boaz’s, too.
Boaz notices Ruth in the field, perhaps because she is the one person he does not yet know, and he asks his workers who she is. They tell him who she is, that she is part of Naomi’s family, and that she is a dedicated worker, not even stopping for a break. Boaz calls to Ruth and tells her, “Stay here in my field with my workers where you will be safe, and if you get thirsty, drink from the pitcher I provide for my people.” Ruth is grateful, but confused, “Why me? What have I done to deserve this special treatment?”
Boaz had been told about Naomi’s return and how her foreign daughter-in-law had stayed by her side, helping her, and caring for her, and he was impressed by Ruth’s character and her heart. Now he was seeing for himself why others were singing Ruth’s praises. Ruth wasn’t interested in only herself, she continually put Naomi’s interests, her welfare, first. Ruth truly loved her mother-in-law, and it showed in how she treated her.
When Ruth came home, with her abundant day’s work, Naomi inquired where she had worked all day. Upon hearing that Ruth had worked in the field belonging to Boaz, Naomi praised God, recognizing his hand in leading Ruth to exactly the right place for her to be. Naomi advised Ruth to remain with Boaz’s workers and so she worked in Boaz’s fields through the barley harvest and then through the wheat harvest.
All the while, as Ruth was working every day in the fields, Naomi was thinking of their future. Ruth was a foreigner in their land and as an unmarried woman with no children, she was in a vulnerable position. Finally, Naomi had an idea. Naomi knew Boaz would be winnowing barley that night at the threshing floor, so she told Ruth to go and clean herself up, put on some clean clothes, use the good smelling lotion, and go to the threshing floor, but be careful not to be seen.
Ruth was to look around, find out where Boaz laid down to sleep, and then when the coast was clear and everyone was sleeping, Ruth was to go up to Boaz, uncover his feet, and lay down beside them. This was an act of submission and surrender, a message to Boaz that Ruth trusted him to do the right thing.
Boaz, as one of the family’s kinsman redeemers, would be expected to marry Ruth, as the widow of his relative, but Ruth was a foreigner. Not many men in that day would be willing to marry a foreigner, so Ruth was trusting Boaz to make the right choice without demands and without resorting to making him pity her for her situation.
Naomi’s instructions to Ruth were exactly what was needed. Ruth’s actions walked the line that made her case yet allowed Boaz to make his decision. Boaz likely knew what he was supposed to do before this night, he just had not acted yet. Naomi was telling him, through Ruth’s actions, that the time to act was now.
I see this story as a love triangle, but not the type we saw last week with Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. In this week’s story there is no deception and no jealousy, only love. Ruth loved Naomi enough to travel with her to a new land, to adopt her culture, and to worship her God. Naomi loved Ruth enough to look out for her future and secure her a husband who would protect her, care for her, and with whom she could have a family.
Now, we don’t know for certain that Boaz loved Ruth, but from what I read in their story, I believe he did. He always treated Ruth with care and respect. He protected her by providing a safe working environment, and he never tried to take advantage of her. He was even honest about there being another man who was actually more closely related to Naomi, and he had the first choice to be their family redeemer. Boaz volunteered to speak to this man and give him the chance to follow tradition, redeem Naomi’s family, and marry Ruth.
Luca, our Bible romance commentator, also sees this as a love story. He wrote, “Boaz has Ruth’s best interests at heart, and does all he can to ensure that she remains safe. Indicating that true love is about protecting, caring and supporting for the one that you love.” Good job, Lucas – I think he is spot-on with his assessment.
So is Pastor Isaac Butterworth in his overview of the Book of Ruth. Naomi was living life the way she always thought it would be. She had a husband and two sons; life was good. Until it wasn’t. Until she lost her husband and both of her sons, until her life got turned upside down.
Butterworth writes, “Life has a way of “going south,” doesn’t it? And we wonder sometimes: “Are we merely the victims of fate? Is there any point to the unfolding events of our lives?” The book of Ruth addresses this question, and what it tells us is: There is a heart at the center of the universe. It’s not just a cold, empty expanse, indifferent to us or to our lives. Nor is it a machine driven by some cruel, malevolent force such as chance. No. What’s behind everything – this is what the book of Ruth tells us – what’s behind everything is a gracious Providence that is purposeful and loving.”
We know that what Butterworth called “a gracious Providence” is the God of creation. He is the force at work in all things, in all lives. In the account of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz, we see once again that the truest love in the story is God’s love. God gave Ruth the courage and the character to love Naomi, to follow her wherever she would go. God directed both Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem where Ruth would connect with Boaz while she worked to care for and support her mother-in-law. God inspired Naomi to act on Ruth’s behalf to secure her future. God moved Boaz to notice Ruth, to protect her, and to do what tradition expected of him, even though he could have been excused due to Ruth’s being a foreigner. And God blessed Ruth and Boaz with a son, Obed, who would father a son named Jesse, who would become the father of a man named David – King David, a man after God’s own heart.
Romans 8:28 reminds us “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God used Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz for his good purposes, and for their own benefit, and we can see the love he poured out upon them.
What is God working in your life right now? Maybe we can’t see the answer to that yet. Maybe we are living in the hard part, and we can’t see the way God will use our circumstance for good. I’m sure Naomi and Ruth didn’t’ see God’s work in their lives every day, either. They couldn’t know how God would use their losses to bring them to the place where they would be cared for the most. But they trusted that God was working, the God was with them, that God loved them. Not sometimes, but always. And God proved that in a big way.
When we hit a rough patch in our lives, we likely won’t see the good that it will bring until we are on the other side of it. In the midst of the trials and troubles, we are too busy just trying to survive, to breathe, to get through the day. But don’t give up, God is still at work whether we feel him or see him. God is always with us, always guiding us, always working things to our benefit, because he loves us with a love that is too deep to measure, too high to climb, too wide to go around, and too long to jump over.
Naomi put her daughters-in-law first by releasing them from their obligation to her and allowing them to return home. Ruth put Naomi first by staying with her and then working to support her when they reached Bethlehem. Naomi put Ruth first by securing a marriage for her through their family redeemer who was an honorable man. Boaz put Ruth first when he made a safe place for her to glean in his fields and fed her from his table. That makes a wonderful love story, but God’s love story is even better, because he put us first when he sent his son to die for our sins and then rise from death to give us eternal life with him in heaven. That’s love – real love, no “ish” about it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, thank you for reminding us through Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, that you are always working everything for our good, even when we don’t see it happening in the hardest moments. You are always with us, always loving us, always providing for us, and we are so grateful. Lord, may we turn our gratitude into praise, in the good times, in the hard times, in all times. And may that praise point others to you, too, so that with one voice and one heart, all your people will praise your name for the love you pour out, day in and day out, for all time. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83897/the-lonely-frog-by-isaac-butterworth
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY JULY 28, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "SUMMER OF LOVE-ISH" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Competing for Love".
July 28, 2024
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Competing for Love
Scripture: Genesis 29:15-25
Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was graceful and beautiful. 18 Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” 22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. 23 But in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. 24 (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) 25 When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”
The ancient storyteller, Aesop, wrote of a tale about a donkey, a fox, and a lion. The fox and the donkey made an agreement to work together to forage for food, so they wandered out to the forest to do some hunting. They hadn’t gone far when suddenly they saw a lion coming toward them. The fox, understanding the imminent danger and being sly enough to figure out a way to save himself, approached the lion and brokered a deal to help the lion capture the donkey if the lion would promise not to harm the fox.
The lion agreed to the deal and the fox returned to the donkey, assuring him that all was well, but leading him all the while toward a pit that a hunter had dug in the forest in days past. Once they got close enough to the pit, the fox managed to ensure the donkey fell in. Once the lion saw that the donkey was securely trapped in the pit and could not run away, he immediately turned upon the fox and ate him for lunch. Then, the next time he was hungry, there was the donkey, trapped in the pit and easy prey for the lion.
The fox thought he was being so clever when he traded his life for the donkey, but he failed to understand the way the lion thought. This sounds an awful lot like Jacob in our story today. Jacob was a trickster himself. He had managed to buy his brother’s birthright with a simple bowl of stew, and then later, he outright stole his brother's blessing from their father, Isaac. Esau was understandably angry, and Rebekah sent Jacob away to save his life.
Jacob went to live with family, his Uncle Laban, who was his mother’s brother. Laban had two daughters, Leah, the older whom we are told had “weak eyes” and Rachel, the younger, whom we learn is beautiful. Of course, Jacob falls in love with the beautiful younger sister. In fact, Jacob loves Rachel so much that he is willing to work for Laban for seven years in order to “earn” her hand in marriage. That is love. And those seven years felt like nothing to Jacob since he kept his focus on Rebekah and the life they would build together once they were married.
Seven years go by, and it is time for the wedding. Laban calls for a feast. There is food and wine, music and dancing well into the night. Finally, it is time for the newly wedded couple to go to their tent for their wedding night, and here is where the lion out-foxes the fox. Laban substitutes Leah for Rachel. How did Jacob not realize the switch? Was it that she wore the veil to bed? Maybe the tent wasn’t well lit. Perhaps Jacob had celebrated a little too much and the wine had dulled his senses. Who knows?
The next morning Jacob awakes to see that it is Leah to whom he is married, not Rachel, and he is ticked. Laban, playing all innocent, pretends not to understand the problem: “What? You know it’s our custom to have the oldest marry before the younger. That’s just the way it is. I’ll tell you what. Finish out this wedding week and then you can also marry Rebekah if you will work for another seven years.”
We can definitely see that Laban and Jacob are related, can’t we? Both are crafty men who will connive to get their own way, even at the expense of others. Jacob could do nothing but agree to the additional seven years if he truly wanted to marry Rachel, which he did. A week later, Jacob married the woman of his dreams and began to pay the bride-price by working another seven years for his uncle.
Now we have a situation. One man, married to two women, sisters at that, and he loves one and not the other. This is a dangerous love triangle. There is true love here, Jacob loves Rachel, he has proven that, having to work fourteen years in order to have her. And Leah and Rachel both seem to love Jacob, which leads to a competition between the two of them, both vying for Jacob’s love and attention, both trying to produce more sons than the other so that Jacob might look more favorably on one over the other. Both even throwing their maids into the mix to have even more children. All’s fair in love and war, right? And this was a bit of love and war. What a mess.
Let’s check in with Bible romance commentator, Lucas Howe, who has been giving us his opinion on our series of love stories thus far. I’m not sure Lucas read Jacob’s backstory because he wrote that “Jacob, son of Rebecca, was sent to take solace and find a wife with his Uncle Laban in a distant land. Here, he met his cousin Rachel who he considered beautiful in form and appearance.”
We can agree that this is where Jacob’s mother sent him and that this is where he met Rachel, but he went there to find solace? Did Lucas miss the part where Jacob was running away from his brother who threatened to kill him for his deception in stealing Esau’s blessing from their father? That’s not seeking solace, that’s self-preservation. And I think Lucas went off the rails when he continued his assessment, saying “Although the story is relatively complicated, the message is clear: work for the one you want, and in the end, you’ll be rewarded with something incredible.” Huh?
That’s not love, Lucas, that’s a midway carnival game with Rachel as the prize. I picture Jacob throwing balls to knock over bowling pins trying to win the big prize. He misses a few, wins a few, and he keeps trading up one prize for a bigger one until he finally hits the jackpot and walks away the winner with Rachel as his wife. That’s not how it played out. Jacob, the deceiver, was deceived by Laban. Jacob married Leah and then Rachel, favoring Rachel over Leah, especially when, several years later, Rachel finally has a son whom they named Joseph. We know that Joseph became his father’s favorite son, causing more division and rivalry within the family.
I always feel so bad for Leah when I read this part of scripture. Jacob didn’t love Leah and that was no secret. But take heart, because God saw Leah and he saw her situation, and God loved Leah more than any man ever could. God gave her children to love and comfort her and God protected her all her days.
Jacob truly loved Rachel, he proved that by working for her for fourteen years. 1 John 3:18 tells us, “Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” Jacob loved Rachel and showed it in his patience and his willingness to work for her, to pay her dowry as was the custom, in this way. Rachel wasn’t the prize in a game of some sort, she was a piece of Jacob’s heart. This, my friends, is a true love story of Biblical proportions. Perhaps one of the best love stories we have – except for the part where two sisters compete for the love of one husband. Is this an episode of Desperate Housewives or Let’s Make a Deal?
Here's the thing, even though we know that Jacob lived most of his life, up to this point, as one who was a master conniver and deceiver, he was a man in whom God saw potential. This is the same Jacob who fathered the twelve sons who would later be called the twelve tribes of Israel. The same Jacob who wrestled all night with God and at daybreak God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, “for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” The same Jacob who fathered Joseph, whom God would use to save his family, and thousands of others from a famine.
God knew Jacob’s nature, yet God also knew Jacob’s future, and God loved Jacob through all of his ways and days. How awesome is it to know that in spite of the way Jacob lived for so long, that God loved him anyway. That means that in spite of the way we have lived for so long before we knew God, God still loved us, too, because God knows our nature, and God knows our future.
Jacob and Rachel’s story is more than a romance between two people, it is also the love story between God and his people. It is a story of hope and promise and love and redemption.
Jacob worked for Rachel for all those years because he loved her and didn’t want to live without her. God sent his son to redeem us because he loves us and didn’t want to live without us. Jacob was modeling then what Christ would do later. That is, once again the true love story today – the love of God that he would send his own son to die to pay our sin debt and rise again so that we might live with him forever.
There is no greater love story than that, and I for one am grateful for it. Once again, what we see in the story is but a small taste of the vast amount of love God has for all of his creation. The really good news is that we don’t have to live like Leah and Rachel. We never have to compete for God’s love because God loves us all.
In our humanness, we love some people, and we love some of those people more than others. But God loves all people, no matter what.
When Jesus came down from heaven and hung on that cross to pay our ransom, he wasn’t just doing it for a few people, he was paying the debt for everyone. His love knows no boundaries, no favorites, and inspires no competition. I love Jacob and Rachel’s love story, but I love God’s love story even more.
I thank God for loving us enough to send his Son to die for my sins. I thank Jesus for willingly coming and not only dying for my sins but rising again to give me eternal life. And I thank the Holy Spirit for dwelling within me, guiding me, strengthening me, and loving me just for being me. What I am most thankful for, though, is that all of this is available to everyone – and that everyone gets to choose whether to accept the gift.
If you have not accepted this gift of love yet, I pray that this is the day you finally say yes to God through Jesus Christ so that the Holy Spirit can come and dwell in you, too, and that you can know that you never have to compete with anyone for God’s love – it’s always been there – ready and waiting for you to receive it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, in Jacob and Rachel’s story, we see the love they had for each other, but we also see the love you have for all people. Thank you for that love. May we live each day in the knowledge that we are loved and that we don’t need to compete with anyone for your love. Then, Lord, may we begin to share that love with others, so they too, can experience the joy of living in you through your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Competing for Love
Scripture: Genesis 29:15-25
Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was graceful and beautiful. 18 Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” 22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. 23 But in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. 24 (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) 25 When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”
The ancient storyteller, Aesop, wrote of a tale about a donkey, a fox, and a lion. The fox and the donkey made an agreement to work together to forage for food, so they wandered out to the forest to do some hunting. They hadn’t gone far when suddenly they saw a lion coming toward them. The fox, understanding the imminent danger and being sly enough to figure out a way to save himself, approached the lion and brokered a deal to help the lion capture the donkey if the lion would promise not to harm the fox.
The lion agreed to the deal and the fox returned to the donkey, assuring him that all was well, but leading him all the while toward a pit that a hunter had dug in the forest in days past. Once they got close enough to the pit, the fox managed to ensure the donkey fell in. Once the lion saw that the donkey was securely trapped in the pit and could not run away, he immediately turned upon the fox and ate him for lunch. Then, the next time he was hungry, there was the donkey, trapped in the pit and easy prey for the lion.
The fox thought he was being so clever when he traded his life for the donkey, but he failed to understand the way the lion thought. This sounds an awful lot like Jacob in our story today. Jacob was a trickster himself. He had managed to buy his brother’s birthright with a simple bowl of stew, and then later, he outright stole his brother's blessing from their father, Isaac. Esau was understandably angry, and Rebekah sent Jacob away to save his life.
Jacob went to live with family, his Uncle Laban, who was his mother’s brother. Laban had two daughters, Leah, the older whom we are told had “weak eyes” and Rachel, the younger, whom we learn is beautiful. Of course, Jacob falls in love with the beautiful younger sister. In fact, Jacob loves Rachel so much that he is willing to work for Laban for seven years in order to “earn” her hand in marriage. That is love. And those seven years felt like nothing to Jacob since he kept his focus on Rebekah and the life they would build together once they were married.
Seven years go by, and it is time for the wedding. Laban calls for a feast. There is food and wine, music and dancing well into the night. Finally, it is time for the newly wedded couple to go to their tent for their wedding night, and here is where the lion out-foxes the fox. Laban substitutes Leah for Rachel. How did Jacob not realize the switch? Was it that she wore the veil to bed? Maybe the tent wasn’t well lit. Perhaps Jacob had celebrated a little too much and the wine had dulled his senses. Who knows?
The next morning Jacob awakes to see that it is Leah to whom he is married, not Rachel, and he is ticked. Laban, playing all innocent, pretends not to understand the problem: “What? You know it’s our custom to have the oldest marry before the younger. That’s just the way it is. I’ll tell you what. Finish out this wedding week and then you can also marry Rebekah if you will work for another seven years.”
We can definitely see that Laban and Jacob are related, can’t we? Both are crafty men who will connive to get their own way, even at the expense of others. Jacob could do nothing but agree to the additional seven years if he truly wanted to marry Rachel, which he did. A week later, Jacob married the woman of his dreams and began to pay the bride-price by working another seven years for his uncle.
Now we have a situation. One man, married to two women, sisters at that, and he loves one and not the other. This is a dangerous love triangle. There is true love here, Jacob loves Rachel, he has proven that, having to work fourteen years in order to have her. And Leah and Rachel both seem to love Jacob, which leads to a competition between the two of them, both vying for Jacob’s love and attention, both trying to produce more sons than the other so that Jacob might look more favorably on one over the other. Both even throwing their maids into the mix to have even more children. All’s fair in love and war, right? And this was a bit of love and war. What a mess.
Let’s check in with Bible romance commentator, Lucas Howe, who has been giving us his opinion on our series of love stories thus far. I’m not sure Lucas read Jacob’s backstory because he wrote that “Jacob, son of Rebecca, was sent to take solace and find a wife with his Uncle Laban in a distant land. Here, he met his cousin Rachel who he considered beautiful in form and appearance.”
We can agree that this is where Jacob’s mother sent him and that this is where he met Rachel, but he went there to find solace? Did Lucas miss the part where Jacob was running away from his brother who threatened to kill him for his deception in stealing Esau’s blessing from their father? That’s not seeking solace, that’s self-preservation. And I think Lucas went off the rails when he continued his assessment, saying “Although the story is relatively complicated, the message is clear: work for the one you want, and in the end, you’ll be rewarded with something incredible.” Huh?
That’s not love, Lucas, that’s a midway carnival game with Rachel as the prize. I picture Jacob throwing balls to knock over bowling pins trying to win the big prize. He misses a few, wins a few, and he keeps trading up one prize for a bigger one until he finally hits the jackpot and walks away the winner with Rachel as his wife. That’s not how it played out. Jacob, the deceiver, was deceived by Laban. Jacob married Leah and then Rachel, favoring Rachel over Leah, especially when, several years later, Rachel finally has a son whom they named Joseph. We know that Joseph became his father’s favorite son, causing more division and rivalry within the family.
I always feel so bad for Leah when I read this part of scripture. Jacob didn’t love Leah and that was no secret. But take heart, because God saw Leah and he saw her situation, and God loved Leah more than any man ever could. God gave her children to love and comfort her and God protected her all her days.
Jacob truly loved Rachel, he proved that by working for her for fourteen years. 1 John 3:18 tells us, “Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” Jacob loved Rachel and showed it in his patience and his willingness to work for her, to pay her dowry as was the custom, in this way. Rachel wasn’t the prize in a game of some sort, she was a piece of Jacob’s heart. This, my friends, is a true love story of Biblical proportions. Perhaps one of the best love stories we have – except for the part where two sisters compete for the love of one husband. Is this an episode of Desperate Housewives or Let’s Make a Deal?
Here's the thing, even though we know that Jacob lived most of his life, up to this point, as one who was a master conniver and deceiver, he was a man in whom God saw potential. This is the same Jacob who fathered the twelve sons who would later be called the twelve tribes of Israel. The same Jacob who wrestled all night with God and at daybreak God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, “for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” The same Jacob who fathered Joseph, whom God would use to save his family, and thousands of others from a famine.
God knew Jacob’s nature, yet God also knew Jacob’s future, and God loved Jacob through all of his ways and days. How awesome is it to know that in spite of the way Jacob lived for so long, that God loved him anyway. That means that in spite of the way we have lived for so long before we knew God, God still loved us, too, because God knows our nature, and God knows our future.
Jacob and Rachel’s story is more than a romance between two people, it is also the love story between God and his people. It is a story of hope and promise and love and redemption.
Jacob worked for Rachel for all those years because he loved her and didn’t want to live without her. God sent his son to redeem us because he loves us and didn’t want to live without us. Jacob was modeling then what Christ would do later. That is, once again the true love story today – the love of God that he would send his own son to die to pay our sin debt and rise again so that we might live with him forever.
There is no greater love story than that, and I for one am grateful for it. Once again, what we see in the story is but a small taste of the vast amount of love God has for all of his creation. The really good news is that we don’t have to live like Leah and Rachel. We never have to compete for God’s love because God loves us all.
In our humanness, we love some people, and we love some of those people more than others. But God loves all people, no matter what.
When Jesus came down from heaven and hung on that cross to pay our ransom, he wasn’t just doing it for a few people, he was paying the debt for everyone. His love knows no boundaries, no favorites, and inspires no competition. I love Jacob and Rachel’s love story, but I love God’s love story even more.
I thank God for loving us enough to send his Son to die for my sins. I thank Jesus for willingly coming and not only dying for my sins but rising again to give me eternal life. And I thank the Holy Spirit for dwelling within me, guiding me, strengthening me, and loving me just for being me. What I am most thankful for, though, is that all of this is available to everyone – and that everyone gets to choose whether to accept the gift.
If you have not accepted this gift of love yet, I pray that this is the day you finally say yes to God through Jesus Christ so that the Holy Spirit can come and dwell in you, too, and that you can know that you never have to compete with anyone for God’s love – it’s always been there – ready and waiting for you to receive it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, in Jacob and Rachel’s story, we see the love they had for each other, but we also see the love you have for all people. Thank you for that love. May we live each day in the knowledge that we are loved and that we don’t need to compete with anyone for your love. Then, Lord, may we begin to share that love with others, so they too, can experience the joy of living in you through your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY JULY 21, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "SUMMER OF LOVE-ISH" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Trust the Journey".
July 21, 2024
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Trust the Journey
Scripture: Genesis 24:58-67
And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.” 59 So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister, become
thousands of myriads;
may your offspring gain possession
of the gates of their foes.”
61 Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man, and the servant took Rebekah and went his way.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi and was settled in the Negeb. 63 Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field, and, looking up, he saw camels coming. 64 And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel 65 and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Last we week we spent time with Abram and Sarai and saw how they loved one another enough to do anything to ensure that God’s plan to make a great nation from their descendants would come to fruition. They bumbled the plan, but God had mercy on them, continued to love them, and twenty-five years after first making the promise, Isaac, the true heir of Abraham, was finally born. Isaac would have grown up learning from the example of his parents what love between a husband and a wife should look like.
Sarah lived to be 137 years old, and then she died. At some point after her death, Abraham realized it was high time that Isaac had a wife, and this father had some pretty specific ideas about the requirements for his future daughter-in-law. He called his most trusted servant in for a meeting about the situation. Abraham laid out his plan to his servant, entrusted him to carry out the plan, and made him swear that he would do so exactly as he was told.
Abraham was still an “outsider” in the land of the Canaanites; all of his people were back home, the place he had left over fifty years ago. He knew it would not be good for Isaac to marry one of the local girls, so his bride-to-be must be someone from his own family. This meant it would be someone whom neither Abraham, nor Isaac, had ever met.
The servant was willing to go, but he had an important question for clarification. “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” The answer was a resounding, “No.” Abraham remembered when God had promised him that, “To your offspring I will give this land,” and he was confident that God would make a way for Isaac’s wife to come from back home, not from where they lived now. “But”, he said, “if the woman is not willing to come back with you, then you will have done your duty and you will be released from this oath.”
Can you imagine the responsibly that Abraham’s servant had here, and how seemingly impossible his task was? But, by this time, Abraham no longer doubted that God would make a way, he had seen it happen before and he knew God’s power, and he was willing to be obedient to God’s plan in God’s own timing.
So, the servant loads up some camels with a plethora of nice gifts for this unknown woman and her family and he sets of for the city of Nahor. As he approaches the city, he comes to the common well, and he makes the camels kneel there, and in this moment, we discover that this servant is not only a faithful servant of Abraham, but he is also a faithful servant of God, because the first thing he does is pray to God.
He prays for a successful mission, that he might fulfill Abraham’s directive, that he will find a woman fit to be Isaac’s wife, and that she be willing to go back with him and take her place in the family. He asks for some pretty specific signs, too, so he can be sure that he is working according to God’s plan and not his own.
We know the story from here. We know a woman approached the well, the servant asked her for a drink, she gave him a drink and also offered to water his camels, which is exactly what Abraham’s servant had prayed would happen. Even better, he received the blessing of blessings, this young woman is actually the daughter of Abraham’s nephew Bethuel. Remember Abraham had two brothers, Lot’s father who had died, which is why Lot went with Abraham when God called him, and Nahor, who married Milcah, and they were Bethuel’s parents. Rebekah, the woman at the well that day, was Bethuel’s daughter.
We know that Abraham’s servant went home with Rebekah where he met her family and explained his mission. I have to admit, I cannot even imagine some stranger showing up at my door with some story about being sent by my long-lost uncle to find a wife for his son and having that stranger ask if my daughter would be willing to leave her family and go live with this unknown uncle’s son and be his wife. I don’t care how wealthy this man is, how much gold or silver he has, how many heads of cattle, herds of sheep and goats, or numbers of camels and donkeys he has, my answer is “ain’t no way.”
Luckily, I was not one of Rebekah’s parents that day. God had a plan, and it was all working out just the way it was supposed to work. Our scripture says, “Then Laban (Rebekah’s brother and the future father-in-law of her son, Jacob,) and Bethuel answered, “Look, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.” Wow! That is putting your trust fully in the Lord. Just send your daughter off with a stranger into a strange land.
I have to give a lot of credit to Rebekah, too. She didn’t protest that they were planning her life for her, right in front of her, without even consulting her. But what we have to remember here is that in that day and age, in that culture, arranged marriages were the way things were done. There was no teenage mooning over one another, no calling each other up and arranging a date. The parents of the two parties would meet, make the arrangements, and then inform the bride and the groom.
Rebekah would not have thought anything about what was going on other than this was the norm. It is us, in our day and age, with our emphasis on love and choice, that when we read this story, we think it sounds like the pilot episode of the TV series, “Married at First Sight.” So, arrangements were made, dinner was eaten, and everyone got a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, Abraham’s servant was anxious to get on the road for home, but Rebekah’s family wanted another ten days with her. Now they consulted Rebekah as to what she wanted to do, and she said she was ready and willing to go right away. They packed her up, along with her nurse and her maids, and sent them on their way back to Abraham and to Isaac with a parting blessing.
I tried to look up how long of a journey this might have been and the answers I found came out to be anywhere from nine days to maybe three to four weeks. Even nine days of riding on a camel had to be uncomfortable, but we see no indication that Rebekah complained. I can only imagine her thoughts as she traveled further away from her home and family to a new place and a new family.
Was she nervous? Scared? Anxious? Excited? Probably, yes. Yes, to all of this. Then, one evening, in the distance, Rebekah sees a man walking in the fields. About the same time, the man looks up and sees the camels coming toward him, and he began to walk out to meet the travelers. Rebekah got down from her camel and asked Abraham’s servant who it was who was coming to meet them, and when he told her it was Isaac, Rebekah put on her veil, made herself presentable, took a deep breath, and waited for the introductions.
The servant explained everything to Isaac, who then “took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, and I believe this was a true love story, even if love came after marriage.
We don’t really get to know a lot about Isaac and Rebekah’s love story. All we know is that they met and married on the same day when Isaac was forty, and for the next twenty years, they were childless. Finally, Isaac prayed to God for her, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins, Esau and Jacob.
Let’s take a moment and check in with our first time Bible reader and romance commentator, Lucas, to get his take on this week’s love story. He writes, “It seems that Isaac was in desperate need of a woman figure in his life; especially once his mother had died. Rebekah, similarly God-sent, was seemingly the perfect substitute.”
Lucas continues, “Every man needs a woman in his life to keep him on the straight and narrow, be it his mother or partner – Isaac found his replacement. Or was it possible that he just needed someone to help him get over his mother’s death?”
For a romance commentator, Lucas doesn’t seem to see much love in Jacob and Rebekah’s story, does he? Perhaps it is because he is only looking at how the marriage came about – the arrangement of it without the two parties being very involved in decision making. But our scripture text today says that Isaac loved Rebekah, and we know that even though it took them twenty years to have children, Isaac never resorted to marrying anyone else to have them sooner.
If we are looking for a love story, I think we have a genuine one here with these two. Perhaps it is my imagination, or my inclination, but it seems as though they really loved each other. Was Isaac desperately in need of a woman? I don’t think we can determine that simply from what our Bible tells us. Does every man need a woman to keep him on the straight and narrow? I don’t think so. I think most men can figure that out well enough on their own if they choose to.
Marriage was the expected course of life for both men and women in those days. Marriages being arranged by the parents were the cultural norm. Nothing here speaks to me of desperation on Isaac’s part, just the natural desire for a wife whom he then fell in love with and she with him.
Rebekah put a lot of trust in God to keep her safe when she set out with a strange man to go and live in a strange land and marry a stranger. She trusted that God would guide her and protect her, which of course he did. God went with Rebekah from the time she mounted that camel at her father’s doorstep until she dismounted it and entered into marriage in Isaac’s tent, and he continued to go with her for the rest of her life.
Isn’t that what we count on when God calls us to go and do for him? Especially if that call requires us to leave what is familiar and enter into new territory? I don’t think that leaving and entering is always a physical change of location like Rebekah did. There is always the opportunity to step out in faith even if it is only to cross the street and welcome a new neighbor into the neighborhood, to speak to someone new at work, to volunteer in ministry in the church or the community, to voice an opinion on a project, to take the lead for a program, or whatever it is that God is calling you to that is new and different.
Often, when God calls, our first response is to try to run and hide, to deny the call, to pretend we didn’t hear anything. Rebekah didn’t do that. Rebekah stepped up and stepped out in faith. We never get to hear Rebekah’s account of the story, but how could she have ever said yes to anything she did if she didn’t experience a call from God?
Today our message is titled, “Trust the Journey,” and it refers to how Rebekah had the courage to leave behind everything that was familiar and safe and journey to a new land, a new home, and new family. But once again, the story also points to us and our relationship with God.
“Trust the Journey,” can be applied to any one of us whenever we receive a call from God. Rebekah’s story can be our example of what it looks like to have the faith and the courage to put our trust in God and go wherever he calls us to, knowing that he never sends us alone but travels with us, every step of the way. The next time God calls, and we feel ourselves wanting to hesitate, perhaps we will remember Rebekah, take a deep breath, and take that first step, trusting not just the journey, but trusting our guide – God working in us through the Holy Spirit taking us to the place where he knows we need to be. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, sometimes it is difficult to say yes to your invitation, to your call, because we are too comfortable where we are. Thank you for the story of Isaac and Rebekah, that they were brave enough and trusted you enough to step forward to the place where you called them to go. Rebekah traveled a great distance, Isaac welcomed a stranger to be his wife, and ultimately, they loved one another. In their story we see their love for you, your love for them, and your love for us. I pray we also see our love for you as we learn to trust our journey by trusting in you to be with us always, making it easier to say, “Yes,” when you call. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Trust the Journey
Scripture: Genesis 24:58-67
And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.” 59 So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister, become
thousands of myriads;
may your offspring gain possession
of the gates of their foes.”
61 Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man, and the servant took Rebekah and went his way.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi and was settled in the Negeb. 63 Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field, and, looking up, he saw camels coming. 64 And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel 65 and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Last we week we spent time with Abram and Sarai and saw how they loved one another enough to do anything to ensure that God’s plan to make a great nation from their descendants would come to fruition. They bumbled the plan, but God had mercy on them, continued to love them, and twenty-five years after first making the promise, Isaac, the true heir of Abraham, was finally born. Isaac would have grown up learning from the example of his parents what love between a husband and a wife should look like.
Sarah lived to be 137 years old, and then she died. At some point after her death, Abraham realized it was high time that Isaac had a wife, and this father had some pretty specific ideas about the requirements for his future daughter-in-law. He called his most trusted servant in for a meeting about the situation. Abraham laid out his plan to his servant, entrusted him to carry out the plan, and made him swear that he would do so exactly as he was told.
Abraham was still an “outsider” in the land of the Canaanites; all of his people were back home, the place he had left over fifty years ago. He knew it would not be good for Isaac to marry one of the local girls, so his bride-to-be must be someone from his own family. This meant it would be someone whom neither Abraham, nor Isaac, had ever met.
The servant was willing to go, but he had an important question for clarification. “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” The answer was a resounding, “No.” Abraham remembered when God had promised him that, “To your offspring I will give this land,” and he was confident that God would make a way for Isaac’s wife to come from back home, not from where they lived now. “But”, he said, “if the woman is not willing to come back with you, then you will have done your duty and you will be released from this oath.”
Can you imagine the responsibly that Abraham’s servant had here, and how seemingly impossible his task was? But, by this time, Abraham no longer doubted that God would make a way, he had seen it happen before and he knew God’s power, and he was willing to be obedient to God’s plan in God’s own timing.
So, the servant loads up some camels with a plethora of nice gifts for this unknown woman and her family and he sets of for the city of Nahor. As he approaches the city, he comes to the common well, and he makes the camels kneel there, and in this moment, we discover that this servant is not only a faithful servant of Abraham, but he is also a faithful servant of God, because the first thing he does is pray to God.
He prays for a successful mission, that he might fulfill Abraham’s directive, that he will find a woman fit to be Isaac’s wife, and that she be willing to go back with him and take her place in the family. He asks for some pretty specific signs, too, so he can be sure that he is working according to God’s plan and not his own.
We know the story from here. We know a woman approached the well, the servant asked her for a drink, she gave him a drink and also offered to water his camels, which is exactly what Abraham’s servant had prayed would happen. Even better, he received the blessing of blessings, this young woman is actually the daughter of Abraham’s nephew Bethuel. Remember Abraham had two brothers, Lot’s father who had died, which is why Lot went with Abraham when God called him, and Nahor, who married Milcah, and they were Bethuel’s parents. Rebekah, the woman at the well that day, was Bethuel’s daughter.
We know that Abraham’s servant went home with Rebekah where he met her family and explained his mission. I have to admit, I cannot even imagine some stranger showing up at my door with some story about being sent by my long-lost uncle to find a wife for his son and having that stranger ask if my daughter would be willing to leave her family and go live with this unknown uncle’s son and be his wife. I don’t care how wealthy this man is, how much gold or silver he has, how many heads of cattle, herds of sheep and goats, or numbers of camels and donkeys he has, my answer is “ain’t no way.”
Luckily, I was not one of Rebekah’s parents that day. God had a plan, and it was all working out just the way it was supposed to work. Our scripture says, “Then Laban (Rebekah’s brother and the future father-in-law of her son, Jacob,) and Bethuel answered, “Look, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.” Wow! That is putting your trust fully in the Lord. Just send your daughter off with a stranger into a strange land.
I have to give a lot of credit to Rebekah, too. She didn’t protest that they were planning her life for her, right in front of her, without even consulting her. But what we have to remember here is that in that day and age, in that culture, arranged marriages were the way things were done. There was no teenage mooning over one another, no calling each other up and arranging a date. The parents of the two parties would meet, make the arrangements, and then inform the bride and the groom.
Rebekah would not have thought anything about what was going on other than this was the norm. It is us, in our day and age, with our emphasis on love and choice, that when we read this story, we think it sounds like the pilot episode of the TV series, “Married at First Sight.” So, arrangements were made, dinner was eaten, and everyone got a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, Abraham’s servant was anxious to get on the road for home, but Rebekah’s family wanted another ten days with her. Now they consulted Rebekah as to what she wanted to do, and she said she was ready and willing to go right away. They packed her up, along with her nurse and her maids, and sent them on their way back to Abraham and to Isaac with a parting blessing.
I tried to look up how long of a journey this might have been and the answers I found came out to be anywhere from nine days to maybe three to four weeks. Even nine days of riding on a camel had to be uncomfortable, but we see no indication that Rebekah complained. I can only imagine her thoughts as she traveled further away from her home and family to a new place and a new family.
Was she nervous? Scared? Anxious? Excited? Probably, yes. Yes, to all of this. Then, one evening, in the distance, Rebekah sees a man walking in the fields. About the same time, the man looks up and sees the camels coming toward him, and he began to walk out to meet the travelers. Rebekah got down from her camel and asked Abraham’s servant who it was who was coming to meet them, and when he told her it was Isaac, Rebekah put on her veil, made herself presentable, took a deep breath, and waited for the introductions.
The servant explained everything to Isaac, who then “took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, and I believe this was a true love story, even if love came after marriage.
We don’t really get to know a lot about Isaac and Rebekah’s love story. All we know is that they met and married on the same day when Isaac was forty, and for the next twenty years, they were childless. Finally, Isaac prayed to God for her, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins, Esau and Jacob.
Let’s take a moment and check in with our first time Bible reader and romance commentator, Lucas, to get his take on this week’s love story. He writes, “It seems that Isaac was in desperate need of a woman figure in his life; especially once his mother had died. Rebekah, similarly God-sent, was seemingly the perfect substitute.”
Lucas continues, “Every man needs a woman in his life to keep him on the straight and narrow, be it his mother or partner – Isaac found his replacement. Or was it possible that he just needed someone to help him get over his mother’s death?”
For a romance commentator, Lucas doesn’t seem to see much love in Jacob and Rebekah’s story, does he? Perhaps it is because he is only looking at how the marriage came about – the arrangement of it without the two parties being very involved in decision making. But our scripture text today says that Isaac loved Rebekah, and we know that even though it took them twenty years to have children, Isaac never resorted to marrying anyone else to have them sooner.
If we are looking for a love story, I think we have a genuine one here with these two. Perhaps it is my imagination, or my inclination, but it seems as though they really loved each other. Was Isaac desperately in need of a woman? I don’t think we can determine that simply from what our Bible tells us. Does every man need a woman to keep him on the straight and narrow? I don’t think so. I think most men can figure that out well enough on their own if they choose to.
Marriage was the expected course of life for both men and women in those days. Marriages being arranged by the parents were the cultural norm. Nothing here speaks to me of desperation on Isaac’s part, just the natural desire for a wife whom he then fell in love with and she with him.
Rebekah put a lot of trust in God to keep her safe when she set out with a strange man to go and live in a strange land and marry a stranger. She trusted that God would guide her and protect her, which of course he did. God went with Rebekah from the time she mounted that camel at her father’s doorstep until she dismounted it and entered into marriage in Isaac’s tent, and he continued to go with her for the rest of her life.
Isn’t that what we count on when God calls us to go and do for him? Especially if that call requires us to leave what is familiar and enter into new territory? I don’t think that leaving and entering is always a physical change of location like Rebekah did. There is always the opportunity to step out in faith even if it is only to cross the street and welcome a new neighbor into the neighborhood, to speak to someone new at work, to volunteer in ministry in the church or the community, to voice an opinion on a project, to take the lead for a program, or whatever it is that God is calling you to that is new and different.
Often, when God calls, our first response is to try to run and hide, to deny the call, to pretend we didn’t hear anything. Rebekah didn’t do that. Rebekah stepped up and stepped out in faith. We never get to hear Rebekah’s account of the story, but how could she have ever said yes to anything she did if she didn’t experience a call from God?
Today our message is titled, “Trust the Journey,” and it refers to how Rebekah had the courage to leave behind everything that was familiar and safe and journey to a new land, a new home, and new family. But once again, the story also points to us and our relationship with God.
“Trust the Journey,” can be applied to any one of us whenever we receive a call from God. Rebekah’s story can be our example of what it looks like to have the faith and the courage to put our trust in God and go wherever he calls us to, knowing that he never sends us alone but travels with us, every step of the way. The next time God calls, and we feel ourselves wanting to hesitate, perhaps we will remember Rebekah, take a deep breath, and take that first step, trusting not just the journey, but trusting our guide – God working in us through the Holy Spirit taking us to the place where he knows we need to be. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, sometimes it is difficult to say yes to your invitation, to your call, because we are too comfortable where we are. Thank you for the story of Isaac and Rebekah, that they were brave enough and trusted you enough to step forward to the place where you called them to go. Rebekah traveled a great distance, Isaac welcomed a stranger to be his wife, and ultimately, they loved one another. In their story we see their love for you, your love for them, and your love for us. I pray we also see our love for you as we learn to trust our journey by trusting in you to be with us always, making it easier to say, “Yes,” when you call. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY JULY 14, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "SUMMER OF LOVE-ISH" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "EXTREME MEASURES".
July 14, 2024
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Extreme Measures
Scripture: Genesis 16:1-6
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave whose name was Hagar, 2 and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.
This week as we continue in our series, “The Summer of Love-ish,” we focus on another power couple, Abraham and Sarah, or Abram and Sarai, as they were named in today’s scripture. They won’t get their names changed until later in their story.
Abram and Sarai are an older couple. Abram was 75 years old, and Sarai was 65 when God called Abram to leave his home and go to “a land that I will show you.” So, they packed up their household, including Abram’s nephew, Lot, and they made the big move away from family and friends to an unknown land.
It was in his original calling from God that Abram was also promised that God would make of him a great nation, that God would bless him and make his name great, and that Abram would be a blessing to others. This is where God promised Abram, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gen 12:3).
We don’t know how long Abram and Sarai have been married at this point, but we can assume it was several decades, yet they were childless. Not only did they not have children, they were way past the age where having a child was possible. Yet, God is promising to make a great nation of Abram and his descendants. I wonder if this promise made them hopeful or confused – maybe both. Did it draw them closer together as husband and wife? I like to think so.
Think about this, as they are packing up to move away from everything and everyone they have ever known, they would have known they would be relying on each other more than ever before. As they went into Egypt, Abram asked Sarai to say she was his sister because he was afraid her beauty would cost him his life if someone important decided they wanted her, and Sarai agreed to the deception. Perhaps their love grew out of their dependence on one another.
Now, jump to our scripture today. It has been ten years since God called and Abram answered. A lot has happened to our couple, but they are still childless. How frustrating this must have been for them. In a culture that celebrates family, where having children, sons especially, ensures safety and protection for a woman, there are still no children in Abram and Sarai’s nursery tent. And now Abram is 85 and Sarai is 75. They had to be wondering about this promise of God and asking themselves how in the world this was going to happen.
Sarai especially felt the pressure. God had said Abram would be made into a great nation, yet with no children how could that be? And so, Sarai does what we all tend to do when we don’t think God is working in the way we think he should be working. She decided to “help” God’s plan by hatching a plan of her own. Sarai was willing to go to extreme measures to ensure that God’s promise to her husband would come true.
Lucas Howe, our first-time Bible reader and romance commentator sees it this way, “Abram is a man in need of an heir. His wife, Sarai, is barren but determined to bear a child for her husband. Offering her servant, Hagar, as a vehicle to produce her child, Abram accepts.”
The idea of having a child through her servant comes to Sarai as the perfect solution. Even though Sarai won’t be the biological mother, Abram will be the bio father, so God’s promise can still work out. Problem solved. Or so, she thought.
I think Lucas is spot-on in his assessment of the situation when he says that Sarai loved Abram so much that she was willing to do anything to please him – including seeing him have a child with another woman. Her love was so great that being a surrogate mother was as equally acceptable to Sarai as having her own child.
Sarai saw this as a win-win situation, until reality set in. As soon as Hagar knew she had conceived, she began to flaunt it to Sarai. Hagar was still a servant, but her status had changed, and she knew it. That didn’t sit well with Sarai. Hagar might be the one who was pregnant, but Sarai wanted to claim Hagar’s child as her own. I don’t think Hagar ever agreed to that proposition. Jealousy reared, fighting ensued, and Abram’s happy household was anything but happy.
This is what happens when we try to “help” God. We end up in a mess. God has a perfect plan where he counts on our cooperation, but he never needs our help to accomplish the plan. God made a promise, Sarai thought he was taking too long to fulfill that promise, she took matters into her own hands, life is now chaos. Sarai put her love for Abram over her love for God. As Lucas observed, “This is surely a story that shows us that love makes us do some silly things to please the person that we love.” Sarai truly loved Abram, that is why she hatched this crazy plan. Abram truly loved Sarai, that is why he agreed to her crazy plan. Both should have loved God and trusted him more.
That’s part of why I like the love story between Abram and Sarai, though – it’s so real. We see their love, we see their struggles, we see their doubts, and eventually we see their promise fulfilled. I also like this story because in it we see how God’s love triumphs over our own stumbling, bumbling efforts to “help” him when we can’t be patient with his way of doing what he says he will do.
I can understand Sarai’s dilemma. She is 75 years old, way past childbearing years – way, way past. She couldn’t see past her own situation to trust that God would provide the heir he had promised. She felt like she had no other alternative. She hadn’t heard Jesus teach that “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19:26). She was out in left field winging it on her own, trying to give Abram an heir, and Abram trying to please his wife by going along with whatever she says.
I love that the love behind this week’s love story is still God’s love for this misguided man and woman. When they went off the rails and took matters into their own hands, God didn’t shake his head and turn away from them. God’s love is stronger than that.
God sought out Hagar when she ran away from Sarai, gave her a promise for her son, and sent her back home. God reached out to Abram and reiterated his promise that through him would come a great nation and this time God specifically included Sarai in the promise. Abram would have a child through his wife, Sarai. And we know that this time they listened, and they waited, for another 15 years! Isaac would finally be born when Abram had already become Abraham and was 100 years old. Sarai would already be Sarah and she would be 90 years old when she had her son, the true fulfillment of God’s promise that originated twenty-five years previously.
My friends, we need to think about what we have done in our own lives to “help” or to “hurry” God along when what we should have been doing is waiting patiently and trusting him. I know for me, personally, that for every one time I get this right, I have two, three, likely even more times where I have barged full steam ahead with my own thoughts, ideas, and plans on what I think God wants me to do. But I am so comforted and so grateful to know that God loves me just as much on the days when I get it wrong as he does on the days when I get it right.
This love God has for me is greater than my bent to disobedience and the same goes for all of you, too. As I was writing this, the song “Reckless Love,” by Cory Asbury came to my mind and it fits so perfectly.
He sings the chorus, “Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the 99. And I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still you give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.”
God’s love is overwhelming. We realize that when we realize that we cannot measure just how long or high or wide or deep his love is for us. God’s love is never-ending. No matter who we are, where we go, or what we do, God still loves us in his overwhelming way. God’s love is reckless because he pours it out on people who don’t deserve it, people who are fickle, people who are impatient, people who are sinners. He pours out this reckless love on us, knowing that we can never love him back as much as he loves us, even when we try. And it’s a reckless love because God knows that some people will never love him back, yet he loves them anyway.
We see, over and over again in scripture, people whom God called and how they sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed him, yet we see God’s love consistently displayed in all situations, no matter what.
Abraham and Sarah were a power couple, the father and mother of a great nation, just as God had promised. Even when they tried to make God’s promise come to pass in their way, God still loved them, still went ahead with his plan, still blessed them. Maybe the extreme measures in today’s lesson aren’t about what Abraham and Sarah did when they tried to “help” God along. Maybe extreme measures actually refers to the lengths God goes to to reach out to his creation, the patience he has with us, the love he pours out on us. Isn’t it so good to know that God is willing to go to such extreme measures for us? Isn’t is so good to know that God loves us this way? AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving Father, thank you for showing us how much you loved Abraham and Sarah, even though they messed up. Your love for them fills us with hope, and the knowledge that you will love us through all of our mess-ups, too. Lord, may we learn to be patient with your timing instead of our own, may we submit to your plan instead of hatching our own, and may we shine your light into this world instead of drawing attention to ourselves. Help us to love as you love, extravagantly, endlessly, recklessly. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: Extreme Measures
Scripture: Genesis 16:1-6
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave whose name was Hagar, 2 and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.
This week as we continue in our series, “The Summer of Love-ish,” we focus on another power couple, Abraham and Sarah, or Abram and Sarai, as they were named in today’s scripture. They won’t get their names changed until later in their story.
Abram and Sarai are an older couple. Abram was 75 years old, and Sarai was 65 when God called Abram to leave his home and go to “a land that I will show you.” So, they packed up their household, including Abram’s nephew, Lot, and they made the big move away from family and friends to an unknown land.
It was in his original calling from God that Abram was also promised that God would make of him a great nation, that God would bless him and make his name great, and that Abram would be a blessing to others. This is where God promised Abram, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gen 12:3).
We don’t know how long Abram and Sarai have been married at this point, but we can assume it was several decades, yet they were childless. Not only did they not have children, they were way past the age where having a child was possible. Yet, God is promising to make a great nation of Abram and his descendants. I wonder if this promise made them hopeful or confused – maybe both. Did it draw them closer together as husband and wife? I like to think so.
Think about this, as they are packing up to move away from everything and everyone they have ever known, they would have known they would be relying on each other more than ever before. As they went into Egypt, Abram asked Sarai to say she was his sister because he was afraid her beauty would cost him his life if someone important decided they wanted her, and Sarai agreed to the deception. Perhaps their love grew out of their dependence on one another.
Now, jump to our scripture today. It has been ten years since God called and Abram answered. A lot has happened to our couple, but they are still childless. How frustrating this must have been for them. In a culture that celebrates family, where having children, sons especially, ensures safety and protection for a woman, there are still no children in Abram and Sarai’s nursery tent. And now Abram is 85 and Sarai is 75. They had to be wondering about this promise of God and asking themselves how in the world this was going to happen.
Sarai especially felt the pressure. God had said Abram would be made into a great nation, yet with no children how could that be? And so, Sarai does what we all tend to do when we don’t think God is working in the way we think he should be working. She decided to “help” God’s plan by hatching a plan of her own. Sarai was willing to go to extreme measures to ensure that God’s promise to her husband would come true.
Lucas Howe, our first-time Bible reader and romance commentator sees it this way, “Abram is a man in need of an heir. His wife, Sarai, is barren but determined to bear a child for her husband. Offering her servant, Hagar, as a vehicle to produce her child, Abram accepts.”
The idea of having a child through her servant comes to Sarai as the perfect solution. Even though Sarai won’t be the biological mother, Abram will be the bio father, so God’s promise can still work out. Problem solved. Or so, she thought.
I think Lucas is spot-on in his assessment of the situation when he says that Sarai loved Abram so much that she was willing to do anything to please him – including seeing him have a child with another woman. Her love was so great that being a surrogate mother was as equally acceptable to Sarai as having her own child.
Sarai saw this as a win-win situation, until reality set in. As soon as Hagar knew she had conceived, she began to flaunt it to Sarai. Hagar was still a servant, but her status had changed, and she knew it. That didn’t sit well with Sarai. Hagar might be the one who was pregnant, but Sarai wanted to claim Hagar’s child as her own. I don’t think Hagar ever agreed to that proposition. Jealousy reared, fighting ensued, and Abram’s happy household was anything but happy.
This is what happens when we try to “help” God. We end up in a mess. God has a perfect plan where he counts on our cooperation, but he never needs our help to accomplish the plan. God made a promise, Sarai thought he was taking too long to fulfill that promise, she took matters into her own hands, life is now chaos. Sarai put her love for Abram over her love for God. As Lucas observed, “This is surely a story that shows us that love makes us do some silly things to please the person that we love.” Sarai truly loved Abram, that is why she hatched this crazy plan. Abram truly loved Sarai, that is why he agreed to her crazy plan. Both should have loved God and trusted him more.
That’s part of why I like the love story between Abram and Sarai, though – it’s so real. We see their love, we see their struggles, we see their doubts, and eventually we see their promise fulfilled. I also like this story because in it we see how God’s love triumphs over our own stumbling, bumbling efforts to “help” him when we can’t be patient with his way of doing what he says he will do.
I can understand Sarai’s dilemma. She is 75 years old, way past childbearing years – way, way past. She couldn’t see past her own situation to trust that God would provide the heir he had promised. She felt like she had no other alternative. She hadn’t heard Jesus teach that “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19:26). She was out in left field winging it on her own, trying to give Abram an heir, and Abram trying to please his wife by going along with whatever she says.
I love that the love behind this week’s love story is still God’s love for this misguided man and woman. When they went off the rails and took matters into their own hands, God didn’t shake his head and turn away from them. God’s love is stronger than that.
God sought out Hagar when she ran away from Sarai, gave her a promise for her son, and sent her back home. God reached out to Abram and reiterated his promise that through him would come a great nation and this time God specifically included Sarai in the promise. Abram would have a child through his wife, Sarai. And we know that this time they listened, and they waited, for another 15 years! Isaac would finally be born when Abram had already become Abraham and was 100 years old. Sarai would already be Sarah and she would be 90 years old when she had her son, the true fulfillment of God’s promise that originated twenty-five years previously.
My friends, we need to think about what we have done in our own lives to “help” or to “hurry” God along when what we should have been doing is waiting patiently and trusting him. I know for me, personally, that for every one time I get this right, I have two, three, likely even more times where I have barged full steam ahead with my own thoughts, ideas, and plans on what I think God wants me to do. But I am so comforted and so grateful to know that God loves me just as much on the days when I get it wrong as he does on the days when I get it right.
This love God has for me is greater than my bent to disobedience and the same goes for all of you, too. As I was writing this, the song “Reckless Love,” by Cory Asbury came to my mind and it fits so perfectly.
He sings the chorus, “Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the 99. And I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still you give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.”
God’s love is overwhelming. We realize that when we realize that we cannot measure just how long or high or wide or deep his love is for us. God’s love is never-ending. No matter who we are, where we go, or what we do, God still loves us in his overwhelming way. God’s love is reckless because he pours it out on people who don’t deserve it, people who are fickle, people who are impatient, people who are sinners. He pours out this reckless love on us, knowing that we can never love him back as much as he loves us, even when we try. And it’s a reckless love because God knows that some people will never love him back, yet he loves them anyway.
We see, over and over again in scripture, people whom God called and how they sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed him, yet we see God’s love consistently displayed in all situations, no matter what.
Abraham and Sarah were a power couple, the father and mother of a great nation, just as God had promised. Even when they tried to make God’s promise come to pass in their way, God still loved them, still went ahead with his plan, still blessed them. Maybe the extreme measures in today’s lesson aren’t about what Abraham and Sarah did when they tried to “help” God along. Maybe extreme measures actually refers to the lengths God goes to to reach out to his creation, the patience he has with us, the love he pours out on us. Isn’t it so good to know that God is willing to go to such extreme measures for us? Isn’t is so good to know that God loves us this way? AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving Father, thank you for showing us how much you loved Abraham and Sarah, even though they messed up. Your love for them fills us with hope, and the knowledge that you will love us through all of our mess-ups, too. Lord, may we learn to be patient with your timing instead of our own, may we submit to your plan instead of hatching our own, and may we shine your light into this world instead of drawing attention to ourselves. Help us to love as you love, extravagantly, endlessly, recklessly. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY July 7, 2024 beginning A SERMON SERIES CALLED "summer of love-ish" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "the original romance".
July 7, 2024
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: The Original Romance
Scripture: Genesis 2:18-25
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field, but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken.”
24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
A little over a decade ago, the Bible Society, a group out of the UK, conducted a study to see how people would react and respond to reading scripture for the first time. One of those whom they invited to participate was a young man named Lucas Howe, who was asked to read and review some Biblical romances for Valentine’s Day. Over the next several weeks, we will read the same stories Lucas read, hear some of his views, and see what God is saying to us through these love stories – which may or may not be actual love stories – hence the title of this series: “Summer of Love-ish.”
We begin this week at the beginning, and as Maria Von Trapp, aka Julie Andrews once sang, it’s a very good place to start. The original Biblical romance began in a garden, in THE Garden, the Garden of Eden. How could love not bloom in such a perfect setting?
We know this story. We know how God created everything from nothing in six days. He created the heavens and the earth, he created light and separated it from the darkness, he created Heaven, and separated it from the waters above and below. God gathered the waters that were under Heaven into seas, lakes, and rivers, and created dry land, and then he created all the vegetation – trees, plants, grasses. God separated the heavens to create night and day, with the sun to rule the day and the moon to shine at night.
On the fifth day, God created all the creatures that swam it the waters and the birds of the air, and finally, on the sixth day, God created all the creatures that live on the dry land, all the beasts of the earth, all the creepy crawlies, all the livestock, and then he made man in his own image. God placed him in the garden and gave him the job of caring for all that God had made. God provided food for the man, telling him he could eat whatever he wanted from whatever grew on the trees in the garden, except for one tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Even with all the animals that God had created, he knew that the man he had made needed a special companion, a helper for him that was like him in all the right ways and different from him in all the right ways. So, God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and from his rib, God created a woman to be his helper and his partner.
Here is Lucas Howe’s impression of this story upon reading it for the firsts time: “Not feeling on the same level as the other prospective companions that God had conjured up (birds and livestock aren’t great conversationalists), Adam was in need of a woman.
To make his new friend happy, God put Adam under an early general anaesthetic and performed emergency surgery – extracting a rib, and creating, from that rib, a woman.
The two of them jollied around the Garden of Eden completely starkers, not fearing any judgement. That is, until the serpent talked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Being a good wife, she offered some of her spoils to her husband who gobbled it down. Almost immediately afterwards, the two of them became incredibly self-conscious about the whole nakedness thing and threw together some fig leaf garments to cover their modesty.”
With a good sense of humor, we see that Lucas has a pretty good grasp on the situation.
Was this a love story? Yes, I believe so, on two levels. First, the obvious level, the one we think of when we think of a romance – the love between a man and a woman. Adam and Eve certainly became a couple, they would go on to become the parents of all of humanity. Was it love in the way we think of love? There was no dating period, no proposal of marriage. There may not have been notes passed in class, no high school prom, no swooning over one another, like we see in movies today, but that doesn’t mean they did not love one another.
Love in the Garden may not have looked like love as we know it today, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t real love. Lucas’ take on this story is this: “This, to me, sticks out like one of those instances of love where nothing matters but the two of you. Adam and Eve were completely blissful and needed nothing but each other’s company. The introduction of the knowledge of good and evil was their downfall… they became self-conscious and less comfortable with each other (needing the fig leaf cover-up).
God, understandably, wasn’t happy. He kicked the two of them out of the garden and gave Eve the pleasure of enduring childbirth, told her she was going to be ruled over by her husband; and He told Adam that he will forever be self-conscious and fear judgement due to his want to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
When the serpent worked his evil intentions on Eve, and she ate from the forbidden tree, her first thought was to share with Adam. Adam, knowing that it was wrong, accepted her offer to eat anyway. This is love, in the way that was just described, that that the two of them lived with and for just each other, that what one did the other did. They were a pair, for better or worse – and we know it got worse for them after they ate from that tree.
With the introduction of the knowledge of good and evil now a part of them, did their love change? Did it become more real? Did they now have disagreements and squabbles? Was it hard to not blame each other for their downfall? We don’t know the answers to most of these questions, but we can, from our own experience, guess that their love did change, though, because love is always changing.
Let’s think about our own experiences in relationships. Love may remain, but it doesn’t remain the same. Even in romantic relationships, love changes. Remember when you first met your spouse, how you may have felt whenever he or she would call, how exciting it was to make plans for the next time you would be together? Remember the feeling that the rush of emotions just hearing their voice could bring? But now, after several years together, there is a familiarity to your love, a comfort level that didn’t exist in the first days, weeks, or even months of being together.
Love changes. It grows deeper and more secure as you go through life together. I think it would have been like that for Adam and Eve, too. In the garden, they had everything at the tips of their fingers. After the fall, they had to work those fingers hard just to get by, and they would have had to depend upon each other more than before. I like to think their love grew more after the fall, because that is when they realized how important the other person was to them.
Now, remember, I told you I thought this was a love story on two different levels? We’ve seen how it is the love story of the first couple, but I believe there is a deeper love story going on here, too. A true love story that doesn’t always show up on our radar when we talk about the first couple, and that is the love story of God and his creation.
God could have created everything he did in those first six days but stopped short of creating man, and this world would still be as perfect and as beautiful as it was in the beginning. But God didn’t stop there. God chose to create man, and out of love for Adam, God chose to create for him a helper and a partner, so he created woman. Again, God could have stopped there, and I believe they would still be living in that beautiful, perfect world, but God’s love went deeper than simply creating.
Out of his deep love for his creation, God chose to give Adam and Eve free will. God placed them in an idyllic place, gave them everything they could want or need, and then gave them the one instruction that forbade them from eating from one tree in the garden. Could God have just never placed that tree in the garden? Yes, of course. So why do it? Why did God put it there, tell them no, and then allow them to disobey?
The answer is love. God loved Adam and Eve so much, beyond anything else in creation, and he wanted them to make the choice to love him back. Love that is compelled is not love. Love that is not aware there is a choice to love is not love. God wanted humans to choose to love him so that their love would be real.
That is why the tree was placed in the garden. That is why God said “No” to eating from that tree, and that is why God let Adam and Eve make the decision to eat from it anyway. That is the true love story found in today’s scripture. Actually, that is the true love story found throughout the entire Bible – it is the love of God that is so high and wide, and deep and long that he allows his creation to make the decision whether they will love him, even knowing that sometimes they won’t.
It's the chance he is willing to take, the choice he is willing to give, to allow us to decide whether we will love him. And whether we do or not, God never stops loving us. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, God had to punish their disobedience. They were forced to leave the garden, but not before God clothed them, not before God provided for them until they could begin to provide for themselves by living off the land. And God never abandoned them; he stayed with them, he continued to watch over them, protect them, provide for them, and love them. All these years later, God is still doing the same thing for all of humanity.
Even today, God is always with us, he still watches over us, protects us, provides for us, and loves us beyond any measure we can comprehend. That is a true love story, one that has stood the test of time. A story that started with the words, “Let there be light,” and will never end. It will just get better and better. God’s love has no end. God’s love is an open invitation for all people to choose to love him, all people from all time, people from every nation and race. That is why the Bible is called the Greatest Story ever told. That is why I call it the Greatest Love Story ever told.
In all the stories we will visit in this series, we may or may not see love between the characters in the narrative, but we will always see God’s love at work in every situation, in every story, in every life. What is your love story? Does it include the One who created you? Have you made the decision to love him? Have you fallen away and are ready to come back? Make that decision today. Tell God you love him and thank him for loving you.
As always, the altar rail is open to anyone who wants to come forward and offer their lives to God – whether for the first time or as a renewal of that commitment you made in the past. He is waiting, patiently waiting, and loving us as he waits for us to choose whether we will love him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, from the beginning you have loved. You loved Adam and Eve while they lived in perfect harmony in the Garden, and you continued to love them even as you had to turn them out of paradise and into the world. As we look around us, as we see all you have created, we see the evidence of your love, and yet, we sometimes make the wrong choices. Sometimes we do not choose to love you. Thank you, that in those times, you never stop loving us. May we choose to love you every day and may the evidence of that love be an obedient heart that shares you with others so they too might choose to love you. Let your love shine through us and bring you glory. Let our love for you be our story, today and always. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
Series: Summer of Love-ish
Message: The Original Romance
Scripture: Genesis 2:18-25
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field, but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken.”
24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
A little over a decade ago, the Bible Society, a group out of the UK, conducted a study to see how people would react and respond to reading scripture for the first time. One of those whom they invited to participate was a young man named Lucas Howe, who was asked to read and review some Biblical romances for Valentine’s Day. Over the next several weeks, we will read the same stories Lucas read, hear some of his views, and see what God is saying to us through these love stories – which may or may not be actual love stories – hence the title of this series: “Summer of Love-ish.”
We begin this week at the beginning, and as Maria Von Trapp, aka Julie Andrews once sang, it’s a very good place to start. The original Biblical romance began in a garden, in THE Garden, the Garden of Eden. How could love not bloom in such a perfect setting?
We know this story. We know how God created everything from nothing in six days. He created the heavens and the earth, he created light and separated it from the darkness, he created Heaven, and separated it from the waters above and below. God gathered the waters that were under Heaven into seas, lakes, and rivers, and created dry land, and then he created all the vegetation – trees, plants, grasses. God separated the heavens to create night and day, with the sun to rule the day and the moon to shine at night.
On the fifth day, God created all the creatures that swam it the waters and the birds of the air, and finally, on the sixth day, God created all the creatures that live on the dry land, all the beasts of the earth, all the creepy crawlies, all the livestock, and then he made man in his own image. God placed him in the garden and gave him the job of caring for all that God had made. God provided food for the man, telling him he could eat whatever he wanted from whatever grew on the trees in the garden, except for one tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Even with all the animals that God had created, he knew that the man he had made needed a special companion, a helper for him that was like him in all the right ways and different from him in all the right ways. So, God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and from his rib, God created a woman to be his helper and his partner.
Here is Lucas Howe’s impression of this story upon reading it for the firsts time: “Not feeling on the same level as the other prospective companions that God had conjured up (birds and livestock aren’t great conversationalists), Adam was in need of a woman.
To make his new friend happy, God put Adam under an early general anaesthetic and performed emergency surgery – extracting a rib, and creating, from that rib, a woman.
The two of them jollied around the Garden of Eden completely starkers, not fearing any judgement. That is, until the serpent talked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Being a good wife, she offered some of her spoils to her husband who gobbled it down. Almost immediately afterwards, the two of them became incredibly self-conscious about the whole nakedness thing and threw together some fig leaf garments to cover their modesty.”
With a good sense of humor, we see that Lucas has a pretty good grasp on the situation.
Was this a love story? Yes, I believe so, on two levels. First, the obvious level, the one we think of when we think of a romance – the love between a man and a woman. Adam and Eve certainly became a couple, they would go on to become the parents of all of humanity. Was it love in the way we think of love? There was no dating period, no proposal of marriage. There may not have been notes passed in class, no high school prom, no swooning over one another, like we see in movies today, but that doesn’t mean they did not love one another.
Love in the Garden may not have looked like love as we know it today, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t real love. Lucas’ take on this story is this: “This, to me, sticks out like one of those instances of love where nothing matters but the two of you. Adam and Eve were completely blissful and needed nothing but each other’s company. The introduction of the knowledge of good and evil was their downfall… they became self-conscious and less comfortable with each other (needing the fig leaf cover-up).
God, understandably, wasn’t happy. He kicked the two of them out of the garden and gave Eve the pleasure of enduring childbirth, told her she was going to be ruled over by her husband; and He told Adam that he will forever be self-conscious and fear judgement due to his want to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
When the serpent worked his evil intentions on Eve, and she ate from the forbidden tree, her first thought was to share with Adam. Adam, knowing that it was wrong, accepted her offer to eat anyway. This is love, in the way that was just described, that that the two of them lived with and for just each other, that what one did the other did. They were a pair, for better or worse – and we know it got worse for them after they ate from that tree.
With the introduction of the knowledge of good and evil now a part of them, did their love change? Did it become more real? Did they now have disagreements and squabbles? Was it hard to not blame each other for their downfall? We don’t know the answers to most of these questions, but we can, from our own experience, guess that their love did change, though, because love is always changing.
Let’s think about our own experiences in relationships. Love may remain, but it doesn’t remain the same. Even in romantic relationships, love changes. Remember when you first met your spouse, how you may have felt whenever he or she would call, how exciting it was to make plans for the next time you would be together? Remember the feeling that the rush of emotions just hearing their voice could bring? But now, after several years together, there is a familiarity to your love, a comfort level that didn’t exist in the first days, weeks, or even months of being together.
Love changes. It grows deeper and more secure as you go through life together. I think it would have been like that for Adam and Eve, too. In the garden, they had everything at the tips of their fingers. After the fall, they had to work those fingers hard just to get by, and they would have had to depend upon each other more than before. I like to think their love grew more after the fall, because that is when they realized how important the other person was to them.
Now, remember, I told you I thought this was a love story on two different levels? We’ve seen how it is the love story of the first couple, but I believe there is a deeper love story going on here, too. A true love story that doesn’t always show up on our radar when we talk about the first couple, and that is the love story of God and his creation.
God could have created everything he did in those first six days but stopped short of creating man, and this world would still be as perfect and as beautiful as it was in the beginning. But God didn’t stop there. God chose to create man, and out of love for Adam, God chose to create for him a helper and a partner, so he created woman. Again, God could have stopped there, and I believe they would still be living in that beautiful, perfect world, but God’s love went deeper than simply creating.
Out of his deep love for his creation, God chose to give Adam and Eve free will. God placed them in an idyllic place, gave them everything they could want or need, and then gave them the one instruction that forbade them from eating from one tree in the garden. Could God have just never placed that tree in the garden? Yes, of course. So why do it? Why did God put it there, tell them no, and then allow them to disobey?
The answer is love. God loved Adam and Eve so much, beyond anything else in creation, and he wanted them to make the choice to love him back. Love that is compelled is not love. Love that is not aware there is a choice to love is not love. God wanted humans to choose to love him so that their love would be real.
That is why the tree was placed in the garden. That is why God said “No” to eating from that tree, and that is why God let Adam and Eve make the decision to eat from it anyway. That is the true love story found in today’s scripture. Actually, that is the true love story found throughout the entire Bible – it is the love of God that is so high and wide, and deep and long that he allows his creation to make the decision whether they will love him, even knowing that sometimes they won’t.
It's the chance he is willing to take, the choice he is willing to give, to allow us to decide whether we will love him. And whether we do or not, God never stops loving us. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, God had to punish their disobedience. They were forced to leave the garden, but not before God clothed them, not before God provided for them until they could begin to provide for themselves by living off the land. And God never abandoned them; he stayed with them, he continued to watch over them, protect them, provide for them, and love them. All these years later, God is still doing the same thing for all of humanity.
Even today, God is always with us, he still watches over us, protects us, provides for us, and loves us beyond any measure we can comprehend. That is a true love story, one that has stood the test of time. A story that started with the words, “Let there be light,” and will never end. It will just get better and better. God’s love has no end. God’s love is an open invitation for all people to choose to love him, all people from all time, people from every nation and race. That is why the Bible is called the Greatest Story ever told. That is why I call it the Greatest Love Story ever told.
In all the stories we will visit in this series, we may or may not see love between the characters in the narrative, but we will always see God’s love at work in every situation, in every story, in every life. What is your love story? Does it include the One who created you? Have you made the decision to love him? Have you fallen away and are ready to come back? Make that decision today. Tell God you love him and thank him for loving you.
As always, the altar rail is open to anyone who wants to come forward and offer their lives to God – whether for the first time or as a renewal of that commitment you made in the past. He is waiting, patiently waiting, and loving us as he waits for us to choose whether we will love him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, from the beginning you have loved. You loved Adam and Eve while they lived in perfect harmony in the Garden, and you continued to love them even as you had to turn them out of paradise and into the world. As we look around us, as we see all you have created, we see the evidence of your love, and yet, we sometimes make the wrong choices. Sometimes we do not choose to love you. Thank you, that in those times, you never stop loving us. May we choose to love you every day and may the evidence of that love be an obedient heart that shares you with others so they too might choose to love you. Let your love shine through us and bring you glory. Let our love for you be our story, today and always. AMEN.
References
https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/8-love-stories-of-biblical-proportions/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY JUNE 30, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "IT'S A SPIRITUAL BATTLE" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Assurance of God's Protection".
June 30, 2024
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: Assurance of God’s Protection
Scripture: Psalm 91:1-16
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter
and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and defense.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night
or the arrow that flies by day
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble;
I will rescue them and honor them.
16 With long life I will satisfy them
and show them my salvation.
You have probably heard me say this before, but I want to remind us today that the Old Testament was not written to us, as Christians in the 21st century, but it was written for us. Remember, the Old Testament was written to and for the Jews. It contains their history, the wisdom teachings, stories and prophesies from their prophets, and even beautiful poetry for the times in which they lived.
Of course, God knew his word would endure for all the ages, and so while it was written to and for the Jews, God knew how much we would need to read and learn from his word all these centuries later. That is how it is with today’s scripture from Psalm 91. There is no author officially listed for this particular Psalm, but the general consensus is that it was written by Moses. That means this Psalm was written to the Israelites as they were wandering in the wilderness for forty years, suffering hardships, fighting hunger, depending upon God for everything.
These were a people who needed to be encouraged and reminded of who God was and what he meant to them. Remember, they didn’t really know God well before Moses showed up as the one whom God used to set the Israelites free from bondage in Egypt. Now, they were free, but they often wondered if this freedom was worth it. They weren’t very good at trusting God yet. They were easily distracted, and they seemed to turn away from God about every other day.
Moses wanted to reassure the people that they were doing the right thing, they were going in the right direction by following God. So, he writes for them, “You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and defense. You will not fear the terror of the night or the arrow that flies by day or the pestilence that stalks in darkness or the destruction that wastes at noonday.”
These are beautiful words, and they must have brought comfort and hope for the Israelites. Here they were, out in the wilderness with little shelter to protect them except the tents they slept in. They were denied by two different kingdoms to come through their territory which meant taking the long way around to get where they were going. There were instances where discipline meant a plague, or a swarm of serpents resulted in the death of thousands. They were vulnerable in so many ways, and Moses is telling them it will be okay if they truly put their trust in God and obey him.
God was willing to protect his people, he was ready to fight their battles for them. God was willing to be their shelter in all the storms. Moses told the people to look around and see the destruction that would fall on a thousand, on ten thousand, how they would be punished for their wickedness, but that God would guard his own people from any of that evil trying to come near to them.
This Psalm is mean to calm their nerves, overcome their fear, strengthen their resolve, give them encouragement in the face of danger, and inspire them to keep their focus on God and not on their circumstances. This Psalm was written directly to those long-ago folks who were wandering in the wilderness for four decades, but it is also an encouragement for us as we wander through life right here and right now.
As we have been talking about the spiritual battles that we are fighting daily, perhaps it is good for us to end this series being reminded once again that we are fighting against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realm, not against the people, situations, or even the face in the mirror that, and that we are not fighting alone. God fights for us as much today as he did for his people in that desert for those forty years.
There are instances recorded for us in recent history that prove this to be true. Many of us may remember several years ago when the war between the Tutsi and the Hutu tribes spilled over the Rwandan border into a total of eight different African countries. The Congo was one of those other countries and there was a report from there about a preacher, his family, and a supernatural intervention.
There was a Christian village in the Congo where one night, a group of Tutsi soldiers broke down the door of a Hutu preacher’s house. They entered the house with guns raised, ready to slaughter all who were inside. The preacher quickly made an appeal, “Wait! Wait! Please, allow us a moment to pray before we die,” he pleaded.
By some miracle, the request was granted, though the angry reply was to “Hurry up then.” The family knelt to pray and when they were done, they stood up to discover the house was empty; the soldiers had gone. Not only were the soldiers gone from the pastor’s house, but they had also left the village completely.
Several months went by, and the pastor was at a church meeting in a nearby town where he told his amazing story. Suddenly, from the back of the room, a voice spoke up, “I can tell you what happened,” he said. All eyes turned to see that it was a Tutsi soldier who was speaking. “I was one of the soldiers there that night. We broke into your house, and I had your children in my sights as you all knelt there praying. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wall of fire surrounded all of you. The flames became so intense that we could no longer see any of you and we knew that your house would burn down, and you would all die, so we left you to it.”
The soldier continued, “When we got outside, we turned around and we could see your house engulfed in flames, yet it was not burning, so we fled from your village. This was a fire like we had never seen and we knew it was sent by God. After that night, I realized that if this is how your God responds to his people who pray, I want to know him too. I am tired of this fighting and all this killing. That is why I am here tonight.”
That pastor and his family were faced with certain death and their first response was to pray. Their faithfulness, and God’s protection, saved that family, the whole village, and inspired a man to turn his life over to Christ. The pastor didn’t fight that battle as most people would. He didn’t attack the soldiers, he didn’t try to run, he put his life in God’s hands, trusting God that no matter what happened, God would be right there with him and his family. That pastor let the Holy Spirit fight that battle, and everyone won that night.
Now, hear this clearly, when we put our trust in God and allow the Holy Spirit to fight our battles, that does not mean we will always be spared whatever it is we are facing. We do not know what exactly that pastor prayed that night, and it was not likely the words he said anyway that spared him and his family. This was the way God chose to act on that night. The point of the pastor in the story is his faithfulness in knowing that no matter what happened, he knew God was with him and that even if the soldiers had killed them all he still trusted God enough to know that they would all be together with Jesus in heaven.
God’s voice in Moses’ Psalm tells us that “Those who love me I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble; I will rescue them and honor them and show them my salvation.” That means that in every situation in which we find ourselves, in whatever spiritual battle we are fighting, God is with us, God is for us, and God will deliver us. He may not do so in the way we pray for or in the way we expect, but he will deliver us, he will protect us, he will answer us, and he will be right there with us through it all.
These words in Moses’ Psalm were meant to reassure the Israelites in their time of wandering, but they also work to reassure us that even today, we can live in God’s protection, even when that protection costs him everything.
Many years ago, National Geographic Magazine published an article about the lengths a mother will go to in protecting her young. A forest fire had devastated a section of Yellowstone National Park, and after the fire was over, park rangers made the trek up the mountain to assess the damage. On their journey, they came across the petrified remains of a bird standing against the base of a tree.
One of the rangers, heartbroken at the sight, gently pushed the ashy body over with a stick, and to everyone’s astonishment, three little chicks came scurrying out from underneath their dead mother’s wings.
Pastor Dean Courtier writes about this incident, “The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had singed her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.”
This is the promise from God in our Psalm today and God has proven it to his people over and over. “He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and a defense.” Pinions, for those of us who like to know these things, are the outer part of a bird’s wings, and they include the flight feathers.
That mother bird certainly covered her babies and protected them, even though it cost her her life. God has done this for his people, too, but never with more clarity that when he sent his own Son, Jesus, to come and die on a cross to pay for our sins, and then to rise again to give us eternal life. God’s covering, his plan of protection for us, cost Jesus his life, yet God counts it worth it because that is how our relationship with him has been restored.
God won the battle on Calvary, and God is still winning battles today as he fights our spiritual battles through the Holy Spirit. He is still covering us, still protecting us from those dark forces if we will let him. I know sometimes it may not feel like it, especially when we are enduring a long dark season, but know that God is with us always, even then.
When life gets hard, when it feels like the enemy’s forces are hammering you from all sides, remember Moses’ encouragement to the Israelites, and also, remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:
“Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So, do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
If the God who protects even the sparrows is willing to protect us sinful humans, then we need have no fear of what the enemy and his minions can do to us. We have God’s armor, we have God’s assurance of protection, we have God’s Son who brought us salvation and eternal life, and we have God’s Spirit who fights our battles and strengthens us for this life. In this we have all we need. And again, I say, Praise God! AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving, protecting God, thank you for who you are. Thank you for your word that teaches us about you, draws us close to you, reassures us of your presence, and strengthens us to face each day. Father, today we cling to the promise of your protection from the enemy found in the shelter of your wings. You truly are our rock, our fortress, and our refuge, and we are forever grateful. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/73982/miraculous-protection-of-hutu-by-sermon-central
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74355/mother-hen-sacrifices-her-life-to-protect-chicks-by-sermon-central
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: Assurance of God’s Protection
Scripture: Psalm 91:1-16
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter
and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and defense.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night
or the arrow that flies by day
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble;
I will rescue them and honor them.
16 With long life I will satisfy them
and show them my salvation.
You have probably heard me say this before, but I want to remind us today that the Old Testament was not written to us, as Christians in the 21st century, but it was written for us. Remember, the Old Testament was written to and for the Jews. It contains their history, the wisdom teachings, stories and prophesies from their prophets, and even beautiful poetry for the times in which they lived.
Of course, God knew his word would endure for all the ages, and so while it was written to and for the Jews, God knew how much we would need to read and learn from his word all these centuries later. That is how it is with today’s scripture from Psalm 91. There is no author officially listed for this particular Psalm, but the general consensus is that it was written by Moses. That means this Psalm was written to the Israelites as they were wandering in the wilderness for forty years, suffering hardships, fighting hunger, depending upon God for everything.
These were a people who needed to be encouraged and reminded of who God was and what he meant to them. Remember, they didn’t really know God well before Moses showed up as the one whom God used to set the Israelites free from bondage in Egypt. Now, they were free, but they often wondered if this freedom was worth it. They weren’t very good at trusting God yet. They were easily distracted, and they seemed to turn away from God about every other day.
Moses wanted to reassure the people that they were doing the right thing, they were going in the right direction by following God. So, he writes for them, “You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and defense. You will not fear the terror of the night or the arrow that flies by day or the pestilence that stalks in darkness or the destruction that wastes at noonday.”
These are beautiful words, and they must have brought comfort and hope for the Israelites. Here they were, out in the wilderness with little shelter to protect them except the tents they slept in. They were denied by two different kingdoms to come through their territory which meant taking the long way around to get where they were going. There were instances where discipline meant a plague, or a swarm of serpents resulted in the death of thousands. They were vulnerable in so many ways, and Moses is telling them it will be okay if they truly put their trust in God and obey him.
God was willing to protect his people, he was ready to fight their battles for them. God was willing to be their shelter in all the storms. Moses told the people to look around and see the destruction that would fall on a thousand, on ten thousand, how they would be punished for their wickedness, but that God would guard his own people from any of that evil trying to come near to them.
This Psalm is mean to calm their nerves, overcome their fear, strengthen their resolve, give them encouragement in the face of danger, and inspire them to keep their focus on God and not on their circumstances. This Psalm was written directly to those long-ago folks who were wandering in the wilderness for four decades, but it is also an encouragement for us as we wander through life right here and right now.
As we have been talking about the spiritual battles that we are fighting daily, perhaps it is good for us to end this series being reminded once again that we are fighting against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realm, not against the people, situations, or even the face in the mirror that, and that we are not fighting alone. God fights for us as much today as he did for his people in that desert for those forty years.
There are instances recorded for us in recent history that prove this to be true. Many of us may remember several years ago when the war between the Tutsi and the Hutu tribes spilled over the Rwandan border into a total of eight different African countries. The Congo was one of those other countries and there was a report from there about a preacher, his family, and a supernatural intervention.
There was a Christian village in the Congo where one night, a group of Tutsi soldiers broke down the door of a Hutu preacher’s house. They entered the house with guns raised, ready to slaughter all who were inside. The preacher quickly made an appeal, “Wait! Wait! Please, allow us a moment to pray before we die,” he pleaded.
By some miracle, the request was granted, though the angry reply was to “Hurry up then.” The family knelt to pray and when they were done, they stood up to discover the house was empty; the soldiers had gone. Not only were the soldiers gone from the pastor’s house, but they had also left the village completely.
Several months went by, and the pastor was at a church meeting in a nearby town where he told his amazing story. Suddenly, from the back of the room, a voice spoke up, “I can tell you what happened,” he said. All eyes turned to see that it was a Tutsi soldier who was speaking. “I was one of the soldiers there that night. We broke into your house, and I had your children in my sights as you all knelt there praying. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wall of fire surrounded all of you. The flames became so intense that we could no longer see any of you and we knew that your house would burn down, and you would all die, so we left you to it.”
The soldier continued, “When we got outside, we turned around and we could see your house engulfed in flames, yet it was not burning, so we fled from your village. This was a fire like we had never seen and we knew it was sent by God. After that night, I realized that if this is how your God responds to his people who pray, I want to know him too. I am tired of this fighting and all this killing. That is why I am here tonight.”
That pastor and his family were faced with certain death and their first response was to pray. Their faithfulness, and God’s protection, saved that family, the whole village, and inspired a man to turn his life over to Christ. The pastor didn’t fight that battle as most people would. He didn’t attack the soldiers, he didn’t try to run, he put his life in God’s hands, trusting God that no matter what happened, God would be right there with him and his family. That pastor let the Holy Spirit fight that battle, and everyone won that night.
Now, hear this clearly, when we put our trust in God and allow the Holy Spirit to fight our battles, that does not mean we will always be spared whatever it is we are facing. We do not know what exactly that pastor prayed that night, and it was not likely the words he said anyway that spared him and his family. This was the way God chose to act on that night. The point of the pastor in the story is his faithfulness in knowing that no matter what happened, he knew God was with him and that even if the soldiers had killed them all he still trusted God enough to know that they would all be together with Jesus in heaven.
God’s voice in Moses’ Psalm tells us that “Those who love me I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble; I will rescue them and honor them and show them my salvation.” That means that in every situation in which we find ourselves, in whatever spiritual battle we are fighting, God is with us, God is for us, and God will deliver us. He may not do so in the way we pray for or in the way we expect, but he will deliver us, he will protect us, he will answer us, and he will be right there with us through it all.
These words in Moses’ Psalm were meant to reassure the Israelites in their time of wandering, but they also work to reassure us that even today, we can live in God’s protection, even when that protection costs him everything.
Many years ago, National Geographic Magazine published an article about the lengths a mother will go to in protecting her young. A forest fire had devastated a section of Yellowstone National Park, and after the fire was over, park rangers made the trek up the mountain to assess the damage. On their journey, they came across the petrified remains of a bird standing against the base of a tree.
One of the rangers, heartbroken at the sight, gently pushed the ashy body over with a stick, and to everyone’s astonishment, three little chicks came scurrying out from underneath their dead mother’s wings.
Pastor Dean Courtier writes about this incident, “The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had singed her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.”
This is the promise from God in our Psalm today and God has proven it to his people over and over. “He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and a defense.” Pinions, for those of us who like to know these things, are the outer part of a bird’s wings, and they include the flight feathers.
That mother bird certainly covered her babies and protected them, even though it cost her her life. God has done this for his people, too, but never with more clarity that when he sent his own Son, Jesus, to come and die on a cross to pay for our sins, and then to rise again to give us eternal life. God’s covering, his plan of protection for us, cost Jesus his life, yet God counts it worth it because that is how our relationship with him has been restored.
God won the battle on Calvary, and God is still winning battles today as he fights our spiritual battles through the Holy Spirit. He is still covering us, still protecting us from those dark forces if we will let him. I know sometimes it may not feel like it, especially when we are enduring a long dark season, but know that God is with us always, even then.
When life gets hard, when it feels like the enemy’s forces are hammering you from all sides, remember Moses’ encouragement to the Israelites, and also, remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:
“Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So, do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
If the God who protects even the sparrows is willing to protect us sinful humans, then we need have no fear of what the enemy and his minions can do to us. We have God’s armor, we have God’s assurance of protection, we have God’s Son who brought us salvation and eternal life, and we have God’s Spirit who fights our battles and strengthens us for this life. In this we have all we need. And again, I say, Praise God! AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving, protecting God, thank you for who you are. Thank you for your word that teaches us about you, draws us close to you, reassures us of your presence, and strengthens us to face each day. Father, today we cling to the promise of your protection from the enemy found in the shelter of your wings. You truly are our rock, our fortress, and our refuge, and we are forever grateful. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/73982/miraculous-protection-of-hutu-by-sermon-central
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74355/mother-hen-sacrifices-her-life-to-protect-chicks-by-sermon-central
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY JUNE 23, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "IT'S A SPIRITUAL BATTLE" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "REJOICE FOR THE RIGHT REASON".
June 23, 2024
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: Rejoice for the Right reason
Scripture: Luke 10:17-20
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Let me give you a little bit of the backstory for today’s scripture. Jesus, at an earlier time, had sent out the twelve disciples, two-by-two. He commanded them to go proclaim the kingdom of God and heal the sick. He gave them power and authority over the demons and to cure diseases, but he told them to take nothing with them, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, not even a change of clothes.
When they entered a town, they were to find one place to stay and remain there until they went to the next town. If they offered peace and it was accepted, they were to stay and if they were rejected, they were to shake the dust off their feet and hit the road. So, the disciples went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing the sick. When they were finished, they came back and told Jesus what they had seen and done.
Some time passed. There was the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus’ question to his disciples about who they thought he was and Peter’s bold declaration that he was the Messiah of God. There was the day of the transfiguration, Jesus’ healing of the boy with a demon, the argument among the disciples as to who was the greatest, Jesus’ rejection at Samaria and James and John’s offer to call down fire to destroy the people, and Jesus’ rebuke for the suggestion. And there were the three offers from some would-be disciples to follow Jesus, but each then had an excuse as to why he could not do so right then.
All of that took place in chapter nine of Luke’s gospel, and the first line in chapter ten says, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Jesus told them the harvest was plentiful but the workers were few so they should pray as they went and ask God to send more workers for a larger harvest. The harvest, of course, is people coming to follow Jesus.
While there were many who would be open to hearing the good news from these disciples, Jesus warned them that not everyone would be open and welcoming to them, and they would be going out like lambs among wolves. Then he gave them the same instructions he had given the twelve earlier. They were to take nothing; they were to offer peace to the first house they came to in a village and if that peace were accepted then they were to stay there and eat what was offered to them and drink what was provided for them; this was work they were doing, and workers deserve to be paid. The work that was assigned to them was to proclaim the good news and cure the sick. If the people in the town did not welcome them, they should wipe the dust off their feet as they left and move on to the next town.
We do not know who the seventy-two were. We don’t know which towns they went to, or which places they were accepted, and which places where they were not. We do not know how long they were gone, or how many came to be followers of Jesus because of their work, or how many were healed. We just do not know a lot about this group of people.
We do know that they were successful – at least to some extent. We know they were able to heal at least some people from demon possession. We pick up in today’s scripture reading by hearing the seventy-two returning and joyfully exclaiming to Jesus, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” I can only imagine their excitement in telling Jesus all they had seen and done, all the stories of what happened while they were gone. I don’t blame them for being excited, do you?
Before they left on this mission, they were just ordinary people who had chosen to follow Jesus. We don’t know what it cost them to become a disciple of Jesus – their family? Home? Friends? Reputation? Job? But whatever it was they gave up they did so willingly, because they saw something in this Jesus that they knew they needed, even if they didn’t fully understand what or why.
In my mind I can see them all clamoring for Jesus’ attention. Running up to him as they got back into town, each trying to tell his or her story. Each one’s excitement building on the exuberance of the others. “Lord, in your name event the demons submit to us!”
Was that all they could say? Nothing about sharing the good news and people wanting to know more? What about other healings? Did the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk at the name of Jesus, too? We don’t know for certain, but we do remember that they were sent to proclaim the good news and cure the sick, so I’m sure they did all that. Casting out demons is part of healing the sick, so it isn’t surprising that they were able to do that. But it seems that is the only part of the trip they wanted to talk about.
We did it! We cast out demons! They listened to us! We used Jesus’ name, but they listened to US. Aren’t we powerful now? Aren’t we great now?
I get it, I really do. I would probably be just like them. Maybe you would, too. Wow! Look at what I can do! Next! Where’s the next demon that needs to be gone – bring it on! Power in action can go to our heads. Even when that power is used for good.
Jesus knew they needed a redirection before this seventy-two got too far off track. He knew he needed to remind them that while it is okay to be joyful, we have to find joy in the right place. “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightening.” Jesus says. And I can hear sadness in his voice as he remembers that day. It would have been easy to rejoice in that victory, but Jesus’ heart would have been broken for the situation – one of God’s angels had gotten out of hand and had to be ordered to leave heaven – how could that be a good day? How could he have found joy in casting Satan down?
Jesus goes on, “Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.” That is why the demons listened to the seventy-two – because Jesus gave them the power and Jesus gave them the authority to command them. It wasn’t the disciples; it was the name of Jesus that invoked fear into the demons and incited them to submit to the demand to leave the person they possessed.
The disciples were fighting against the dark forces and the dark forces were fighting against Jesus, and Jesus won. He didn’t even have to be present – he simply allocated his power and authority to his disciples and that was enough to win the battle against the demons.
So, I get why the disciples were excited at what they were able to do. It was pretty amazing, but Jesus needed them to know it wasn’t what they should be rejoicing about. They had their priorities wrong. “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
In the headiness of what they had accomplished, the disciples failed to realize that these demons they had authority over would never be able to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. But the disciples, whose names are written in heaven, will do so. They will live forever; they will live with Jesus in his heavenly kingdom. That is what should have made them joyful. That is why they should have been rejoicing.
No matter what we might accomplish while we are living here on earth, it will pale in comparison to the joy of living in eternity with Jesus. That is where Jesus wanted the seventy-two to focus – not on the here and now, but their reward in the hereafter. That is the same thing Jesus would tell us today. Do all the good you can to all the people you can in all the places and ways you can, but then celebrate, not the good you have done, but that your name is written in heaven.
There is another reason why we should focus on the right reason for rejoicing. If Jesus had let the seventy-two continue to focus on what they had done and that the demons had submitted to them, they would have been in danger of straying away from Jesus. It would have been easy for them to continue to celebrate what they had done and rejoice in the results of their power until they had forgotten who gave them the power in the first place.
They were still at the point where they could acknowledge that the only reason those demons submitted to them was because they were given the power of Jesus by Jesus himself. It wasn’t their own power – it never was, and it would never be from within themselves. But as time went on and their stories were relayed over and over, the power shift would begin to occur in their minds. It might look something like this:
In the beginning: “Jesus gave us power!” Then it would become: “We used Jesus’ power.” Soon enough they would say: “I felt power in me.” And eventually the story would go: “I was powerful enough to cast out the demons.”
Do you see the pattern? And where would this drift have come from? From Satan himself. Remember, last week, when I reminded us that Satan likes to whisper half-truths and lies in our ear? He said to Eve, “Did God really say?” And he would be ready to whisper in the ears of the seventy-two, “Did Jesus really do that?”
Over the last few weeks, we have learned that sometimes the spiritual battles we fight look like other people, and sometimes they look like a family or a life crisis, but today we are learning that sometimes they look like our reflection in the mirror.
What has God done in or through us that we were excited about? Or that we were amazed by? We knew, in the beginning, that whatever it was, it wasn’t really us who accomplished something good, but that it was God working through us. Over time, however, we may have let our focus shift from what God did - to what we did. We may start giving God less credit and accepting more credit for ourselves. That is a danger, and it is a spiritual battle for which we must ask for forgiveness and ask for the power of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to help us fight against it.
We should not rejoice in what we do, even when what we do is good, or very good, but we must always remember, that if we do any good at all, it is the power of Jesus working in us, not anything we can do on our own. Without him, we are weak and ineffective; with Jesus we are strong and powerful, because he is strong and powerful.
We need to put on the full armor of God every day, so that we will be protected in all ways to stand firm against the spiritual forces that are all around us. We cannot cower in fear, but go boldly int the world, knowing that God is with us, and the power of Jesus is in us, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The harvest is plentiful, even today, but the Lord of the harvest is still looking for more workers. We are his workers. We are the ones who are empowered today to go out and proclaim the good news and bring the healing of freedom to those who still do not know Jesus. As we go, let’s remember the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.”
May we rejoice always – but rejoice for the right reason – that our name is written in heaven, in the place where we will one day reside for eternity. Praise God and thank you, Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, it really is amazing what you can do through broken vessels. You sent out the twelve, then you sent the seventy-two, and then you sent every single one of your followers to proclaim your good news. Now, help us feel your presence as we go. Strengthen us for the journey, whether it is down the street or around the globe. Use us as you will for your purpose but help us remember that all we do is in your power, not our own. Lord, we give you all the glory, and we rejoice that through you, we have our names written in heaven. AMEN.
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: Rejoice for the Right reason
Scripture: Luke 10:17-20
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Let me give you a little bit of the backstory for today’s scripture. Jesus, at an earlier time, had sent out the twelve disciples, two-by-two. He commanded them to go proclaim the kingdom of God and heal the sick. He gave them power and authority over the demons and to cure diseases, but he told them to take nothing with them, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, not even a change of clothes.
When they entered a town, they were to find one place to stay and remain there until they went to the next town. If they offered peace and it was accepted, they were to stay and if they were rejected, they were to shake the dust off their feet and hit the road. So, the disciples went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing the sick. When they were finished, they came back and told Jesus what they had seen and done.
Some time passed. There was the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus’ question to his disciples about who they thought he was and Peter’s bold declaration that he was the Messiah of God. There was the day of the transfiguration, Jesus’ healing of the boy with a demon, the argument among the disciples as to who was the greatest, Jesus’ rejection at Samaria and James and John’s offer to call down fire to destroy the people, and Jesus’ rebuke for the suggestion. And there were the three offers from some would-be disciples to follow Jesus, but each then had an excuse as to why he could not do so right then.
All of that took place in chapter nine of Luke’s gospel, and the first line in chapter ten says, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Jesus told them the harvest was plentiful but the workers were few so they should pray as they went and ask God to send more workers for a larger harvest. The harvest, of course, is people coming to follow Jesus.
While there were many who would be open to hearing the good news from these disciples, Jesus warned them that not everyone would be open and welcoming to them, and they would be going out like lambs among wolves. Then he gave them the same instructions he had given the twelve earlier. They were to take nothing; they were to offer peace to the first house they came to in a village and if that peace were accepted then they were to stay there and eat what was offered to them and drink what was provided for them; this was work they were doing, and workers deserve to be paid. The work that was assigned to them was to proclaim the good news and cure the sick. If the people in the town did not welcome them, they should wipe the dust off their feet as they left and move on to the next town.
We do not know who the seventy-two were. We don’t know which towns they went to, or which places they were accepted, and which places where they were not. We do not know how long they were gone, or how many came to be followers of Jesus because of their work, or how many were healed. We just do not know a lot about this group of people.
We do know that they were successful – at least to some extent. We know they were able to heal at least some people from demon possession. We pick up in today’s scripture reading by hearing the seventy-two returning and joyfully exclaiming to Jesus, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” I can only imagine their excitement in telling Jesus all they had seen and done, all the stories of what happened while they were gone. I don’t blame them for being excited, do you?
Before they left on this mission, they were just ordinary people who had chosen to follow Jesus. We don’t know what it cost them to become a disciple of Jesus – their family? Home? Friends? Reputation? Job? But whatever it was they gave up they did so willingly, because they saw something in this Jesus that they knew they needed, even if they didn’t fully understand what or why.
In my mind I can see them all clamoring for Jesus’ attention. Running up to him as they got back into town, each trying to tell his or her story. Each one’s excitement building on the exuberance of the others. “Lord, in your name event the demons submit to us!”
Was that all they could say? Nothing about sharing the good news and people wanting to know more? What about other healings? Did the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk at the name of Jesus, too? We don’t know for certain, but we do remember that they were sent to proclaim the good news and cure the sick, so I’m sure they did all that. Casting out demons is part of healing the sick, so it isn’t surprising that they were able to do that. But it seems that is the only part of the trip they wanted to talk about.
We did it! We cast out demons! They listened to us! We used Jesus’ name, but they listened to US. Aren’t we powerful now? Aren’t we great now?
I get it, I really do. I would probably be just like them. Maybe you would, too. Wow! Look at what I can do! Next! Where’s the next demon that needs to be gone – bring it on! Power in action can go to our heads. Even when that power is used for good.
Jesus knew they needed a redirection before this seventy-two got too far off track. He knew he needed to remind them that while it is okay to be joyful, we have to find joy in the right place. “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightening.” Jesus says. And I can hear sadness in his voice as he remembers that day. It would have been easy to rejoice in that victory, but Jesus’ heart would have been broken for the situation – one of God’s angels had gotten out of hand and had to be ordered to leave heaven – how could that be a good day? How could he have found joy in casting Satan down?
Jesus goes on, “Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.” That is why the demons listened to the seventy-two – because Jesus gave them the power and Jesus gave them the authority to command them. It wasn’t the disciples; it was the name of Jesus that invoked fear into the demons and incited them to submit to the demand to leave the person they possessed.
The disciples were fighting against the dark forces and the dark forces were fighting against Jesus, and Jesus won. He didn’t even have to be present – he simply allocated his power and authority to his disciples and that was enough to win the battle against the demons.
So, I get why the disciples were excited at what they were able to do. It was pretty amazing, but Jesus needed them to know it wasn’t what they should be rejoicing about. They had their priorities wrong. “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
In the headiness of what they had accomplished, the disciples failed to realize that these demons they had authority over would never be able to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. But the disciples, whose names are written in heaven, will do so. They will live forever; they will live with Jesus in his heavenly kingdom. That is what should have made them joyful. That is why they should have been rejoicing.
No matter what we might accomplish while we are living here on earth, it will pale in comparison to the joy of living in eternity with Jesus. That is where Jesus wanted the seventy-two to focus – not on the here and now, but their reward in the hereafter. That is the same thing Jesus would tell us today. Do all the good you can to all the people you can in all the places and ways you can, but then celebrate, not the good you have done, but that your name is written in heaven.
There is another reason why we should focus on the right reason for rejoicing. If Jesus had let the seventy-two continue to focus on what they had done and that the demons had submitted to them, they would have been in danger of straying away from Jesus. It would have been easy for them to continue to celebrate what they had done and rejoice in the results of their power until they had forgotten who gave them the power in the first place.
They were still at the point where they could acknowledge that the only reason those demons submitted to them was because they were given the power of Jesus by Jesus himself. It wasn’t their own power – it never was, and it would never be from within themselves. But as time went on and their stories were relayed over and over, the power shift would begin to occur in their minds. It might look something like this:
In the beginning: “Jesus gave us power!” Then it would become: “We used Jesus’ power.” Soon enough they would say: “I felt power in me.” And eventually the story would go: “I was powerful enough to cast out the demons.”
Do you see the pattern? And where would this drift have come from? From Satan himself. Remember, last week, when I reminded us that Satan likes to whisper half-truths and lies in our ear? He said to Eve, “Did God really say?” And he would be ready to whisper in the ears of the seventy-two, “Did Jesus really do that?”
Over the last few weeks, we have learned that sometimes the spiritual battles we fight look like other people, and sometimes they look like a family or a life crisis, but today we are learning that sometimes they look like our reflection in the mirror.
What has God done in or through us that we were excited about? Or that we were amazed by? We knew, in the beginning, that whatever it was, it wasn’t really us who accomplished something good, but that it was God working through us. Over time, however, we may have let our focus shift from what God did - to what we did. We may start giving God less credit and accepting more credit for ourselves. That is a danger, and it is a spiritual battle for which we must ask for forgiveness and ask for the power of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to help us fight against it.
We should not rejoice in what we do, even when what we do is good, or very good, but we must always remember, that if we do any good at all, it is the power of Jesus working in us, not anything we can do on our own. Without him, we are weak and ineffective; with Jesus we are strong and powerful, because he is strong and powerful.
We need to put on the full armor of God every day, so that we will be protected in all ways to stand firm against the spiritual forces that are all around us. We cannot cower in fear, but go boldly int the world, knowing that God is with us, and the power of Jesus is in us, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The harvest is plentiful, even today, but the Lord of the harvest is still looking for more workers. We are his workers. We are the ones who are empowered today to go out and proclaim the good news and bring the healing of freedom to those who still do not know Jesus. As we go, let’s remember the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.”
May we rejoice always – but rejoice for the right reason – that our name is written in heaven, in the place where we will one day reside for eternity. Praise God and thank you, Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, it really is amazing what you can do through broken vessels. You sent out the twelve, then you sent the seventy-two, and then you sent every single one of your followers to proclaim your good news. Now, help us feel your presence as we go. Strengthen us for the journey, whether it is down the street or around the globe. Use us as you will for your purpose but help us remember that all we do is in your power, not our own. Lord, we give you all the glory, and we rejoice that through you, we have our names written in heaven. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY JUNE 16, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "IT'S A SPIRITUAL BATTLE" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "Victory Through Obedience".
June 16, 2024
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: Victory Through Obedience
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Indeed, we live as humans but do not wage war according to human standards, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments 5 and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
On a particular Sunday morning in this country, life seemed good. Families made their way to church, children played, dinners were served, Christmas preparations were under way. Life was normal; it was safe. We lived in a place and a time where the outside world didn’t intrude, and we had no reason to think it would. Until 7:55 am Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time.
It was December 7, 1941, and the people in this country found out we had an enemy. There were some who had recognized the threat to the country earlier, but most had no idea, and few people really believed Japan had the military might or the economic strength to launch such an attack on the US, causing the US to declare war on Japan.
That morning, all across this country, even in Hawaii, even at Pearl Harbor, life seemed good, and safe, and normal – until it wasn’t. How often do we go about our business, day by day, thinking life is good and safe and normal, until it suddenly isn’t?
Japan counted on catching the US military and leaders unaware, that is what made their attack successful. In the same way, Satan likes to catch us unaware as he tries to attack us and throw us off track from following Jesus. I’ve told you before, and I will say it again, we are fighting Satan at all turns, and he likes to fight dirty.
There are times when he will launch an all-out surprise attack, like when we lose a job and wonder how we will support our family, or when we get a dreaded diagnosis from the doctor and we wonder how we will get through it, or when our child becomes surly and secretive, and we wonder what they are really up to and whether we can trust them. In those moments, we think we are fighting against the person who fired us, or the doctors who want to try a treatment we are unsure of, or even against our own flesh and blood child, but we must remember that in reality, we are fighting those spiritual forces of darkness led by the father of lies and deceit.
At least these attacks are obvious, they are battles we can see and begin to fight right away. But sometimes, Satan is more subtle. Sometimes he doesn’t launch an all-out attack. Sometimes he comes at us in a gentler, seemingly innocuous way. We see this kind of attack on Eve in the Garden of Eden.
“Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’” he asked her, all innocent-like. His tone indicated that he was appalled God would make such a demand, that he was sorry for Adam and Eve, that they had been short-changed by this ridiculous rule. What was Eve’s answer? “Oh, God said we could eat from the trees in the garden, he just said we couldn’t eat from this one tree, or even touch it, or we will die.”
Then the serpent, still pretending to be concerned for the humans, promised them that they wouldn’t really die, no, the real reason God said not to eat from that tree is because if you do, then you will be just like God. And you know, he just doesn’t want anyone else to be like him. He is just trying to keep you down here in the garden, under his thumb. You are better than that, you know? You deserve to be like God. You know you do.”
Eve fell for his trick. So did Adam. They ate, and sin entered into this world, and the world has been trying to recover ever since. We suffer from the same things that humans have suffered from since Eve took that first bite and handed that piece of fruit to Adam so he could eat it too. We have been fighting that same enemy down through the years, and he just doesn’t give up, nor does he change his tactics much. He doesn’t have to, because they work – sometimes.
Then came Jesus. He came into this world for one purpose, as stated in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Everlasting life is what Adam and Eve were given, but they let it slip through their hands because they believed the lie of the enemy. They thought life in the garden was good and safe and normal – until it wasn’t.
So, now we have Jesus. For those of us who have come to believe in him as the Son of God whom God raised from the dead, for those of us who have made him our Lord and Savior, we have the promise of that eternal life that was given from the beginning. The only problem is, we still live here, in this world, in this broken world where Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for whomever he can find to destroy. And if we ended this message right here, we would be missing the best part of God’s plan for us.
In Paul’s second letter to the people in the church in Corinth, he reminds them, and us as readers today, of God’s plan, and in it we find hope and strength to push back against Satan. He writes, “Indeed, we live as humans but do not wage war according to human standards, for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
Do you know what a stronghold is? Dr. Larry Petton explains it this way, “A stronghold is a mindset that holds you hostage. It makes you believe that you are hopelessly locked in a situation, that you are powerless to change.” Have you ever felt that way? Do you feel that way now? We all have our moments of this. A stronghold comes when we feel like circumstances are out of our control, when there is no way out of whatever situation we find ourselves, that whatever we do we are trapped in whatever trouble we are facing.
That’s when we have to ask ourselves, did we put on God’s armor today? Because this battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly realm, and Paul just reminded us that the weapons we need to fight this battle aren’t man-made weapons but God-made weapons with divine power to destroy those strongholds – to break Satan’s stronghold on us.
The first step in the battle is to know your enemy and to know who is on your side. Satan is our enemy and God is on our side. Once we remember that, we are halfway to victory. Then Paul gives us our weapon, that God-made weapon, “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
Satan likes to get inside out minds and play games. That’s what he did with Eve – “Did God really say?” What lies does he tell us that we believe? What deceptions does he promise us will never be discovered? Where does he use our pride against us, to try to make us think it’s okay to make ourselves like God? What obstacles to our relationship with God through Jesus Christ does he try to throw in our path to make us stumble?
We need to recognize how he is trying to trip us up. We need to recognize his deceitful promises and outright lies. We need to surrender our pride, humble ourselves, turn to God, and get our thoughts in order so that we can obey Christ. That is how we wage war, and that is how we will achieve victory through Christ against these spiritual attacks. And then, we will continue becoming the person Jesus Christ is calling us to be.
I don’t want to mislead anyone by making you think this is always easy. I realize that sometimes these spiritual battles are the hardest thing we go through. Satan will never give up, the more we resist, the more likely he is to come at us again from a different direction. I also don’t want you to think this is a battle that cannot be won, because it can – we can win because we have been given the armor for protection, the weapon to fight, and the strength to carry on poured into us by Jesus himself through the Holy Spirt who lives within us. Even though it may not always be easy, it is always worth it.
In New Guinea, the natives who have come to know Christ, in spite of generations of tradition, have found a way to defeat Satan in one very important area. There was a custom that had been handed down, where at certain times of the year, they would gather to perform rituals, sing songs, and dance. They would work themselves up into a frenzy of singing and dancing and then they would culminate their ritual with what they called the “murder songs.” In these “songs” they would scream out the names of people they wanted to kill.
Once they became followers of Jesus, they began to recognize that this was Satan working in them and that they needed to overcome this spiritual battle of hate and the desire to kill in order to defeat him. So, they changed the purpose of their murder songs. Now, instead of screaming out the names of people they want to kill, they shout out the names of sins they hate, and they call on the God of Heaven to destroy those sins in them and help them become more obedient to Jesus Christ.
It is a lot easier to win a war against an enemy when we recognize who the enemy is. That is why we need to recognize when lies are being whispered in our ears, turning us away from Jesus, so we can stop and call on the God of heaven to destroy the sin in us and help us break the stronghold Satan has created in us. We can ask God to help us take our thoughts captive so we can obey Christ. Ask him to help us recognize the stronghold that Satan has us in and break it by helping us train our thoughts to stay fixed on the One who is the Way the Truth and the Life.
That is how we overcome Satan, how we win spiritual battles, and how we get to stand in victory - through obedience to Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit, today, tomorrow, and forever. AMEN.
PRAY: God of heaven, you created this world and everything in it to be perfect and good, but out of your love for us, you allow us to make choices in how we live and in how we respond to you. Help us, Lord, to make the right choices. Help us choose obedience to Christ, help us reign in our thoughts and keep them focused on you, so that we can win against the enemy by the power of your Holy Spirit and stand in victory through Jesus Christ in your heavenly kingdom, with you for all eternity. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101816/understanding-strongholds-by-dr-larry-petton
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/20838/a-custom-of-the-natives-in-new-guinea-is-told-at-by-lou-nicholes
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: Victory Through Obedience
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Indeed, we live as humans but do not wage war according to human standards, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments 5 and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
On a particular Sunday morning in this country, life seemed good. Families made their way to church, children played, dinners were served, Christmas preparations were under way. Life was normal; it was safe. We lived in a place and a time where the outside world didn’t intrude, and we had no reason to think it would. Until 7:55 am Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time.
It was December 7, 1941, and the people in this country found out we had an enemy. There were some who had recognized the threat to the country earlier, but most had no idea, and few people really believed Japan had the military might or the economic strength to launch such an attack on the US, causing the US to declare war on Japan.
That morning, all across this country, even in Hawaii, even at Pearl Harbor, life seemed good, and safe, and normal – until it wasn’t. How often do we go about our business, day by day, thinking life is good and safe and normal, until it suddenly isn’t?
Japan counted on catching the US military and leaders unaware, that is what made their attack successful. In the same way, Satan likes to catch us unaware as he tries to attack us and throw us off track from following Jesus. I’ve told you before, and I will say it again, we are fighting Satan at all turns, and he likes to fight dirty.
There are times when he will launch an all-out surprise attack, like when we lose a job and wonder how we will support our family, or when we get a dreaded diagnosis from the doctor and we wonder how we will get through it, or when our child becomes surly and secretive, and we wonder what they are really up to and whether we can trust them. In those moments, we think we are fighting against the person who fired us, or the doctors who want to try a treatment we are unsure of, or even against our own flesh and blood child, but we must remember that in reality, we are fighting those spiritual forces of darkness led by the father of lies and deceit.
At least these attacks are obvious, they are battles we can see and begin to fight right away. But sometimes, Satan is more subtle. Sometimes he doesn’t launch an all-out attack. Sometimes he comes at us in a gentler, seemingly innocuous way. We see this kind of attack on Eve in the Garden of Eden.
“Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’” he asked her, all innocent-like. His tone indicated that he was appalled God would make such a demand, that he was sorry for Adam and Eve, that they had been short-changed by this ridiculous rule. What was Eve’s answer? “Oh, God said we could eat from the trees in the garden, he just said we couldn’t eat from this one tree, or even touch it, or we will die.”
Then the serpent, still pretending to be concerned for the humans, promised them that they wouldn’t really die, no, the real reason God said not to eat from that tree is because if you do, then you will be just like God. And you know, he just doesn’t want anyone else to be like him. He is just trying to keep you down here in the garden, under his thumb. You are better than that, you know? You deserve to be like God. You know you do.”
Eve fell for his trick. So did Adam. They ate, and sin entered into this world, and the world has been trying to recover ever since. We suffer from the same things that humans have suffered from since Eve took that first bite and handed that piece of fruit to Adam so he could eat it too. We have been fighting that same enemy down through the years, and he just doesn’t give up, nor does he change his tactics much. He doesn’t have to, because they work – sometimes.
Then came Jesus. He came into this world for one purpose, as stated in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Everlasting life is what Adam and Eve were given, but they let it slip through their hands because they believed the lie of the enemy. They thought life in the garden was good and safe and normal – until it wasn’t.
So, now we have Jesus. For those of us who have come to believe in him as the Son of God whom God raised from the dead, for those of us who have made him our Lord and Savior, we have the promise of that eternal life that was given from the beginning. The only problem is, we still live here, in this world, in this broken world where Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for whomever he can find to destroy. And if we ended this message right here, we would be missing the best part of God’s plan for us.
In Paul’s second letter to the people in the church in Corinth, he reminds them, and us as readers today, of God’s plan, and in it we find hope and strength to push back against Satan. He writes, “Indeed, we live as humans but do not wage war according to human standards, for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
Do you know what a stronghold is? Dr. Larry Petton explains it this way, “A stronghold is a mindset that holds you hostage. It makes you believe that you are hopelessly locked in a situation, that you are powerless to change.” Have you ever felt that way? Do you feel that way now? We all have our moments of this. A stronghold comes when we feel like circumstances are out of our control, when there is no way out of whatever situation we find ourselves, that whatever we do we are trapped in whatever trouble we are facing.
That’s when we have to ask ourselves, did we put on God’s armor today? Because this battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly realm, and Paul just reminded us that the weapons we need to fight this battle aren’t man-made weapons but God-made weapons with divine power to destroy those strongholds – to break Satan’s stronghold on us.
The first step in the battle is to know your enemy and to know who is on your side. Satan is our enemy and God is on our side. Once we remember that, we are halfway to victory. Then Paul gives us our weapon, that God-made weapon, “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
Satan likes to get inside out minds and play games. That’s what he did with Eve – “Did God really say?” What lies does he tell us that we believe? What deceptions does he promise us will never be discovered? Where does he use our pride against us, to try to make us think it’s okay to make ourselves like God? What obstacles to our relationship with God through Jesus Christ does he try to throw in our path to make us stumble?
We need to recognize how he is trying to trip us up. We need to recognize his deceitful promises and outright lies. We need to surrender our pride, humble ourselves, turn to God, and get our thoughts in order so that we can obey Christ. That is how we wage war, and that is how we will achieve victory through Christ against these spiritual attacks. And then, we will continue becoming the person Jesus Christ is calling us to be.
I don’t want to mislead anyone by making you think this is always easy. I realize that sometimes these spiritual battles are the hardest thing we go through. Satan will never give up, the more we resist, the more likely he is to come at us again from a different direction. I also don’t want you to think this is a battle that cannot be won, because it can – we can win because we have been given the armor for protection, the weapon to fight, and the strength to carry on poured into us by Jesus himself through the Holy Spirt who lives within us. Even though it may not always be easy, it is always worth it.
In New Guinea, the natives who have come to know Christ, in spite of generations of tradition, have found a way to defeat Satan in one very important area. There was a custom that had been handed down, where at certain times of the year, they would gather to perform rituals, sing songs, and dance. They would work themselves up into a frenzy of singing and dancing and then they would culminate their ritual with what they called the “murder songs.” In these “songs” they would scream out the names of people they wanted to kill.
Once they became followers of Jesus, they began to recognize that this was Satan working in them and that they needed to overcome this spiritual battle of hate and the desire to kill in order to defeat him. So, they changed the purpose of their murder songs. Now, instead of screaming out the names of people they want to kill, they shout out the names of sins they hate, and they call on the God of Heaven to destroy those sins in them and help them become more obedient to Jesus Christ.
It is a lot easier to win a war against an enemy when we recognize who the enemy is. That is why we need to recognize when lies are being whispered in our ears, turning us away from Jesus, so we can stop and call on the God of heaven to destroy the sin in us and help us break the stronghold Satan has created in us. We can ask God to help us take our thoughts captive so we can obey Christ. Ask him to help us recognize the stronghold that Satan has us in and break it by helping us train our thoughts to stay fixed on the One who is the Way the Truth and the Life.
That is how we overcome Satan, how we win spiritual battles, and how we get to stand in victory - through obedience to Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit, today, tomorrow, and forever. AMEN.
PRAY: God of heaven, you created this world and everything in it to be perfect and good, but out of your love for us, you allow us to make choices in how we live and in how we respond to you. Help us, Lord, to make the right choices. Help us choose obedience to Christ, help us reign in our thoughts and keep them focused on you, so that we can win against the enemy by the power of your Holy Spirit and stand in victory through Jesus Christ in your heavenly kingdom, with you for all eternity. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101816/understanding-strongholds-by-dr-larry-petton
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/20838/a-custom-of-the-natives-in-new-guinea-is-told-at-by-lou-nicholes
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY JUNE 9, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "IT'S A SPIRITUAL BATTLE AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "WE DON'T FIGHT ALONE".
June 9, 2024
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: We Don’t Fight Alone
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:6-11
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8 Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
Pastor Jerry Stephens once talked about an experience he had that led him to a realization that he was not following Peter’s instructions found in today’s scripture. Here is his story:
“Recently I was praying at bedtime. I felt overwhelmed by the things I didn’t get done that day; things that would be facing me the moment I opened my eyes the following morning. As I recited my litany of woes, I sensed the Holy Spirit asking me which among them I thought he couldn’t handle.
Sheepishly, I said, 'None of them.' He said, ‘You’re wrong. I can’t handle ANY of them.’ Stunned, I asked why not. He replied, ‘Because you won’t turn loose of them.’”
How many of us can relate to that? We run through our days and weeks just trying to get by, wondering if we are ever going to get caught up, knowing we probably won’t, and feeling like we are failing somehow. We let our worries and anxieties overwhelm us. We wonder what other people will think of us, how they might see us, and we wonder why God feels so distant in all our chaos and confusion.
Yet, if we are honest, we are the ones keeping God at arm’s length because we think we have to do all this stuff ourselves, we think we have to do everything, be everyone to everyone, and to ask for help is to admit weakness. My friends, the secret is that this is all Satan trying to convince us of this. This is not the reality; not what God wants for us at all.
In Peter’s letter today, he began by instructing the leaders and elders of the church in how to conduct themselves, telling them to tend to their flock willingly, eagerly, and gently, and to be an example to others in all they do. Then, in the scripture we just heard, Peter turns his attention and his instructions to include everyone else, too.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” This is the opposite of what so many of us find ourselves doing. Instead of trying to shoulder all our anxieties each day, we should be letting God handle it for us. What can the Holy Spirit handle for us that we have been trying to handle on our own? Nothing – unless we let him. Everything – if we let him.
“Humble yourselves,” Peter says, because pride gets in our way of letting go and asking for help. Until we admit that we need the Holy Spirit to intercede for us, our pride keeps us silently suffering needlessly. Will the Holy Spirit help us get our too long to-do list done? Maybe not, but he will take away our anxiety about it. He may not wash the pile of dishes in the sink, but he will help us put things into better perspective. He will make us see what is really important and what it is that we have allowed to take up residence in our hearts and minds that does not belong.
Humbling ourselves and casting our anxieties on the Lord does not make us weak. In fact, it is what helps strengthen us to withstand the wiles of the evil one who is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. When we tell ourselves we need to try to do everything on our own and become overwhelmed with it all, it becomes too easy to lose our focus and take our eyes off God. Our pride makes us blind to Satan’s presence and weak to his attack, which is what he wants us to do.
Ridding ourselves of our pride and trusting the Holy Spirit takes practice. That is why Peter wrote that we should discipline ourselves and keep alert so that we will see Satan when he comes at us, recognize him for who he is and be able to resist him and stand firm in our faith, and send him packing.
Then Peter writes the most encouraging words yet: “for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.” My friends – we are all in the same boat, or should I say we are all fighting the same fight! Satan may use different tactics to try to get to us, but ultimately his goal is to turn us away from Jesus. This is the battle we are fighting, a spiritual battle and praise God, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we do not fight alone.
Now, saying we don’t fight alone can be taken in two different ways. On the one hand, it could mean that what we’re going through is the same as what someone else is going through. In this case, we are not alone because we are experiencing the battle alongside someone who is experiencing the same battle. That’s why small groups are important, why accountability groups are vital, so we know we are not alone, there is another person, likely several people, who are fighting the same battle or have done so.
In this scenario, we can draw strength from one another, compare notes and see what is working or what is not. We feel relief that “it’s not just me” anymore. There is a sense of fellowship, a lifeline in a stormy sea.
On the other hand, we can also know that we do not fight alone because we know the Holy Spirit is within us and he is helping us as we fight our battles. It is the Holy Spirit who strengthens us, guides us, restores us, and reminds us to wear the armor of God we talked about last week. The Holy Spirit never leaves us, so we are never alone.
Which way is best? Knowing that there is another person, or several people, experiencing the same fight and frustration as we are, or knowing that the Holy Spirit is always with us, so we are never alone? Both. We need both. We need the support of others, especially other believers, and we need the Holy Spirit at all times. We need to know we are not alone, and we need to know it on both levels.
Peter leaves us with a promise today, saying, “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”
Jesus said, “In this world you face persecution, but take courage: I have conquered the world!” We will face troubles, trials, and tribulations in this world, even as a Christian, maybe especially because we are Christian, but Jesus wants us to know that he has already conquered this world, so we will one day stand with him in victory. Peter is reminding us of this, telling us that we will suffer in this life, but after that, at the right time, God himself will restore, support, strengthen, and establish us as his, as members of his Kingdom.
I don’t know about you, but that is a promise I cling to, especially on the hardest days. With the help of my brothers and sisters in Christ, through the strength of the Holy Spirit, I am so grateful that God will bring me through all my hardships, and that one day, he will call me home to be with him forever in his heavenly kingdom. I pray you have found this promise, and it brings you hope and comfort and peace in troubled times.
Pastor Stephens, with whom we began this message, says, “As long as we keep a white-knuckle grip on our troubles, they remain ours. Peter encourages us to cast all our anxiety on the Lord because he cares for us. The Lord does care for us. The proof is that he sent his Son to die for us and then rise again so that forgiveness can be granted, relationship restored, and eternal life secured.
Peter closes his letter by giving credit to the One who makes and keeps his promises, the One who loves us beyond all measure, and the One who deserves all the honor and glory we can give him. He writes, “To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” Peter’s reminder is necessary for us because sometimes we forget because we are too busy trying to do everything in our own strength. May we never forget that we are all battle scarred and weary, that we all face challenges and attacks by the evil one, that he is the one we are fighting, and that we never fight any of these battles alone, but by the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. Praise God! AMEN.
PRAYER: Today, I want to offer part of a prayer that comes from Seedbed’s daily devotional “The Wake-Up Call” written by J. D. Walt:
“Come, Holy Spirit, transform our heart, mind, soul, and strength so that our consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father.” Lord, thank you for your presence, your strength, your willingness to fight our battles and the reminder that we are never alone because we have each other, and we have you. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84258/relaxing-our-grip-on-troubles-by-jerry-stephens
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: We Don’t Fight Alone
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:6-11
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8 Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
Pastor Jerry Stephens once talked about an experience he had that led him to a realization that he was not following Peter’s instructions found in today’s scripture. Here is his story:
“Recently I was praying at bedtime. I felt overwhelmed by the things I didn’t get done that day; things that would be facing me the moment I opened my eyes the following morning. As I recited my litany of woes, I sensed the Holy Spirit asking me which among them I thought he couldn’t handle.
Sheepishly, I said, 'None of them.' He said, ‘You’re wrong. I can’t handle ANY of them.’ Stunned, I asked why not. He replied, ‘Because you won’t turn loose of them.’”
How many of us can relate to that? We run through our days and weeks just trying to get by, wondering if we are ever going to get caught up, knowing we probably won’t, and feeling like we are failing somehow. We let our worries and anxieties overwhelm us. We wonder what other people will think of us, how they might see us, and we wonder why God feels so distant in all our chaos and confusion.
Yet, if we are honest, we are the ones keeping God at arm’s length because we think we have to do all this stuff ourselves, we think we have to do everything, be everyone to everyone, and to ask for help is to admit weakness. My friends, the secret is that this is all Satan trying to convince us of this. This is not the reality; not what God wants for us at all.
In Peter’s letter today, he began by instructing the leaders and elders of the church in how to conduct themselves, telling them to tend to their flock willingly, eagerly, and gently, and to be an example to others in all they do. Then, in the scripture we just heard, Peter turns his attention and his instructions to include everyone else, too.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” This is the opposite of what so many of us find ourselves doing. Instead of trying to shoulder all our anxieties each day, we should be letting God handle it for us. What can the Holy Spirit handle for us that we have been trying to handle on our own? Nothing – unless we let him. Everything – if we let him.
“Humble yourselves,” Peter says, because pride gets in our way of letting go and asking for help. Until we admit that we need the Holy Spirit to intercede for us, our pride keeps us silently suffering needlessly. Will the Holy Spirit help us get our too long to-do list done? Maybe not, but he will take away our anxiety about it. He may not wash the pile of dishes in the sink, but he will help us put things into better perspective. He will make us see what is really important and what it is that we have allowed to take up residence in our hearts and minds that does not belong.
Humbling ourselves and casting our anxieties on the Lord does not make us weak. In fact, it is what helps strengthen us to withstand the wiles of the evil one who is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. When we tell ourselves we need to try to do everything on our own and become overwhelmed with it all, it becomes too easy to lose our focus and take our eyes off God. Our pride makes us blind to Satan’s presence and weak to his attack, which is what he wants us to do.
Ridding ourselves of our pride and trusting the Holy Spirit takes practice. That is why Peter wrote that we should discipline ourselves and keep alert so that we will see Satan when he comes at us, recognize him for who he is and be able to resist him and stand firm in our faith, and send him packing.
Then Peter writes the most encouraging words yet: “for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.” My friends – we are all in the same boat, or should I say we are all fighting the same fight! Satan may use different tactics to try to get to us, but ultimately his goal is to turn us away from Jesus. This is the battle we are fighting, a spiritual battle and praise God, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we do not fight alone.
Now, saying we don’t fight alone can be taken in two different ways. On the one hand, it could mean that what we’re going through is the same as what someone else is going through. In this case, we are not alone because we are experiencing the battle alongside someone who is experiencing the same battle. That’s why small groups are important, why accountability groups are vital, so we know we are not alone, there is another person, likely several people, who are fighting the same battle or have done so.
In this scenario, we can draw strength from one another, compare notes and see what is working or what is not. We feel relief that “it’s not just me” anymore. There is a sense of fellowship, a lifeline in a stormy sea.
On the other hand, we can also know that we do not fight alone because we know the Holy Spirit is within us and he is helping us as we fight our battles. It is the Holy Spirit who strengthens us, guides us, restores us, and reminds us to wear the armor of God we talked about last week. The Holy Spirit never leaves us, so we are never alone.
Which way is best? Knowing that there is another person, or several people, experiencing the same fight and frustration as we are, or knowing that the Holy Spirit is always with us, so we are never alone? Both. We need both. We need the support of others, especially other believers, and we need the Holy Spirit at all times. We need to know we are not alone, and we need to know it on both levels.
Peter leaves us with a promise today, saying, “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”
Jesus said, “In this world you face persecution, but take courage: I have conquered the world!” We will face troubles, trials, and tribulations in this world, even as a Christian, maybe especially because we are Christian, but Jesus wants us to know that he has already conquered this world, so we will one day stand with him in victory. Peter is reminding us of this, telling us that we will suffer in this life, but after that, at the right time, God himself will restore, support, strengthen, and establish us as his, as members of his Kingdom.
I don’t know about you, but that is a promise I cling to, especially on the hardest days. With the help of my brothers and sisters in Christ, through the strength of the Holy Spirit, I am so grateful that God will bring me through all my hardships, and that one day, he will call me home to be with him forever in his heavenly kingdom. I pray you have found this promise, and it brings you hope and comfort and peace in troubled times.
Pastor Stephens, with whom we began this message, says, “As long as we keep a white-knuckle grip on our troubles, they remain ours. Peter encourages us to cast all our anxiety on the Lord because he cares for us. The Lord does care for us. The proof is that he sent his Son to die for us and then rise again so that forgiveness can be granted, relationship restored, and eternal life secured.
Peter closes his letter by giving credit to the One who makes and keeps his promises, the One who loves us beyond all measure, and the One who deserves all the honor and glory we can give him. He writes, “To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” Peter’s reminder is necessary for us because sometimes we forget because we are too busy trying to do everything in our own strength. May we never forget that we are all battle scarred and weary, that we all face challenges and attacks by the evil one, that he is the one we are fighting, and that we never fight any of these battles alone, but by the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. Praise God! AMEN.
PRAYER: Today, I want to offer part of a prayer that comes from Seedbed’s daily devotional “The Wake-Up Call” written by J. D. Walt:
“Come, Holy Spirit, transform our heart, mind, soul, and strength so that our consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father.” Lord, thank you for your presence, your strength, your willingness to fight our battles and the reminder that we are never alone because we have each other, and we have you. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84258/relaxing-our-grip-on-troubles-by-jerry-stephens
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY JUNE 2, 2024 CONTINUING A SERMON SERIES CALLED "IT'S A SPIRITUAL BATTLE AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "PUT ON GOD'S ARMOR".
June 2, 2024
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: Put on God’s Armor
Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power; 11 put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, 12 for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present[f] darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness 15 and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.
How many of us have a “dream home” pictured in our minds and our hearts? Some of us may already be living in our dream home, while for some of us it is still more of a dream than a home at this point.
For most, if not all of us, part of what makes a dream home our dream is the feeling of peace and security we get when we go there. We crave that sense of relief as we walk in the door or walk around the grounds, relief from the busy day, from work, from school, from problems of the world. So, we buy the house, we move in and begin to settle into that peace we were so happy to find, and then something happens.
Perhaps it’s the first big rain and you discover that the roof is leaking. Perhaps the season changes from the dryness of summer to the rains of fall and you discover the basement leaks. Or the septic backs up and a simple clean-out isn’t all that is needed to maintain the system. Or you discover that the front porch where you like to sit in the evenings has a foundation that is sagging due to rot in the floor joists.
Any number of issues might arise that can turn your sense of peace into a feeling that you are in a battle to save your home, your haven, your place of rest.
Now imagine a person who is seeking that sense of peace, and they finally realize it can only be found in Jesus Christ. He is the Prince of Peace, and he pours out his peace into his followers through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When we come to know Jesus, especially if we were seeking him for a long time before we found him, we are so greatly relieved at his promise to bring us peace – the peace that passes all understanding – that we think we can settle in and enjoy the rest of our lives, that we can take it easy, coast along with no worries. Then, just like the homeowner who discovers there are issues with the house, a Christian begins to realize that being a follower of Christ isn’t an automatic shift into a life of ease and comfort and prosperity.
Life as a Christian is a life of battle. We are always fighting – fighting against our human, sinful nature, fighting against the old habits that led us into sin, fighting against the world that tells us we are wrong for our beliefs, and intolerant in our obedience to the God’s word. We may even be fighting against the ones we love – those who don’t understand the change they see in us and don’t like that we are becoming a different person, a new person in Christ.
Everyday we are fighting, because Satan knows if he can wear us down from all this fighting, he may yet turn us away from Jesus, and that is always Satan’s goal. Our fights are not really against people, habits, or the desire to sin, even though that is what they look like. No, our battles are against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Our battles are against Satan, and he will use anything and everything he can as a weapon against us. He fights dirty. He fights to win. He’s fighting a battle, but he’s already lost the war.
Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord. He doesn’t mean go work out and build up our muscles, he doesn’t mean be strong in our own strength. Hear him again: “Be strong in the Lord.” On our own, we do not have the strength to fight these constant battles or ward off these constant attacks Satan and his minions lob at us, but in God we do, through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit. The actual translation of “be strong” really is “be made strong,” in the Lord, reminding us that God is the one making us strong – it isn’t anything we can do ourselves.
It is in this strength of God, the strength he pours into us through the Holy Spirit, that we can then take the next step which is to put on the whole armor of God. This armor is given to us to help us stand firm, stay strong, and withstand the onslaught. It is given to us with the assumption that by putting it on, we WILL prevail against Satan, we WILL ward off his attacks, and we WILL retain our faith and our strength in the Lord.
Paul goes on to list each piece of armor we have been given to put on. Notice that these pieces of armor are for protection, not for destruction. The physical battle is not for us to fight, that’s the war Jesus will win one day. We are fighting a spiritual battle, we need to not only protect ourselves against Satan, but we are also called to love our enemies and proclaim the gospel to them even when we are under attack.
I know, it sounds crazy to pray for the very ones we are fighting against, but remember, the ones we see are not the ones we are really fighting – they are simply being used and they need to hear the gospel, receive it, believe it, and be set free.
Paul writes, “Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth.” The first thing we need to remember is to always speak the truth, God’s truth. There are those who do not want to hear God’s truth because it convicts them in their spirit that they are not living as God would have them live. We see this all over our world today, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes of scrolling through social media or watching the evening news to see that this world has gone off the rails in how we are living. This has led to the breakdown of the family, which in turn leads to more immoral living, which in turn damages more families. It’s a vicious cycle, and Satan loves to sit back and watch it happen.
Speaking the truth must be done, but it must be done in love. If we speak truth, but harshly, we are ruining our witness; we risk turning people away from Jesus instead of toward him. God’s truth is not a weapon to be used to shame people, belittle them, or do harm. Truth is truth, but it must be presented in a way that encourages, teaches, and attracts, so that the gospel message will be heard. We must ask the Holy Spirit to help us in this, because it is so easy to get caught up in our being “right” that we lose sight of our mission – pointing people to Christ.
Next, we put on the breastplate of righteousness to guard our hearts. Everyday we are bombarded with ideas and concepts proposed by other people, many of whom don’t know Christ. That doesn’t automatically mean those concepts or ideas are wrong or bad, but we need to guard our hearts so that we do not become enamored with something that will lead us astray.
Those who do not wear the breastplate may find that they are chasing after one fad after another, each one sounding better than the last, more exciting, glamorous, more, more, more. With the power of the Holy Spirit, we can learn to be content with what we have. I know that Madison Avenue doesn’t want us to believe this, but we don’t always need the newest, the best, the shiniest “thing.” We don’t need to pursue the newest fad, we need to focus on God, on our relationship with him, putting our spiritual disciplines into practice, and becoming more like Jesus.
Pastor Richard Carlson says that putting on the breastplate of righteousness helps us recall that we are a new person in Christ, “created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” When we allow the Holy Spirit to corral our desire to chase the latest fad, to calm our hearts and focus on Christ, to know we have been made new, to help us live a life that is holy to God, others will look at us and see Jesus. That is the goal – to point others to Jesus via the gospel so they might be saved as we have been saved. But remember the righteousness of this breast plate comes not from us, but from the Holy Spirit who lives within us, sanctifying us and making us into the person God’s planned for us to be.
We dare not leave our house without lacing up our shoes of peace. How do we know true peace without knowing Jesus as our Savior? When most people think of peace, they define it as the absence of fighting or war. The peace of Christ, given to all believers and maintained within us by the Holy Spirit, means that even in the midst of conflict we have the peace of knowing that we will be okay in the end.
Why is peace symbolized as shoes? Because in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” We can’t hang out at home and share the gospel with people, at least not usually. We have to get out and go, just as Jesus said, and for most of us that means lacing up our shoes or putting on our flip flops to help us walk better and further.
We are commanded to “go” to the people who need to hear the gospel. If Satan can keep us confined in our homes, separated from others, isolated from our community, he thinks he can stop the spread of the gospel. We cannot let him do that. So, we will put on our shoes, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will go to where God will send us – down the street, up the road, across town, or around the globe – anywhere God sends us, we will go and in all those places and spaces, we will proclaim the word of God.
Before you walk out the door, make sure you take with you your shield of faith to fend off the flaming arrows of the evil one. We carry an umbrella when it looks like it will rain so that if we get caught in a shower, we can protect ourselves from the raindrops, keeping us from getting wet. The shield of faith works in the same way, giving us cover and deflecting whatever the evil one throws at us. The shield is an impenetrable barrier, so that when those arrows, which are temptations, come flying at us, they will bounce off the shield and fall to the ground where we can then trample them under our feet.
The helmet of salvation covers our heads to protect us from the wayward thoughts that Satan tries to throw at us, causing chaos and confusion. If we can keep him out of our heads and out of our hearts, then we can win this battle, but again, we wear the helmet and we carry the shield, but it is the Holy Spirit who makes them impervious to the evil plans of Satan. On our own, we might lay down the shield and forget where we put it, then when we need it, we can’t find it. We might take off the helmet, so our hair doesn’t get messed up and while we are making sure we look good on the outside, Satan is filling our heads with wayward thoughts. The Holy Spirit makes sure the shield and the helmet are always in place and ready to protect us.
The last piece of our armor is the sword of the Spirit. This is the weapon that so many point out is the only offensive weapon in the wardrobe, but I believe it is as much a defensive weapon as any of the others. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, our scriptures. Remember when Jesus was being tempted in the desert, what every one of his responses to Satan’s offers was?
It was scripture. Jesus used the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, to counter Satan’s evil offers. He didn’t pound out verse by verse before Satan could speak, he pointed out what God said as an answer that refuted all of Satan’s temptations. That, my friends, is a defensive weapon. If we try to use the sword of the Spirit offensively, then we may well become offensive to the ones who need to hear the word the most. That brings us right back to the belt of truth – speaking God’s truth but doing so in love.
Each and every one of the pieces of God’s armor serves a specific purpose to defend us against the battles we have to fight as a Christian. Each one has its own place and purpose, yet each one works in sync with all the others, too, and each one is put into place and orchestrated and used by the Holy Spirit on our behalf. But there is one more weapon that is often overlooked.
This weapon is vital to the overall mission of defeating Satan and bringing others to a saving faith in Christ, and it is the one weapon that we, as believers, are called to use more often than any others. In fact, all the weapons should be used every day, but this weapon should be used multiple times every day. I am talking about prayer. In verse 18, Paul writes, “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.” Prayer is the most important weapon we have, and we should be using it constantly.
Our prayers should be prayed in the Spirit, knowing that the Holy Spirt lifts our prayers to God for us, even when we cannot form the words for ourselves. It is through prayer that we are reminded that we are trusting in God to care for us and others, that we are relying on him and not on ourselves, and that through his adoption of all those who are believers, we are interconnected with all the saints – past, present, and future – which reminds us that no matter what battle we are fighting, we are not alone.
When our dream home begins to have issues, we gather our weapons, our tools, and we fight against the leaks, the rot, the decay, in order to keep our house safe and secure, for us and our family. When we go out into the world, a world where Satan and his underlings are lurking around, trying to bring us down in whatever way they can, we put on our battle gear and get ready to fight the good fight, by protecting ourselves against the wiles of the devil, against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And we do so in the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit.
Go boldly, trusting in your armor, knowing that Satan may try to engage us in a battle, but Jesus will win the war. Praise God! AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, you call us to live in this world where there are forces all around who want to cause us harm by turning us away from you. Thank you for giving us the power of your protection, for giving us the Holy Spirit, whose strength and whose armor will help us not only persevere but be victorious. And thank you for reminding us that prayer becomes a weapon for good when we pray to you in the Holy Spirit, speaking your truth at all times, with an attitude of love. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-21-2/commentary-on-ephesians-610-20-6
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: Put on God’s Armor
Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power; 11 put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, 12 for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present[f] darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness 15 and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.
How many of us have a “dream home” pictured in our minds and our hearts? Some of us may already be living in our dream home, while for some of us it is still more of a dream than a home at this point.
For most, if not all of us, part of what makes a dream home our dream is the feeling of peace and security we get when we go there. We crave that sense of relief as we walk in the door or walk around the grounds, relief from the busy day, from work, from school, from problems of the world. So, we buy the house, we move in and begin to settle into that peace we were so happy to find, and then something happens.
Perhaps it’s the first big rain and you discover that the roof is leaking. Perhaps the season changes from the dryness of summer to the rains of fall and you discover the basement leaks. Or the septic backs up and a simple clean-out isn’t all that is needed to maintain the system. Or you discover that the front porch where you like to sit in the evenings has a foundation that is sagging due to rot in the floor joists.
Any number of issues might arise that can turn your sense of peace into a feeling that you are in a battle to save your home, your haven, your place of rest.
Now imagine a person who is seeking that sense of peace, and they finally realize it can only be found in Jesus Christ. He is the Prince of Peace, and he pours out his peace into his followers through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When we come to know Jesus, especially if we were seeking him for a long time before we found him, we are so greatly relieved at his promise to bring us peace – the peace that passes all understanding – that we think we can settle in and enjoy the rest of our lives, that we can take it easy, coast along with no worries. Then, just like the homeowner who discovers there are issues with the house, a Christian begins to realize that being a follower of Christ isn’t an automatic shift into a life of ease and comfort and prosperity.
Life as a Christian is a life of battle. We are always fighting – fighting against our human, sinful nature, fighting against the old habits that led us into sin, fighting against the world that tells us we are wrong for our beliefs, and intolerant in our obedience to the God’s word. We may even be fighting against the ones we love – those who don’t understand the change they see in us and don’t like that we are becoming a different person, a new person in Christ.
Everyday we are fighting, because Satan knows if he can wear us down from all this fighting, he may yet turn us away from Jesus, and that is always Satan’s goal. Our fights are not really against people, habits, or the desire to sin, even though that is what they look like. No, our battles are against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Our battles are against Satan, and he will use anything and everything he can as a weapon against us. He fights dirty. He fights to win. He’s fighting a battle, but he’s already lost the war.
Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord. He doesn’t mean go work out and build up our muscles, he doesn’t mean be strong in our own strength. Hear him again: “Be strong in the Lord.” On our own, we do not have the strength to fight these constant battles or ward off these constant attacks Satan and his minions lob at us, but in God we do, through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit. The actual translation of “be strong” really is “be made strong,” in the Lord, reminding us that God is the one making us strong – it isn’t anything we can do ourselves.
It is in this strength of God, the strength he pours into us through the Holy Spirit, that we can then take the next step which is to put on the whole armor of God. This armor is given to us to help us stand firm, stay strong, and withstand the onslaught. It is given to us with the assumption that by putting it on, we WILL prevail against Satan, we WILL ward off his attacks, and we WILL retain our faith and our strength in the Lord.
Paul goes on to list each piece of armor we have been given to put on. Notice that these pieces of armor are for protection, not for destruction. The physical battle is not for us to fight, that’s the war Jesus will win one day. We are fighting a spiritual battle, we need to not only protect ourselves against Satan, but we are also called to love our enemies and proclaim the gospel to them even when we are under attack.
I know, it sounds crazy to pray for the very ones we are fighting against, but remember, the ones we see are not the ones we are really fighting – they are simply being used and they need to hear the gospel, receive it, believe it, and be set free.
Paul writes, “Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth.” The first thing we need to remember is to always speak the truth, God’s truth. There are those who do not want to hear God’s truth because it convicts them in their spirit that they are not living as God would have them live. We see this all over our world today, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes of scrolling through social media or watching the evening news to see that this world has gone off the rails in how we are living. This has led to the breakdown of the family, which in turn leads to more immoral living, which in turn damages more families. It’s a vicious cycle, and Satan loves to sit back and watch it happen.
Speaking the truth must be done, but it must be done in love. If we speak truth, but harshly, we are ruining our witness; we risk turning people away from Jesus instead of toward him. God’s truth is not a weapon to be used to shame people, belittle them, or do harm. Truth is truth, but it must be presented in a way that encourages, teaches, and attracts, so that the gospel message will be heard. We must ask the Holy Spirit to help us in this, because it is so easy to get caught up in our being “right” that we lose sight of our mission – pointing people to Christ.
Next, we put on the breastplate of righteousness to guard our hearts. Everyday we are bombarded with ideas and concepts proposed by other people, many of whom don’t know Christ. That doesn’t automatically mean those concepts or ideas are wrong or bad, but we need to guard our hearts so that we do not become enamored with something that will lead us astray.
Those who do not wear the breastplate may find that they are chasing after one fad after another, each one sounding better than the last, more exciting, glamorous, more, more, more. With the power of the Holy Spirit, we can learn to be content with what we have. I know that Madison Avenue doesn’t want us to believe this, but we don’t always need the newest, the best, the shiniest “thing.” We don’t need to pursue the newest fad, we need to focus on God, on our relationship with him, putting our spiritual disciplines into practice, and becoming more like Jesus.
Pastor Richard Carlson says that putting on the breastplate of righteousness helps us recall that we are a new person in Christ, “created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” When we allow the Holy Spirit to corral our desire to chase the latest fad, to calm our hearts and focus on Christ, to know we have been made new, to help us live a life that is holy to God, others will look at us and see Jesus. That is the goal – to point others to Jesus via the gospel so they might be saved as we have been saved. But remember the righteousness of this breast plate comes not from us, but from the Holy Spirit who lives within us, sanctifying us and making us into the person God’s planned for us to be.
We dare not leave our house without lacing up our shoes of peace. How do we know true peace without knowing Jesus as our Savior? When most people think of peace, they define it as the absence of fighting or war. The peace of Christ, given to all believers and maintained within us by the Holy Spirit, means that even in the midst of conflict we have the peace of knowing that we will be okay in the end.
Why is peace symbolized as shoes? Because in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” We can’t hang out at home and share the gospel with people, at least not usually. We have to get out and go, just as Jesus said, and for most of us that means lacing up our shoes or putting on our flip flops to help us walk better and further.
We are commanded to “go” to the people who need to hear the gospel. If Satan can keep us confined in our homes, separated from others, isolated from our community, he thinks he can stop the spread of the gospel. We cannot let him do that. So, we will put on our shoes, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will go to where God will send us – down the street, up the road, across town, or around the globe – anywhere God sends us, we will go and in all those places and spaces, we will proclaim the word of God.
Before you walk out the door, make sure you take with you your shield of faith to fend off the flaming arrows of the evil one. We carry an umbrella when it looks like it will rain so that if we get caught in a shower, we can protect ourselves from the raindrops, keeping us from getting wet. The shield of faith works in the same way, giving us cover and deflecting whatever the evil one throws at us. The shield is an impenetrable barrier, so that when those arrows, which are temptations, come flying at us, they will bounce off the shield and fall to the ground where we can then trample them under our feet.
The helmet of salvation covers our heads to protect us from the wayward thoughts that Satan tries to throw at us, causing chaos and confusion. If we can keep him out of our heads and out of our hearts, then we can win this battle, but again, we wear the helmet and we carry the shield, but it is the Holy Spirit who makes them impervious to the evil plans of Satan. On our own, we might lay down the shield and forget where we put it, then when we need it, we can’t find it. We might take off the helmet, so our hair doesn’t get messed up and while we are making sure we look good on the outside, Satan is filling our heads with wayward thoughts. The Holy Spirit makes sure the shield and the helmet are always in place and ready to protect us.
The last piece of our armor is the sword of the Spirit. This is the weapon that so many point out is the only offensive weapon in the wardrobe, but I believe it is as much a defensive weapon as any of the others. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, our scriptures. Remember when Jesus was being tempted in the desert, what every one of his responses to Satan’s offers was?
It was scripture. Jesus used the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, to counter Satan’s evil offers. He didn’t pound out verse by verse before Satan could speak, he pointed out what God said as an answer that refuted all of Satan’s temptations. That, my friends, is a defensive weapon. If we try to use the sword of the Spirit offensively, then we may well become offensive to the ones who need to hear the word the most. That brings us right back to the belt of truth – speaking God’s truth but doing so in love.
Each and every one of the pieces of God’s armor serves a specific purpose to defend us against the battles we have to fight as a Christian. Each one has its own place and purpose, yet each one works in sync with all the others, too, and each one is put into place and orchestrated and used by the Holy Spirit on our behalf. But there is one more weapon that is often overlooked.
This weapon is vital to the overall mission of defeating Satan and bringing others to a saving faith in Christ, and it is the one weapon that we, as believers, are called to use more often than any others. In fact, all the weapons should be used every day, but this weapon should be used multiple times every day. I am talking about prayer. In verse 18, Paul writes, “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.” Prayer is the most important weapon we have, and we should be using it constantly.
Our prayers should be prayed in the Spirit, knowing that the Holy Spirt lifts our prayers to God for us, even when we cannot form the words for ourselves. It is through prayer that we are reminded that we are trusting in God to care for us and others, that we are relying on him and not on ourselves, and that through his adoption of all those who are believers, we are interconnected with all the saints – past, present, and future – which reminds us that no matter what battle we are fighting, we are not alone.
When our dream home begins to have issues, we gather our weapons, our tools, and we fight against the leaks, the rot, the decay, in order to keep our house safe and secure, for us and our family. When we go out into the world, a world where Satan and his underlings are lurking around, trying to bring us down in whatever way they can, we put on our battle gear and get ready to fight the good fight, by protecting ourselves against the wiles of the devil, against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And we do so in the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit.
Go boldly, trusting in your armor, knowing that Satan may try to engage us in a battle, but Jesus will win the war. Praise God! AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, you call us to live in this world where there are forces all around who want to cause us harm by turning us away from you. Thank you for giving us the power of your protection, for giving us the Holy Spirit, whose strength and whose armor will help us not only persevere but be victorious. And thank you for reminding us that prayer becomes a weapon for good when we pray to you in the Holy Spirit, speaking your truth at all times, with an attitude of love. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-21-2/commentary-on-ephesians-610-20-6
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY MAY 26, 2024 containing A NEW SERMON SERIES CALLED "IT'S A SPIRITUAL BATTLE AND THE MESSAGE TODAY WAS TITLED "WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD".
May 26, 2024
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: We Are Children of God
Scripture: Romans 8:12-17
So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Do you remember the story of Little Orphan Annie? In a campaign to elevate his image, Oliver Warbucks instructed his personal assistant to bring an orphan into his home for a week. The plan was to get press coverage of how “generous” he was and so the public would approve of him. He was expecting a young boy, one who would come in and really stay out of sight, quietly existing in the big mansion, but not really disrupting Oliver’s life or routine.
Oliver’s secretary, Grace Farrell, is tasked with finding this orphan and bringing him into the household, but when she goes to the orphanage, things don’t necessarily go as planned. This orphanage is for girls and is run by a shady shyster who cleans up most of the girls and lines them up for Miss Farrell to choose whom she pleases. Annie is not in the line-up.
As she is looking over the girls, Grace spots Annie and instantly wants her. Miss Hannigan doesn’t understand, why her, why this unruly child, when she could have her pick of any of the others? But Grace is firm, and Annie goes to stay with Oliver for a week, which turns into a forever home.
I love the Annie musical movie. I’ve seen it several times, but as I was reading this week’s scripture, I suddenly realized that we are all a little bit like Annie. Oh, we aren’t orphans, and we are mostly cleaned up – on the outside – but let’s not fool ourselves, we could all use some work on the inside.
Yet God, chose us anyway. God saw us, really saw us as we are, not neat and tidy with our acts together and our ducks in a row, but he saw us messy and messed up, down and dirty, and he chose us. He chose us and adopted us into his family. He didn’t have to do that – he WANTED to do it! Let’s look at our scripture again and ponder this amazing fact for a bit.
Chapter 8 of Paul’s letter to the Romans is all about living in the Spirit. As we read this chapter, we learn that if we are in Christ Jesus, we are no longer condemned for our sins, because Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. Because of this work of Jesus Christ for us and in us, we now walk in the Spirit instead of in the flesh.
If we back up one verse before today’s reading, Paul writes, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”
When we confess belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and believe that God raised him from the dead, then, as a follower of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are no longer obligated to the flesh, or the world. We no longer live to the flesh, and we will not die by the flesh, because we have God’s Spirit living in us. When we die, we will be raised to life, just as God raised Jesus to life. He chose us; he adopted us, and now we are part of his family, we have been given the right to be called a child of God.
It is by this adoption that we are able to call out to God, saying, “Abba! Father,” because the Spirit that lives in us testifies on behalf of our spirit that we are his, because he chose us, and we answered “Yes” to his call.
Paul really emphasizes this in his letter to the Romans, because he needs them to hear this and take it to heart. We also need to hear this and take it to heart. Paul isn’t teaching this just to show how smart he is or to pass the time, he knows there is a spiritual battle being waged and he wants those early Christians, and all Christians who come after, to be prepared so they can fight the good fight. It’s also important that we all know we don’t fight this battle on our own or in our own strength. That is why Paul says that if we live by the flesh we will die, but if we live by the Spirit, we will live.
Our flesh is weak. This body is a shell of what we are meant to be. In Paul’s day, Christians were being persecuted and martyred for their faith. I’m sure there were many who were asking if this Jesus thing was worth it. Was he worth giving up their livelihood? How were they going to provide for their family? Was he worth giving up their home? Where would they live? Was he worth giving up their lives, worth facing death in horrific ways?
Paul’s answer was, and is, YES!. Jesus is worth that and more. But how convincing is that if we are fighting a battle that is beyond our capabilities? How could any of the early Christians fight against the Roman army? Against the emperor who ordered their death for sport?
Paul wanted those folks to know that they weren’t fighting the battle alone. He was reminding them that they had been chosen by God, adopted into his family through belief in Jesus Christ his Son, and now had the power of the Holy Spirit within them. That is why Paul wrote, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
Paul isn’t telling his readers that being a follower of Christ is a get out of jail free card where nothing bad will ever happen to them again. He makes no promise that becoming a Christian means prosperity, wealth, and happiness. He wasn’t telling his Roman Christians that following Jesus would save them from being fed to the lions. They knew that wasn’t what he meant – they were seeing some of their fellow Christians suffering and dying for their faith.
Empty promises and lies would have never worked to strengthen the resolve of people who were truly suffering. In fact, Paul is pretty honest about the hard life that a Christian can expect to have, “if we in fact suffer with him,” he writes, knowing they were already suffering but wanting to offer hope where hope was fading fast. “If we in fact suffer with him,” reminded the readers of his letter just what Christ had been through when he lived on earth.
Christ suffered when he lived in this world. He grew up poor, his entire ministry was as an itinerant preacher with no place to lay his head. He lived day-to-day with a bunch of guys and a few women who followed him wherever he went but didn’t really understand what he was trying to teach them.
He suffered loss and he grieved that loss; he wept. He felt pain, the pain of betrayal and physical pain. When he was arrested, his followers all deserted him, the soldiers beat him with their fists, and they whipped him within an ich of his life. They crushed a crown of thorns onto his brow, causing deep gouges and opening additional wounds, and then they nailed him to a cross where he died. Christ suffered. His followers will know suffering. Paul is very clear on that.
So, how does one endure this suffering for Christ? It is through the strength and power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, that’s how. If we live according to the flesh, we will die. Jesus himself said this in Matthew 10:39, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it,” If what we have now, in this world, is more important than our relationship with God, a relationship through the work of Jesus and nurtured through the Holy Spirit, then we can have it – but that is a battle already lost, for if we cling to this life, this world, this “stuff” we think is so important, we will lose our lives forever.
There is more to Jesus’ words in Matthew, though. He says, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” Paul puts it that if we live by the Spirit we will live. When we surrender everything in this life to Jesus, allow God to adopt us into his family, the Holy Spirit will dwell in us, give us power and strength, and fight our battles for us.
That doesn’t mean life will always be easy, but it does mean we will win in the end, because remember Paul wrote that if we suffer with Christ we will be glorified with Christ. Not because we deserve it, not because we earned it, but simply because God loves us and chose us, and we said “Yes” to his calling.
My friends, we live in a world that is not much different from the world in the time when Paul lived and wrote to the Roman Church. This world is still full of sin and evil, people still die for their faith, even in this day and age. That is why Paul’s words are still vital to the Church; we still need to know who we are. We still need to know whose we are. We still need to know that there is a battle going on all around us at all times.
Satan doesn’t want us to know that the power of the Holy Spirit lives within us because if he can fool us into thinking we are alone, he can entice us to give in to sin. But when we know that we belong to God and his Spirit IS in us, then we know we are no longer of this world, and we can be strong in the Spirit because it is the Spirit who gives us strength and the power to resist sin and evil.
We may end up battle scarred and weary at times, but here’s the good news – We win in the end because God wins in the end and just knowing that will help us carry on.
Today is Trinity Sunday on the church calendar, the day when we wrestle with the concept of One God in three beings. It’s a concept that can be hard to wrap our heads around but here is what we need to know on this day – we serve One God and our God is a Father who loves us, a Son who sacrificed for us, and a Spirit who fills us with strength and power to do all things – three jobs, One God – Creator, Savior, Sustainer, that’s our God.
Once we were orphans, ragged and dirty, but our God saw us and chose us. He called us by name and when we said “yes.” He made us his and came to dwell within us as the Holy Spirit, giving us his strength, his courage, his power, to fight against all the spiritual forces that assault us at every turn. And know this, our battles are purely spiritual – even when they look like other people, when they look like health concerns, job worries, broken relationships. Satan will use any and all circumstances to try to knock us off the narrow path that leads to the narrow gate of salvation. But here is our battle cry – Not today, Satan, this battle belongs to the Holy Spirit, and he will fight for me, and he will win.
Praise God the Father, Praise God the Son, and Praise God the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, three in one, we have battle scars. We are weary. We are weak. But that is us without you. With you we are strong, we are powerful, we are ready to go on. Thank you for choosing us when we were still unfit and loving us enough to make us one of your children, a member of your family. Lord, help us to put you above everything in this world, help us to give up our lives here so that we may have true life in you through the work of your Spirit who lives and dwells in us, today and always. AMEN.
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: We Are Children of God
Scripture: Romans 8:12-17
So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Do you remember the story of Little Orphan Annie? In a campaign to elevate his image, Oliver Warbucks instructed his personal assistant to bring an orphan into his home for a week. The plan was to get press coverage of how “generous” he was and so the public would approve of him. He was expecting a young boy, one who would come in and really stay out of sight, quietly existing in the big mansion, but not really disrupting Oliver’s life or routine.
Oliver’s secretary, Grace Farrell, is tasked with finding this orphan and bringing him into the household, but when she goes to the orphanage, things don’t necessarily go as planned. This orphanage is for girls and is run by a shady shyster who cleans up most of the girls and lines them up for Miss Farrell to choose whom she pleases. Annie is not in the line-up.
As she is looking over the girls, Grace spots Annie and instantly wants her. Miss Hannigan doesn’t understand, why her, why this unruly child, when she could have her pick of any of the others? But Grace is firm, and Annie goes to stay with Oliver for a week, which turns into a forever home.
I love the Annie musical movie. I’ve seen it several times, but as I was reading this week’s scripture, I suddenly realized that we are all a little bit like Annie. Oh, we aren’t orphans, and we are mostly cleaned up – on the outside – but let’s not fool ourselves, we could all use some work on the inside.
Yet God, chose us anyway. God saw us, really saw us as we are, not neat and tidy with our acts together and our ducks in a row, but he saw us messy and messed up, down and dirty, and he chose us. He chose us and adopted us into his family. He didn’t have to do that – he WANTED to do it! Let’s look at our scripture again and ponder this amazing fact for a bit.
Chapter 8 of Paul’s letter to the Romans is all about living in the Spirit. As we read this chapter, we learn that if we are in Christ Jesus, we are no longer condemned for our sins, because Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. Because of this work of Jesus Christ for us and in us, we now walk in the Spirit instead of in the flesh.
If we back up one verse before today’s reading, Paul writes, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”
When we confess belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and believe that God raised him from the dead, then, as a follower of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are no longer obligated to the flesh, or the world. We no longer live to the flesh, and we will not die by the flesh, because we have God’s Spirit living in us. When we die, we will be raised to life, just as God raised Jesus to life. He chose us; he adopted us, and now we are part of his family, we have been given the right to be called a child of God.
It is by this adoption that we are able to call out to God, saying, “Abba! Father,” because the Spirit that lives in us testifies on behalf of our spirit that we are his, because he chose us, and we answered “Yes” to his call.
Paul really emphasizes this in his letter to the Romans, because he needs them to hear this and take it to heart. We also need to hear this and take it to heart. Paul isn’t teaching this just to show how smart he is or to pass the time, he knows there is a spiritual battle being waged and he wants those early Christians, and all Christians who come after, to be prepared so they can fight the good fight. It’s also important that we all know we don’t fight this battle on our own or in our own strength. That is why Paul says that if we live by the flesh we will die, but if we live by the Spirit, we will live.
Our flesh is weak. This body is a shell of what we are meant to be. In Paul’s day, Christians were being persecuted and martyred for their faith. I’m sure there were many who were asking if this Jesus thing was worth it. Was he worth giving up their livelihood? How were they going to provide for their family? Was he worth giving up their home? Where would they live? Was he worth giving up their lives, worth facing death in horrific ways?
Paul’s answer was, and is, YES!. Jesus is worth that and more. But how convincing is that if we are fighting a battle that is beyond our capabilities? How could any of the early Christians fight against the Roman army? Against the emperor who ordered their death for sport?
Paul wanted those folks to know that they weren’t fighting the battle alone. He was reminding them that they had been chosen by God, adopted into his family through belief in Jesus Christ his Son, and now had the power of the Holy Spirit within them. That is why Paul wrote, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
Paul isn’t telling his readers that being a follower of Christ is a get out of jail free card where nothing bad will ever happen to them again. He makes no promise that becoming a Christian means prosperity, wealth, and happiness. He wasn’t telling his Roman Christians that following Jesus would save them from being fed to the lions. They knew that wasn’t what he meant – they were seeing some of their fellow Christians suffering and dying for their faith.
Empty promises and lies would have never worked to strengthen the resolve of people who were truly suffering. In fact, Paul is pretty honest about the hard life that a Christian can expect to have, “if we in fact suffer with him,” he writes, knowing they were already suffering but wanting to offer hope where hope was fading fast. “If we in fact suffer with him,” reminded the readers of his letter just what Christ had been through when he lived on earth.
Christ suffered when he lived in this world. He grew up poor, his entire ministry was as an itinerant preacher with no place to lay his head. He lived day-to-day with a bunch of guys and a few women who followed him wherever he went but didn’t really understand what he was trying to teach them.
He suffered loss and he grieved that loss; he wept. He felt pain, the pain of betrayal and physical pain. When he was arrested, his followers all deserted him, the soldiers beat him with their fists, and they whipped him within an ich of his life. They crushed a crown of thorns onto his brow, causing deep gouges and opening additional wounds, and then they nailed him to a cross where he died. Christ suffered. His followers will know suffering. Paul is very clear on that.
So, how does one endure this suffering for Christ? It is through the strength and power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, that’s how. If we live according to the flesh, we will die. Jesus himself said this in Matthew 10:39, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it,” If what we have now, in this world, is more important than our relationship with God, a relationship through the work of Jesus and nurtured through the Holy Spirit, then we can have it – but that is a battle already lost, for if we cling to this life, this world, this “stuff” we think is so important, we will lose our lives forever.
There is more to Jesus’ words in Matthew, though. He says, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” Paul puts it that if we live by the Spirit we will live. When we surrender everything in this life to Jesus, allow God to adopt us into his family, the Holy Spirit will dwell in us, give us power and strength, and fight our battles for us.
That doesn’t mean life will always be easy, but it does mean we will win in the end, because remember Paul wrote that if we suffer with Christ we will be glorified with Christ. Not because we deserve it, not because we earned it, but simply because God loves us and chose us, and we said “Yes” to his calling.
My friends, we live in a world that is not much different from the world in the time when Paul lived and wrote to the Roman Church. This world is still full of sin and evil, people still die for their faith, even in this day and age. That is why Paul’s words are still vital to the Church; we still need to know who we are. We still need to know whose we are. We still need to know that there is a battle going on all around us at all times.
Satan doesn’t want us to know that the power of the Holy Spirit lives within us because if he can fool us into thinking we are alone, he can entice us to give in to sin. But when we know that we belong to God and his Spirit IS in us, then we know we are no longer of this world, and we can be strong in the Spirit because it is the Spirit who gives us strength and the power to resist sin and evil.
We may end up battle scarred and weary at times, but here’s the good news – We win in the end because God wins in the end and just knowing that will help us carry on.
Today is Trinity Sunday on the church calendar, the day when we wrestle with the concept of One God in three beings. It’s a concept that can be hard to wrap our heads around but here is what we need to know on this day – we serve One God and our God is a Father who loves us, a Son who sacrificed for us, and a Spirit who fills us with strength and power to do all things – three jobs, One God – Creator, Savior, Sustainer, that’s our God.
Once we were orphans, ragged and dirty, but our God saw us and chose us. He called us by name and when we said “yes.” He made us his and came to dwell within us as the Holy Spirit, giving us his strength, his courage, his power, to fight against all the spiritual forces that assault us at every turn. And know this, our battles are purely spiritual – even when they look like other people, when they look like health concerns, job worries, broken relationships. Satan will use any and all circumstances to try to knock us off the narrow path that leads to the narrow gate of salvation. But here is our battle cry – Not today, Satan, this battle belongs to the Holy Spirit, and he will fight for me, and he will win.
Praise God the Father, Praise God the Son, and Praise God the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, three in one, we have battle scars. We are weary. We are weak. But that is us without you. With you we are strong, we are powerful, we are ready to go on. Thank you for choosing us when we were still unfit and loving us enough to make us one of your children, a member of your family. Lord, help us to put you above everything in this world, help us to give up our lives here so that we may have true life in you through the work of your Spirit who lives and dwells in us, today and always. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY MAY 19, 2024 beginning a new SERMON SERIES CALLED "It's a spiritual battle AND THE MESSAGE TODAY was TITLED "The day of pentecost".
May 19, 2024 Pentecost
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: The Day of Pentecost
Scripture: Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Pentecost – what is it and why does it matter? Pentecost was celebrated by the Jewish people. It was 50 days after Passover and celebrated during the Feast of Weeks. This was what the disciples were celebrating that day mentioned in our scripture reading. This is why Jerusalem was filled with so many people, Jews from all over the world had come to Jerusalem, as the Law commanded them, to celebrate Pentecost.
It was on this day, as the disciples were gathered in the upper room, celebrating Pentecost, that the power of the Holy Spirit came rushing in upon them. This was not a gentle breeze, but a roaring, violent wind, and it came and filled the entire house where they were. The wind brought with it divided tongues, as of fire, and a tongue of that fire came and rested upon the head of each of the disciples, filling them all with the Holy Spirit, giving them the ability to each speak in a language he had not spoken before.
The power of Holy Spirit compelled the disciples out into the streets where the crowds were rushing to see what the commotion was all about, and they all heard the gospel, spoken by these uneducated men, each hearing the words in his or her own language, everyone understanding what was being said.
Can you imagine being in that crowd that day? It must have felt like chaos with people crowding around to hear better, each pushing their way closer to the men who were speaking a message they wanted to hear. Some were filled with excitement. Some were filled with fear. Some were even filled with contempt, accusing the disciples of being drunk.
But they were not drunk, they were filled, filled with the Holy Spirit. They could feel him inside themselves, fueling them with energy, power, and boldness like never before. Peter, the one who was so good at speaking up and putting his foot in his mouth stepped forward and gave an impromptu sermon, the Spirit giving him the words to say, and when he had preached his message, about 3,000 people became believers.
My friends, Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. Before the Holy Spirit descended that day, there were about 120 believers who worshiped together and celebrated what God had done through Jesus. That day, the 120 became over 3,000. That is incredible. That is the God we serve.
Our God created the heavens and the earth, everything seen and unseen. Our God became human in Jesus Christ and died for our sins, paying our debt for us. Our God defeated death and rose from the grave to give us the gift of eternal life. Our God roared into a locked room like a violent wind, bringing the power of fire through the Holy Spirit so that the gospel would be spoken, heard, believed, and spread throughout the world from that day until the day Jesus comes again.
Aren’t we glad this is the God we serve, not just on Pentecost, but every single day? Happy Birthday, Church! Thanks be to God. AMEN.
Series: It’s a Spiritual Battle
Message: The Day of Pentecost
Scripture: Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Pentecost – what is it and why does it matter? Pentecost was celebrated by the Jewish people. It was 50 days after Passover and celebrated during the Feast of Weeks. This was what the disciples were celebrating that day mentioned in our scripture reading. This is why Jerusalem was filled with so many people, Jews from all over the world had come to Jerusalem, as the Law commanded them, to celebrate Pentecost.
It was on this day, as the disciples were gathered in the upper room, celebrating Pentecost, that the power of the Holy Spirit came rushing in upon them. This was not a gentle breeze, but a roaring, violent wind, and it came and filled the entire house where they were. The wind brought with it divided tongues, as of fire, and a tongue of that fire came and rested upon the head of each of the disciples, filling them all with the Holy Spirit, giving them the ability to each speak in a language he had not spoken before.
The power of Holy Spirit compelled the disciples out into the streets where the crowds were rushing to see what the commotion was all about, and they all heard the gospel, spoken by these uneducated men, each hearing the words in his or her own language, everyone understanding what was being said.
Can you imagine being in that crowd that day? It must have felt like chaos with people crowding around to hear better, each pushing their way closer to the men who were speaking a message they wanted to hear. Some were filled with excitement. Some were filled with fear. Some were even filled with contempt, accusing the disciples of being drunk.
But they were not drunk, they were filled, filled with the Holy Spirit. They could feel him inside themselves, fueling them with energy, power, and boldness like never before. Peter, the one who was so good at speaking up and putting his foot in his mouth stepped forward and gave an impromptu sermon, the Spirit giving him the words to say, and when he had preached his message, about 3,000 people became believers.
My friends, Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. Before the Holy Spirit descended that day, there were about 120 believers who worshiped together and celebrated what God had done through Jesus. That day, the 120 became over 3,000. That is incredible. That is the God we serve.
Our God created the heavens and the earth, everything seen and unseen. Our God became human in Jesus Christ and died for our sins, paying our debt for us. Our God defeated death and rose from the grave to give us the gift of eternal life. Our God roared into a locked room like a violent wind, bringing the power of fire through the Holy Spirit so that the gospel would be spoken, heard, believed, and spread throughout the world from that day until the day Jesus comes again.
Aren’t we glad this is the God we serve, not just on Pentecost, but every single day? Happy Birthday, Church! Thanks be to God. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY MAY 12, 2024 COMPLETING THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "CHRIST IS RESEN! NOW WHAT?" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY IS TITLED "KNOW THAT JESUS IS LIFE".
May 12, 2024
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know That Jesus is Life
Scripture: 1 John 5:1-5, 11-12
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5 Who is it who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
I was thinking the other day about all the times we have to show proof of who we are to someone to get something we want or need. Have you tried to get a new driver’s license lately, especially the one that will let you get on an airplane or into a federal building? If you are a woman who has been married, you need your birth certificate, your current driver’s license, and your marriage certificate proving why your last name is different from the one on your birth certificate.
If you have been married more than once, you also have to produce the correct documents to show that the previous marriage has ended, either by divorce or death, and show all the subsequent marriage certificates. All of this just to prove we are who we say we are. Then, there are all the times we have to use that driver’s license to keep proving we are who we say we are. Whenever we go to vote, when we board an airplane, when we get insurance for our car, when we open a new credit card, we have to prove who we are again, the list is almost endless.
It seems we spend a good deal of our time just proving to other people that we are telling them the truth when we tell them who we are. Aren’t you glad we don’t have to show our ID to prove who we are in Christ? Or are we, maybe without realizing it, always proving to others who we are as a Christian?
John opens the fifth chapter of this letter by saying, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” We become a child of God, adopted out of love into his family, the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Confess Jesus, and mean it sincerely, repent of your sins, give him your heart, and you’re in. It really is that simple. A simple beginning, yes, but only the beginning, the first steps of a journey that we are on for the rest of our lives. A journey that brings with it many highs and lows, many heartaches and joys, many hard times and celebrations. A journey where every step of the way we are proving we are who we claim we are – a follower of Jesus – with both our words and our actions.
Those first two verses lay the groundwork for the test that gives us our ID as Christians and this test consists of two parts - an oral section and a lived part. The first part of the test is confessing that we believe Jesus Christ is born of God, and the second one is proving what we say by living in a way that shows that we love others by loving God and obeying his commandments. The first one is more easily done than the second, but both are equally important.
We confess, or testify, that we believe Jesus is the Son of God. Romans 10:9 says, “because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” We say the words out loud, proclaiming our faith in Jesus Christ, believing them with all our hearts to be true – that’s the oral exam. Then, with God as our role model, we learn to love God and obey God’s commandments – that’s the application section of the exam.
Jesus told us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then he said the second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. John reminds us that when we do these two things, when we follow God’s commandments, we are proving that we are God’s children.
I want to point out here a false statement that we hear a lot – it sounds good to say that we are all children of God and I wish that were true, but it is not. The truth is that we are all created by God, and we are all loved by God, but John’s gospel teaches us that, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” Only those who confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior have been given the right to be called a child of God.
John also teaches that God’s commandments are not a burden but a blessing. He says, “for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” It is through our faith that we can overcome this world we live in, not by our strength, but by the strength and power of the One in whom we believe.
God wants us to obey his command to love him, first and foremost, because he is the ultimate role model for how to love. Remember last week we read in 1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God loved us so much that he didn’t require us to love him before he acted on our behalf. Before we loved him, even though we didn’t deserve such an act of agape type of love, God sent Jesus to pay our sin debt for us, a debt that we could never hope to repay ourselves.
In essence, if God loves us, unlovable as we are, shouldn’t we be able to love him, the source of love and life? And if God love us, as unlovable as we are, shouldn’t we be able to love one another? Spoiler alert, the answer is yes. Yes, we should be able to love God and love one another. Another spoiler alert – this will all be easier on some days more than others.
The reality is that we are frail humans who often fail at what we try to do. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but he does expect us to keep trying. God’s sanctifying grace – the grace that he gives us to help us become more like him – will help us do better and be better if, when we fail, we turn to God with a repentant heart and let him strengthen us and set us back on track. By this we will conquer our world – through our faith, not with swords.
We are a Christian army whose weapons are not physical but spiritual, and our leader is the Holy Spirit working in us through the grace of God. Our power comes not from our might nor our muscle but from our faith in God through Jesus Christ who came and died and rose again so that we might have life, eternal life, abundant life. Life here in this world and life with him in the next.
I think when most of us talk about eternal life through Christ, we think of the life we have after we die, but that’s not all of what eternal life means. Jesus is life – when we become a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and brings us the life that Jesus won for us through his death and resurrection. Eternal life doesn’t begin after death – it begins now. It began the moment we said “Yes” to Christ.
Life in Christ means life right now and forever. It isn’t something we have to wait for, it’s a gift we get right away. Pastor David Flower, in his sermon, “The Daily Christian Life II,” says that “If you are Christian, eternal life does not simply mean going to heaven for eternity. Eternal life means a never-dying spirit that has already sprung to life in you! In other words, eternal life starts NOW! Your life that lasts eternally in the next world is the same life that begins here in this one. When you die, only your body dies. Your spirit -- your eternal spirit that is the essence -- the deepest reality -- of who you are -- never stops existing. Never. You pass from one life into another one, with not a moment's gap in existence.”
Isn’t that comforting to know? We never have to wait to start living because we know Jesus and Jesus is life. Jesus lives within us so we have life within us. We have life, right now, and forever. John tells us this too, in our scripture today, saying “And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
In our final week of this Eastertide sermon series asking “Christ is Risen! Now What?” we are learning that Jesus is life. There is no other way of life than in Christ. He said so himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also.”
If we know Jesus, we know the Father. If we know Jesus and claim to be his, then we will want to learn to love like he loves. If we know Jesus and claim to be his, then he will help us be more like him every day. If we know Jesus and claim to be his, we will want to obey God’s commandments out of love for God. But the most important thing is that if we know Jesus and claim to be his, we will have life. Eternal life. Abundant life. And it begins now. Thanks be to God for the gift of life through his Son, Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are the way, the truth, and the life we need. You give life to all who confess you as their Lkord and Savior and that life begins the moment we say “yes” and it goes on forever. Thank you, Jesus, for teaching us to love like you so that by our words and our actions, we might prove over and over, every day, that we are yours. Lord, we pray that through your power living in us, we might point others to you so they will also come to know you, confess you, and be saved by you for all of eternity. For their benefit and for your glory, in this world and I your heavenly kingdom. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/69905/eternal-life-by-sermon-central
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know That Jesus is Life
Scripture: 1 John 5:1-5, 11-12
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5 Who is it who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
I was thinking the other day about all the times we have to show proof of who we are to someone to get something we want or need. Have you tried to get a new driver’s license lately, especially the one that will let you get on an airplane or into a federal building? If you are a woman who has been married, you need your birth certificate, your current driver’s license, and your marriage certificate proving why your last name is different from the one on your birth certificate.
If you have been married more than once, you also have to produce the correct documents to show that the previous marriage has ended, either by divorce or death, and show all the subsequent marriage certificates. All of this just to prove we are who we say we are. Then, there are all the times we have to use that driver’s license to keep proving we are who we say we are. Whenever we go to vote, when we board an airplane, when we get insurance for our car, when we open a new credit card, we have to prove who we are again, the list is almost endless.
It seems we spend a good deal of our time just proving to other people that we are telling them the truth when we tell them who we are. Aren’t you glad we don’t have to show our ID to prove who we are in Christ? Or are we, maybe without realizing it, always proving to others who we are as a Christian?
John opens the fifth chapter of this letter by saying, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” We become a child of God, adopted out of love into his family, the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Confess Jesus, and mean it sincerely, repent of your sins, give him your heart, and you’re in. It really is that simple. A simple beginning, yes, but only the beginning, the first steps of a journey that we are on for the rest of our lives. A journey that brings with it many highs and lows, many heartaches and joys, many hard times and celebrations. A journey where every step of the way we are proving we are who we claim we are – a follower of Jesus – with both our words and our actions.
Those first two verses lay the groundwork for the test that gives us our ID as Christians and this test consists of two parts - an oral section and a lived part. The first part of the test is confessing that we believe Jesus Christ is born of God, and the second one is proving what we say by living in a way that shows that we love others by loving God and obeying his commandments. The first one is more easily done than the second, but both are equally important.
We confess, or testify, that we believe Jesus is the Son of God. Romans 10:9 says, “because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” We say the words out loud, proclaiming our faith in Jesus Christ, believing them with all our hearts to be true – that’s the oral exam. Then, with God as our role model, we learn to love God and obey God’s commandments – that’s the application section of the exam.
Jesus told us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then he said the second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. John reminds us that when we do these two things, when we follow God’s commandments, we are proving that we are God’s children.
I want to point out here a false statement that we hear a lot – it sounds good to say that we are all children of God and I wish that were true, but it is not. The truth is that we are all created by God, and we are all loved by God, but John’s gospel teaches us that, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” Only those who confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior have been given the right to be called a child of God.
John also teaches that God’s commandments are not a burden but a blessing. He says, “for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” It is through our faith that we can overcome this world we live in, not by our strength, but by the strength and power of the One in whom we believe.
God wants us to obey his command to love him, first and foremost, because he is the ultimate role model for how to love. Remember last week we read in 1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God loved us so much that he didn’t require us to love him before he acted on our behalf. Before we loved him, even though we didn’t deserve such an act of agape type of love, God sent Jesus to pay our sin debt for us, a debt that we could never hope to repay ourselves.
In essence, if God loves us, unlovable as we are, shouldn’t we be able to love him, the source of love and life? And if God love us, as unlovable as we are, shouldn’t we be able to love one another? Spoiler alert, the answer is yes. Yes, we should be able to love God and love one another. Another spoiler alert – this will all be easier on some days more than others.
The reality is that we are frail humans who often fail at what we try to do. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but he does expect us to keep trying. God’s sanctifying grace – the grace that he gives us to help us become more like him – will help us do better and be better if, when we fail, we turn to God with a repentant heart and let him strengthen us and set us back on track. By this we will conquer our world – through our faith, not with swords.
We are a Christian army whose weapons are not physical but spiritual, and our leader is the Holy Spirit working in us through the grace of God. Our power comes not from our might nor our muscle but from our faith in God through Jesus Christ who came and died and rose again so that we might have life, eternal life, abundant life. Life here in this world and life with him in the next.
I think when most of us talk about eternal life through Christ, we think of the life we have after we die, but that’s not all of what eternal life means. Jesus is life – when we become a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and brings us the life that Jesus won for us through his death and resurrection. Eternal life doesn’t begin after death – it begins now. It began the moment we said “Yes” to Christ.
Life in Christ means life right now and forever. It isn’t something we have to wait for, it’s a gift we get right away. Pastor David Flower, in his sermon, “The Daily Christian Life II,” says that “If you are Christian, eternal life does not simply mean going to heaven for eternity. Eternal life means a never-dying spirit that has already sprung to life in you! In other words, eternal life starts NOW! Your life that lasts eternally in the next world is the same life that begins here in this one. When you die, only your body dies. Your spirit -- your eternal spirit that is the essence -- the deepest reality -- of who you are -- never stops existing. Never. You pass from one life into another one, with not a moment's gap in existence.”
Isn’t that comforting to know? We never have to wait to start living because we know Jesus and Jesus is life. Jesus lives within us so we have life within us. We have life, right now, and forever. John tells us this too, in our scripture today, saying “And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
In our final week of this Eastertide sermon series asking “Christ is Risen! Now What?” we are learning that Jesus is life. There is no other way of life than in Christ. He said so himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also.”
If we know Jesus, we know the Father. If we know Jesus and claim to be his, then we will want to learn to love like he loves. If we know Jesus and claim to be his, then he will help us be more like him every day. If we know Jesus and claim to be his, we will want to obey God’s commandments out of love for God. But the most important thing is that if we know Jesus and claim to be his, we will have life. Eternal life. Abundant life. And it begins now. Thanks be to God for the gift of life through his Son, Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are the way, the truth, and the life we need. You give life to all who confess you as their Lkord and Savior and that life begins the moment we say “yes” and it goes on forever. Thank you, Jesus, for teaching us to love like you so that by our words and our actions, we might prove over and over, every day, that we are yours. Lord, we pray that through your power living in us, we might point others to you so they will also come to know you, confess you, and be saved by you for all of eternity. For their benefit and for your glory, in this world and I your heavenly kingdom. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/69905/eternal-life-by-sermon-central
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY May 5, 2024 CONTINUING THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "CHRIST IS RESEN! NOW WHAT?" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY IS TITLED "KNOW WHAT JESUS REQUIRES".
May 5, 2024
Rootstown
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know What Jesus Requires
Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
I want to tell you a story this week about a big, burly oil field worker named Larry. Larry was not only a big guy, but he was also loud. He smoked, he drank, he swore, and he chased women like it was his second job. Larry was also very anti-God. He was a hard worker, though, doing one of the dirtiest jobs there was in the oil fields. Every day he and his crew would come home covered in oil and grime, and sludge from head to toe.
Given his appearance, and his rough nature, it wouldn’t be surprising that no one mentioned religion or anything to do with God when Larry was around. Until one person did. One of the men who worked on Larry’s crew became a believer in Jesus Christ and was so overjoyed at what Jesus had done for him that he couldn’t help sharing the Good News with his workmates.
Wouldn’t you know it, he even shared it with his boss. Larry listened. Larry came to believe and accepted Christ for himself and wanted to go to church. The next Sunday, into church walked Larry, all six feet plus of him, and looking cleaner than he had in a long time. It wasn’t long before Larry was asking to be baptized. Larry stopped smoking, drinking, swearing, and womanizing. He learned to play the guitar so he could play in church and sometimes he would sing special music.
And then Larry did for his brother what his workmate had done for him. Larry shared the good news and won his brother to Christ. You see, it doesn’t matter how big you are, or how small, how “good” you think you are or how “bad” you think you are God loves you. Larry didn’t understand that until his coworker loved him enough to tell him. Who are we afraid to tell that Jesus loves them? Who is the Larry in our lives?
We all have someone. Maybe we have tried before and were rebuffed, so we just don’t say anything. Maybe they even spoke gruffly to us, swore at us, got angry at us, so we just keep the Good News to ourselves. If they don’t want to hear about it, then we just won’t share it with them anymore. But what if we are sharing our faith when we don’t even speak a word?
Whether he actually said it or not, St Francis of Assisi is credited with saying that we should speak the gospel at all times – and when necessary, use words. That seems a little odd. How do we speak the gospel and not use words? My friends, we speak without using words with every action we do. What we do speaks louder than the words we shout. That is what John is trying to tell us in our scripture today when he wrote, “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.”
God didn’t just say he loved us, he showed us in a very profound way, by giving up his Son, Jesus, as the perfect atoning sacrifice to take away our sins. Jesus paid our debt with his blood on the cross, and his resurrection makes it possible for us to live into the promise of eternal life with our heavenly Father.
God had been saying he loved his people for years through all those prophets he had called to convey his messages to his people. The problem was his people weren’t listening. Ever try to tell your kids to do something, or tell your spouse something important, only they weren’t really listening? Oh, yeah, we’ve all done that. “I didn’t hear you tell me to clean my room,” or “When did you tell me to do my homework?” or “When did you tell me your mother was coming to visit?”
Let’s be honest, we all have times when we forget what someone has told us. Maybe some of us more than others, but we all have our moments. But what we don’t forget is when someone shows us that they love us in some way. Like when the kids make you breakfast in bed, even though they burn the toast, and the eggs aren’t done. When your best friend calls just to see how you’re doing because she knows you’ve had a hard week. Or when your buddy shows up to help you with a weekend project, just because.
We see love in these actions. We know we are loved without the word “love” being spoken. We all need these love actions, and we all need to give them to others. So, God sent his Son into the world because God loved the world. He loved the people who would not listen, and he wanted us to know about his love for us. Speak the gospel – use words when necessary. Sometimes words aren’t needed. Sometimes words are just whispers and actions are shouts. Yet sometimes words really are necessary, though.
John goes on to write in his letter that since God loved us so much, we ought to love one another, that if we love one another, we know God abides in us for God is love. John says, “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.” To testify means to give evidence of something that we have witnessed, to speak the truth we know to another person so they can know the same.
We can speak of love without words, we can show love with our actions, but we need words to testify to the truth that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Words that speak of love, that agape love that God has for us. This is the love Jesus was talking about in the upper room when he told the disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34).
John is reiterating that commandment now to his readers, “Love one another as God has loved us, and has showed us by sending his Son for our benefit.” In other words, he says, “God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.”
If God loves us, if he abides in us and we in him because we confess Jesus as our Savior, if we know that all of this is because God loves us, why wouldn’t we want to share that love with others? Even others who are big, and dirty, loud, maybe even obnoxious? Even those who live in a way that makes us uncomfortable? Even guys like Larry in our opening story?
We want to love. We try to love. But love is hard. I think we are too often like the young man who went to visit his sweetheart every Friday evening. For months he showed up on Friday evenings. He would come for dinner and afterwards, the young couple would sit out on the front porch swing and talk about what the future would look like.
They talked about college, and jobs. They talked about the best part of living near family and yet dreamed of moving far away. As time went on, the young man’s feelings grew deeper for the young lady, until one Friday night, when it was time to leave, he surprised her. Just before stepping off the porch, he turned to the girl and took her in his arms and told her he loved her. He confessed that he loved her so much that he would fight the biggest man alive for her, swim the widest river, climb the highest mountain, and do anything it took to be with her forever. Then he kissed her for the first time.
It was the perfect moment. It was a perfect declaration of love. And as he started to walk away after, he stopped, turned back, and said to his love, “I’ll see you next Friday. If it doesn’t rain.” I guess that is how we see love these days. Love on our terms, love on our schedule. Love when it’s not too hard or too taxing, or too…. Fill in the blank.
Aren’t we so glad that isn’t how God loves? God is love, not sometimes, not when it’s easy, not when it’s convenient, not when we deserve it. God is love, all the time, 24/7/365. And because God is love, those who love abide in God, and he abides in them. Not sometimes but always. On our good days and on our bad. During our joyful times and during our sorrowful times. Always, and forever. And as if that weren’t amazing enough, there’s even more.
John tells us that we don’t need to have fear in this love because perfect love casts out fear. We don’t need to cower in a corner because we are afraid of God. Fear comes when we are afraid of punishment, but because of God’s act of love through Jesus, we have been given mercy and grace instead of punishment. Mercy is when we don’t get what we deserve, and grace is when we do get what we don’t deserve.
We don’t get punished for our sins even though we deserve to be. Jesus paid that price for us – that is mercy. We are covered by God’s grace which is the free gift of salvation which we didn’t deserve to be given, yet God gives us anyway out of love. Mercy and grace drive out our reason to fear punishment, leaving us room to love – to love God and to love our brothers and sisters. Love them with our actions and with our words.
John begins to wrap up this chapter by getting right to the point: “We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” This goes right back to love being spoken without words. We can declare we love God to anyone who will listen, and the words sound good, but they mean nothing if we do not show love to those in front of us.
This goes back to our message from two weeks ago, that if we have what someone needs, we should, out of love, give what we can. Now, I want to make something clear, there are times when we cannot meet a need. There are times when we have to be selective of what needs we meet. No one person can help every person, but every person can help someone.
That means we may have to pass up the person on the street begging because we gave to the special offering to help support our brothers and sister in Kenya. We may not be able to bring food for the food box this week because we gave bought groceries for our neighbor who just lost her job. We are called to love, yes. We are called to give, yes. We are called to meet the needs of others, when we can, but that means we are also called to be discerning in our giving.
It is the person who refuses to give at every opportunity and yet claims to love God that John is talking about here. We don’t give to others to earn God’s love, we give because God first loved us and we want to share that love with others when we can, in the ways we can. That looks different for each of us. John says the important thing is that we love – love with our words and love with our actions – even when it’s hard.
The question we have been asking in this series is this: Jesus is risen! Now what? This week our “now what?” is to know what Jesus requires of his followers. John answers that question in the last verse today, “The commandment we have from him is this: Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” Jesus requires us to love our brothers and sisters and to show them, not just tell them, because words can be cheap, but love in action is priceless.
Some of us remember Mary Martin, the Broadway actress who starred in “The King and I”, “Peter Pan”, Oklahoma” and “The Sound of Music”, among others. She was once asked to share her secret of how she related to her audiences so well. She answered, “Before the show begins, I peek through the curtains and while the audience is filing in and getting to their seats, I look at as many people as I can and say, ‘I love you” to each of them.”
Maybe it’s time for us to boldly come out from behind our curtains and tell our world, “I
love you.” And then go and show them how much we actually do love them, following the example God set for us through Jesus Christ. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of love, mercy, and grace, thank you for loving us enough to send your Son to save us. Thank you for showing us mercy and offering us grace when we don’t deserve it. Help us to follow your example of love, that we might both speak and show love to our brothers and sisters. Make us bold in our faith so that we can share your love with even the person who seems least likely to listen. Give us the courage to step out from behind our curtain and declare to the world that we love them, and then show us how to actually love as Jesus commands us to love. In his name we pray, AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100408/saved-from-the-guttermost-to-the-uttermost-by-dr-david-hallum
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100806/love-by-roy-fowler
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/19437/mary-martin-famous-broadway-actress-who-starred-by-ric-feeney
Rootstown
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know What Jesus Requires
Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
I want to tell you a story this week about a big, burly oil field worker named Larry. Larry was not only a big guy, but he was also loud. He smoked, he drank, he swore, and he chased women like it was his second job. Larry was also very anti-God. He was a hard worker, though, doing one of the dirtiest jobs there was in the oil fields. Every day he and his crew would come home covered in oil and grime, and sludge from head to toe.
Given his appearance, and his rough nature, it wouldn’t be surprising that no one mentioned religion or anything to do with God when Larry was around. Until one person did. One of the men who worked on Larry’s crew became a believer in Jesus Christ and was so overjoyed at what Jesus had done for him that he couldn’t help sharing the Good News with his workmates.
Wouldn’t you know it, he even shared it with his boss. Larry listened. Larry came to believe and accepted Christ for himself and wanted to go to church. The next Sunday, into church walked Larry, all six feet plus of him, and looking cleaner than he had in a long time. It wasn’t long before Larry was asking to be baptized. Larry stopped smoking, drinking, swearing, and womanizing. He learned to play the guitar so he could play in church and sometimes he would sing special music.
And then Larry did for his brother what his workmate had done for him. Larry shared the good news and won his brother to Christ. You see, it doesn’t matter how big you are, or how small, how “good” you think you are or how “bad” you think you are God loves you. Larry didn’t understand that until his coworker loved him enough to tell him. Who are we afraid to tell that Jesus loves them? Who is the Larry in our lives?
We all have someone. Maybe we have tried before and were rebuffed, so we just don’t say anything. Maybe they even spoke gruffly to us, swore at us, got angry at us, so we just keep the Good News to ourselves. If they don’t want to hear about it, then we just won’t share it with them anymore. But what if we are sharing our faith when we don’t even speak a word?
Whether he actually said it or not, St Francis of Assisi is credited with saying that we should speak the gospel at all times – and when necessary, use words. That seems a little odd. How do we speak the gospel and not use words? My friends, we speak without using words with every action we do. What we do speaks louder than the words we shout. That is what John is trying to tell us in our scripture today when he wrote, “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.”
God didn’t just say he loved us, he showed us in a very profound way, by giving up his Son, Jesus, as the perfect atoning sacrifice to take away our sins. Jesus paid our debt with his blood on the cross, and his resurrection makes it possible for us to live into the promise of eternal life with our heavenly Father.
God had been saying he loved his people for years through all those prophets he had called to convey his messages to his people. The problem was his people weren’t listening. Ever try to tell your kids to do something, or tell your spouse something important, only they weren’t really listening? Oh, yeah, we’ve all done that. “I didn’t hear you tell me to clean my room,” or “When did you tell me to do my homework?” or “When did you tell me your mother was coming to visit?”
Let’s be honest, we all have times when we forget what someone has told us. Maybe some of us more than others, but we all have our moments. But what we don’t forget is when someone shows us that they love us in some way. Like when the kids make you breakfast in bed, even though they burn the toast, and the eggs aren’t done. When your best friend calls just to see how you’re doing because she knows you’ve had a hard week. Or when your buddy shows up to help you with a weekend project, just because.
We see love in these actions. We know we are loved without the word “love” being spoken. We all need these love actions, and we all need to give them to others. So, God sent his Son into the world because God loved the world. He loved the people who would not listen, and he wanted us to know about his love for us. Speak the gospel – use words when necessary. Sometimes words aren’t needed. Sometimes words are just whispers and actions are shouts. Yet sometimes words really are necessary, though.
John goes on to write in his letter that since God loved us so much, we ought to love one another, that if we love one another, we know God abides in us for God is love. John says, “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.” To testify means to give evidence of something that we have witnessed, to speak the truth we know to another person so they can know the same.
We can speak of love without words, we can show love with our actions, but we need words to testify to the truth that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Words that speak of love, that agape love that God has for us. This is the love Jesus was talking about in the upper room when he told the disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34).
John is reiterating that commandment now to his readers, “Love one another as God has loved us, and has showed us by sending his Son for our benefit.” In other words, he says, “God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.”
If God loves us, if he abides in us and we in him because we confess Jesus as our Savior, if we know that all of this is because God loves us, why wouldn’t we want to share that love with others? Even others who are big, and dirty, loud, maybe even obnoxious? Even those who live in a way that makes us uncomfortable? Even guys like Larry in our opening story?
We want to love. We try to love. But love is hard. I think we are too often like the young man who went to visit his sweetheart every Friday evening. For months he showed up on Friday evenings. He would come for dinner and afterwards, the young couple would sit out on the front porch swing and talk about what the future would look like.
They talked about college, and jobs. They talked about the best part of living near family and yet dreamed of moving far away. As time went on, the young man’s feelings grew deeper for the young lady, until one Friday night, when it was time to leave, he surprised her. Just before stepping off the porch, he turned to the girl and took her in his arms and told her he loved her. He confessed that he loved her so much that he would fight the biggest man alive for her, swim the widest river, climb the highest mountain, and do anything it took to be with her forever. Then he kissed her for the first time.
It was the perfect moment. It was a perfect declaration of love. And as he started to walk away after, he stopped, turned back, and said to his love, “I’ll see you next Friday. If it doesn’t rain.” I guess that is how we see love these days. Love on our terms, love on our schedule. Love when it’s not too hard or too taxing, or too…. Fill in the blank.
Aren’t we so glad that isn’t how God loves? God is love, not sometimes, not when it’s easy, not when it’s convenient, not when we deserve it. God is love, all the time, 24/7/365. And because God is love, those who love abide in God, and he abides in them. Not sometimes but always. On our good days and on our bad. During our joyful times and during our sorrowful times. Always, and forever. And as if that weren’t amazing enough, there’s even more.
John tells us that we don’t need to have fear in this love because perfect love casts out fear. We don’t need to cower in a corner because we are afraid of God. Fear comes when we are afraid of punishment, but because of God’s act of love through Jesus, we have been given mercy and grace instead of punishment. Mercy is when we don’t get what we deserve, and grace is when we do get what we don’t deserve.
We don’t get punished for our sins even though we deserve to be. Jesus paid that price for us – that is mercy. We are covered by God’s grace which is the free gift of salvation which we didn’t deserve to be given, yet God gives us anyway out of love. Mercy and grace drive out our reason to fear punishment, leaving us room to love – to love God and to love our brothers and sisters. Love them with our actions and with our words.
John begins to wrap up this chapter by getting right to the point: “We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” This goes right back to love being spoken without words. We can declare we love God to anyone who will listen, and the words sound good, but they mean nothing if we do not show love to those in front of us.
This goes back to our message from two weeks ago, that if we have what someone needs, we should, out of love, give what we can. Now, I want to make something clear, there are times when we cannot meet a need. There are times when we have to be selective of what needs we meet. No one person can help every person, but every person can help someone.
That means we may have to pass up the person on the street begging because we gave to the special offering to help support our brothers and sister in Kenya. We may not be able to bring food for the food box this week because we gave bought groceries for our neighbor who just lost her job. We are called to love, yes. We are called to give, yes. We are called to meet the needs of others, when we can, but that means we are also called to be discerning in our giving.
It is the person who refuses to give at every opportunity and yet claims to love God that John is talking about here. We don’t give to others to earn God’s love, we give because God first loved us and we want to share that love with others when we can, in the ways we can. That looks different for each of us. John says the important thing is that we love – love with our words and love with our actions – even when it’s hard.
The question we have been asking in this series is this: Jesus is risen! Now what? This week our “now what?” is to know what Jesus requires of his followers. John answers that question in the last verse today, “The commandment we have from him is this: Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” Jesus requires us to love our brothers and sisters and to show them, not just tell them, because words can be cheap, but love in action is priceless.
Some of us remember Mary Martin, the Broadway actress who starred in “The King and I”, “Peter Pan”, Oklahoma” and “The Sound of Music”, among others. She was once asked to share her secret of how she related to her audiences so well. She answered, “Before the show begins, I peek through the curtains and while the audience is filing in and getting to their seats, I look at as many people as I can and say, ‘I love you” to each of them.”
Maybe it’s time for us to boldly come out from behind our curtains and tell our world, “I
love you.” And then go and show them how much we actually do love them, following the example God set for us through Jesus Christ. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of love, mercy, and grace, thank you for loving us enough to send your Son to save us. Thank you for showing us mercy and offering us grace when we don’t deserve it. Help us to follow your example of love, that we might both speak and show love to our brothers and sisters. Make us bold in our faith so that we can share your love with even the person who seems least likely to listen. Give us the courage to step out from behind our curtain and declare to the world that we love them, and then show us how to actually love as Jesus commands us to love. In his name we pray, AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100408/saved-from-the-guttermost-to-the-uttermost-by-dr-david-hallum
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100806/love-by-roy-fowler
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/19437/mary-martin-famous-broadway-actress-who-starred-by-ric-feeney
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2024 CONTINUING THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "CHRIST IS RESEN! NOW WHAT?" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY IS TITLED "KNOW HOW TO LOVE LIKE JESUS".
April 21, 2024
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know How to Love Like Jesus
Scripture: 1 John 3:16-24
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. 17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
18 Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God, 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
You may have heard this before, but I want to start today by reminding us that the Greeks had three different words for the one word we call “love.” One of them is “Phileo,” which describes the kind of love one might have for a friend. Think of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. Another is “Eros,” which refers to the romantic kind of love. From this we get the word erotic, the kind of love between a man and a woman.
The third word the Greeks used for love is “Agape,” and this is the type of love we are going to be talking about today. This is self-sacrificing love. It is love that is freely given with no expectations of gaining from it. It is love poured out from the heart for the benefit of the one on whom it is bestowed. It is the kind of love God has for us, the reason he sent Jesus to live and die for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to pay the penalty for them ourselves.
Agape love is the love that Jesus displayed as he submitted himself to being arrested and crucified. He could have stopped what was happening at any moment, but his love for us was so great that he kept silent on our behalf. This is the love John is writing about in his letter. “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.” Wait, hold on here. Is John saying that since Jesus was willing to die for us that we should be willing to die, too?
The short answer is no. It is important to keep reading because John says next, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the worlds goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” John is teaching us that real love, Agape-type love, means we notice the needs of those around us and then take action in whatever way we can. And just to make sure his audience is getting his point, John appeals to us by saying, “Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and truth.” That is the kind of laying down our life for another that John is talking about.
We’ve all heard the expression “words are cheap,” haven’t we? That’s because it can be true. It’s easy to speak a few words, even assuring, affirming, positive words, but not really mean them. It’s easy to make a promise to someone and not follow through. Let’s be honest, we’ve all done that. Intentionally or not, we have all failed at some point to follow through on the words we have spoken. When that happens, someone is disappointed and hurt because of us.
Our actions, or our failure to act, can cause pain in another person. For a Christian, the expectations are higher – will we do what we say we will do? Will we live like we care for our brothers and sisters in need? John may have been writing this letter almost two thousand years ago, but time hasn’t really changed the human heart. Christians in John’s day sometimes failed to love like Jesus. Christians today sometimes fail to love like Jesus. That is why John wrote this letter then, and why we need to read it today.
I heard a story about a group of four Christian friends who had traveled to a vacation destination for a golfing weekend. As they were driving home, these men came upon the remains of a house that was still smoldering from a fire. The fire had been put out, the fire department had gone, but a woman and her child stood at the edge of the road, staring at the charred outline of what had been their home.
The men stopped and talked to the woman for a few minutes. She was still in shock, not sure yet what she would do or where she would go. Feeling bad for her, the men each gave the woman some money to help her out, got back in the car and went on their way. A few miles down the road, however, the driver stopped the car and pulled off his cap. Turning it upside down, he held it out to the other men and said, “Alright guys, we can do better. Let’s give her everything we have on us.” All four men took out their wallets and put all the money they had into the hat. Then the driver turned the car around and drove back to that burned-down house.
As they drove up, the woman still stood in the same place by the road, and the men could see that she had been crying. They got out of the car and the driver went over to the woman and spoke, saying there had been a mistake, and asking if she would hand him back the money they had given her a few minutes before. The woman looked shocked, but without a word or a complaint, she handed it over.
As she watched him, the man put the money into the hat with the other cash, and a check one of them had written, and gave all of it back to her – even the hat. Then he told her that once they got home, each of them would be sending her more to help her and her child find a place to stay while they figured out their next steps.
This is the love John was talking about. This is what it looks like to lay down one’s life for a brother or a sister. The woman had nothing. The men had resources that could help her. They gave what they had to help someone who had a need.
Those men had choices. They could have driven right by her the first time they saw the woman by the road. They didn’t know her, she didn’t know them, why get involved? Or, having stopped and given her some of their money, they could have gone home feeling pretty good about the good deed they had done. They had helped a stranger, yay them. But those men chose option three – they poured out love, Agape love, on a stranger in her time of need.
This is the “God’s love in motion” that that we strive to be as a follower of Jesus. God’s love in motion is love in action. It isn’t always as dramatic as giving all you have in your wallet to the victim of a fire. Sometimes it’s as simple as filling bags with food and delivering them to the school so families in need can have a little extra to eat over the weekend. Sometimes it is picking up a few extra cans of vegetables, or a couple boxes of cereal to put in our Food Blessing Box so that a hungry person can make it through another day or two until payday.
Being God’s love in motion can look like holding the door for a stranger with their hands full, letting the person with three items go in front of you in the check out line, or noticing those around you and acknowledging them with a kind word and a smile. God’s love can look like the donation you put in the offering plate to help raise $400 for our church to send for tornado relief, which was added to offerings from all around the conference to become over $74,000 that will help a community begin to rebuild. We can show God’s love in so many different ways. It can be different each day, but the important thing is that we show it by how we act and by how we live.
John said, “Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth,” because it is by this that we will know to whom we belong. It is by this that we will know that we are loving like Jesus would want us to love. It is by this that God can reassure our hearts that we are his, that he is in us, and we are in him.
John continues, “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” Remember, in the upper room, at the last supper, when Jesus gave the mandate, the new commandment, to the disciples? John 13:34-35 is where Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Agape love is what Jesus was teaching his disciples that night, and it is the same Agape love that John is teaching the readers of his letter. We are called to love one another, and we can. We can love our brothers and sisters because God first loved us enough to send us his Son, Jesus, who modeled love for us in all he said and did.
Jesus is Risen! Now what? Now we learn to love like he taught us to love, knowing that all who obey his command to love like him are abiding in him and he is abiding in us so that Jesus will be the well-spring of love that flows from us to our brothers and sisters. Jesus will give us the eyes to see the needs and the heart to want to help when and where we can. Jesus will help us be God’s love in motion. In Christ alone we will receive the desire to love, the capacity to love, and the motivation to love. And by this love we will know we are his, and so will those around us.
I pray that we will hunger to be seen as belonging to Jesus in the way that Christians have been seen for almost two thousand years, as described by the Christian philosopher Aristides about 125 A.D.:
"They walk in all humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them, and they love one another. They despise not the widow and grieve not the orphan. He that has distributes liberally to him that has not. If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof, and rejoice over him, as if he were their own brother: for they call themselves brethren, not after the flesh, but after the spirit and in God; but when one of their poor passes away from the world, and any of them see him, then he provides for his burial according to his ability; and if they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs, and if it is possible that he may be delivered, they deliver him. And if there is among them a man that is poor and needy, and they have not an abundance of necessaries, they fast two or three days that they may supply the needy with their necessary food."
What a beautiful description of a Christian, giving what they had to those who were in need, even going without themselves in order to provide for a brother or sister in Christ. I know I fail to live up to that standard, more often than I like. But I also know, that if I abide in Christ, he will abide in me and he will help me do better, be better, love better, and love more. Jesus will help me to go out into the mission field and be God’s love in motion, and he will do the same for all of us. That is Agape. That is the truest, fullest, most authentic definition of love, and it looks like this… AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, your love never fails, and we thank you for that. Now, place your love into our hearts, abide in us and we will abide in you. Help us reach out to our brothers and sisters in need, offering what we have that they do not, as an act of Agape – love that gives, and asks nothing in return. In this way, the world will know that we are yours, and yours alone, because we love as you commanded – because we love like you. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/81825/aristides-on-christians-by-sermon-central
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know How to Love Like Jesus
Scripture: 1 John 3:16-24
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. 17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
18 Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God, 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
You may have heard this before, but I want to start today by reminding us that the Greeks had three different words for the one word we call “love.” One of them is “Phileo,” which describes the kind of love one might have for a friend. Think of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. Another is “Eros,” which refers to the romantic kind of love. From this we get the word erotic, the kind of love between a man and a woman.
The third word the Greeks used for love is “Agape,” and this is the type of love we are going to be talking about today. This is self-sacrificing love. It is love that is freely given with no expectations of gaining from it. It is love poured out from the heart for the benefit of the one on whom it is bestowed. It is the kind of love God has for us, the reason he sent Jesus to live and die for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to pay the penalty for them ourselves.
Agape love is the love that Jesus displayed as he submitted himself to being arrested and crucified. He could have stopped what was happening at any moment, but his love for us was so great that he kept silent on our behalf. This is the love John is writing about in his letter. “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.” Wait, hold on here. Is John saying that since Jesus was willing to die for us that we should be willing to die, too?
The short answer is no. It is important to keep reading because John says next, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the worlds goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” John is teaching us that real love, Agape-type love, means we notice the needs of those around us and then take action in whatever way we can. And just to make sure his audience is getting his point, John appeals to us by saying, “Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and truth.” That is the kind of laying down our life for another that John is talking about.
We’ve all heard the expression “words are cheap,” haven’t we? That’s because it can be true. It’s easy to speak a few words, even assuring, affirming, positive words, but not really mean them. It’s easy to make a promise to someone and not follow through. Let’s be honest, we’ve all done that. Intentionally or not, we have all failed at some point to follow through on the words we have spoken. When that happens, someone is disappointed and hurt because of us.
Our actions, or our failure to act, can cause pain in another person. For a Christian, the expectations are higher – will we do what we say we will do? Will we live like we care for our brothers and sisters in need? John may have been writing this letter almost two thousand years ago, but time hasn’t really changed the human heart. Christians in John’s day sometimes failed to love like Jesus. Christians today sometimes fail to love like Jesus. That is why John wrote this letter then, and why we need to read it today.
I heard a story about a group of four Christian friends who had traveled to a vacation destination for a golfing weekend. As they were driving home, these men came upon the remains of a house that was still smoldering from a fire. The fire had been put out, the fire department had gone, but a woman and her child stood at the edge of the road, staring at the charred outline of what had been their home.
The men stopped and talked to the woman for a few minutes. She was still in shock, not sure yet what she would do or where she would go. Feeling bad for her, the men each gave the woman some money to help her out, got back in the car and went on their way. A few miles down the road, however, the driver stopped the car and pulled off his cap. Turning it upside down, he held it out to the other men and said, “Alright guys, we can do better. Let’s give her everything we have on us.” All four men took out their wallets and put all the money they had into the hat. Then the driver turned the car around and drove back to that burned-down house.
As they drove up, the woman still stood in the same place by the road, and the men could see that she had been crying. They got out of the car and the driver went over to the woman and spoke, saying there had been a mistake, and asking if she would hand him back the money they had given her a few minutes before. The woman looked shocked, but without a word or a complaint, she handed it over.
As she watched him, the man put the money into the hat with the other cash, and a check one of them had written, and gave all of it back to her – even the hat. Then he told her that once they got home, each of them would be sending her more to help her and her child find a place to stay while they figured out their next steps.
This is the love John was talking about. This is what it looks like to lay down one’s life for a brother or a sister. The woman had nothing. The men had resources that could help her. They gave what they had to help someone who had a need.
Those men had choices. They could have driven right by her the first time they saw the woman by the road. They didn’t know her, she didn’t know them, why get involved? Or, having stopped and given her some of their money, they could have gone home feeling pretty good about the good deed they had done. They had helped a stranger, yay them. But those men chose option three – they poured out love, Agape love, on a stranger in her time of need.
This is the “God’s love in motion” that that we strive to be as a follower of Jesus. God’s love in motion is love in action. It isn’t always as dramatic as giving all you have in your wallet to the victim of a fire. Sometimes it’s as simple as filling bags with food and delivering them to the school so families in need can have a little extra to eat over the weekend. Sometimes it is picking up a few extra cans of vegetables, or a couple boxes of cereal to put in our Food Blessing Box so that a hungry person can make it through another day or two until payday.
Being God’s love in motion can look like holding the door for a stranger with their hands full, letting the person with three items go in front of you in the check out line, or noticing those around you and acknowledging them with a kind word and a smile. God’s love can look like the donation you put in the offering plate to help raise $400 for our church to send for tornado relief, which was added to offerings from all around the conference to become over $74,000 that will help a community begin to rebuild. We can show God’s love in so many different ways. It can be different each day, but the important thing is that we show it by how we act and by how we live.
John said, “Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth,” because it is by this that we will know to whom we belong. It is by this that we will know that we are loving like Jesus would want us to love. It is by this that God can reassure our hearts that we are his, that he is in us, and we are in him.
John continues, “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” Remember, in the upper room, at the last supper, when Jesus gave the mandate, the new commandment, to the disciples? John 13:34-35 is where Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Agape love is what Jesus was teaching his disciples that night, and it is the same Agape love that John is teaching the readers of his letter. We are called to love one another, and we can. We can love our brothers and sisters because God first loved us enough to send us his Son, Jesus, who modeled love for us in all he said and did.
Jesus is Risen! Now what? Now we learn to love like he taught us to love, knowing that all who obey his command to love like him are abiding in him and he is abiding in us so that Jesus will be the well-spring of love that flows from us to our brothers and sisters. Jesus will give us the eyes to see the needs and the heart to want to help when and where we can. Jesus will help us be God’s love in motion. In Christ alone we will receive the desire to love, the capacity to love, and the motivation to love. And by this love we will know we are his, and so will those around us.
I pray that we will hunger to be seen as belonging to Jesus in the way that Christians have been seen for almost two thousand years, as described by the Christian philosopher Aristides about 125 A.D.:
"They walk in all humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them, and they love one another. They despise not the widow and grieve not the orphan. He that has distributes liberally to him that has not. If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof, and rejoice over him, as if he were their own brother: for they call themselves brethren, not after the flesh, but after the spirit and in God; but when one of their poor passes away from the world, and any of them see him, then he provides for his burial according to his ability; and if they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs, and if it is possible that he may be delivered, they deliver him. And if there is among them a man that is poor and needy, and they have not an abundance of necessaries, they fast two or three days that they may supply the needy with their necessary food."
What a beautiful description of a Christian, giving what they had to those who were in need, even going without themselves in order to provide for a brother or sister in Christ. I know I fail to live up to that standard, more often than I like. But I also know, that if I abide in Christ, he will abide in me and he will help me do better, be better, love better, and love more. Jesus will help me to go out into the mission field and be God’s love in motion, and he will do the same for all of us. That is Agape. That is the truest, fullest, most authentic definition of love, and it looks like this… AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, your love never fails, and we thank you for that. Now, place your love into our hearts, abide in us and we will abide in you. Help us reach out to our brothers and sisters in need, offering what we have that they do not, as an act of Agape – love that gives, and asks nothing in return. In this way, the world will know that we are yours, and yours alone, because we love as you commanded – because we love like you. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/81825/aristides-on-christians-by-sermon-central
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR SUNDAY APRIL 14, 2024 CONTINUING THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "CHRIST IS RESEN! NOW WHAT?" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY IS TITLED "KNOW WHY JESUS CAME".
April 14, 2024
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know Why Jesus Came
Scripture: 1 John 3:1-7
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
In this sermon series, we are asking ourselves the question, “Christ is Risen! Now What?” We know that Jesus died. We know that Jesus rose from the dead. But what does that all mean for us today? Is just knowing the facts enough?
Last week we talked about the importance of knowing who Jesus is. We learned that it is not enough to just know about Jesus, but we need to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior. This week we will focus on why Jesus came and why it matters.
This first letter from John the gospel writer is written as a reassurance to his readers that their faith in Jesus Christ is not misplaced. In the difficult times in which this letter was written that assurance was desperately needed. Being a faithful follower of Christ in John’s day was a dangerous way to live. Persecution abounded – Christians could lose their family, their homes, their jobs, even their life. There must have been many people who questioned whether the risk of being a follower of Jesus was worth the price, and John wanted them to know that it was.
John does something in this passage that can easily be overlooked by the reader if they are not paying attention. He uses these few verses to remind us of who we were, who we are, and who we will be, thanks to Jesus. The reason it isn’t obvious is because John doesn’t lay this out in a plain, orderly fashion. He doesn’t just come right out and say you were, but you are, and you will be. He doesn’t even list these three nuggets of wisdom and comfort in an easily recognizable order.
If we jump to verse four, we read, “Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” We know from Paul’s letter to the Romas that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, so we can understand that John is telling us that we are guilty of lawlessness because we have all sinned. The good news for Christians, though, is that this is who we were – before Jesus came to offer us a way out of that way of life, before we committed our life to Christ.
Then, if we jump backwards to the beginning of today’s scripture, John writes, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.” This is comforting news to someone who used to live in lawlessness, because we know, from the first chapter in John’s own gospel, that everyone who believes in Jesus as the Son of God and receives him as Lord and Savior are given the right to be called children of God.
We were sinners, orphaned from our Heavenly Father through that sin, but when we accepted Christ, God adopted us as full members of the family with all the rights and privileges of a natural born child. We, as in all of humanity, messed up, and instead of God giving us what we deserve, he gave us his only Son as a way to restore the relationship we had broken, as a way to welcome us home to Himself.
Before Christ we were sinners and lived in lawlessness, but now, through Christ, we are called children of God. John started with this because he knew his readers needed to hear this part so he could get their attention. He wanted his readers, especially the ones he was originally writing to, to take a breath and begin to calm their fear. That was important because when fear is present, our thoughts are overwhelmed by it. Fear can cloud our thoughts, it can claim our focus, and it can dictate our actions. John needed fear to be put to rest to help his readers see clearly, to take in what he was saying, and to believe that faith in Jesus is always worth the risk.
Now that he has their attention, John explains that the faithful were being persecuted because, “The reason the world does not know us is because it did not know him.” Of course, a world that does not know Christ for who he really is cannot understand the hearts of those who recognize him and willingly surrender their lives to him. To unbelievers this seems odd at best, and dangerous at worst. Odd because it is a different way of living than what they know, and dangerous because anything so different threatens to upset the balance in the world.
Think about this. Whenever a communist dictator takes over a country, what is one of the first things they do? They begin to try to control the church. They begin to persecute the faithful. They eventually outlaw any real freedom of worship. Why? Because for those who are Christians, we understand that our freedom lies in Jesus Christ, not in government, nor in a political leader or party. When someone knows where true freedom lies, then that person is not easily controlled, because faith helps them overcome their fear and fear is a powerful instrument of control. So, to overcome this, the dictator, the government, begins to persecute those whom they cannot control. They really only have one weapon – fear – and they will try to use it in whatever way they can. What they don’t realize is that when they think they are acting out of power, they are actually acting out of the very fear they are trying to instill in those whom they are persecuting. Fear is a two-edged sword.
That is why Jesus was arrested and crucified by the religious leaders of his day – they were afraid that his influence would upset the balance of their world and they couldn’t have that. They couldn’t see the truth that in Jesus there is freedom, and so there is life. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day thought they were powerful, and they were afraid Jesus’ influence would take away that power. They were living in fear and in turn, they used fear as a weapon to eliminate Jesus and disband his followers. That is why John said, “The reason the world does not know us is because they did not know him.”
So, as John has pointed out, we were sinners, and we are now children of God. What about who we will be? He puts this part right between the other two. In verse two, John writes, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” While we don’t know exactly what we will be like, we do know we will be like Jesus.
I remember several years ago the commercial slogan, “I want to be like Mike,” but I have to tell you, I would much rather be like Jesus, wouldn’t you? I mean Michael Jordan may be a good person and he was a great basketball player, but Jesus is all that and so much more – he is my Lord and Savior. Michael Jordan might be an MVP on the court, but Jesus is the MVP of everything. Yes, if there is one person I strive to be like, it is Jesus Christ. And John says that we will be like him one day. What a promise! What a way to rally those who were dangerously close to falling away from the faith due to the circumstances they were enduring right then.
What a message for us, too, knowing that we all have problems and hardships that we deal with. One day, everything we struggle with here in this world will no longer matter because we will be living in heaven with our Father for all of eternity. And we will be like Jesus.
We are all on that path already. That is what sanctification is – it is the process of being made holy, being made to be more and more like Jesus. Like Jesus in how we think, how we live, how we love. That is our goal, and while we may fall short of the mark sometimes, we keep trying and God keeps helping us.
We were sinners. We are children of God. We will be like Jesus. John doesn’t lay it all out in that order, but he puts all the elements into this passage for us to discover, and in doing so, he gives us hope, just as he gave hope to those in his day who needed his encouragement to continue on in the faith, even though it might cost them everything.
But we haven’t quite answered our question of the day yet, have we? Why did Jesus come? John’s answer to that comes in verse five, “You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” Jesus came to help us go from who we were to who we are and to who we will be. Remember that before Jesus, we lived in lawlessness, which is sinfulness. Well, that sinfulness was a barrier between us and God.
God created us and he loves us, but he does not love that we were mired so deeply in sin. Sin was a wall that stood between us and God and neither could breach it, cross it, or tear it down. God was too holy to allow us sinful humans to be in his presence, and we were too sinful to even hope that we could be anything different. But God had a plan.
It was a daring, unbelievable plan. God chose to send his own Son to earth to be the atonement for our sin, the ultimate sacrifice so that by his blood our sins would be covered, the ransom paid. This was the act that demolished the barrier, that made a way for us to come into God’s presence, and for God to allow us to do so. Jesus came into this world to take away our sins.
We were sinners. We are children of God. We will be like Jesus one day, because we know who Jesus truly is and why he came. Jesus is the Son of God. He came to earth to die on the cross for our sins so that we can be forgiven for them. We were sinners until we came to know Jesus – not just who he is, but really know him, so that we might believe in him. Because we believe, we are called children of God. And because we are children of God we are growing to be more and more like Jesus. One day we will finally get to see that we have come to be just like him.
Christ is risen! Now what? Well, now we know who he is and why he has come. In this knowledge we are reminded that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Praise God that we are whosoever, that we believe, and that he loves us that much. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving Father, from the beginning you knew the hearts of all of humanity and you knew those hearts would be fickle. Yet you chose to love us anyway and out of that love you sent your Son to come and die for us in our place so that we might one day live with you in your heavenly kingdom. We cannot thank you enough for this beautiful, priceless gift. Thank you for changing us from who we were to being called your children through Jesus and thank you for helping us to become more like him day by day. AMEN.
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know Why Jesus Came
Scripture: 1 John 3:1-7
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
In this sermon series, we are asking ourselves the question, “Christ is Risen! Now What?” We know that Jesus died. We know that Jesus rose from the dead. But what does that all mean for us today? Is just knowing the facts enough?
Last week we talked about the importance of knowing who Jesus is. We learned that it is not enough to just know about Jesus, but we need to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior. This week we will focus on why Jesus came and why it matters.
This first letter from John the gospel writer is written as a reassurance to his readers that their faith in Jesus Christ is not misplaced. In the difficult times in which this letter was written that assurance was desperately needed. Being a faithful follower of Christ in John’s day was a dangerous way to live. Persecution abounded – Christians could lose their family, their homes, their jobs, even their life. There must have been many people who questioned whether the risk of being a follower of Jesus was worth the price, and John wanted them to know that it was.
John does something in this passage that can easily be overlooked by the reader if they are not paying attention. He uses these few verses to remind us of who we were, who we are, and who we will be, thanks to Jesus. The reason it isn’t obvious is because John doesn’t lay this out in a plain, orderly fashion. He doesn’t just come right out and say you were, but you are, and you will be. He doesn’t even list these three nuggets of wisdom and comfort in an easily recognizable order.
If we jump to verse four, we read, “Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” We know from Paul’s letter to the Romas that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, so we can understand that John is telling us that we are guilty of lawlessness because we have all sinned. The good news for Christians, though, is that this is who we were – before Jesus came to offer us a way out of that way of life, before we committed our life to Christ.
Then, if we jump backwards to the beginning of today’s scripture, John writes, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.” This is comforting news to someone who used to live in lawlessness, because we know, from the first chapter in John’s own gospel, that everyone who believes in Jesus as the Son of God and receives him as Lord and Savior are given the right to be called children of God.
We were sinners, orphaned from our Heavenly Father through that sin, but when we accepted Christ, God adopted us as full members of the family with all the rights and privileges of a natural born child. We, as in all of humanity, messed up, and instead of God giving us what we deserve, he gave us his only Son as a way to restore the relationship we had broken, as a way to welcome us home to Himself.
Before Christ we were sinners and lived in lawlessness, but now, through Christ, we are called children of God. John started with this because he knew his readers needed to hear this part so he could get their attention. He wanted his readers, especially the ones he was originally writing to, to take a breath and begin to calm their fear. That was important because when fear is present, our thoughts are overwhelmed by it. Fear can cloud our thoughts, it can claim our focus, and it can dictate our actions. John needed fear to be put to rest to help his readers see clearly, to take in what he was saying, and to believe that faith in Jesus is always worth the risk.
Now that he has their attention, John explains that the faithful were being persecuted because, “The reason the world does not know us is because it did not know him.” Of course, a world that does not know Christ for who he really is cannot understand the hearts of those who recognize him and willingly surrender their lives to him. To unbelievers this seems odd at best, and dangerous at worst. Odd because it is a different way of living than what they know, and dangerous because anything so different threatens to upset the balance in the world.
Think about this. Whenever a communist dictator takes over a country, what is one of the first things they do? They begin to try to control the church. They begin to persecute the faithful. They eventually outlaw any real freedom of worship. Why? Because for those who are Christians, we understand that our freedom lies in Jesus Christ, not in government, nor in a political leader or party. When someone knows where true freedom lies, then that person is not easily controlled, because faith helps them overcome their fear and fear is a powerful instrument of control. So, to overcome this, the dictator, the government, begins to persecute those whom they cannot control. They really only have one weapon – fear – and they will try to use it in whatever way they can. What they don’t realize is that when they think they are acting out of power, they are actually acting out of the very fear they are trying to instill in those whom they are persecuting. Fear is a two-edged sword.
That is why Jesus was arrested and crucified by the religious leaders of his day – they were afraid that his influence would upset the balance of their world and they couldn’t have that. They couldn’t see the truth that in Jesus there is freedom, and so there is life. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day thought they were powerful, and they were afraid Jesus’ influence would take away that power. They were living in fear and in turn, they used fear as a weapon to eliminate Jesus and disband his followers. That is why John said, “The reason the world does not know us is because they did not know him.”
So, as John has pointed out, we were sinners, and we are now children of God. What about who we will be? He puts this part right between the other two. In verse two, John writes, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” While we don’t know exactly what we will be like, we do know we will be like Jesus.
I remember several years ago the commercial slogan, “I want to be like Mike,” but I have to tell you, I would much rather be like Jesus, wouldn’t you? I mean Michael Jordan may be a good person and he was a great basketball player, but Jesus is all that and so much more – he is my Lord and Savior. Michael Jordan might be an MVP on the court, but Jesus is the MVP of everything. Yes, if there is one person I strive to be like, it is Jesus Christ. And John says that we will be like him one day. What a promise! What a way to rally those who were dangerously close to falling away from the faith due to the circumstances they were enduring right then.
What a message for us, too, knowing that we all have problems and hardships that we deal with. One day, everything we struggle with here in this world will no longer matter because we will be living in heaven with our Father for all of eternity. And we will be like Jesus.
We are all on that path already. That is what sanctification is – it is the process of being made holy, being made to be more and more like Jesus. Like Jesus in how we think, how we live, how we love. That is our goal, and while we may fall short of the mark sometimes, we keep trying and God keeps helping us.
We were sinners. We are children of God. We will be like Jesus. John doesn’t lay it all out in that order, but he puts all the elements into this passage for us to discover, and in doing so, he gives us hope, just as he gave hope to those in his day who needed his encouragement to continue on in the faith, even though it might cost them everything.
But we haven’t quite answered our question of the day yet, have we? Why did Jesus come? John’s answer to that comes in verse five, “You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” Jesus came to help us go from who we were to who we are and to who we will be. Remember that before Jesus, we lived in lawlessness, which is sinfulness. Well, that sinfulness was a barrier between us and God.
God created us and he loves us, but he does not love that we were mired so deeply in sin. Sin was a wall that stood between us and God and neither could breach it, cross it, or tear it down. God was too holy to allow us sinful humans to be in his presence, and we were too sinful to even hope that we could be anything different. But God had a plan.
It was a daring, unbelievable plan. God chose to send his own Son to earth to be the atonement for our sin, the ultimate sacrifice so that by his blood our sins would be covered, the ransom paid. This was the act that demolished the barrier, that made a way for us to come into God’s presence, and for God to allow us to do so. Jesus came into this world to take away our sins.
We were sinners. We are children of God. We will be like Jesus one day, because we know who Jesus truly is and why he came. Jesus is the Son of God. He came to earth to die on the cross for our sins so that we can be forgiven for them. We were sinners until we came to know Jesus – not just who he is, but really know him, so that we might believe in him. Because we believe, we are called children of God. And because we are children of God we are growing to be more and more like Jesus. One day we will finally get to see that we have come to be just like him.
Christ is risen! Now what? Well, now we know who he is and why he has come. In this knowledge we are reminded that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Praise God that we are whosoever, that we believe, and that he loves us that much. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving Father, from the beginning you knew the hearts of all of humanity and you knew those hearts would be fickle. Yet you chose to love us anyway and out of that love you sent your Son to come and die for us in our place so that we might one day live with you in your heavenly kingdom. We cannot thank you enough for this beautiful, priceless gift. Thank you for changing us from who we were to being called your children through Jesus and thank you for helping us to become more like him day by day. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOr SUNDAY April 7, 2024 beginning THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "Christ is resen! now what?" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY IS TITLED "know who jesus is".
April 7, 2024
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know Who Jesus Is
Scripture: John 20:19-29
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
I will never forget one night while working at the Home Depot where my logical thinking became a big joke between my sister and I. My sister was working at the service desk one evening and I happened to walk up there to check for returns that needed to be taken back to my department as she was hanging up the phone, laughing at something.
Of course, I had to ask what was so funny and she told me someone had called to complain they had just gone through the drive-thru and they were shorted a fry. She assured the caller that she was very sympathetic to their dilemma, but pointed out that they had called Home Depot, not McDonalds as they had thought.
We shared a laugh, but then I had to ask, “How did they know they were missing a fry?” My sister looked at me, slightly puzzled, and said, “Because it wasn’t in the bag?” I still didn’t understand, how could they know they were missing a fry? Did they count them or something? As understanding dawned on her, she began to laugh – really hard – like crying laughing at me. Turns out they weren’t missing a single fry; they were missing an order of fries.
My logical brain heard “a fry” and seriously thought she meant a single French fry was missing. I was clueless in that moment, but once I realized how crazy it sounded to think someone would call and complain about one missing fry, I was also laughing so hard at myself that I was crying. We still laugh about that night.
It is good to laugh sometimes. Laughter is a gift from God. It shows he has a sense of humor because he wouldn’t give us something he didn’t have himself. Laughter releases tension, it solidifies bonds of family and friendship, and helps us see that even though life can be tough, it also has its lighter side.
I know there was no laughter in the upper room in the beginning of today’s scripture. The disciples, except for Thomas, were all huddled together in that room with the door locked. They were bewildered, confused, and fearful. The women had told them an unbelievable story that morning – that Jesus had risen from the dead and they had seen him! Peter and John had gone to the tomb and sure enough, it was empty, except for the grave clothes that still laid in the place where Jesus’ body had been placed.
They didn’t understand what was happening. They were remembering some of the things Jesus had tried to tell them before he was crucified, something about rising again on the third day. Well, this was the third day, and Jesus was not in the tomb, but it still didn’t quite compute with them what was happening.
Then, suddenly, there stood Jesus! Right there in the room with them. “Peace be with you,” he said, and scripture doesn’t tell us how any of the people in that room reacted at this, but I can only imagine they were pretty freaked out. I know I would be. Here is Jesus, looking like Jesus, except he had died and now he was alive again. How can this be?
Jesus held out his hands to show everyone the scars from the nails; he showed them his side where the soldier’s sword had pierced him. This really was Jesus standing right in the room with them. The realization, the truth, hit them and they began to rejoice. These men went from sorrowful to rejoicing in just a few seconds. As they were celebrating their risen Lord, Jesus said once more, “Peace be with you.” Then he said, “As my Father has sent me, so I send you,” and then Jesus breathed on them - just as God had breathed life into Adam - Jesus’ breath gave them life in the Holy Spirit, giving hope and joy to the disciples that night.
Well, at least to the disciples who were there when it happened. Thomas wasn’t there, though. We don’t know why Thomas was absent or where he was, but we do know he missed the big reveal. Thomas did not get to see the resurrected Christ when everyone else did. I can’t imagine how excited all the disciples were to tell Thomas what had happened. They were probably all speaking at once, each one louder and louder, trying to share their joy and their experience with their brother.
Thomes didn’t react to the news in the way they thought he would. Thomas didn’t immediately begin to jump for joy or get excited at all. In fact, Thomas seemed a little upset, and he said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Wait – what? C’mon, Thomas, it’s us – your friends – your brothers for the last three years. You know we wouldn’t joke about something like this. You have to believe us – Jesus really is alive – and we have seen him.
Because of this moment, over the years we have come to call Thomas “Doubting Thomas” because of this statement he made. But was Thomas really doubting what they were saying? These were trustworthy men and women, friends and allies, they wouldn’t just make this up, they wouldn’t toy with him like this. Perhaps Thomas’ remark wasn’t as much about doubting what the other disciples had experienced as it was about trying to put a logical meaning to an illogical situation, and maybe it was also about wanting the same experience for himself. Can we blame him?
Put yourself in Thomas’ place. All your friends have just experienced something that is almost beyond belief, something so fantastic that no one could have imagined it happening. How do you feel? Wouldn’t any one of us have a hard time grasping the full truth of what they were saying, even while feeling like we had missed out on something big? We would want to have what our friends had – the personal experience, the face-to-face encounter with the risen Lord.
When I went to Israel in 2022, I had one goal – to put my hand on the Western Wall. I had heard about this wall; I knew what it was and that it had existed in the time of Jesus. I had seen pictures of this wall and the people gathered about it every day. But somehow, I knew if I could just touch it, it would be more real to me, and it was. To be in the places where Jesus had been, to touch the stone face of that wall that had been in place even when Jesus had lived, made everything I knew to be true even more true.
I imagine that is what Thomas was feeling in that moment. He knew what he was hearing was true, but he needed to see Jesus for himself to make what they were saying even more true. He heard their words, but his logically thinking mind needed more. Thomas was about to get exactly what he needed.
Eight days later, the disciples were once again huddled in the upper room with the door closed to the outside world. Once again, Jesus suddenly showed up and stood among them, saying “Peace be with you.” Then, Jesus went straight to Thomas and stood before him. “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Jesus knew what Thomas needed. Jesus knew how Thomas thought and how he felt, so Jesus did what he did so Thomas could have what all the others in the room had – a close-up, personal encounter with Jesus himself.
In that moment, Thomas did not jump for joy like the other disciples had. Not because Thomas wasn’t happy to see Jesus alive once again, but because in that moment Thomas realized just exactly who Jesus really is. “My Lord and my God,” Thomas said.
Can you hear Thomas’ words? Imagine how he said, “My Lord and my God,” in a voice so filled with emotion and awe that he could barely speak at all. For three years Thomas had known Jesus, now Thomas suddenly knows who Jesus is. There is a difference. We can know Jesus, but we need to know who he is. Like Thomas, we need to be able to know Jesus as “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus has one more thing to say to Thomas and we should listen closely, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” That’s us. We have not seen Jesus, yet, through the stories we read in the Bible, and through the testimonies of others, we can believe in Jesus. We can know who Jesus is – the Son of God, both fully human and fully divine, the one who gave himself for our sake to death on a cross, the who rose from the grave so that we can have eternal life.
That is how Christian faith works, our belief comes not from seeing but from hearing the truth and then sharing that truth with others so they can then share with others.
Nearly two thousand years ago, a couple of women went to the tomb and found it empty. They saw the risen Savior and ran to tell the disciples. The disciples didn’t quite believe the women until they had their own encounter with the resurrected Savior. The disciples then told Thomas, who couldn’t wrap his mind around it until Jesus showed up and told Thomas to place his finger in the nail scars and put his hand in Jesus’ side. Then Thomas, and the rest of them, would go on to share their testimonies, share their stories, and share the Good News with others.
It is through this sharing that we have come to be where we are today. We are believers in Jesus Christ, saved by grace through faith in the One whom we have not seen but in whom we believe. Because of this faith, we have come to know who Jesus is – not just know about him, not just know him as some really great guy, but really know him as our Lord and Savior. That is the first step in becoming a true follower of Jesus, because as Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Thomas needed to see so he could believe. We need to believe so we can someday see. Either way, the most important thing is that we not only know Jesus, but that we know who he is as “My Lord and my God.” AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are our sin bearer, our life preserver, our everything, and we thank you for the work you have done in our lives. Forgive us when we have moments of doubt and bless us in our moments of faith. Lord, we want to know you, not just about you, but know who you are, in truth. We want to follow you all of our days, and we want to do your will by sharing you with others. Help us as we strive to do all of this, in your name, AMEN.
Series: Christ is Risen! Now What?
Message: Know Who Jesus Is
Scripture: John 20:19-29
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
I will never forget one night while working at the Home Depot where my logical thinking became a big joke between my sister and I. My sister was working at the service desk one evening and I happened to walk up there to check for returns that needed to be taken back to my department as she was hanging up the phone, laughing at something.
Of course, I had to ask what was so funny and she told me someone had called to complain they had just gone through the drive-thru and they were shorted a fry. She assured the caller that she was very sympathetic to their dilemma, but pointed out that they had called Home Depot, not McDonalds as they had thought.
We shared a laugh, but then I had to ask, “How did they know they were missing a fry?” My sister looked at me, slightly puzzled, and said, “Because it wasn’t in the bag?” I still didn’t understand, how could they know they were missing a fry? Did they count them or something? As understanding dawned on her, she began to laugh – really hard – like crying laughing at me. Turns out they weren’t missing a single fry; they were missing an order of fries.
My logical brain heard “a fry” and seriously thought she meant a single French fry was missing. I was clueless in that moment, but once I realized how crazy it sounded to think someone would call and complain about one missing fry, I was also laughing so hard at myself that I was crying. We still laugh about that night.
It is good to laugh sometimes. Laughter is a gift from God. It shows he has a sense of humor because he wouldn’t give us something he didn’t have himself. Laughter releases tension, it solidifies bonds of family and friendship, and helps us see that even though life can be tough, it also has its lighter side.
I know there was no laughter in the upper room in the beginning of today’s scripture. The disciples, except for Thomas, were all huddled together in that room with the door locked. They were bewildered, confused, and fearful. The women had told them an unbelievable story that morning – that Jesus had risen from the dead and they had seen him! Peter and John had gone to the tomb and sure enough, it was empty, except for the grave clothes that still laid in the place where Jesus’ body had been placed.
They didn’t understand what was happening. They were remembering some of the things Jesus had tried to tell them before he was crucified, something about rising again on the third day. Well, this was the third day, and Jesus was not in the tomb, but it still didn’t quite compute with them what was happening.
Then, suddenly, there stood Jesus! Right there in the room with them. “Peace be with you,” he said, and scripture doesn’t tell us how any of the people in that room reacted at this, but I can only imagine they were pretty freaked out. I know I would be. Here is Jesus, looking like Jesus, except he had died and now he was alive again. How can this be?
Jesus held out his hands to show everyone the scars from the nails; he showed them his side where the soldier’s sword had pierced him. This really was Jesus standing right in the room with them. The realization, the truth, hit them and they began to rejoice. These men went from sorrowful to rejoicing in just a few seconds. As they were celebrating their risen Lord, Jesus said once more, “Peace be with you.” Then he said, “As my Father has sent me, so I send you,” and then Jesus breathed on them - just as God had breathed life into Adam - Jesus’ breath gave them life in the Holy Spirit, giving hope and joy to the disciples that night.
Well, at least to the disciples who were there when it happened. Thomas wasn’t there, though. We don’t know why Thomas was absent or where he was, but we do know he missed the big reveal. Thomas did not get to see the resurrected Christ when everyone else did. I can’t imagine how excited all the disciples were to tell Thomas what had happened. They were probably all speaking at once, each one louder and louder, trying to share their joy and their experience with their brother.
Thomes didn’t react to the news in the way they thought he would. Thomas didn’t immediately begin to jump for joy or get excited at all. In fact, Thomas seemed a little upset, and he said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Wait – what? C’mon, Thomas, it’s us – your friends – your brothers for the last three years. You know we wouldn’t joke about something like this. You have to believe us – Jesus really is alive – and we have seen him.
Because of this moment, over the years we have come to call Thomas “Doubting Thomas” because of this statement he made. But was Thomas really doubting what they were saying? These were trustworthy men and women, friends and allies, they wouldn’t just make this up, they wouldn’t toy with him like this. Perhaps Thomas’ remark wasn’t as much about doubting what the other disciples had experienced as it was about trying to put a logical meaning to an illogical situation, and maybe it was also about wanting the same experience for himself. Can we blame him?
Put yourself in Thomas’ place. All your friends have just experienced something that is almost beyond belief, something so fantastic that no one could have imagined it happening. How do you feel? Wouldn’t any one of us have a hard time grasping the full truth of what they were saying, even while feeling like we had missed out on something big? We would want to have what our friends had – the personal experience, the face-to-face encounter with the risen Lord.
When I went to Israel in 2022, I had one goal – to put my hand on the Western Wall. I had heard about this wall; I knew what it was and that it had existed in the time of Jesus. I had seen pictures of this wall and the people gathered about it every day. But somehow, I knew if I could just touch it, it would be more real to me, and it was. To be in the places where Jesus had been, to touch the stone face of that wall that had been in place even when Jesus had lived, made everything I knew to be true even more true.
I imagine that is what Thomas was feeling in that moment. He knew what he was hearing was true, but he needed to see Jesus for himself to make what they were saying even more true. He heard their words, but his logically thinking mind needed more. Thomas was about to get exactly what he needed.
Eight days later, the disciples were once again huddled in the upper room with the door closed to the outside world. Once again, Jesus suddenly showed up and stood among them, saying “Peace be with you.” Then, Jesus went straight to Thomas and stood before him. “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Jesus knew what Thomas needed. Jesus knew how Thomas thought and how he felt, so Jesus did what he did so Thomas could have what all the others in the room had – a close-up, personal encounter with Jesus himself.
In that moment, Thomas did not jump for joy like the other disciples had. Not because Thomas wasn’t happy to see Jesus alive once again, but because in that moment Thomas realized just exactly who Jesus really is. “My Lord and my God,” Thomas said.
Can you hear Thomas’ words? Imagine how he said, “My Lord and my God,” in a voice so filled with emotion and awe that he could barely speak at all. For three years Thomas had known Jesus, now Thomas suddenly knows who Jesus is. There is a difference. We can know Jesus, but we need to know who he is. Like Thomas, we need to be able to know Jesus as “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus has one more thing to say to Thomas and we should listen closely, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” That’s us. We have not seen Jesus, yet, through the stories we read in the Bible, and through the testimonies of others, we can believe in Jesus. We can know who Jesus is – the Son of God, both fully human and fully divine, the one who gave himself for our sake to death on a cross, the who rose from the grave so that we can have eternal life.
That is how Christian faith works, our belief comes not from seeing but from hearing the truth and then sharing that truth with others so they can then share with others.
Nearly two thousand years ago, a couple of women went to the tomb and found it empty. They saw the risen Savior and ran to tell the disciples. The disciples didn’t quite believe the women until they had their own encounter with the resurrected Savior. The disciples then told Thomas, who couldn’t wrap his mind around it until Jesus showed up and told Thomas to place his finger in the nail scars and put his hand in Jesus’ side. Then Thomas, and the rest of them, would go on to share their testimonies, share their stories, and share the Good News with others.
It is through this sharing that we have come to be where we are today. We are believers in Jesus Christ, saved by grace through faith in the One whom we have not seen but in whom we believe. Because of this faith, we have come to know who Jesus is – not just know about him, not just know him as some really great guy, but really know him as our Lord and Savior. That is the first step in becoming a true follower of Jesus, because as Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Thomas needed to see so he could believe. We need to believe so we can someday see. Either way, the most important thing is that we not only know Jesus, but that we know who he is as “My Lord and my God.” AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are our sin bearer, our life preserver, our everything, and we thank you for the work you have done in our lives. Forgive us when we have moments of doubt and bless us in our moments of faith. Lord, we want to know you, not just about you, but know who you are, in truth. We want to follow you all of our days, and we want to do your will by sharing you with others. Help us as we strive to do all of this, in your name, AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR EASTER SUNDAY MARCH 31, 2024 COMPLETING THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "A LOVE SO DEEP" AND THE MESSAGE TODAY IS TITLED "tHE GOOD NEWS".
March 31, 2024
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: The Good News
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures 4 and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed.
In the mid-1800s there was a man named Simon Greenleaf who was a professor at Harvard University, teaching classes on the evidence of law. Greenleaf was considered by many in his day to be the greatest expert on evidence of law that the world had ever known. His knowledge was great on the subject and in the question of what constitutes evidence, Greenleaf's credentials were impeccable.
Greenleaf adhered to one non-negotiable rule which he taught to his students at Harvard. It was a simple rule: "Never make up your mind about any significant matter without first considering the evidence." Greenleaf himself lived by this rule and he applied it in all areas of life. All areas that is, except for religion. He was a Jew, and as such, he did not believe in Christianity, but one day in class the subject of the resurrection became the topic of conversation. A debate ensued, with parties arguing for both sides, and Greenleaf proclaimed to his class, "I don't believe in the resurrection." One brave student courageously spoke up and asked: "Yes, Professor, but have you considered the evidence?"
At that moment, Greenleaf realized that he had not applied his rule to the topic, that he had never before considered the evidence and where it might lead, and from that day forward he determined to study the evidence of the resurrection with the intention to disprove it. After a great deal of time spent studying the evidence, trying to keep an open mind, Greenleaf came to this conclusion, "If the evidence of Christ's resurrection were presented to any unbiased jury in the world, they would have to conclude that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead."
Greenleaf became so convicted by the evidence he found that he became a Christian. He even wrote about his research of the resurrection in a book that was released in 1846 known as "The Testimony of the Evangelists."
Greenleaf made this observation, "According to the laws of the legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than just about any other event in history."
Simon Greenleaf is not the only person who has set out to research the validity of the resurrection of Jesus for the express purpose of disproving it only to determine its truth and be converted to following Christ. Lee Strobel, the author of “A Case for Christ,” as well as many other books, famously did the same. Angered that his wife had become a Christian, Strobel put his journalism skills to work to disprove the whole Christianity thing, only to find in the end, the truth of the gospel – the Good News - of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Strobel is now an ardent follower of Christ himself.
In his letter to the Corinthian church, which is our scripture reading for today, Paul is giving testimony to the truth of the resurrection. He writes, “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.” Here is the case Paul is making – that Jesus really did fulfill the scriptural prophesies of the Messiah. Jesus did die for our sins, taking the punishment that was meant for us upon himself. He was buried in Joseph’s tomb for three days, and then he rose from the dead.
All of this was predicted in scripture, all of this was fulfilled in this one person, Jesus of Nazareth. Paul is presenting his case; he is laying out his evidence for the Corinthian Church folks to see the truth he is giving them. Jesus being dead and buried were likely not that difficult to accept, after all, most people have witnessed a friend or a loved one who has died and was buried. It’s the resurrection part that seems so implausible. This is where people get stuck so often. I mean, how can someone be dead for three days and then come back to life?
Paul knows how hard it is to accept that this man, Jesus, rose from the dead, but he has further proof to offer for the validity of his claim: “He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” That is a lot of people who have seen Jesus after his death – a lot of eyewitnesses who have seen him alive.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples on that first night, he showed them his nail-scarred hands, and he asked for food, which he ate. Showing his scars confirmed that this was truly Jesus who had been crucified, eating the fish they gave him proved he was not a ghost, a spirit, or an apparition, but that he was truly alive. Paul is establishing a line of people who can all confirm the truth of the resurrection, and to prove he isn’t just making it up, he reminds those to whom he is writing that most of the people who saw Jesus are still alive themselves – anyone who wants to can find these witnesses and verify this truth for themselves if they feel they need to.
Then Paul gives them the most personal piece of evidence that he has – his very own encounter with Jesus Christ. “After all those other people, although I didn’t deserve it, unfit as I am to bear the title of apostle due to my zealous persecution of the Church, Jesus appeared even to me.” Paul was telling the Church that he was an eyewitness to the truth of the resurrection through an encounter with Jesus. We know this happened when Paul was on his way to Damascus to have Christians arrested and jailed, but Jesus had other plans for Paul. Thankfully, Paul’s meeting with Jesus opened Paul’s eyes, and his heart, to the truth of the resurrection and who Jesus really is, and it changed Paul’s life.
That is what happens when we come to know who Jesus is; our life is changed. Jesus is the Son of God, come to earth to live and die for God’s people. He died, taking our sins upon himself, paying the price that we could never pay on our own. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the bill we carry for the sinful life we live is immediately stamped “Paid in Full.” Our debt is forgiven and our relationship with our Creator is restored. That seems like a great deal, but that’s not even all of what Jesus did for us.
You see, Jesus’ death paid for our sins, but his resurrection granted us eternal life. Jesus’ death and his resurrection are two parts of a whole. We needed both acts and Jesus was willing to surrender himself to God’s plan for us. It is through Jesus, and no other, that we can know we are forgiven, accepted, and will live in eternity in heaven if we put our faith and our trust in him as our Lord and Savior.
That is why this day is so important. Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, whatever you want to call it – we celebrate today what Jesus did for us. We don’t celebrate the resurrection hoping it’s true. We celebrate with great joy and confidence that the resurrection is absolutely true! The evidence is there for anyone to find.
Remember what Simon Greenleaf said when he followed the trail of evidence for the resurrection: "According to the laws of the legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than just about any other event in history." In history! Isn’t that amazing? It's not only amazing – it’s Good News – it’s the best news ever!
1 Peter 1:3 declares, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." We know it to be true, and that is why we praise God and confidently say, this day – “He is Risen!” (He is risen, indeed.) AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, what a beautiful, wonderful plan you laid out for our salvation. You loved us so much that you sent your only Son into our world so that one day we might live with you in your world. We have seen the evidence of the resurrection, and we celebrate its truth today. Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again. We thank you and praise you for this truth, for your love, and for your Son. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101988/evidence-for-the-resurrection-is-reliable-and-true-by-timothy-lueking
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: The Good News
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures 4 and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed.
In the mid-1800s there was a man named Simon Greenleaf who was a professor at Harvard University, teaching classes on the evidence of law. Greenleaf was considered by many in his day to be the greatest expert on evidence of law that the world had ever known. His knowledge was great on the subject and in the question of what constitutes evidence, Greenleaf's credentials were impeccable.
Greenleaf adhered to one non-negotiable rule which he taught to his students at Harvard. It was a simple rule: "Never make up your mind about any significant matter without first considering the evidence." Greenleaf himself lived by this rule and he applied it in all areas of life. All areas that is, except for religion. He was a Jew, and as such, he did not believe in Christianity, but one day in class the subject of the resurrection became the topic of conversation. A debate ensued, with parties arguing for both sides, and Greenleaf proclaimed to his class, "I don't believe in the resurrection." One brave student courageously spoke up and asked: "Yes, Professor, but have you considered the evidence?"
At that moment, Greenleaf realized that he had not applied his rule to the topic, that he had never before considered the evidence and where it might lead, and from that day forward he determined to study the evidence of the resurrection with the intention to disprove it. After a great deal of time spent studying the evidence, trying to keep an open mind, Greenleaf came to this conclusion, "If the evidence of Christ's resurrection were presented to any unbiased jury in the world, they would have to conclude that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead."
Greenleaf became so convicted by the evidence he found that he became a Christian. He even wrote about his research of the resurrection in a book that was released in 1846 known as "The Testimony of the Evangelists."
Greenleaf made this observation, "According to the laws of the legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than just about any other event in history."
Simon Greenleaf is not the only person who has set out to research the validity of the resurrection of Jesus for the express purpose of disproving it only to determine its truth and be converted to following Christ. Lee Strobel, the author of “A Case for Christ,” as well as many other books, famously did the same. Angered that his wife had become a Christian, Strobel put his journalism skills to work to disprove the whole Christianity thing, only to find in the end, the truth of the gospel – the Good News - of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Strobel is now an ardent follower of Christ himself.
In his letter to the Corinthian church, which is our scripture reading for today, Paul is giving testimony to the truth of the resurrection. He writes, “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.” Here is the case Paul is making – that Jesus really did fulfill the scriptural prophesies of the Messiah. Jesus did die for our sins, taking the punishment that was meant for us upon himself. He was buried in Joseph’s tomb for three days, and then he rose from the dead.
All of this was predicted in scripture, all of this was fulfilled in this one person, Jesus of Nazareth. Paul is presenting his case; he is laying out his evidence for the Corinthian Church folks to see the truth he is giving them. Jesus being dead and buried were likely not that difficult to accept, after all, most people have witnessed a friend or a loved one who has died and was buried. It’s the resurrection part that seems so implausible. This is where people get stuck so often. I mean, how can someone be dead for three days and then come back to life?
Paul knows how hard it is to accept that this man, Jesus, rose from the dead, but he has further proof to offer for the validity of his claim: “He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” That is a lot of people who have seen Jesus after his death – a lot of eyewitnesses who have seen him alive.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples on that first night, he showed them his nail-scarred hands, and he asked for food, which he ate. Showing his scars confirmed that this was truly Jesus who had been crucified, eating the fish they gave him proved he was not a ghost, a spirit, or an apparition, but that he was truly alive. Paul is establishing a line of people who can all confirm the truth of the resurrection, and to prove he isn’t just making it up, he reminds those to whom he is writing that most of the people who saw Jesus are still alive themselves – anyone who wants to can find these witnesses and verify this truth for themselves if they feel they need to.
Then Paul gives them the most personal piece of evidence that he has – his very own encounter with Jesus Christ. “After all those other people, although I didn’t deserve it, unfit as I am to bear the title of apostle due to my zealous persecution of the Church, Jesus appeared even to me.” Paul was telling the Church that he was an eyewitness to the truth of the resurrection through an encounter with Jesus. We know this happened when Paul was on his way to Damascus to have Christians arrested and jailed, but Jesus had other plans for Paul. Thankfully, Paul’s meeting with Jesus opened Paul’s eyes, and his heart, to the truth of the resurrection and who Jesus really is, and it changed Paul’s life.
That is what happens when we come to know who Jesus is; our life is changed. Jesus is the Son of God, come to earth to live and die for God’s people. He died, taking our sins upon himself, paying the price that we could never pay on our own. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the bill we carry for the sinful life we live is immediately stamped “Paid in Full.” Our debt is forgiven and our relationship with our Creator is restored. That seems like a great deal, but that’s not even all of what Jesus did for us.
You see, Jesus’ death paid for our sins, but his resurrection granted us eternal life. Jesus’ death and his resurrection are two parts of a whole. We needed both acts and Jesus was willing to surrender himself to God’s plan for us. It is through Jesus, and no other, that we can know we are forgiven, accepted, and will live in eternity in heaven if we put our faith and our trust in him as our Lord and Savior.
That is why this day is so important. Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, whatever you want to call it – we celebrate today what Jesus did for us. We don’t celebrate the resurrection hoping it’s true. We celebrate with great joy and confidence that the resurrection is absolutely true! The evidence is there for anyone to find.
Remember what Simon Greenleaf said when he followed the trail of evidence for the resurrection: "According to the laws of the legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than just about any other event in history." In history! Isn’t that amazing? It's not only amazing – it’s Good News – it’s the best news ever!
1 Peter 1:3 declares, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." We know it to be true, and that is why we praise God and confidently say, this day – “He is Risen!” (He is risen, indeed.) AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, what a beautiful, wonderful plan you laid out for our salvation. You loved us so much that you sent your only Son into our world so that one day we might live with you in your world. We have seen the evidence of the resurrection, and we celebrate its truth today. Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again. We thank you and praise you for this truth, for your love, and for your Son. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101988/evidence-for-the-resurrection-is-reliable-and-true-by-timothy-lueking
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON for Maundy Thursday MARCH 28, 2024 CONTINUING IN THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "A LOVE SO DEEP" AND THE MESSAGE IS TITLED "love like jesus".
March 28, 2024, Maundy Thursday
Rootstown
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: Love Like Jesus
Scripture: John 13: 1-17
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already decided that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Handwashing
On that night, long ago, in that room with his disciples, Jesus took it upon himself to serve these men whom he loved. The washing of feet was the work of the lowest of servants, and none of the 12 would have considered themselves to be low enough to offer to wash another’s feet. Feet were dirty from walking through the streets of the city, walking through the dust, the dirt, the droppings.
It wasn’t a pleasant job, this washing of another’s feet. It was dirty, demeaning work. Yet Jesus stood up from the supper table, took off his outer robe, tied a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, carried it over to the disciples, and began to wash their feet. All of them. All twelve of them. Even though he knew which one would betray him, he washed even the feet of Judas Iscariot.
My friends, that is love. That is a deep, deep love. That if the kind of love Jesus had for his disciples, and it is the kind of love he has for us. In his last hours, when he could have done anything, asked for anything, Jesus thought not of himself, but of others. Jesus was setting an example of what it looks like to love and to serve; he modeled for us what he was calling us to do.
I invite you, as you are willing, to come forward this evening for a handwashing. As the water is poured over you and your hands are wiped clean, think about the love that was being poured out in that upper room, and know that same love is still being poured out upon you now.
Second Scripture: John 13:31-35
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Today is the day we call Maundy Thursday. The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, from which we get the word “mandate.” Maundy Thursday is the night Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and washed his disciples’ feet.
In John’s gospel, we are at the Passover, or just before it. Passover is the ancient celebration of the Angel of Death passing over the Israelites when the first-born in all of Egypt was slain as the final step in Pharoah allowing the Hebrew people to go free. It was a time to remember what God had done for his people in the past, how he had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and into freedom in the Promised Land. Except this didn’t feel like freedom, not when they lived under Roman rule and oppression.
But here they are, gathered in the city along with thousands and thousands of other Jews to celebrate the Passover, just as they did every year. It was a requirement of the Law, a commandment from God for his people. Jesus is with his disciples in the upper room. He has washed the feet of everyone present and he has instituted the Lord’s Supper in the giving of the bread and the wine, telling his disciples to eat, this is my body, and drink, this is my blood.
Now our second scripture reading begins with Judas leaving the room to go and do his business with the religious leaders, enticed by Satan into betraying Jesus. Jesus is talking to the remaining eleven. It’s a serious conversation. Jesus is telling his closest followers that everything he has done has been to bring glory to the Father and his time is coming to an end.
He has told them before, but he needs them to hear him this time, “Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now, I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’” But there is something more Jesus needs them to understand. Something vital to their future ministry. Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
There’s that word love. We use it today and we overuse it today. We love a lot of things and we love a lot of people. But Jesus wasn’t talking about just a word. He didn’t mean love as an emotion. This love that Jesus was teaching was the agape love – love that was lived and shown, love that was an action, not a thought, a feeling, or an emotion. This was the love that Jesus showed went he washed their feet. This was the love that Jesus was demonstrating when he gave them the bread and the wine – his body and his blood.
“I give you a new command, a new mandate, to love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus had lived out his love for his disciples since the moment he had called each one of them, and now he needed them to understand that they were to live out that love towards others. Jesus wanted his followers to love when love seemed impossible, when love seemed beneath them, when love was hard. After all, that is how Jesus had loved them for the last three years.
Jesus had called them all to come and follow him. They had done so, living with him, learning from him, helping him, misunderstanding him. They had all made plenty of mistakes, yet Jesus loved them through it all. And now, even now, in these last few hours, Jesus knew that they would all desert him, and he still loved them.
Jesus wanted his disciples to lead as he had led, he wanted them to love as he had loved, as he still loved, and as he would continue to love. Soon, Jesus and his disciples would leave the upper room and go to Gethsemane. The soldiers would come and arrest him there. Jesus would face a trial of sorts, be horribly beaten, mocked, spit upon, and ultimately crucified. But through it all, through the humility, the betrayal, the desertion, and the physical pain, Jesus would continue to love. Those nails weren’t what kept Jesus on that cross – he could have gotten down from there if he wanted. It was love that kept him there.
It was love that kept Jesus in place, enduring all that he was going through. It was love that made Jesus accept God’s plan. It was love for which Jesus died. Love for all people of all time. Love for those who followed him, who cursed him, who denied him. The crucifixion was Jesus’ love in motion for us.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.” Jesus told his disciples this on that long ago night. He needed them to know how important this love in motion was. They would witness that love as he allowed himself to be hung on that cross, and these words would echo in their minds and in their hearts, because Jesus needed them to know that “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus’ message to his disciples in that upper room is a message that reaches across the ages to us, too. When Jesus mandated his disciples to love one another, he was also mandating us to do the same. Love one another, because it is by this love, a love in motion, a love in service, a love in action, that the world will know that we are followers of Jesus Christ. May his love shine in and through us always. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us about love, the kind of love that is more than a feeling, it’s an action, a motion, a way of life. Help us to love as you loved, help us to love you more so that we will love those around us more. Show us where to love and how to love and how to share your love - not because you have commanded it, but because we want to live as your followers. In your name, AMEN.
Rootstown
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: Love Like Jesus
Scripture: John 13: 1-17
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already decided that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Handwashing
On that night, long ago, in that room with his disciples, Jesus took it upon himself to serve these men whom he loved. The washing of feet was the work of the lowest of servants, and none of the 12 would have considered themselves to be low enough to offer to wash another’s feet. Feet were dirty from walking through the streets of the city, walking through the dust, the dirt, the droppings.
It wasn’t a pleasant job, this washing of another’s feet. It was dirty, demeaning work. Yet Jesus stood up from the supper table, took off his outer robe, tied a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, carried it over to the disciples, and began to wash their feet. All of them. All twelve of them. Even though he knew which one would betray him, he washed even the feet of Judas Iscariot.
My friends, that is love. That is a deep, deep love. That if the kind of love Jesus had for his disciples, and it is the kind of love he has for us. In his last hours, when he could have done anything, asked for anything, Jesus thought not of himself, but of others. Jesus was setting an example of what it looks like to love and to serve; he modeled for us what he was calling us to do.
I invite you, as you are willing, to come forward this evening for a handwashing. As the water is poured over you and your hands are wiped clean, think about the love that was being poured out in that upper room, and know that same love is still being poured out upon you now.
Second Scripture: John 13:31-35
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Today is the day we call Maundy Thursday. The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, from which we get the word “mandate.” Maundy Thursday is the night Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and washed his disciples’ feet.
In John’s gospel, we are at the Passover, or just before it. Passover is the ancient celebration of the Angel of Death passing over the Israelites when the first-born in all of Egypt was slain as the final step in Pharoah allowing the Hebrew people to go free. It was a time to remember what God had done for his people in the past, how he had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and into freedom in the Promised Land. Except this didn’t feel like freedom, not when they lived under Roman rule and oppression.
But here they are, gathered in the city along with thousands and thousands of other Jews to celebrate the Passover, just as they did every year. It was a requirement of the Law, a commandment from God for his people. Jesus is with his disciples in the upper room. He has washed the feet of everyone present and he has instituted the Lord’s Supper in the giving of the bread and the wine, telling his disciples to eat, this is my body, and drink, this is my blood.
Now our second scripture reading begins with Judas leaving the room to go and do his business with the religious leaders, enticed by Satan into betraying Jesus. Jesus is talking to the remaining eleven. It’s a serious conversation. Jesus is telling his closest followers that everything he has done has been to bring glory to the Father and his time is coming to an end.
He has told them before, but he needs them to hear him this time, “Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now, I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’” But there is something more Jesus needs them to understand. Something vital to their future ministry. Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
There’s that word love. We use it today and we overuse it today. We love a lot of things and we love a lot of people. But Jesus wasn’t talking about just a word. He didn’t mean love as an emotion. This love that Jesus was teaching was the agape love – love that was lived and shown, love that was an action, not a thought, a feeling, or an emotion. This was the love that Jesus showed went he washed their feet. This was the love that Jesus was demonstrating when he gave them the bread and the wine – his body and his blood.
“I give you a new command, a new mandate, to love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus had lived out his love for his disciples since the moment he had called each one of them, and now he needed them to understand that they were to live out that love towards others. Jesus wanted his followers to love when love seemed impossible, when love seemed beneath them, when love was hard. After all, that is how Jesus had loved them for the last three years.
Jesus had called them all to come and follow him. They had done so, living with him, learning from him, helping him, misunderstanding him. They had all made plenty of mistakes, yet Jesus loved them through it all. And now, even now, in these last few hours, Jesus knew that they would all desert him, and he still loved them.
Jesus wanted his disciples to lead as he had led, he wanted them to love as he had loved, as he still loved, and as he would continue to love. Soon, Jesus and his disciples would leave the upper room and go to Gethsemane. The soldiers would come and arrest him there. Jesus would face a trial of sorts, be horribly beaten, mocked, spit upon, and ultimately crucified. But through it all, through the humility, the betrayal, the desertion, and the physical pain, Jesus would continue to love. Those nails weren’t what kept Jesus on that cross – he could have gotten down from there if he wanted. It was love that kept him there.
It was love that kept Jesus in place, enduring all that he was going through. It was love that made Jesus accept God’s plan. It was love for which Jesus died. Love for all people of all time. Love for those who followed him, who cursed him, who denied him. The crucifixion was Jesus’ love in motion for us.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.” Jesus told his disciples this on that long ago night. He needed them to know how important this love in motion was. They would witness that love as he allowed himself to be hung on that cross, and these words would echo in their minds and in their hearts, because Jesus needed them to know that “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus’ message to his disciples in that upper room is a message that reaches across the ages to us, too. When Jesus mandated his disciples to love one another, he was also mandating us to do the same. Love one another, because it is by this love, a love in motion, a love in service, a love in action, that the world will know that we are followers of Jesus Christ. May his love shine in and through us always. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us about love, the kind of love that is more than a feeling, it’s an action, a motion, a way of life. Help us to love as you loved, help us to love you more so that we will love those around us more. Show us where to love and how to love and how to share your love - not because you have commanded it, but because we want to live as your followers. In your name, AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON Palm SUNDAY MARCH 24, 2024 CONTINUING IN THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "A LOVE SO DEEP" AND THE MESSAGE IS TITLED "Welcomed and adored".
March 24, 2024 Palm Sunday
Rootstown
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: Welcomed and Adored
Scripture: Mark 11:1-11
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this: ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, 5 some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They told them what Jesus had said, and they allowed them to take it. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 9 Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
On November 9th, 1989, a Sunday morning, the church in Thuringen, Germany was packed, as it usually was. There were some two thousand people filling the pews, and another 5,000 gathered around the outside of the building listening to the service via outdoor speakers. This was in East Germany, a country under communist rule, a church that was permitted to exist but in the midst of the worshipers would have been members of the state secret service – the Stasi. These Stasi members would have been there to keep an eye open and an ear peeled to make sure that what was happening wouldn’t undermine the government.
Worship had begun. There was nothing unusual in its beginning, following a simple order of worship: scripture, sermon, open opportunity for people to speak, and close in prayer. Pastor Christian was to lead the closing prayer.
Now, you might think it is amazing to have so many people come to worship on Sunday, and it was good to have the opportunity for so many to hear God’s word proclaimed, but the truth is, most of the people who parked themselves in a pew on Sunday mornings in those days and in that place, came because it was the only viable option to gather at anything other than a state sanctioned, state run event. In other words, it was go to church or stay home – those were the options.
Suddenly, just when the time came to open up the microphone to anyone who wanted to speak, a young woman came into the church. She was trying to work her way up tot the mike, but there were so many people she couldn’t get through, so she began to shout to the crowd that the Berlin wall had fallen, East Germany was now free.
The people who were around her and heard what she said began to stop their feet and cheer and shout for joy. The cheering spread as one person told the next the news. But that was just the two thousand inside, no one had made the announcement in the mic so the people outside listening didn’t understand what was going on inside. Finally, the announcement was made into the mic, the people outside heard the good news and they, too, began to stomp and shout and cheer. “Freedom” was the word they shouted. Freedom had come at last. What an impromptu celebration they had.
I wonder how it compared to the celebration we read about in today’s scripture?
It was Sunday. Jesus and his followers were headed to Jerusalem. Jesus knew the time had come to bring God’s plan to fruition. He knew what was coming. He was acutely aware of what he was walking into. As they came near to Bethany, Jesus sent two of his disciples into the village on an errand. He told them that as soon as they entered the village, they would see a colt, one who had never been ridden. They were to untie that colt and bring it to back to him.
If anyone questioned them, asking what they were doing, they were to simply say, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.” The two disciples went, and everything was just as Jesus had said. The found the colt, they began to untie it, someone stopped them and asked what they were doing, they relayed Jesus’ message, and they were allowed to take the colt. They brought the colt back to Jesus, they threw their coats over its back, Jesus sat on it, and the procession into the city began.
People began to throw their coats on the ground before Jesus. Others cut leafy branches and either threw them on the ground in Jesus’ path or began to wave them back and forth. There were people on all sides of Jesus – some were leading, some were following, some were cheering as he rode by. It was a celebration; the people began to cheer. Shouts of joy, cries of “Hosanna!” were heard.
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” The louder the celebration got, the more people it attracted. The city was full of people, Jews who had come to celebrate the Passover as was required of them. The city was full of people – ten times or more as many as there usually were. Throngs and crowds, palm branches waving, voices shouting, people cheering. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna! Lord, save us, we want freedom! Freedom!
How many in that crowd that day were cheering for Jesus because they knew he was the Messiah? How many were cheering because they thought he might be the messiah and that he had come to start a war – to overthrow the Romans? And how many were cheering because they saw an opportunity to party and just decided to join the fun?
The disciples, surely knew who Jesus was, right? They had been with him for three years now, they had lived with him, witnessed the miracles, heard the parables, gotten to know him. Surely the disciples were the ones who knew Jesus was the true Messiah. Well, mostly yes, but maybe not completely. They knew him as well as anyone, but they still didn’t understand what Jesus had been trying to tell them about his death and resurrection that were coming up fast. And remember, Judas was a part of that group entering the city that day, too.
Judas Iscariot was definitely in the second category. He was one of the ones who believed Jesus was the Messiah, but that he would come and start a revolution, he would get p an army and defeat the Romans and drive them out of Jerusalem. Judas, and likely the majority of the crowd, were looking for a warrior. Freedom, for them, meant that the city and her people would once again rule themselves.
Of course, in every crowd, there are those who follow along, not knowing, or caring, what is going on, just wanting to fit in with everyone else. They are always looking to do what everyone else was doing, be whatever everyone else was being. They were cheering and shouting just as loudly and exuberantly as all the others, but there was no substance to their celebration. They were like Kool and the Gang – ready to celebrate and party and have a good time – no reason necessary.
Take a moment, now. Put yourself in the crowd. Picture yourself standing along the road as Jesus rides by. See that palm branch in your hand? Wave it. Shout out Hosanna! Come on, shout it like you mean it. Hosanna! Feel the energy. Sense the excitement. You are part of the party – but why?
Why are you there? Which group do you belong to? Are you a party animal, caught up in the frenzy? Are you hoping this is the beginning of the war – the pathway to freedom? Or are you a true disciple, one who knows where this party is headed?
That day in November of 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, all those people in that church, seven thousand of them, were celebrating. And they had every right to celebrate – that isn’t even the issue. The issue is - why they were in that church that Sunday morning. Were they there to worship God? Some were. Others were there because it was the place to be. Some were there because going to church was the only thing there was to do on a Sunday morning. It had nothing to do with faith. They weren’t interested in being ministered to spiritually. They came to be a part of the crowd.
How do we know that most of the people weren’t really there to worship? Because within a couple of years of the fall of that wall, when freedom had come to East Germany, the church that worshiped seven thousand on that eventful Sunday, is now virtually empty on Sunday morning. The celebration that day was less about what God had done for them than what they wanted for themselves. They wanted freedom – but they didn’t understand where true freedom lies.
The crowds that lined the road in Jerusalem that day were more interested in what Jesus would do for them, not for their souls, but for their current situation. They were praising Jesus, but it wasn’t real praise for who he was – God with us. How do we know their praise was too weak to be true? Because a few days later, many who were shouting “Hosanna” on Sunday were the same ones shouting, “Crucify him!” on Thursday.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem to shouts and acclamations. To anyone watching, it would seem that this man was welcomed and adored by the people, loved by the crowds. But their hearts would prove otherwise.
What is the state of our hearts? When we praise God, is it real? Do we praise God out of an attitude of gratitude for all he has done for us, or do we praise him for what we think we can get him to do for us?
God loves us. He has proven his love by giving his own son to die for our sins so that we won’t have to pay the price for them, so that we can have a relationship with him, so we can have eternal life with him. That is a love so deep I cannot even comprehend it. But I am so very grateful for it.
I want to be one of the ones who shouts and cheers for Jesus because I know who he really is. I want to shout “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” because I know Jesus is the one who brings freedom – not freedom from Roman rule – but freedom from death, not a temporary freedom in this world but eternal freedom in the next. I want to celebrate Jesus because I love Jesus and I know he loves me.
Not everyone in that church in Thuringen on the day the wall fell was there to worship God. Not everyone who was in that crowd that first Palm Sunday was there to celebrate Jesus for the right reason. But that was then, and this is now, and the question is for us today – why are we here? I pray we are here to worship our great and wonderful God who gave us his only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That’s why we are here. AMEN.
PRAYER: Almighty God, who can fathom a love as deep as yours? That you would give up your son for us, we cannot imagine, but we are oh so grateful. Father, on this day, we remember when Jesus rode into the city. There were shouts and cheers and a huge celebration that day, though they would be short-lived. Lord, help us to keep our hearts fixed on you and what you have done for us through Jesus so that our celebrations will be true, our shouts and cheers will be authentic, because we know who Jesus is nd how real freedom comes only through him. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76289/palm-sunday-praises-likened-to-the-fall-of-the-by-sermon-central
Rootstown
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: Welcomed and Adored
Scripture: Mark 11:1-11
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this: ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, 5 some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They told them what Jesus had said, and they allowed them to take it. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 9 Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
On November 9th, 1989, a Sunday morning, the church in Thuringen, Germany was packed, as it usually was. There were some two thousand people filling the pews, and another 5,000 gathered around the outside of the building listening to the service via outdoor speakers. This was in East Germany, a country under communist rule, a church that was permitted to exist but in the midst of the worshipers would have been members of the state secret service – the Stasi. These Stasi members would have been there to keep an eye open and an ear peeled to make sure that what was happening wouldn’t undermine the government.
Worship had begun. There was nothing unusual in its beginning, following a simple order of worship: scripture, sermon, open opportunity for people to speak, and close in prayer. Pastor Christian was to lead the closing prayer.
Now, you might think it is amazing to have so many people come to worship on Sunday, and it was good to have the opportunity for so many to hear God’s word proclaimed, but the truth is, most of the people who parked themselves in a pew on Sunday mornings in those days and in that place, came because it was the only viable option to gather at anything other than a state sanctioned, state run event. In other words, it was go to church or stay home – those were the options.
Suddenly, just when the time came to open up the microphone to anyone who wanted to speak, a young woman came into the church. She was trying to work her way up tot the mike, but there were so many people she couldn’t get through, so she began to shout to the crowd that the Berlin wall had fallen, East Germany was now free.
The people who were around her and heard what she said began to stop their feet and cheer and shout for joy. The cheering spread as one person told the next the news. But that was just the two thousand inside, no one had made the announcement in the mic so the people outside listening didn’t understand what was going on inside. Finally, the announcement was made into the mic, the people outside heard the good news and they, too, began to stomp and shout and cheer. “Freedom” was the word they shouted. Freedom had come at last. What an impromptu celebration they had.
I wonder how it compared to the celebration we read about in today’s scripture?
It was Sunday. Jesus and his followers were headed to Jerusalem. Jesus knew the time had come to bring God’s plan to fruition. He knew what was coming. He was acutely aware of what he was walking into. As they came near to Bethany, Jesus sent two of his disciples into the village on an errand. He told them that as soon as they entered the village, they would see a colt, one who had never been ridden. They were to untie that colt and bring it to back to him.
If anyone questioned them, asking what they were doing, they were to simply say, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.” The two disciples went, and everything was just as Jesus had said. The found the colt, they began to untie it, someone stopped them and asked what they were doing, they relayed Jesus’ message, and they were allowed to take the colt. They brought the colt back to Jesus, they threw their coats over its back, Jesus sat on it, and the procession into the city began.
People began to throw their coats on the ground before Jesus. Others cut leafy branches and either threw them on the ground in Jesus’ path or began to wave them back and forth. There were people on all sides of Jesus – some were leading, some were following, some were cheering as he rode by. It was a celebration; the people began to cheer. Shouts of joy, cries of “Hosanna!” were heard.
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” The louder the celebration got, the more people it attracted. The city was full of people, Jews who had come to celebrate the Passover as was required of them. The city was full of people – ten times or more as many as there usually were. Throngs and crowds, palm branches waving, voices shouting, people cheering. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna! Lord, save us, we want freedom! Freedom!
How many in that crowd that day were cheering for Jesus because they knew he was the Messiah? How many were cheering because they thought he might be the messiah and that he had come to start a war – to overthrow the Romans? And how many were cheering because they saw an opportunity to party and just decided to join the fun?
The disciples, surely knew who Jesus was, right? They had been with him for three years now, they had lived with him, witnessed the miracles, heard the parables, gotten to know him. Surely the disciples were the ones who knew Jesus was the true Messiah. Well, mostly yes, but maybe not completely. They knew him as well as anyone, but they still didn’t understand what Jesus had been trying to tell them about his death and resurrection that were coming up fast. And remember, Judas was a part of that group entering the city that day, too.
Judas Iscariot was definitely in the second category. He was one of the ones who believed Jesus was the Messiah, but that he would come and start a revolution, he would get p an army and defeat the Romans and drive them out of Jerusalem. Judas, and likely the majority of the crowd, were looking for a warrior. Freedom, for them, meant that the city and her people would once again rule themselves.
Of course, in every crowd, there are those who follow along, not knowing, or caring, what is going on, just wanting to fit in with everyone else. They are always looking to do what everyone else was doing, be whatever everyone else was being. They were cheering and shouting just as loudly and exuberantly as all the others, but there was no substance to their celebration. They were like Kool and the Gang – ready to celebrate and party and have a good time – no reason necessary.
Take a moment, now. Put yourself in the crowd. Picture yourself standing along the road as Jesus rides by. See that palm branch in your hand? Wave it. Shout out Hosanna! Come on, shout it like you mean it. Hosanna! Feel the energy. Sense the excitement. You are part of the party – but why?
Why are you there? Which group do you belong to? Are you a party animal, caught up in the frenzy? Are you hoping this is the beginning of the war – the pathway to freedom? Or are you a true disciple, one who knows where this party is headed?
That day in November of 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, all those people in that church, seven thousand of them, were celebrating. And they had every right to celebrate – that isn’t even the issue. The issue is - why they were in that church that Sunday morning. Were they there to worship God? Some were. Others were there because it was the place to be. Some were there because going to church was the only thing there was to do on a Sunday morning. It had nothing to do with faith. They weren’t interested in being ministered to spiritually. They came to be a part of the crowd.
How do we know that most of the people weren’t really there to worship? Because within a couple of years of the fall of that wall, when freedom had come to East Germany, the church that worshiped seven thousand on that eventful Sunday, is now virtually empty on Sunday morning. The celebration that day was less about what God had done for them than what they wanted for themselves. They wanted freedom – but they didn’t understand where true freedom lies.
The crowds that lined the road in Jerusalem that day were more interested in what Jesus would do for them, not for their souls, but for their current situation. They were praising Jesus, but it wasn’t real praise for who he was – God with us. How do we know their praise was too weak to be true? Because a few days later, many who were shouting “Hosanna” on Sunday were the same ones shouting, “Crucify him!” on Thursday.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem to shouts and acclamations. To anyone watching, it would seem that this man was welcomed and adored by the people, loved by the crowds. But their hearts would prove otherwise.
What is the state of our hearts? When we praise God, is it real? Do we praise God out of an attitude of gratitude for all he has done for us, or do we praise him for what we think we can get him to do for us?
God loves us. He has proven his love by giving his own son to die for our sins so that we won’t have to pay the price for them, so that we can have a relationship with him, so we can have eternal life with him. That is a love so deep I cannot even comprehend it. But I am so very grateful for it.
I want to be one of the ones who shouts and cheers for Jesus because I know who he really is. I want to shout “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” because I know Jesus is the one who brings freedom – not freedom from Roman rule – but freedom from death, not a temporary freedom in this world but eternal freedom in the next. I want to celebrate Jesus because I love Jesus and I know he loves me.
Not everyone in that church in Thuringen on the day the wall fell was there to worship God. Not everyone who was in that crowd that first Palm Sunday was there to celebrate Jesus for the right reason. But that was then, and this is now, and the question is for us today – why are we here? I pray we are here to worship our great and wonderful God who gave us his only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That’s why we are here. AMEN.
PRAYER: Almighty God, who can fathom a love as deep as yours? That you would give up your son for us, we cannot imagine, but we are oh so grateful. Father, on this day, we remember when Jesus rode into the city. There were shouts and cheers and a huge celebration that day, though they would be short-lived. Lord, help us to keep our hearts fixed on you and what you have done for us through Jesus so that our celebrations will be true, our shouts and cheers will be authentic, because we know who Jesus is nd how real freedom comes only through him. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76289/palm-sunday-praises-likened-to-the-fall-of-the-by-sermon-central
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY MARCH 3, 2024 CONTINUING IN THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "A LOVE SO DEEP" AND THE MESSAGE IS TITLED "BECAUSE OF LOVE".
March 03, 2024
Rootstown
Message: Because of Love
Scripture: John 3:14-21
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the Lighthouse at Alexandria. It was built during the Ptolemaic Kingdoms, begun by Ptolemy I about 280 BC and finished during the reign of his son, Ptolemy II about 240 BC. It is estimated to have stood 330-350 feet high, second in height at that time to only to the pyramids at Giza. The lighthouse was built in three stages, or layers, with the bottom being square, the middle being octagonal, and the top being cylindrical. Inside, the spiraling staircase that led from the ground to the top was wide enough for two horsemen to pass at once, allowing enough room to cart the heavy limestone and granite blocks as the construction grew the tower to new heights.
At the top of the lighthouse, a fire burned brightly at night and a large, polished bronze piece, acting like a mirror, reflected the sun during the day. The historian Josephus claimed that the light from that lighthouse could be seen from 34 miles away. As you can guess, like any lighthouse we know even today, the Lighthouse at Alexandria was built so that those sailing the ships of the day could look up and see its light to help them safely guide their ships into the harbor. By looking up to the light, ships avoided wrecking and sailors’ lives were spared.
Centuries before the great lighthouse was built, there was another time when looking up became a life saver for a great number of people. Numbers 21 tells us of the time the Israelites were journeying through the wilderness, skirting around the land of Edom, and they became discouraged and began to complain against God and Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”
God’s anger raged against his people, and he sent poisonous snakes into their camp. Many people were bitten and died. The people quickly realized what they had done, and they repented, coming to Moses crying out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So, Moses prayed for the people and God told him to make a bronze serpent and attach it to a pole so that whenever any of the people were bitten, if they looked up to the serpent of bronze, they would live. Even though God had been angry with his people, when they repented, his love overcame his anger, and he created a way for them to live.
Look up and live. It worked for the Israelites, and it worked for those who sailed the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Now Jesus is referencing this in his conversation with Nicodemus, who came to him in the dark of the night. It is during this meeting with the Pharisee that Jesus spoke about the need to be born from above. Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was trying to teach him, wondering how it was possible for a man already born to emerge once again from his mother’s womb, and Jesus said to him, “If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”
Jesus told Nicodemus that it was not possible for anyone to ascend into heaven unless he had first descended from heaven, and the one who would do this was the Son of Man, meaning Jesus himself. And then Jesus said, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
Jesus knew he was going to be lifted up onto a cross and be crucified, but he knew that it was necessary, because it was his death that would be the means by which the penalty of sin would be paid for all of humanity – a gift for anyone who would accept it. Jesus is essentially saying to Nicodemus, “The day will come when you will be able to look up, see what I have done, and know that you can live.”
I wonder if Nicodemus understood any of this at that time. He didn’t understand about being born again, so how could he get what Jesus was saying now? I wonder if he wanted to ask Jesus why he would do such a thing. We don’t know exactly what Nicodemus was thinking or what he understood in that moment, but Jesus answered the question of why with his next breath. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Love is the answer to Nicodemus’ unexpressed why. God loved the Israelites, even when they became crabby and complained against him, even when they angered him. God loved them, and he loved the people in Jesus’ time. God loved the disciples who willingly gave up all they had to follow Jesus, even when they didn’t quite “get” what Jesus was teaching them, even when they asked for outrageous favors such as sitting at Jesus’ right hand and left hand when he came into his glory.
God also loved the Pharisees like Nicodemus, who weren’t quite sure if Jesus was really the Messiah, but thought it was a real possibility. He loved the ones who questioned, the ones who wondered, the ones who doubted. God even loved the people, including the religious leaders, who steadfastly disbelieved in Jesus and refused to really see who he was.
God so loved the world that he provided a way for those who were sinners to look up and live, and God knew everyone was a sinner. In that statement to Nicodemus, Jesus included everyone – those who lived in his day, and those who would live after him. That means that on that night, almost two thousand years ago, Jesus was including even us in the offer of new birth that would be for all who came to believe, including even us, in the offer to look up and live. God so loved the world, and the world includes us. That is a love so deep we cannot even begin to plum its depths.
Jesus came into this world for one reason. For one reason, he stood up from his heavenly throne, took off his crown, and came down to earth as a human to live among us, to die for us, to pay the penalty for our sins, even though he never committed any sins himself. Jesus came into this world to save the world. God didn’t’ send his son into the world to condemn the world – it was already condemned through sin. God sent his son into the world to save the world in the only way it could be saved.
Those who believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God, those who call him Lord and Savior, those who truly follow him, are saved through him. Those who refuse, though, they continue to live in their sin and are condemned, not because God doesn’t love them, but because they refuse to love God.
For the sailors who would choose to ignore a lighthouse, danger awaits them in places they cannot see. The sea covers the rocks, the ledges, the sandbars that will sink a ship or cause it to run aground. It puts everyone on board in danger. That is why they look for the lighthouses – as a beacon of safety, a warning of danger, a way to safely navigate in dangerous waters.
The Israelites who were bitten by the serpents could have chosen not to look at the bronze snake, but they would die from the poison coursing through their bodies. God provided a cure, an antidote that would offer salvation, all they had to do was look up, look in the right direction, and live.
We may not be navigating rough waters in a ship, but we do navigate through some rough times in our life. The world offers temptations and gives out trials, and on our own, we are doomed, condemned. But God offers us life through Jesus Christ – the one who was lifted up and crucified on a cross so that we could live, not in the dark but in the light, no longer condemned but free, no longer lost, but found. All because of a love so deep that we cannot begin to fathom it. Isn’t that just amazing? Look up and live. What a promise. Praise God for making a way. AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, you have loved your people from the very beginning, even when they didn’t always love you back. From the very beginning, you had a plan in place to ensure we would have the opportunity to choose light over dark and life over death. Your way is better than even the brightest lighthouse, better than an ancient statue on a pole, better than anything we could imagine or deserve. Because you love us, you made a way, through your own son, for us to be forgiven for our sins, to be in relationship with you, to receive the gift of eternal life. For all of this we give you thanks for your deep love and your amazing grace. AMEN.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_of_Alexandria
https://www.britannica.com/topic/lighthouse-of-Alexandria
Rootstown
Message: Because of Love
Scripture: John 3:14-21
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the Lighthouse at Alexandria. It was built during the Ptolemaic Kingdoms, begun by Ptolemy I about 280 BC and finished during the reign of his son, Ptolemy II about 240 BC. It is estimated to have stood 330-350 feet high, second in height at that time to only to the pyramids at Giza. The lighthouse was built in three stages, or layers, with the bottom being square, the middle being octagonal, and the top being cylindrical. Inside, the spiraling staircase that led from the ground to the top was wide enough for two horsemen to pass at once, allowing enough room to cart the heavy limestone and granite blocks as the construction grew the tower to new heights.
At the top of the lighthouse, a fire burned brightly at night and a large, polished bronze piece, acting like a mirror, reflected the sun during the day. The historian Josephus claimed that the light from that lighthouse could be seen from 34 miles away. As you can guess, like any lighthouse we know even today, the Lighthouse at Alexandria was built so that those sailing the ships of the day could look up and see its light to help them safely guide their ships into the harbor. By looking up to the light, ships avoided wrecking and sailors’ lives were spared.
Centuries before the great lighthouse was built, there was another time when looking up became a life saver for a great number of people. Numbers 21 tells us of the time the Israelites were journeying through the wilderness, skirting around the land of Edom, and they became discouraged and began to complain against God and Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”
God’s anger raged against his people, and he sent poisonous snakes into their camp. Many people were bitten and died. The people quickly realized what they had done, and they repented, coming to Moses crying out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So, Moses prayed for the people and God told him to make a bronze serpent and attach it to a pole so that whenever any of the people were bitten, if they looked up to the serpent of bronze, they would live. Even though God had been angry with his people, when they repented, his love overcame his anger, and he created a way for them to live.
Look up and live. It worked for the Israelites, and it worked for those who sailed the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Now Jesus is referencing this in his conversation with Nicodemus, who came to him in the dark of the night. It is during this meeting with the Pharisee that Jesus spoke about the need to be born from above. Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was trying to teach him, wondering how it was possible for a man already born to emerge once again from his mother’s womb, and Jesus said to him, “If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”
Jesus told Nicodemus that it was not possible for anyone to ascend into heaven unless he had first descended from heaven, and the one who would do this was the Son of Man, meaning Jesus himself. And then Jesus said, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
Jesus knew he was going to be lifted up onto a cross and be crucified, but he knew that it was necessary, because it was his death that would be the means by which the penalty of sin would be paid for all of humanity – a gift for anyone who would accept it. Jesus is essentially saying to Nicodemus, “The day will come when you will be able to look up, see what I have done, and know that you can live.”
I wonder if Nicodemus understood any of this at that time. He didn’t understand about being born again, so how could he get what Jesus was saying now? I wonder if he wanted to ask Jesus why he would do such a thing. We don’t know exactly what Nicodemus was thinking or what he understood in that moment, but Jesus answered the question of why with his next breath. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Love is the answer to Nicodemus’ unexpressed why. God loved the Israelites, even when they became crabby and complained against him, even when they angered him. God loved them, and he loved the people in Jesus’ time. God loved the disciples who willingly gave up all they had to follow Jesus, even when they didn’t quite “get” what Jesus was teaching them, even when they asked for outrageous favors such as sitting at Jesus’ right hand and left hand when he came into his glory.
God also loved the Pharisees like Nicodemus, who weren’t quite sure if Jesus was really the Messiah, but thought it was a real possibility. He loved the ones who questioned, the ones who wondered, the ones who doubted. God even loved the people, including the religious leaders, who steadfastly disbelieved in Jesus and refused to really see who he was.
God so loved the world that he provided a way for those who were sinners to look up and live, and God knew everyone was a sinner. In that statement to Nicodemus, Jesus included everyone – those who lived in his day, and those who would live after him. That means that on that night, almost two thousand years ago, Jesus was including even us in the offer of new birth that would be for all who came to believe, including even us, in the offer to look up and live. God so loved the world, and the world includes us. That is a love so deep we cannot even begin to plum its depths.
Jesus came into this world for one reason. For one reason, he stood up from his heavenly throne, took off his crown, and came down to earth as a human to live among us, to die for us, to pay the penalty for our sins, even though he never committed any sins himself. Jesus came into this world to save the world. God didn’t’ send his son into the world to condemn the world – it was already condemned through sin. God sent his son into the world to save the world in the only way it could be saved.
Those who believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God, those who call him Lord and Savior, those who truly follow him, are saved through him. Those who refuse, though, they continue to live in their sin and are condemned, not because God doesn’t love them, but because they refuse to love God.
For the sailors who would choose to ignore a lighthouse, danger awaits them in places they cannot see. The sea covers the rocks, the ledges, the sandbars that will sink a ship or cause it to run aground. It puts everyone on board in danger. That is why they look for the lighthouses – as a beacon of safety, a warning of danger, a way to safely navigate in dangerous waters.
The Israelites who were bitten by the serpents could have chosen not to look at the bronze snake, but they would die from the poison coursing through their bodies. God provided a cure, an antidote that would offer salvation, all they had to do was look up, look in the right direction, and live.
We may not be navigating rough waters in a ship, but we do navigate through some rough times in our life. The world offers temptations and gives out trials, and on our own, we are doomed, condemned. But God offers us life through Jesus Christ – the one who was lifted up and crucified on a cross so that we could live, not in the dark but in the light, no longer condemned but free, no longer lost, but found. All because of a love so deep that we cannot begin to fathom it. Isn’t that just amazing? Look up and live. What a promise. Praise God for making a way. AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, you have loved your people from the very beginning, even when they didn’t always love you back. From the very beginning, you had a plan in place to ensure we would have the opportunity to choose light over dark and life over death. Your way is better than even the brightest lighthouse, better than an ancient statue on a pole, better than anything we could imagine or deserve. Because you love us, you made a way, through your own son, for us to be forgiven for our sins, to be in relationship with you, to receive the gift of eternal life. For all of this we give you thanks for your deep love and your amazing grace. AMEN.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_of_Alexandria
https://www.britannica.com/topic/lighthouse-of-Alexandria
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25, 2024 CONTINUING IN THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "A LOVE SO DEEP" AND THE MESSAGE IS TITLED "CHOOSE THE WORLD OR CHOOSE LIFE".
February 25, 2024
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: Choose the World or Choose Life
Scripture: Mark 8:31-38
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34 He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
I learned this week that in the 1950s, Parker Brothers released a new board game for the family called “Going to Jerusalem.” Similar to Monopoly, players chose a playing piece and rolled dice to move forward to different destinations, but in this game, there was no top hat, dog, race car, or battleship. Nor were the destinations streets in Atlantic City like Park Place, St, Connecticut Ave., or Marvin Gardens.
In “Going to Jerusalem,” playing pieces were men in robes and sandals who carried a staff – the disciples – and they went to places like the Mount of Olives, Bethsaida, Capernaum, the stormy sea, and Bethany, always starting in Bethlehem and moving toward Jerusalem. In each player’s turn, he or she had a question, for which they could look up the answers in the little black New Testament provided and then hope to get good rolls of the dice to move forward when they got the right answer.
To win the game, you had to be the first one to arrive in a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. When that happened: game over, winner, winner, chicken dinner. It was probably a fun family game, and I’m sure it was a good teaching tool to some extent, but if that is all anyone ever learned, they would be missing something really important.
You see, the game ended with a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but never got to any of the hard parts of the story of Jesus in his last week of life. The game did not include the arrest, the trial, or the crucifixion. Maybe that’s what made the game so popular, you could learn all the good stuff while pretending the hard parts never happened.
In today’s scripture, Jesus was telling his disciples about the hard stuff that was to come. Peter had just declared that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and Jesus immediately starts teaching that the Son of Man is going to endure great suffering, that he will be rejected by the religious leaders – the elders, the chief priests, the scribes – and that he will be killed, but after three days, he will rise again.
All the disciples heard was that there were people out to get Jesus and they must do all they could to protect him. Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him. This cannot happen, Jesus is too important, he is the Messiah, he cannot be killed, what would happen then? This must not be! And Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Jesus just called Peter Satan! Wow! That seems pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Of course, Peter isn’t really Satan, but in that moment, Satan was trying to work through Peter to deter Jesus from his mission. We tend to think of Satan as working through our enemies, seeking to kill and destroy through evil plots, but Satan can sometimes try to get to us through our friends, and that is what he did in this exchange between Peter and Jesus, because we tend to listen to our friends more than we do our enemies.
We know our friends love us and want what is best for us, so when they give advice, we are more likely to listen to them than we would be to a stranger or to someone we have had issues with. Satan was hoping that through Peter’s concern for Jesus, Jesus might listen to Peter’s words and veer away from the plan that God had laid for him. Jesus recognized this plot right away, that is why he said, “Get behind me, Satan.” He knew he could not listen to Peter deny that he must die, he could not let Peter’s love and concern for him change his mind and become obstacles to his obedience to the Father.
Jesus then said, “For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things,” because he knew that Peter, and the other disciples, were thinking of the here and now, not of the future. They didn’t understand God’s plan, yet. They hadn’t heard the part where Jesus said after three days he would rise again. That was divine thinking, this knowledge of rising from the dead. Human thinking saw death as an end, a finality, not as a necessary step in a glorious plan of mercy and grace for the salvation of creation. Peter’s words of denial to Jesus promoted a worldly view, not a heavenly view.
Jesus then expands his lesson by calling to the crowds that surrounded him, including them with his next words, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
This must have sounded very strange to those who heard it. If we try to save our life we will lose it, but if we are willing to lose our life, we will save it. This sounds like a riddle that has no right answer. What is he talking about?
How would we save our lives? Think about the time that was coming and is even here now. For those who became Christians, there would be persecution, loss of property, loss of rights, loss of life. Those who came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah would have to make choices – to continue to believe in the face of trials and tribulation or deny him to save their lives in the moment. Worldly thinking says, “Save yourself,” but life-giving thinking says this life is temporary, this body will die, but I can live forever in Jesus Christ.
Denying Jesus is the easy thing to do, especially when death is staring you in the face, but that route brings real death in the future. Proclaiming the gospel in the face of persecution may bring bodily death now, but it saves your soul for eternity. Those who try to save their lives now will lose them forever, but those who lose their lives now for the sake of Jesus and for the sake of the gospel, will save their lives for eternity.
In this world, we have a choice, to take up our cross and follow Jesus at any cost, or to deny him, walk away, turn our backs, embrace the world, and truly die. Jesus is making it clear that to follow him will not always be easy – take up your cross – carry the burden of faith, he warns. This may mean losing friendships because people don’t understand why you are different. It could mean being alienated from your family because they disagree with your belief. It could mean losing a job you love because you cannot abide by the business practices you see there. It could mean so many other losses and hardships that will be endured in this life. Jesus cautions us to think it over carefully, can you do this? Can we do this? Can we give up the life we have here and now, this worldly life, and trade it for a life that is often hard, sometimes bitter, and potentially dangerous?
I know that may sound crazy to us who live in a place that is relatively free from persecution, but in Jesus’ day, he knew it was coming. Even in other places in our world today, there are those who have to make this decision knowing how dangerous it is to become a Christian, and even more so to publicly declare it.
Can we give up our life for Jesus? Can we let go of the world in order to embrace life? Even as I think of this all I can picture is a scene from an action movie where someone is hanging over the edge of a building, barely hanging on to the edge to keep from slipping and falling to the ground far, far below. Up above a hand reaches down, offering hope, offering rescue, but in order to take that hand, you have to allow one of your own hands to let go and reach out.
The decision is there. Do you take a chance, let go with one hand, upset the balance you have in this dangerous situation, to reach for what is being offered to you – the chance of rescue and redemption? Or do you continue to hang on with both hands because you are afraid that by letting go, you will slip and fall? My friend, if you simply continue to hang on for dear life, the truth is eventually you will fall anyway. The only hope of survival is to take that chance, to reach out to what is being offered, to grasp the hand that can save you.
To save your life you must be willing to lose it, to lose your life for the sake of Jesus and the sake of the gospel is to save it. Do you choose the way of the world, or the way of life?
The disciples, and to some extent even the crowd that day, had seen the good things. They had seen the miracles of Jesus. The blind could see, the lame could walk, the deaf could hear, the good news was being preached to those who needed to be set free. “Sure,” some would say, “I want to follow this guy. I want what he can do.” But they had human minds, and human eyes, and human hearts. They couldn’t know then what they were committing to unless Jesus told them.
“Take up your cross and follow me,” Jesus said, and it was a warning that following him would not be easy. It would bring them trouble. The ways of the world can look so appealing, so satisfying, can’t they? It’s so easy to get caught up in worldly ways. Just ask Dexter Manly.
Dexter was drafted in the fifth round of the 1981 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins. He was with the Redskins for nine seasons, helping them win two Super Bowl championships, and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1986, the year he broke the single season team record for sacks with 18 ½. It seemed Manly had everything. Until he didn’t.
Dexter failed his third drug test in 1989, and the Redskins let him go. He played briefly for a couple other teams but failed a fourth drug test in 1991. Still grasping for the glory of his earlier days, Dexter then played two seasons in the Canadian Football League. Later he would be arrested and serve two years on drug charges.
The world had a strong hold on Dexter, the fame, the money, the accolades were such an attraction for him that even after he was banned by the NFL, he continued to use his expired NFL Players Association card for identification, and when asked, would always list his occupation as “football player.” In a later interview with the NY Times, Manly stated, “I’m still living that dream. Football gave me personality. Once it was over, I had nothing to live for.”
Today, if you Google Dexter Manly, the first description you read is, “American former professional football player.” Isn’t it a sad truth that what the world offers, no matter how bright and shiny it looks, it’s really nothing of any substance? Dexter seemingly had everything, but what he had was the shiny attraction of the world, not the real substance of life.
Jesus offers life, and he offers it abundantly. He offers it freely to anyone who wants it, but it comes with a caution. “Take up your cross and follow me.” There will be no shiny papers and streaming ribbons to cover up emptiness, but there will be hardships and heartaches, and trials, and tribulations that lead to eternal life. The world is here and now and temporary, but life is there and coming and here and now and hard and beautiful and rough and wonderful and forever in Jesus.
The problem with the “Going to Jerusalem” game is that it only told half the story. It included all the good stops, it revealed the miracles, and ended at the triumphant entry, but it stopped short of the hard, sad parts – the arrest, the trial, the beatings, the crucifixion. But because those hard, sad parts weren’t included, neither was the best part – the resurrection.
When Jesus was teaching the disciples that he was about to be killed, they wanted to change the narrative because they didn’t hear the end, that on the third day he would rise again. When we hear Jesus’ call to take up our cross and follow him, sometimes all we hear is the cross part; we don’t listen to the promise to save our lives by giving them up for his sake.
We need the whole story, the good and the bad, so that we can make an informed decision. Jesus didn’t hold back from the truth. He told his followers that in this world they would have tribulations, but he also told them that in him they could find peace because he has overcome the world.
The way of the world will offer glitter and lights and accolades, but they will be empty promises. The way of Jesus offers hardships and heartaches, offers trials and tribulations, but it also offers life. True life. Eternal life. Which will you choose?
If you have not made the choice to pick up your cross and follow Jesus, but today you realize that his way is the way you want to go, I invite you to put your trust in him now. I invite you to surrender your life to Christ, give it up to him and he will give you life. He is waiting and ready.
You can offer yourself to Jesus as we close in prayer. You can do so from your seat, or from the altar rail. Jesus will meet you wherever you are. Come and kneel as you pray to him for the first time, or as a way to recommit to him now. Give up the way of the world and take up your cross and follow Jesus to life everlasting. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we love to hear of your healings, of the miracles you performed while you walked this earth, and we want from you what you gave then. But, Lord, help us to see what else there is, help us see that following you involves more than lip service and an hour a week in a pew. Lord, today, we surrender to you. Today you remind us that following you will bring both joy and heartache. Today you ask us to choose what the world has to offer or to choose what you are offering. We want to choose you, Lord. Help us choose you, always you, because you offer life. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74176/1950-s-game-by-sermon-central
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/73915/self-gratification-nfl-by-sermon-central
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: Choose the World or Choose Life
Scripture: Mark 8:31-38
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34 He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
I learned this week that in the 1950s, Parker Brothers released a new board game for the family called “Going to Jerusalem.” Similar to Monopoly, players chose a playing piece and rolled dice to move forward to different destinations, but in this game, there was no top hat, dog, race car, or battleship. Nor were the destinations streets in Atlantic City like Park Place, St, Connecticut Ave., or Marvin Gardens.
In “Going to Jerusalem,” playing pieces were men in robes and sandals who carried a staff – the disciples – and they went to places like the Mount of Olives, Bethsaida, Capernaum, the stormy sea, and Bethany, always starting in Bethlehem and moving toward Jerusalem. In each player’s turn, he or she had a question, for which they could look up the answers in the little black New Testament provided and then hope to get good rolls of the dice to move forward when they got the right answer.
To win the game, you had to be the first one to arrive in a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. When that happened: game over, winner, winner, chicken dinner. It was probably a fun family game, and I’m sure it was a good teaching tool to some extent, but if that is all anyone ever learned, they would be missing something really important.
You see, the game ended with a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but never got to any of the hard parts of the story of Jesus in his last week of life. The game did not include the arrest, the trial, or the crucifixion. Maybe that’s what made the game so popular, you could learn all the good stuff while pretending the hard parts never happened.
In today’s scripture, Jesus was telling his disciples about the hard stuff that was to come. Peter had just declared that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and Jesus immediately starts teaching that the Son of Man is going to endure great suffering, that he will be rejected by the religious leaders – the elders, the chief priests, the scribes – and that he will be killed, but after three days, he will rise again.
All the disciples heard was that there were people out to get Jesus and they must do all they could to protect him. Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him. This cannot happen, Jesus is too important, he is the Messiah, he cannot be killed, what would happen then? This must not be! And Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Jesus just called Peter Satan! Wow! That seems pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Of course, Peter isn’t really Satan, but in that moment, Satan was trying to work through Peter to deter Jesus from his mission. We tend to think of Satan as working through our enemies, seeking to kill and destroy through evil plots, but Satan can sometimes try to get to us through our friends, and that is what he did in this exchange between Peter and Jesus, because we tend to listen to our friends more than we do our enemies.
We know our friends love us and want what is best for us, so when they give advice, we are more likely to listen to them than we would be to a stranger or to someone we have had issues with. Satan was hoping that through Peter’s concern for Jesus, Jesus might listen to Peter’s words and veer away from the plan that God had laid for him. Jesus recognized this plot right away, that is why he said, “Get behind me, Satan.” He knew he could not listen to Peter deny that he must die, he could not let Peter’s love and concern for him change his mind and become obstacles to his obedience to the Father.
Jesus then said, “For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things,” because he knew that Peter, and the other disciples, were thinking of the here and now, not of the future. They didn’t understand God’s plan, yet. They hadn’t heard the part where Jesus said after three days he would rise again. That was divine thinking, this knowledge of rising from the dead. Human thinking saw death as an end, a finality, not as a necessary step in a glorious plan of mercy and grace for the salvation of creation. Peter’s words of denial to Jesus promoted a worldly view, not a heavenly view.
Jesus then expands his lesson by calling to the crowds that surrounded him, including them with his next words, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
This must have sounded very strange to those who heard it. If we try to save our life we will lose it, but if we are willing to lose our life, we will save it. This sounds like a riddle that has no right answer. What is he talking about?
How would we save our lives? Think about the time that was coming and is even here now. For those who became Christians, there would be persecution, loss of property, loss of rights, loss of life. Those who came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah would have to make choices – to continue to believe in the face of trials and tribulation or deny him to save their lives in the moment. Worldly thinking says, “Save yourself,” but life-giving thinking says this life is temporary, this body will die, but I can live forever in Jesus Christ.
Denying Jesus is the easy thing to do, especially when death is staring you in the face, but that route brings real death in the future. Proclaiming the gospel in the face of persecution may bring bodily death now, but it saves your soul for eternity. Those who try to save their lives now will lose them forever, but those who lose their lives now for the sake of Jesus and for the sake of the gospel, will save their lives for eternity.
In this world, we have a choice, to take up our cross and follow Jesus at any cost, or to deny him, walk away, turn our backs, embrace the world, and truly die. Jesus is making it clear that to follow him will not always be easy – take up your cross – carry the burden of faith, he warns. This may mean losing friendships because people don’t understand why you are different. It could mean being alienated from your family because they disagree with your belief. It could mean losing a job you love because you cannot abide by the business practices you see there. It could mean so many other losses and hardships that will be endured in this life. Jesus cautions us to think it over carefully, can you do this? Can we do this? Can we give up the life we have here and now, this worldly life, and trade it for a life that is often hard, sometimes bitter, and potentially dangerous?
I know that may sound crazy to us who live in a place that is relatively free from persecution, but in Jesus’ day, he knew it was coming. Even in other places in our world today, there are those who have to make this decision knowing how dangerous it is to become a Christian, and even more so to publicly declare it.
Can we give up our life for Jesus? Can we let go of the world in order to embrace life? Even as I think of this all I can picture is a scene from an action movie where someone is hanging over the edge of a building, barely hanging on to the edge to keep from slipping and falling to the ground far, far below. Up above a hand reaches down, offering hope, offering rescue, but in order to take that hand, you have to allow one of your own hands to let go and reach out.
The decision is there. Do you take a chance, let go with one hand, upset the balance you have in this dangerous situation, to reach for what is being offered to you – the chance of rescue and redemption? Or do you continue to hang on with both hands because you are afraid that by letting go, you will slip and fall? My friend, if you simply continue to hang on for dear life, the truth is eventually you will fall anyway. The only hope of survival is to take that chance, to reach out to what is being offered, to grasp the hand that can save you.
To save your life you must be willing to lose it, to lose your life for the sake of Jesus and the sake of the gospel is to save it. Do you choose the way of the world, or the way of life?
The disciples, and to some extent even the crowd that day, had seen the good things. They had seen the miracles of Jesus. The blind could see, the lame could walk, the deaf could hear, the good news was being preached to those who needed to be set free. “Sure,” some would say, “I want to follow this guy. I want what he can do.” But they had human minds, and human eyes, and human hearts. They couldn’t know then what they were committing to unless Jesus told them.
“Take up your cross and follow me,” Jesus said, and it was a warning that following him would not be easy. It would bring them trouble. The ways of the world can look so appealing, so satisfying, can’t they? It’s so easy to get caught up in worldly ways. Just ask Dexter Manly.
Dexter was drafted in the fifth round of the 1981 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins. He was with the Redskins for nine seasons, helping them win two Super Bowl championships, and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1986, the year he broke the single season team record for sacks with 18 ½. It seemed Manly had everything. Until he didn’t.
Dexter failed his third drug test in 1989, and the Redskins let him go. He played briefly for a couple other teams but failed a fourth drug test in 1991. Still grasping for the glory of his earlier days, Dexter then played two seasons in the Canadian Football League. Later he would be arrested and serve two years on drug charges.
The world had a strong hold on Dexter, the fame, the money, the accolades were such an attraction for him that even after he was banned by the NFL, he continued to use his expired NFL Players Association card for identification, and when asked, would always list his occupation as “football player.” In a later interview with the NY Times, Manly stated, “I’m still living that dream. Football gave me personality. Once it was over, I had nothing to live for.”
Today, if you Google Dexter Manly, the first description you read is, “American former professional football player.” Isn’t it a sad truth that what the world offers, no matter how bright and shiny it looks, it’s really nothing of any substance? Dexter seemingly had everything, but what he had was the shiny attraction of the world, not the real substance of life.
Jesus offers life, and he offers it abundantly. He offers it freely to anyone who wants it, but it comes with a caution. “Take up your cross and follow me.” There will be no shiny papers and streaming ribbons to cover up emptiness, but there will be hardships and heartaches, and trials, and tribulations that lead to eternal life. The world is here and now and temporary, but life is there and coming and here and now and hard and beautiful and rough and wonderful and forever in Jesus.
The problem with the “Going to Jerusalem” game is that it only told half the story. It included all the good stops, it revealed the miracles, and ended at the triumphant entry, but it stopped short of the hard, sad parts – the arrest, the trial, the beatings, the crucifixion. But because those hard, sad parts weren’t included, neither was the best part – the resurrection.
When Jesus was teaching the disciples that he was about to be killed, they wanted to change the narrative because they didn’t hear the end, that on the third day he would rise again. When we hear Jesus’ call to take up our cross and follow him, sometimes all we hear is the cross part; we don’t listen to the promise to save our lives by giving them up for his sake.
We need the whole story, the good and the bad, so that we can make an informed decision. Jesus didn’t hold back from the truth. He told his followers that in this world they would have tribulations, but he also told them that in him they could find peace because he has overcome the world.
The way of the world will offer glitter and lights and accolades, but they will be empty promises. The way of Jesus offers hardships and heartaches, offers trials and tribulations, but it also offers life. True life. Eternal life. Which will you choose?
If you have not made the choice to pick up your cross and follow Jesus, but today you realize that his way is the way you want to go, I invite you to put your trust in him now. I invite you to surrender your life to Christ, give it up to him and he will give you life. He is waiting and ready.
You can offer yourself to Jesus as we close in prayer. You can do so from your seat, or from the altar rail. Jesus will meet you wherever you are. Come and kneel as you pray to him for the first time, or as a way to recommit to him now. Give up the way of the world and take up your cross and follow Jesus to life everlasting. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we love to hear of your healings, of the miracles you performed while you walked this earth, and we want from you what you gave then. But, Lord, help us to see what else there is, help us see that following you involves more than lip service and an hour a week in a pew. Lord, today, we surrender to you. Today you remind us that following you will bring both joy and heartache. Today you ask us to choose what the world has to offer or to choose what you are offering. We want to choose you, Lord. Help us choose you, always you, because you offer life. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74176/1950-s-game-by-sermon-central
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/73915/self-gratification-nfl-by-sermon-central
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2024 CONTINUING IN THE SERMON SERIES CALLED "a LOVE SO DEEP" AND THE MESSAGE IS TITLED "hIGHS AND LOWS".
February 18, 2024
Rootstown
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: Highs and Lows
Scripture: Mark 1:9-13
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. 11 And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.
Mark the Gospel writer does this thing. He starts with one subject and then suddenly, with little warning, he moves to a new subject, and then just as abruptly, he switches again. He also doesn’t fill in his writing with a lot of details, as we just heard in today’s scripture reading.
Mark began his gospel earlier in this same chapter with the proclamation of John the Baptist, using Isaiah’s prophesy to show who John is and pointing out his role as the way maker for Jesus the Messiah. Mark does tell us that John was clothed with camel’s hair, wore a leather belt, ate locusts and honey, was baptizing people in the Jordan, calling everybody and anybody who would listen to repent for the forgiveness of their sins, and telling them all that there was one who was coming soon who was more powerful than he, John, and who would baptize not with water but with the Holy Spirit. That’s a lot for Mark, really, when you realize how little he really said in the next few verses.
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan and was baptized by John. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, the heavens were torn apart, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and he heard a voice from heaven say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Then that same Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness for forty days where he was tested by Satan, he was with the beasts, and the angels waited on him.
Then, typical Mark, the next verse switches again, this time tying things all together, saying, “Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe the good news.’”
We read Mark’s account, and we wonder where are the details that the other gospel writers give us? If Jesus is God’s beloved son, why was he compelled to go to the wilderness so quickly, why forty days? How did Satan test Jesus and did he pass? What did the beasts do and how did the angels wait on him?
The other gospels do answer some of our questions. We don’t know for sure why Jesus was driven into the wilderness immediately after his baptism, but Matthew tells us of at lest three of the tests Satan put before Jesus and we know he aced everyone of them.
Was forty days significant? We don’t know for sure, but forty days echoes the forty years the Israelites spent wandering in their own wilderness. Forty days is how long Moses was with God, on two separate occasions, up on the mountain during the early days of those wilderness wanderings, and the rain poured down and flooded the earth for forty days, so maybe forty days for Jesus meant something important.
I have no idea about the beasts Jesus encountered, but Matthew does tell us that after Jesus held his own against Satan until Satan gave up, the angels did come and minister to Jesus. It was likely because after forty days in the wilderness with no food and water and having fought off the evil that tried to overcome him, Jesus, in his physical human body, was weak and tired, and needed angelic ministrations for his health and restoration.
I like Sarah Henrich’s explanation for Mark’s lack of details. Henrich, Professor Emerita of Luther Seminary, believes that Mark intentionally leaves out a lot of the details that the other gospel writers give us because Mark wants us to focus on Jesus himself, and the message he brings. By eliminating the details from his narrative, Mark is helping us to get rid of all the “extra” stuff in our lives during this season of Lent so we can, as the song says, “Turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, so the things on earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.” It is when we do this, that we can then begin to fully turn our attention to Jesus’ invitation, echoing John’s own invitation before, to repent and believe the good news.
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute. We get busy, we get distracted, we get off-track in keeping up with our faith formation. What daily spiritual disciplines do we practice? How easy do we find it to skip it just today, there is too much to do, and I can get caught up again tomorrow?
Daily scripture reading, Bible study, prayer time, sometimes they feel like just one more demand on our time in a day that already has so many other demands. I get it, I, too, struggle with fitting everything in sometimes. But when we read Mark, and he strips away everything that might distract us from Jesus and his message, then maybe we can finally begin to strip away our reluctance to set aside time for God, even on a busy day.
Maybe, when all the extra details are left out, Mark is leaving room for us to see ourselves in the narrative of the gospel story. Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized in the Jordan. Where did we come from to be baptized? All over the place. Geographically, and spiritually. This reminds us that everyone who desires to profess their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior through the water of baptism is welcome to do so.
Jesus doesn’t bar anyone from coming to him. Not the person who lives in an uptown penthouse, a suburban bungalow, or a run-down shack. Not the rich, the poor, or the in-between. Everyone is welcome. That was God’s plan when he sent his Son to us – to make a way for ALL people – Jew and Gentile, man, woman, and child, any nation, any race, to come to him and be saved. We fit in that category of everyone.
Maybe, Mark wants us to know that God’s words as Jesus came out of the water, “This is my Son, my Beloved; with you I am well pleased,” are the same words he says to us as we are baptized with water and the Holy Spirit. As we declare our intention to live for God, he is pleased because that’s what he wants from us anyway. He already loves us, he wants a relationship with us, he sent his Son to save us. God is just waiting for us to realize that we want to be his and be willing to show it through the sacrament of baptism.
N. T. Wright says it this way: “when the living God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it's true: God looks at us, and says, "My dear, dear child; I'm delighted with you." Try reading that sentence slowly, with your own name at the start, and reflect quietly on God saying that to you, both at your baptism and every day since.”
Wow! That’s powerful. That’s amazing. We might have missed this in the other gospels, but Mark wants to make sure we get this point, and now I am beginning to see why he writes in the way he does.
When Jesus was in the wilderness and Satan was testing him, does it really matter what the tests were as much as knowing that he was tested? I think Mark left out those details so we could see that Satan tests everyone, and he tests them differently. We are all different people with different strengths and weaknesses, so without specific temptations and tests listed, Mark allows us to remember that Satan also comes after us. Satan finds our weak spots and he tries to take advantage. He takes the low road and hopes we will travel with him.
Mark doesn’t really tell us that Jesus resisted Satan during those tests, but right after Jesus leaves the wilderness he begins his ministry, so we can assume that he did. And because Jesus did, we find hope that we, too, will find the strength to resist when Satan comes calling. That strength we need doesn’t mean we rely on our own strength, though. We know that God will be with us, that we have each other, and we have God’s word, and all those can work together to help us resist him and send Satan on his way.
Even Mark’s mention of the forty days can help us see ourselves in this story. It is a reminder that sometimes our trials, our temptations, and our testings can last for more than a minute. Forty days for Moses on the mountain seemed like a long time to the people down below and they gave up on him. They asked Aaron to make for them a golden calf to worship.
Forty days of rain wiped out every living thing on earth except for Noah and his family. Forty years of walking through the wilderness felt like a lifetime for the Israelites. But in the end, Moses came back, the rain stopped, and God’s people entered into the Promised Land.
Whatever we are going through, whether it is for a moment, a month, or for longer, it will end. God will see us through, just as he has done for his people from the beginning of time in that garden. And when the next thing comes, and the next after that, God will still be with us then, too.
Maybe Mark’s gospel is the best account of Jesus’ baptism, affirmation, and wilderness testing for the season of Lent, after all. Perhaps we do need to see ourselves in the narrative as a reminder that God’s love really is deeper that we first thought. God’s love is deeper that the Jordan, wider than the wilderness, more steadfast than our trials, stronger than any wild beasts, and gentler than the ministrations of the angels.
As we journey through Lent, let’s decide to focus more on Jesus and less on ourselves. Let’s spend time with him through God’s word. Let’s remember that we truly are part of the story. And let’s bask in a love so deep that God didn’t want us to be separated from him, so he made a way to be reconciled to him through his Son, Jesus. What a beautiful love story, aren’t you so happy to be included? AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, thank you for loving us so much that you wanted to include us in your love story. Thank you for letting us see ourselves in Mark’s gospel so that we can be reminded of our part in sharing your story with others, so they can then see themselves and share with yet others. Help us, this Lenten season, to focus on your son, Jesus, on what he has done for us, on the message he brought to us and for us, and how he lived and died for us. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/first-sunday-in-lent-2/commentary-on-mark-19-15
NT Wright. Mark: for Everyone. Westminster John Knox Press: Kentucky 2004. Page 4-5
Rootstown
Series: A Love so Deep
Message: Highs and Lows
Scripture: Mark 1:9-13
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. 11 And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.
Mark the Gospel writer does this thing. He starts with one subject and then suddenly, with little warning, he moves to a new subject, and then just as abruptly, he switches again. He also doesn’t fill in his writing with a lot of details, as we just heard in today’s scripture reading.
Mark began his gospel earlier in this same chapter with the proclamation of John the Baptist, using Isaiah’s prophesy to show who John is and pointing out his role as the way maker for Jesus the Messiah. Mark does tell us that John was clothed with camel’s hair, wore a leather belt, ate locusts and honey, was baptizing people in the Jordan, calling everybody and anybody who would listen to repent for the forgiveness of their sins, and telling them all that there was one who was coming soon who was more powerful than he, John, and who would baptize not with water but with the Holy Spirit. That’s a lot for Mark, really, when you realize how little he really said in the next few verses.
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan and was baptized by John. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, the heavens were torn apart, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and he heard a voice from heaven say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Then that same Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness for forty days where he was tested by Satan, he was with the beasts, and the angels waited on him.
Then, typical Mark, the next verse switches again, this time tying things all together, saying, “Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe the good news.’”
We read Mark’s account, and we wonder where are the details that the other gospel writers give us? If Jesus is God’s beloved son, why was he compelled to go to the wilderness so quickly, why forty days? How did Satan test Jesus and did he pass? What did the beasts do and how did the angels wait on him?
The other gospels do answer some of our questions. We don’t know for sure why Jesus was driven into the wilderness immediately after his baptism, but Matthew tells us of at lest three of the tests Satan put before Jesus and we know he aced everyone of them.
Was forty days significant? We don’t know for sure, but forty days echoes the forty years the Israelites spent wandering in their own wilderness. Forty days is how long Moses was with God, on two separate occasions, up on the mountain during the early days of those wilderness wanderings, and the rain poured down and flooded the earth for forty days, so maybe forty days for Jesus meant something important.
I have no idea about the beasts Jesus encountered, but Matthew does tell us that after Jesus held his own against Satan until Satan gave up, the angels did come and minister to Jesus. It was likely because after forty days in the wilderness with no food and water and having fought off the evil that tried to overcome him, Jesus, in his physical human body, was weak and tired, and needed angelic ministrations for his health and restoration.
I like Sarah Henrich’s explanation for Mark’s lack of details. Henrich, Professor Emerita of Luther Seminary, believes that Mark intentionally leaves out a lot of the details that the other gospel writers give us because Mark wants us to focus on Jesus himself, and the message he brings. By eliminating the details from his narrative, Mark is helping us to get rid of all the “extra” stuff in our lives during this season of Lent so we can, as the song says, “Turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, so the things on earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.” It is when we do this, that we can then begin to fully turn our attention to Jesus’ invitation, echoing John’s own invitation before, to repent and believe the good news.
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute. We get busy, we get distracted, we get off-track in keeping up with our faith formation. What daily spiritual disciplines do we practice? How easy do we find it to skip it just today, there is too much to do, and I can get caught up again tomorrow?
Daily scripture reading, Bible study, prayer time, sometimes they feel like just one more demand on our time in a day that already has so many other demands. I get it, I, too, struggle with fitting everything in sometimes. But when we read Mark, and he strips away everything that might distract us from Jesus and his message, then maybe we can finally begin to strip away our reluctance to set aside time for God, even on a busy day.
Maybe, when all the extra details are left out, Mark is leaving room for us to see ourselves in the narrative of the gospel story. Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized in the Jordan. Where did we come from to be baptized? All over the place. Geographically, and spiritually. This reminds us that everyone who desires to profess their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior through the water of baptism is welcome to do so.
Jesus doesn’t bar anyone from coming to him. Not the person who lives in an uptown penthouse, a suburban bungalow, or a run-down shack. Not the rich, the poor, or the in-between. Everyone is welcome. That was God’s plan when he sent his Son to us – to make a way for ALL people – Jew and Gentile, man, woman, and child, any nation, any race, to come to him and be saved. We fit in that category of everyone.
Maybe, Mark wants us to know that God’s words as Jesus came out of the water, “This is my Son, my Beloved; with you I am well pleased,” are the same words he says to us as we are baptized with water and the Holy Spirit. As we declare our intention to live for God, he is pleased because that’s what he wants from us anyway. He already loves us, he wants a relationship with us, he sent his Son to save us. God is just waiting for us to realize that we want to be his and be willing to show it through the sacrament of baptism.
N. T. Wright says it this way: “when the living God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it's true: God looks at us, and says, "My dear, dear child; I'm delighted with you." Try reading that sentence slowly, with your own name at the start, and reflect quietly on God saying that to you, both at your baptism and every day since.”
Wow! That’s powerful. That’s amazing. We might have missed this in the other gospels, but Mark wants to make sure we get this point, and now I am beginning to see why he writes in the way he does.
When Jesus was in the wilderness and Satan was testing him, does it really matter what the tests were as much as knowing that he was tested? I think Mark left out those details so we could see that Satan tests everyone, and he tests them differently. We are all different people with different strengths and weaknesses, so without specific temptations and tests listed, Mark allows us to remember that Satan also comes after us. Satan finds our weak spots and he tries to take advantage. He takes the low road and hopes we will travel with him.
Mark doesn’t really tell us that Jesus resisted Satan during those tests, but right after Jesus leaves the wilderness he begins his ministry, so we can assume that he did. And because Jesus did, we find hope that we, too, will find the strength to resist when Satan comes calling. That strength we need doesn’t mean we rely on our own strength, though. We know that God will be with us, that we have each other, and we have God’s word, and all those can work together to help us resist him and send Satan on his way.
Even Mark’s mention of the forty days can help us see ourselves in this story. It is a reminder that sometimes our trials, our temptations, and our testings can last for more than a minute. Forty days for Moses on the mountain seemed like a long time to the people down below and they gave up on him. They asked Aaron to make for them a golden calf to worship.
Forty days of rain wiped out every living thing on earth except for Noah and his family. Forty years of walking through the wilderness felt like a lifetime for the Israelites. But in the end, Moses came back, the rain stopped, and God’s people entered into the Promised Land.
Whatever we are going through, whether it is for a moment, a month, or for longer, it will end. God will see us through, just as he has done for his people from the beginning of time in that garden. And when the next thing comes, and the next after that, God will still be with us then, too.
Maybe Mark’s gospel is the best account of Jesus’ baptism, affirmation, and wilderness testing for the season of Lent, after all. Perhaps we do need to see ourselves in the narrative as a reminder that God’s love really is deeper that we first thought. God’s love is deeper that the Jordan, wider than the wilderness, more steadfast than our trials, stronger than any wild beasts, and gentler than the ministrations of the angels.
As we journey through Lent, let’s decide to focus more on Jesus and less on ourselves. Let’s spend time with him through God’s word. Let’s remember that we truly are part of the story. And let’s bask in a love so deep that God didn’t want us to be separated from him, so he made a way to be reconciled to him through his Son, Jesus. What a beautiful love story, aren’t you so happy to be included? AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, thank you for loving us so much that you wanted to include us in your love story. Thank you for letting us see ourselves in Mark’s gospel so that we can be reminded of our part in sharing your story with others, so they can then see themselves and share with yet others. Help us, this Lenten season, to focus on your son, Jesus, on what he has done for us, on the message he brought to us and for us, and how he lived and died for us. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/first-sunday-in-lent-2/commentary-on-mark-19-15
NT Wright. Mark: for Everyone. Westminster John Knox Press: Kentucky 2004. Page 4-5
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2024 for Tranfiguration Sunday WAS TITLED "this is my son".
February 11, 2024
Rootstown
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: This is My Son
Scripture: Mark 9:2-8
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one on earth could brighten them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.
If I say the names Issur Danielovitch Densky, Frances Gum, Archibald Leach, Aaron Schwalt, and Marion Morrison, would you know who I was talking about? Probably not. Sometimes when people decide to make a new life for themselves, they start by creating a new name that shapes their identity.
While you may not know the names I just read, I bet you probably do know who these people are, it’s just that most of us know them as Kirk Douglas, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Red Buttons, and John Wayne, because those are the personas that these people chose to put on as a part of their transformation from who they were to whom they wanted to be. They didn’t really become new people, of course. They simply changed their image to reflect how they wanted to be seen by others.
We’ve all probably wished we could be someone else at least once in our lives, especially when we were younger. Who did you want to be? An actor, a dancer, president of the United States? Did you give your new self a name? Even if we played pretend, we always knew who we really were, and so did those who knew us best.
Our church calendar tells us today is Transfiguration Sunday, a day whose very name is all about change. On this day, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain with him, and while they were there, the three disciples witnessed a remarkable change in Jesus. An awe-inspiring glimpse that no one else had ever seen. When we talk about Transfiguration in relation to Jesus, we are talking about this event, this moment in time when the disciples not only saw Jesus in a new light, but they also heard the voice of God.
Our scripture starts in an awkward place, though, “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up on a high mountain, apart, by themselves.” Six days after what? Looking to what came right before this, we see Jesus asking his disciples who people think he is. Answers varied from John the Baptist to Elijah, to any one of the prophets of old. Then Jesus asked who they thought he was, and Peter declared, “You are the Messiah.”
Right after that, Jesus began teaching the disciples about his impending death and resurrection, but Peter tried to stifle such talk. Jesus rebuked Peter and called to the crowd that anyone who wanted to be one of his followers must deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow him.
Now it’s six days after all that happened and Jesus and the inner three are trekking up the mountain. When they got to the top, something strange began to happen. One moment Jesus looked like he always did, a regular guy, just like anyone else. And the next moment, there he was, “His clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could brighten them.”
I think the change that the three disciples saw in that moment was more than just the clothes that Jesus was wearing. I believe there was probably a radiance that was coming from within Jesus, too. Remember when Moses would go and be in the Lord’s presence in the wilderness, and when he came back to the people his face would shine so brightly that they were afraid to look at him, so he had to wear a veil? Imagine now, here is Jesus, still himself, still wholly human, but now Peter, James, and John are somehow also seeing his divinity shining out of him. Or at least a small taste of it.
It is easy to see why we tend to focus on Jesus’ transfiguration during that mountain-top experience. The change in his appearance was startling to those three who witnessed it, but there was more to it. Jesus was not the only one who was transformed that day. The three men with him, as witnesses to Jesus’ Transfiguration were also transformed from who they were into whom they were becoming. It just wasn’t as beautiful, or dramatic, or instant as what they were seeing before them, but they were becoming, more fully, people of God. They were beginning to know in their heads about who Jesus was, and now they were finally beginning to understand in their hearts who he really is.
We have all had that moment when we see or understand something in a new way. Some call it an epiphany, or an “aha moment,” and there have been several famous ones throughout history.
Adam and Eve had their aha moment when they ate the forbidden fruit and realized they were naked. Archimedes’ aha moment caused him to shout “Eureka!” Newton had his when an apple fell to the ground, and he suddenly began to understand gravity. Paul had his moment on the road to Damascus when he heard a voice and lost his sight. And now Peter, James, and John are having an epiphany of their own, high on a mountain top with Jesus, and Moses and Elijah. I can only imagine how overwhelming that would have been.
They had gone up the mountain with a man whom they thought they knew. They were used to seeing Jesus one way, and now here he is, completely changed, and he is talking with the two most revered prophets in their history. And like the Israelites in the wilderness who were afraid to see the glory that was reflected from Moses’ face, these three were also terrified as they stood in the presence of the three before them.
And you know how sometimes, when you’re a bit nervous, or a little scared, and it feels really awkward, so you think you have to say something – anything – because you just don’t know what else to do? Well, Peter felt like that. And so, in his rush to cover up his nerves and his fear, not knowing what else to say, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us set up three tents: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”. Did he really think they were just going to stay there on that mountain?
And then, as if this isn’t all a bit overwhelming already, we learn that ‘a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved: listen to Him!”’
This isn’t the first time we have heard a voice affirm Jesus as “My beloved Son,” but it is the first time for the three disciples who were present that day. If they were already afraid because of what they were seeing, how much more were they now afraid because of what they were hearing? They can see Jesus, only not like he usually looked, they can see Moses and Elijah, who have been dead for hundreds of years, and now they hear the voice of God. Who, in this moment, is really the most transformed by this whole experience? Jesus, whose true self was showing, or the three disciples, who were still learning and figuring out who Jesus really was who have just now seen him completely different?
On this mountain, in this moment, seeing Jesus for the first time displaying both his humanity and his divinity had to be life-changing for these three men. They were each having their own “aha moment.” They were seeing the light – literally right before them was the One who is the Light of the World, and while they still didn’t fully “get it” yet, they would never be able to go back to thinking of Jesus as “just another guy,” or “a really great teacher.” Now they were starting to see that Jesus was more – so much more – than they ever realized.
We, too, have had our “aha moment” with Jesus. If we claim the identity of Christian, there was a moment when we saw Jesus as more than just someone we learned about in church or in Sunday school. There was an instance when we saw him not just as a storybook character or even a historical figure, but as someone who really is who the Bible says he is. There was that moment when we began to believe that Jesus is the son of God who came to save us from our sins, that instant when we realized he really IS God. And it is in that moment that we accepted him as our Savior, and as Lord of our life. In that moment, we began to become a man or a woman of God.
We might call it our own mountain-top experience. That time when Jesus was transformed from someone whom we knew about and into someone we know in our hearts. And, like Peter, James, and John we were changed. In that moment, we were transformed from the sinner we were into the child of God we are becoming. Not the day of our birth, but the day of our rebirth, and we knew immediately that we would never been the same, because the transformation that Jesus bestows upon us in that moment is meant to reflect his light and his glory into us so all the world will see him in us.
Jesus’ appearance was changed before his disciples’ eyes. He became different, yet he was still Jesus. When we become a follower of Jesus, he will change us and we will become different, yet we will still be us. Not us with a new name, not us trying to be someone we aren’t, but us as a new creation, us as a people of God.
God loves us so much that he sent his Son into our world, to live and die and rise again, to be fully human and yet still remain fully divine. Because of this love, if we pick up our cross and choose to follow Jesus, we are all changed, and because we are changed, we will never be the person we were, but we can become the person God calls us to be. That is the highest, widest, and deepest measure of love that ever was. AMEN.
PRAYER: Jesus, on that mountain top, you allowed Peter, James, and John to see a bit of your true glory, and it changed them. Now, you make a way for us to invite you into our lives and into our hearts and it changes us. Lord, may our lives reflect your glory out into the world. Make us to shine so brightly that when someone looks at us, all they see is you. AMEN.
Rootstown
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: This is My Son
Scripture: Mark 9:2-8
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one on earth could brighten them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.
If I say the names Issur Danielovitch Densky, Frances Gum, Archibald Leach, Aaron Schwalt, and Marion Morrison, would you know who I was talking about? Probably not. Sometimes when people decide to make a new life for themselves, they start by creating a new name that shapes their identity.
While you may not know the names I just read, I bet you probably do know who these people are, it’s just that most of us know them as Kirk Douglas, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Red Buttons, and John Wayne, because those are the personas that these people chose to put on as a part of their transformation from who they were to whom they wanted to be. They didn’t really become new people, of course. They simply changed their image to reflect how they wanted to be seen by others.
We’ve all probably wished we could be someone else at least once in our lives, especially when we were younger. Who did you want to be? An actor, a dancer, president of the United States? Did you give your new self a name? Even if we played pretend, we always knew who we really were, and so did those who knew us best.
Our church calendar tells us today is Transfiguration Sunday, a day whose very name is all about change. On this day, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain with him, and while they were there, the three disciples witnessed a remarkable change in Jesus. An awe-inspiring glimpse that no one else had ever seen. When we talk about Transfiguration in relation to Jesus, we are talking about this event, this moment in time when the disciples not only saw Jesus in a new light, but they also heard the voice of God.
Our scripture starts in an awkward place, though, “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up on a high mountain, apart, by themselves.” Six days after what? Looking to what came right before this, we see Jesus asking his disciples who people think he is. Answers varied from John the Baptist to Elijah, to any one of the prophets of old. Then Jesus asked who they thought he was, and Peter declared, “You are the Messiah.”
Right after that, Jesus began teaching the disciples about his impending death and resurrection, but Peter tried to stifle such talk. Jesus rebuked Peter and called to the crowd that anyone who wanted to be one of his followers must deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow him.
Now it’s six days after all that happened and Jesus and the inner three are trekking up the mountain. When they got to the top, something strange began to happen. One moment Jesus looked like he always did, a regular guy, just like anyone else. And the next moment, there he was, “His clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could brighten them.”
I think the change that the three disciples saw in that moment was more than just the clothes that Jesus was wearing. I believe there was probably a radiance that was coming from within Jesus, too. Remember when Moses would go and be in the Lord’s presence in the wilderness, and when he came back to the people his face would shine so brightly that they were afraid to look at him, so he had to wear a veil? Imagine now, here is Jesus, still himself, still wholly human, but now Peter, James, and John are somehow also seeing his divinity shining out of him. Or at least a small taste of it.
It is easy to see why we tend to focus on Jesus’ transfiguration during that mountain-top experience. The change in his appearance was startling to those three who witnessed it, but there was more to it. Jesus was not the only one who was transformed that day. The three men with him, as witnesses to Jesus’ Transfiguration were also transformed from who they were into whom they were becoming. It just wasn’t as beautiful, or dramatic, or instant as what they were seeing before them, but they were becoming, more fully, people of God. They were beginning to know in their heads about who Jesus was, and now they were finally beginning to understand in their hearts who he really is.
We have all had that moment when we see or understand something in a new way. Some call it an epiphany, or an “aha moment,” and there have been several famous ones throughout history.
Adam and Eve had their aha moment when they ate the forbidden fruit and realized they were naked. Archimedes’ aha moment caused him to shout “Eureka!” Newton had his when an apple fell to the ground, and he suddenly began to understand gravity. Paul had his moment on the road to Damascus when he heard a voice and lost his sight. And now Peter, James, and John are having an epiphany of their own, high on a mountain top with Jesus, and Moses and Elijah. I can only imagine how overwhelming that would have been.
They had gone up the mountain with a man whom they thought they knew. They were used to seeing Jesus one way, and now here he is, completely changed, and he is talking with the two most revered prophets in their history. And like the Israelites in the wilderness who were afraid to see the glory that was reflected from Moses’ face, these three were also terrified as they stood in the presence of the three before them.
And you know how sometimes, when you’re a bit nervous, or a little scared, and it feels really awkward, so you think you have to say something – anything – because you just don’t know what else to do? Well, Peter felt like that. And so, in his rush to cover up his nerves and his fear, not knowing what else to say, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us set up three tents: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”. Did he really think they were just going to stay there on that mountain?
And then, as if this isn’t all a bit overwhelming already, we learn that ‘a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved: listen to Him!”’
This isn’t the first time we have heard a voice affirm Jesus as “My beloved Son,” but it is the first time for the three disciples who were present that day. If they were already afraid because of what they were seeing, how much more were they now afraid because of what they were hearing? They can see Jesus, only not like he usually looked, they can see Moses and Elijah, who have been dead for hundreds of years, and now they hear the voice of God. Who, in this moment, is really the most transformed by this whole experience? Jesus, whose true self was showing, or the three disciples, who were still learning and figuring out who Jesus really was who have just now seen him completely different?
On this mountain, in this moment, seeing Jesus for the first time displaying both his humanity and his divinity had to be life-changing for these three men. They were each having their own “aha moment.” They were seeing the light – literally right before them was the One who is the Light of the World, and while they still didn’t fully “get it” yet, they would never be able to go back to thinking of Jesus as “just another guy,” or “a really great teacher.” Now they were starting to see that Jesus was more – so much more – than they ever realized.
We, too, have had our “aha moment” with Jesus. If we claim the identity of Christian, there was a moment when we saw Jesus as more than just someone we learned about in church or in Sunday school. There was an instance when we saw him not just as a storybook character or even a historical figure, but as someone who really is who the Bible says he is. There was that moment when we began to believe that Jesus is the son of God who came to save us from our sins, that instant when we realized he really IS God. And it is in that moment that we accepted him as our Savior, and as Lord of our life. In that moment, we began to become a man or a woman of God.
We might call it our own mountain-top experience. That time when Jesus was transformed from someone whom we knew about and into someone we know in our hearts. And, like Peter, James, and John we were changed. In that moment, we were transformed from the sinner we were into the child of God we are becoming. Not the day of our birth, but the day of our rebirth, and we knew immediately that we would never been the same, because the transformation that Jesus bestows upon us in that moment is meant to reflect his light and his glory into us so all the world will see him in us.
Jesus’ appearance was changed before his disciples’ eyes. He became different, yet he was still Jesus. When we become a follower of Jesus, he will change us and we will become different, yet we will still be us. Not us with a new name, not us trying to be someone we aren’t, but us as a new creation, us as a people of God.
God loves us so much that he sent his Son into our world, to live and die and rise again, to be fully human and yet still remain fully divine. Because of this love, if we pick up our cross and choose to follow Jesus, we are all changed, and because we are changed, we will never be the person we were, but we can become the person God calls us to be. That is the highest, widest, and deepest measure of love that ever was. AMEN.
PRAYER: Jesus, on that mountain top, you allowed Peter, James, and John to see a bit of your true glory, and it changed them. Now, you make a way for us to invite you into our lives and into our hearts and it changes us. Lord, may our lives reflect your glory out into the world. Make us to shine so brightly that when someone looks at us, all they see is you. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY February 4, 2024. WE CONTINUED A SERMON SERIES TITLED "BECOMING PEOPLE OF GOD" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS TITLED "In His Strength".
February 4, 2024
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: In his Strength
Scripture: Isaiah 40:25-31
To whom, then, will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted,
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
For those of you who have ever had children or have been around them for any length of time, let me ask you a question. Can you remember a time when a child was just absolutely trying your patience, maybe over a prolonged period of time? How did you feel? Exasperated, frustrated, angry, ready to give up, maybe?
I remember when my son was only a few months old and like clockwork every night about 8 pm he would start crying. Just crying. He had been fed and didn’t want any more to eat. He had been bathed and changed so he was clean and dry. He would just cry for a couple of hours. Loudly. We would walk, we would rock, we would sit and hold him, we would lay him down, but nothing worked. He would cry for a couple of hours every single night. Thankfully it only lasted a few weeks, but in those weeks, I think I may have shed as many tears – or more – than he did.
I was tired. I just wanted to find a way to calm him down, but nothing worked. I dreaded 8 pm every night. Those few hours zapped my strength. My husband would have told you he felt the same. We had done everything we could, why was nothing working? Can anyone relate to that feeling?
I think that’s maybe how God feels about humans sometimes. He created us, he put his own breath into us and gave us life. He provides for our needs, he loves us, but we so easily fall off the narrow path and hop on the wide road that leads to destruction because we think that way is better.
The Israelites thought so, too. For hundreds of years they had gone through the cycle of obedience, disobedience, oppression and/or exile, and finally restoration and obedience, only to fall once more into disobedience. Round and round they would go, and about 70 years before today’s scripture, God had had enough.
God had sent the Israelites into exile in Babylon. All but a straggling few had been rounded up and herded to a place they didn’t want to go. They had been warned, but they hadn’t heeded God’s messages or his messengers. Now, only a handful could remember ever living in the Promised Land all those years ago. Many of the people who heard this message from Isaiah were born in Babylon, in captivity. They have never known freedom. How could they find a way to feel like they were God’s people once again?
Today we are continuing our series on “Becoming People of God.” If you remember, we learned from Samuel that God will call anyone of any age. Samuel was young when he first responded to God. Abraham was old when God called him to take his family and move to a new country.
From Jonah, we learned that God will call those who are reluctant. Jonah knew God and he didn’t want to deliver God’s message to the Ninevites because he knew that if they responded to God and changed their ways, God would not destroy them. Jonah was right. God didn’t let Jonah’s reluctance stop his plan from being fulfilled, he gave Jonah a second chance. It wasn’t that Jonah didn’t want to do God’s work; he just didn’t want to do that particular work. Moses tried to talk his way out of brining the Israelites out of Egypt, too. But God knew whom he was calling, and both men ultimately realized God’s way is best.
So, how about the people to whom Isaiah is now speaking? The opportunity has come that they can now leave Babylon and go back to Jerusalem, but they seem to be reluctant to do so. They have been so long in Babylon that they aren’t sure there is a good enough reason to go back. Many were asking how they were supposed to go back to a place they had never been. Babylon was home. It wasn’t perfect, but it was familiar.
Remember how the Israelites would cry and complain about the good old days in Egypt when times in the wilderness got hard? Better days were ahead, but Egypt was familiar. Egypt was hard living and harder working, but Egypt was familiar. That’s how the people felt now – Babylon was familiar.
Besides, remember that Jerusalem had been destroyed. The city was a heap of rubble. Houses were burned and demolished, the walls that were to protect the city were torn down, what was there to go back to? God was making a way, but his people were standing their ground in a foreign land that didn’t feel so foreign to them anymore. They just weren’t sure they had it in them to commit to doing the work that would be needed to get the city rebuilt.
Their failing was that they were thinking of what they could do in their own strength. They weren’t considering God’s strength or God’s power that he would convey to them. God tells his people to look up, see the stars in the heavens. “See these?” he says, “I created them, all of them, and I know all their names because I named them myself.” Think of all the millions, billions, and trillions of stars there are. There is no one who can equal the One who created all of them and everything else. That’s power. That’s strength. And that strength is what God gives to everyone he calls for his purpose.
God never intended those Israelites to go back to Jerusalem and do all that needed done on their own. He planned all along to go with them, to guard them and protect them, and to strengthen them for the task. How it broke his heart to hear his people cry out, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God,” because it just wasn’t true.
God’s people needed encouragement more than ever. The young people who couldn’t remember what it had been like because they had never lived in Jerusalem didn’t want to go. Likely the older people who could remember did want to go but were afraid the journey and the work would be too much for them. How would God get the children of the exile to go back? By encouraging their parents and grandparents to go.
Perhaps that is why we hear God’s message, “He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” This sounds like a pretty direct message for some people more than others.
Christopher Hays, from the Fuller Theological Seminary, writes about this dilemma in his commentary saying:
“One might perceive in the comforts of the final verses a special message for those for whom the long journey home would be hardest: the elderly. They were the only Judeans who would remember Judah by the end of the exile. The writer contrasts between those who rely on the Lord — who will “run and not be weary … walk and not faint” — with boys and men in their youthful prime, who will “faint” and “fall exhausted.” This message would not have been of much help to young men, but it was perhaps not aimed primarily at them. Ezra 3:12-13 recounts that when the foundations of the Second Temple were laid, ‘many old people, who had seen the first temple on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this temple, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping.’”
God knew that the work he was calling his people to do would take all ages. The elders would remember, and the young ones would be the muscle. The elders would guide, and the young ones would learn the old ways. The elders needed the young ones, and the young ones needed the elders. And all of them, of any age needed God’s strength to accomplish his work.
What has changed over the last thirty centuries? Really, not a lot. God still calls people. He calls young ones and older ones, he calls willing ones and reluctant ones, he calls the flawed and the broken. He calls and he sends, and he goes where he sends.
God was with Samuel for his entire ministry. God was with Moses every step of the way for those forty years of wandering. God was with Jonah even in the belly of a large fish, and God was with all the people who eventually made their way back to Jerusalem. And God is with us when he calls us to go and do for him, whether it’s down the street or around the world. God is with us.
Do you know what the Israelites discovered when they finally made their way back to Jerusalem? They realized they weren’t going “back” as much as they were actually going forward. Funny how God works that way.
Their time in exile was ending and God was calling his people home; he was calling them back to himself. He didn’t want them to go back to what had been, he wanted them to go forward into the future he had planned for them. As Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” This was the beginning of God’s fulfillment of that promise to his people.
My friends, we can claim that promise, too. No, we aren’t enduring exile in a foreign land, but God does have a plan and a purpose for our lives, just as he did for his people in that place and in that time. That’s why he calls us to himself, so that his plan can be brought to fruition. I think of Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6 when he writes, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
It's God working through us, that’s God’s call to us. That’s what he wants from us. And if God calls us, he will surely strengthen us for the work he sets for us. God calls us to be his people, going forward into the future that he has planned for us. A future that will be difficult at times, like when you have to deal with a colicky baby for several weeks, but also a future that will be beautiful because God is there with us. And the day will come when we realize that we have been walking for a long time and yet we have not fainted, we have run the race, yet we are not weary, because God lent us his power and filled us with his strength to accomplish all he calls us to do as he urges us forward. And there he is, right there with us, every step of the way. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of all creation, you see us, you love us, and you call us. Young or old, weak or strong, willing or reluctant, you call us because you have a plan and a purpose for us. Use us, Lord, as you wish, because now we know that you will give us the strength to do all you ask of us, and you will never leave us, no matter where we go. Thank you, Lord, for your plans, may we willingly fulfill the purpose you have for us without wearying, without fainting. We are ready. We are willing. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-after-epiphany-2/commentary-on-isaiah-4021-31-3
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: In his Strength
Scripture: Isaiah 40:25-31
To whom, then, will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted,
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
For those of you who have ever had children or have been around them for any length of time, let me ask you a question. Can you remember a time when a child was just absolutely trying your patience, maybe over a prolonged period of time? How did you feel? Exasperated, frustrated, angry, ready to give up, maybe?
I remember when my son was only a few months old and like clockwork every night about 8 pm he would start crying. Just crying. He had been fed and didn’t want any more to eat. He had been bathed and changed so he was clean and dry. He would just cry for a couple of hours. Loudly. We would walk, we would rock, we would sit and hold him, we would lay him down, but nothing worked. He would cry for a couple of hours every single night. Thankfully it only lasted a few weeks, but in those weeks, I think I may have shed as many tears – or more – than he did.
I was tired. I just wanted to find a way to calm him down, but nothing worked. I dreaded 8 pm every night. Those few hours zapped my strength. My husband would have told you he felt the same. We had done everything we could, why was nothing working? Can anyone relate to that feeling?
I think that’s maybe how God feels about humans sometimes. He created us, he put his own breath into us and gave us life. He provides for our needs, he loves us, but we so easily fall off the narrow path and hop on the wide road that leads to destruction because we think that way is better.
The Israelites thought so, too. For hundreds of years they had gone through the cycle of obedience, disobedience, oppression and/or exile, and finally restoration and obedience, only to fall once more into disobedience. Round and round they would go, and about 70 years before today’s scripture, God had had enough.
God had sent the Israelites into exile in Babylon. All but a straggling few had been rounded up and herded to a place they didn’t want to go. They had been warned, but they hadn’t heeded God’s messages or his messengers. Now, only a handful could remember ever living in the Promised Land all those years ago. Many of the people who heard this message from Isaiah were born in Babylon, in captivity. They have never known freedom. How could they find a way to feel like they were God’s people once again?
Today we are continuing our series on “Becoming People of God.” If you remember, we learned from Samuel that God will call anyone of any age. Samuel was young when he first responded to God. Abraham was old when God called him to take his family and move to a new country.
From Jonah, we learned that God will call those who are reluctant. Jonah knew God and he didn’t want to deliver God’s message to the Ninevites because he knew that if they responded to God and changed their ways, God would not destroy them. Jonah was right. God didn’t let Jonah’s reluctance stop his plan from being fulfilled, he gave Jonah a second chance. It wasn’t that Jonah didn’t want to do God’s work; he just didn’t want to do that particular work. Moses tried to talk his way out of brining the Israelites out of Egypt, too. But God knew whom he was calling, and both men ultimately realized God’s way is best.
So, how about the people to whom Isaiah is now speaking? The opportunity has come that they can now leave Babylon and go back to Jerusalem, but they seem to be reluctant to do so. They have been so long in Babylon that they aren’t sure there is a good enough reason to go back. Many were asking how they were supposed to go back to a place they had never been. Babylon was home. It wasn’t perfect, but it was familiar.
Remember how the Israelites would cry and complain about the good old days in Egypt when times in the wilderness got hard? Better days were ahead, but Egypt was familiar. Egypt was hard living and harder working, but Egypt was familiar. That’s how the people felt now – Babylon was familiar.
Besides, remember that Jerusalem had been destroyed. The city was a heap of rubble. Houses were burned and demolished, the walls that were to protect the city were torn down, what was there to go back to? God was making a way, but his people were standing their ground in a foreign land that didn’t feel so foreign to them anymore. They just weren’t sure they had it in them to commit to doing the work that would be needed to get the city rebuilt.
Their failing was that they were thinking of what they could do in their own strength. They weren’t considering God’s strength or God’s power that he would convey to them. God tells his people to look up, see the stars in the heavens. “See these?” he says, “I created them, all of them, and I know all their names because I named them myself.” Think of all the millions, billions, and trillions of stars there are. There is no one who can equal the One who created all of them and everything else. That’s power. That’s strength. And that strength is what God gives to everyone he calls for his purpose.
God never intended those Israelites to go back to Jerusalem and do all that needed done on their own. He planned all along to go with them, to guard them and protect them, and to strengthen them for the task. How it broke his heart to hear his people cry out, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God,” because it just wasn’t true.
God’s people needed encouragement more than ever. The young people who couldn’t remember what it had been like because they had never lived in Jerusalem didn’t want to go. Likely the older people who could remember did want to go but were afraid the journey and the work would be too much for them. How would God get the children of the exile to go back? By encouraging their parents and grandparents to go.
Perhaps that is why we hear God’s message, “He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” This sounds like a pretty direct message for some people more than others.
Christopher Hays, from the Fuller Theological Seminary, writes about this dilemma in his commentary saying:
“One might perceive in the comforts of the final verses a special message for those for whom the long journey home would be hardest: the elderly. They were the only Judeans who would remember Judah by the end of the exile. The writer contrasts between those who rely on the Lord — who will “run and not be weary … walk and not faint” — with boys and men in their youthful prime, who will “faint” and “fall exhausted.” This message would not have been of much help to young men, but it was perhaps not aimed primarily at them. Ezra 3:12-13 recounts that when the foundations of the Second Temple were laid, ‘many old people, who had seen the first temple on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this temple, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping.’”
God knew that the work he was calling his people to do would take all ages. The elders would remember, and the young ones would be the muscle. The elders would guide, and the young ones would learn the old ways. The elders needed the young ones, and the young ones needed the elders. And all of them, of any age needed God’s strength to accomplish his work.
What has changed over the last thirty centuries? Really, not a lot. God still calls people. He calls young ones and older ones, he calls willing ones and reluctant ones, he calls the flawed and the broken. He calls and he sends, and he goes where he sends.
God was with Samuel for his entire ministry. God was with Moses every step of the way for those forty years of wandering. God was with Jonah even in the belly of a large fish, and God was with all the people who eventually made their way back to Jerusalem. And God is with us when he calls us to go and do for him, whether it’s down the street or around the world. God is with us.
Do you know what the Israelites discovered when they finally made their way back to Jerusalem? They realized they weren’t going “back” as much as they were actually going forward. Funny how God works that way.
Their time in exile was ending and God was calling his people home; he was calling them back to himself. He didn’t want them to go back to what had been, he wanted them to go forward into the future he had planned for them. As Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” This was the beginning of God’s fulfillment of that promise to his people.
My friends, we can claim that promise, too. No, we aren’t enduring exile in a foreign land, but God does have a plan and a purpose for our lives, just as he did for his people in that place and in that time. That’s why he calls us to himself, so that his plan can be brought to fruition. I think of Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6 when he writes, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
It's God working through us, that’s God’s call to us. That’s what he wants from us. And if God calls us, he will surely strengthen us for the work he sets for us. God calls us to be his people, going forward into the future that he has planned for us. A future that will be difficult at times, like when you have to deal with a colicky baby for several weeks, but also a future that will be beautiful because God is there with us. And the day will come when we realize that we have been walking for a long time and yet we have not fainted, we have run the race, yet we are not weary, because God lent us his power and filled us with his strength to accomplish all he calls us to do as he urges us forward. And there he is, right there with us, every step of the way. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of all creation, you see us, you love us, and you call us. Young or old, weak or strong, willing or reluctant, you call us because you have a plan and a purpose for us. Use us, Lord, as you wish, because now we know that you will give us the strength to do all you ask of us, and you will never leave us, no matter where we go. Thank you, Lord, for your plans, may we willingly fulfill the purpose you have for us without wearying, without fainting. We are ready. We are willing. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-after-epiphany-2/commentary-on-isaiah-4021-31-3
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY JANUARY 21, 2024. WE Continued A SERMON SERIES TITLED "BECOMING PEOPLE OF GOD" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS TITLED "ALSO, THE RELUCTANT".
January 21, 2024
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: Also, the Reluctant
Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8 Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.
Have you ever had to do something that you didn’t want to do? We all have, right? Something big or something small, we all have faced the challenge of doing what we would rather not do. What is often our first response? Procrastination. We put it off. Those dishes in the sink can wait a bit longer. The grass can get mowed tomorrow.
I know one thing I put off a lot is grocery shopping. I usually have a running list made and I think that maybe I should go today. But I don’t want to go today so I think maybe I’ll go tomorrow. The next day I think I can wait one more day. Before I know it, a week, or even two weeks, has come and gone and I finally have to make myself suck it up and go to the darn grocery store.
Now, grocery stores, dishes, lawn care, and many other things aren’t a big deal if we put them off for a little bit – we do get to them before they become a catastrophe. But what if there were something really big that we were avoiding? Something really important, something that if it were not done would cause a catastrophe. Would even cost thousands of lives. Well, we wouldn’t put that off, would we? I like to think we wouldn’t.
There was a man whose name was Jonah. By nature, Jonah may not have been a procrastinator, but there was a situation that came up. He was asked to do something he didn’t want to do. So, he put it off. Actually, he crossed it off his to-do list and left town in order to avoid doing what he was supposed to do.
Jonah had been called by God to go to the great town of Ninevah and preach repentance. Ninevah! Anywhere but Ninevah would have been alright. Ninevah was the land of the enemy – why go there?
So, Jonah took himself down to the docks and bought a ticket out of town, in the opposite direction of Ninevah. He hopped a ship headed to Tarshish, settled in, and had a nap. Meanwhile, a storm blew up; a great big, nasty storm. This storm was so big its waves threatened to overturn the ship. The sailors all cried out to their gods as they threw cargo overboard, trying anything to save the ship – and themselves.
Finally, the ship’s captain came and found Jonah, fast asleep, and called out to him to get up and call on his god, in hopes that this last-ditch effort would save them all. The sailors, meanwhile, decided to cast lots to see who it was who had brought this calamity upon them, and wouldn’t you know it, the lots showed it was Jonah.
Well, if you’ve read Jonah’s story then you know that he confessed he was running away from the One, True God and he told the sailors that the only way to stop the storm was to throw him overboard. They were reluctant at first, but the storm was still getting stronger, so they finally did just that, and the second they did, the storm stopped, the sea calmed, and the sailors began to worshiped Jonah’s God.
As Jonah sank to the bottom of the sea he was swallowed by a great fish, and he was kept there for three days. Being confined in the belly of a fish will make a man rethink his life, and Jonah did just that. He prayed to God, committing himself to God’s plan, and God caused the fish to spit Jonah out onto dry land.
That brings us right to where our scripture is for today. Jonah is laying on the beach, newly chucked up out of a fish, and thankful to be alive, and as he lay there, the word of God came to him once again with the same message that had started all this drama. God was directing Jonah to go to the great city of Ninevah and relay God’s message to them. This time Jonah went.
Honestly, I don’t think Jonah really wanted to go to Ninevah any more now than he did the day he bought that passage on the ship bound for Tarshish, but he finally did obey. There is a big contrast between God’s call to Samuel last week and his call to Jonah this week.
God called Samuel three times before Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” but that was because Samuel didn’t know the Lord yet. He didn’t realize who was really calling to him. Once Eli figured it out and sent Samuel back to bed with instructions, Samuel then answered the Lord and obeyed. Jonah knew who God was. When the sailors asked him who he was he responded, “I am a Hebrew. I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Jonah knew who God was and Jonah knew God. That’s why he didn’t want to do as God asked him. He didn’t want to go to Ninevah and deliver God’s message to “those people” because he was afraid they would listen.
But, after surviving a raging storm and spending three days in the belly of a great fish, Jonah knew that he had to obey God, even if it meant good for people he didn’t like. So, he went, dragging his feet, walking as slowly as possible, probably muttering to himself under his breath, but he went, and when he got there, Jonah delivered God’s message in the shortest sermon ever given.
Nineva was a large city, very large. It took three days to walk from one end to the other. Jonah went in and walked for only one day before he gave anyone God’s message saying, “Forty days more, and Ninevah will be overthrown!” It may have been a short sermon, but it was effective. The people heard him, and news spread fast. The people believed God through Jonah’s message and they called for a fast, everyone participated, and they all donned sackcloth as a sign of their repentance.
Even the king, in his palace, removed his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on a pile of ashes as he decreed that “No human or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”
This king, and his people, meant business. They had heard their destruction proclaimed and they realized in an instant that this was the only way they could save themselves and their city. They believed God would do what he said he would do if they did not change, and they hoped that by changing, by fasting and praying, by repenting and obeying, God might change his mind and spare them.
That is exactly what happened. God saw them, he saw their repentance was genuine, and they had turned away from their evil ways, and he changed his mind and did not bring calamity upon them. Sounds like a happy ending, right? Well, it certainly was for the people of Ninevah, but there was one person who was definitely not happy about this change of plans.
Jonah was mad! He was mad at God for relenting and letting Ninevah continue. He hadn’t wanted to come on this mission trip because this is exactly what he was afraid would happen. God knew that. He knew exactly how Jonah felt and how Jonah had run away for this very reason. But God used him anyway.
God had called him and gave him a mission to accomplish, and even though Jonah was reluctant, he was still the vessel through which thousands of people were saved from death, and a city was saved from destruction. Even as Jonah made his proclamation, he did so out of reluctant obedience, but it was still obedience. God still accomplished his purpose through Jonah, even when Jonah’s heart was full of anger and selfishness.
God calls who he calls, whether that is a child, like Samuel, Jeremiah, Timothy, or a reluctant prophet like Jonah. He will call the right person and equip that person for the mission he sets for them. Oh, sure we can ignore his call for a while, but he keeps calling. Thankfully, not everyone who ignores God or runs away ends up in the belly of a fish, but God will use whatever it takes to get our attention and he keeps calling until we realize we need to stop running, listen to God and obey his instructions.
I always find it interesting when I hear people, especially pastors, talk about being called by God into ministry. Over and over, I hear their story start with, “I knew God was calling me into ministry, but I didn’t listen.” Sometimes they fled God for months, sometimes for years, but eventually, they realized that if God was calling them to something, then he would walk with them in it, and so they answered God’s call, obeying God’s plan instead of their own.
No matter what God is calling us to, when we finally give in and offer ourselves to be used by him, he will walk with us through the mission he has for us. Now we know, age doesn’t stop God from calling, whether young or old or in between, and our willingness to do his will doesn’t stop him either. Moses tried to talk God out of his calling to free the Israelites, Gideon kept asking God for a sign as a way to get out of answering his call, and Jonah ran away, but in the end, when they finally accepted God’s call, they realized his way is the best way.
Has God been calling you to something and you’ve been ignoring him? God’s call doesn’t always send us to a foreign country, but it does usually make us step out of our comfort zone – that’s why we are reluctant to say yes. But maybe now is the time to stop running, stop ignoring, and simply say, as Samuel did, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” And then, we have to really listen, and then obey, even if what God wants from us isn’t what we think we want to do. We just have to remember that God always knows best. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, sometimes we don’t want to hear what you have to say because it makes us uncomfortable. Sometimes we are afraid we won’t be able to accomplish the task you call us to. Sometimes we think we are too busy, or too small, or too young, or too anything that would disqualify us from serving you. Help us remember, Lord, that you do know best. Help us plant that fact in our hearts and in our minds so that when you call us, we will be able to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” And we will answer your call to serve. AMEN!
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: Also, the Reluctant
Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8 Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.
Have you ever had to do something that you didn’t want to do? We all have, right? Something big or something small, we all have faced the challenge of doing what we would rather not do. What is often our first response? Procrastination. We put it off. Those dishes in the sink can wait a bit longer. The grass can get mowed tomorrow.
I know one thing I put off a lot is grocery shopping. I usually have a running list made and I think that maybe I should go today. But I don’t want to go today so I think maybe I’ll go tomorrow. The next day I think I can wait one more day. Before I know it, a week, or even two weeks, has come and gone and I finally have to make myself suck it up and go to the darn grocery store.
Now, grocery stores, dishes, lawn care, and many other things aren’t a big deal if we put them off for a little bit – we do get to them before they become a catastrophe. But what if there were something really big that we were avoiding? Something really important, something that if it were not done would cause a catastrophe. Would even cost thousands of lives. Well, we wouldn’t put that off, would we? I like to think we wouldn’t.
There was a man whose name was Jonah. By nature, Jonah may not have been a procrastinator, but there was a situation that came up. He was asked to do something he didn’t want to do. So, he put it off. Actually, he crossed it off his to-do list and left town in order to avoid doing what he was supposed to do.
Jonah had been called by God to go to the great town of Ninevah and preach repentance. Ninevah! Anywhere but Ninevah would have been alright. Ninevah was the land of the enemy – why go there?
So, Jonah took himself down to the docks and bought a ticket out of town, in the opposite direction of Ninevah. He hopped a ship headed to Tarshish, settled in, and had a nap. Meanwhile, a storm blew up; a great big, nasty storm. This storm was so big its waves threatened to overturn the ship. The sailors all cried out to their gods as they threw cargo overboard, trying anything to save the ship – and themselves.
Finally, the ship’s captain came and found Jonah, fast asleep, and called out to him to get up and call on his god, in hopes that this last-ditch effort would save them all. The sailors, meanwhile, decided to cast lots to see who it was who had brought this calamity upon them, and wouldn’t you know it, the lots showed it was Jonah.
Well, if you’ve read Jonah’s story then you know that he confessed he was running away from the One, True God and he told the sailors that the only way to stop the storm was to throw him overboard. They were reluctant at first, but the storm was still getting stronger, so they finally did just that, and the second they did, the storm stopped, the sea calmed, and the sailors began to worshiped Jonah’s God.
As Jonah sank to the bottom of the sea he was swallowed by a great fish, and he was kept there for three days. Being confined in the belly of a fish will make a man rethink his life, and Jonah did just that. He prayed to God, committing himself to God’s plan, and God caused the fish to spit Jonah out onto dry land.
That brings us right to where our scripture is for today. Jonah is laying on the beach, newly chucked up out of a fish, and thankful to be alive, and as he lay there, the word of God came to him once again with the same message that had started all this drama. God was directing Jonah to go to the great city of Ninevah and relay God’s message to them. This time Jonah went.
Honestly, I don’t think Jonah really wanted to go to Ninevah any more now than he did the day he bought that passage on the ship bound for Tarshish, but he finally did obey. There is a big contrast between God’s call to Samuel last week and his call to Jonah this week.
God called Samuel three times before Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” but that was because Samuel didn’t know the Lord yet. He didn’t realize who was really calling to him. Once Eli figured it out and sent Samuel back to bed with instructions, Samuel then answered the Lord and obeyed. Jonah knew who God was. When the sailors asked him who he was he responded, “I am a Hebrew. I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Jonah knew who God was and Jonah knew God. That’s why he didn’t want to do as God asked him. He didn’t want to go to Ninevah and deliver God’s message to “those people” because he was afraid they would listen.
But, after surviving a raging storm and spending three days in the belly of a great fish, Jonah knew that he had to obey God, even if it meant good for people he didn’t like. So, he went, dragging his feet, walking as slowly as possible, probably muttering to himself under his breath, but he went, and when he got there, Jonah delivered God’s message in the shortest sermon ever given.
Nineva was a large city, very large. It took three days to walk from one end to the other. Jonah went in and walked for only one day before he gave anyone God’s message saying, “Forty days more, and Ninevah will be overthrown!” It may have been a short sermon, but it was effective. The people heard him, and news spread fast. The people believed God through Jonah’s message and they called for a fast, everyone participated, and they all donned sackcloth as a sign of their repentance.
Even the king, in his palace, removed his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on a pile of ashes as he decreed that “No human or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”
This king, and his people, meant business. They had heard their destruction proclaimed and they realized in an instant that this was the only way they could save themselves and their city. They believed God would do what he said he would do if they did not change, and they hoped that by changing, by fasting and praying, by repenting and obeying, God might change his mind and spare them.
That is exactly what happened. God saw them, he saw their repentance was genuine, and they had turned away from their evil ways, and he changed his mind and did not bring calamity upon them. Sounds like a happy ending, right? Well, it certainly was for the people of Ninevah, but there was one person who was definitely not happy about this change of plans.
Jonah was mad! He was mad at God for relenting and letting Ninevah continue. He hadn’t wanted to come on this mission trip because this is exactly what he was afraid would happen. God knew that. He knew exactly how Jonah felt and how Jonah had run away for this very reason. But God used him anyway.
God had called him and gave him a mission to accomplish, and even though Jonah was reluctant, he was still the vessel through which thousands of people were saved from death, and a city was saved from destruction. Even as Jonah made his proclamation, he did so out of reluctant obedience, but it was still obedience. God still accomplished his purpose through Jonah, even when Jonah’s heart was full of anger and selfishness.
God calls who he calls, whether that is a child, like Samuel, Jeremiah, Timothy, or a reluctant prophet like Jonah. He will call the right person and equip that person for the mission he sets for them. Oh, sure we can ignore his call for a while, but he keeps calling. Thankfully, not everyone who ignores God or runs away ends up in the belly of a fish, but God will use whatever it takes to get our attention and he keeps calling until we realize we need to stop running, listen to God and obey his instructions.
I always find it interesting when I hear people, especially pastors, talk about being called by God into ministry. Over and over, I hear their story start with, “I knew God was calling me into ministry, but I didn’t listen.” Sometimes they fled God for months, sometimes for years, but eventually, they realized that if God was calling them to something, then he would walk with them in it, and so they answered God’s call, obeying God’s plan instead of their own.
No matter what God is calling us to, when we finally give in and offer ourselves to be used by him, he will walk with us through the mission he has for us. Now we know, age doesn’t stop God from calling, whether young or old or in between, and our willingness to do his will doesn’t stop him either. Moses tried to talk God out of his calling to free the Israelites, Gideon kept asking God for a sign as a way to get out of answering his call, and Jonah ran away, but in the end, when they finally accepted God’s call, they realized his way is the best way.
Has God been calling you to something and you’ve been ignoring him? God’s call doesn’t always send us to a foreign country, but it does usually make us step out of our comfort zone – that’s why we are reluctant to say yes. But maybe now is the time to stop running, stop ignoring, and simply say, as Samuel did, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” And then, we have to really listen, and then obey, even if what God wants from us isn’t what we think we want to do. We just have to remember that God always knows best. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, sometimes we don’t want to hear what you have to say because it makes us uncomfortable. Sometimes we are afraid we won’t be able to accomplish the task you call us to. Sometimes we think we are too busy, or too small, or too young, or too anything that would disqualify us from serving you. Help us remember, Lord, that you do know best. Help us plant that fact in our hearts and in our minds so that when you call us, we will be able to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” And we will answer your call to serve. AMEN!
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY JANUARY 14, 2024. WE BEGAN A NEW SERMON SERIES TITLED "BECOMING PEOPLE OF GOD" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS TITLED "Even a Child".
January 14, 2024
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: Even a Child
Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Before we dive into today’s scripture, let me set the scene for you. Where are we historically as we read about Samuel’s first encounter with God? Well, the Israelites were led out of Egypt and through the wilderness by Moses, but he has died. They were led into the Promised land by Joshua and much of the land had been conquered, though not all of it, and Joshua has died.
Scripture tells us that after Joshua had died, the Israelites began to fall into sin. They were intermarrying with the people of the land and taking on the customs that these people had – including worshiping many gods and idols. Because of their disobedience, God would allow his people to be conquered and oppressed by other nation tribes until the Israelites would remember that they had a God who was good, and they would call on him to be saved. God would raise up a judge for his people who would lead them in victory over their oppressors and they would once again follow him faithfully.
Eventually, that judge would die, and the people of Israel would fall back into sin and God would once more allow them to become subject to foreign powers because of their disobedience. This was a cycle that would repeat itself over and over for many years. Some of the judges we read about in their book are Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, as well as the more recognizable Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. And there were several others.
It was a vicious cycle, and God did not spend much time in communication or relationship with his people in these years. They only seemed to remember him and call out to him when they were in trouble. When the trouble was overcome, they forgot how God had brought them through and saved them. It is in this time period when we read the words that close the book of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.”
So, now we come to the time of Samuel. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, was married to Elkanah, and she was barren. More than anything in the world, Hannah wanted a child and she prayed with all her heart for God to answer that prayer. She promised God that if he would grant her a son, she would dedicate him back to God as a Nazarite for his whole life.
God did answer her prayer and Hannah gave birth to a son, Samuel, whom she loved and nurtured for three years, and then she took him to the temple and left him in the care of Eli, the temple priest. It must have been really hard for Hannah to leave her young son at the temple, but she was faithful to her word and each year, when his parents came to the temple for the yearly sacrifice, Hannah would bring Samuel a new robe for him to wear.
Samuel grew up in the temple, learning to serve God, helping Eli with the work of the temple, and God took note of Samuel. We are told in chapter 2 that Samuel “continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and with the people.”
There were two other men who had also grown up in the temple, Hophni and Phineas. These were Eli’s sons, but they had no regard for the LORD. They were terrible men, scoundrels, both of them. They had been taught to be priests like their father, but instead, they preferred to take the meat that was to be offered to the LORD by the people and keep it for themselves, doing this by force if they felt it was needed.
They also had a habit of “hanging out” with the women who frequented the entrance of the temple, if you know what I mean. Their wicked ways were noticed by Eli, and he would admonish them, but they refused to listen. This would be their downfall; God would punish them both. Eli’s two sons would die on the same day, bringing and end to Eli’s family line.
I think Eli just gave up on his boys. Perhaps he had been an overindulgent father for too long, or perhaps he had tried to instill discipline, but they refused to listen, but we just don’t know how they had gone so far away from God. Samuel was a different story. Samuel was a good boy, learning what Eli taught him, learning how to serve God and God’s people. Then came that fateful night.
Eli, who was growing old and couldn’t see well, was laying down for the night in his room, and Samuel, still a boy, had gone to bed in his room. Suddenly, Samuel heard someone call his name, “Samuel! Samuel!” Jumping up, the boy went to Eli’s room and said, “Here I am.” Eli hadn’t called the child, so he sent him back to bed. This happened two more times, Samuel would hear someone call his name, he would go to Eli and Eli would send him back to bed.
The third time Samuel came to Eli, saying, “Here I am for you called me.” Eli finally realized that it was God who was calling to Samuel. He sent him back to bed once again, but this time, he gave him instructions: “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’”
Why did it take three times before Eli realized who was really calling Samuel? Well, partly because, as scripture said, God wasn’t speaking to his people in those days. Eli didn’t expect to hear God’s voice and he didn’t expect anyone else to hear it either. I think the fact that Samuel was still a young boy, I read he was likely about ten or so, also prevented Eli from realizing God was speaking to Samuel.
You see, we tend to think of God’s calling falling on grown-ups, not children. Even today, we might discount the child who tells of hearing God speak to them. We think it’s just their imagination, or someone was playing a trick on them, or they misunderstood what they thought they heard.
We think children aren’t “ready” to be used by God, so he doesn’t pay any attention to them. God will speak to anyone at any age. We see other examples of God calling those who were young in scripture. God called Jeremiah who cried out, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Then the LORD answered him by saying, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.”
Another example is Timothy, to whom Paul writes, “Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Age is not the most important factor in God’s calling in our lives. God doesn’t just call on a person and tell them to go and do, he calls them, and then he stays with them and instructs them and guides them in all they say and do for him. Not just Samuel, Jeremiah, and Timothy, not just the older folks, but all whom he calls, no matter their age.
Guess what? If you are here today, you have been called. If you are a Christian, one who professes Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, you have been called. If you know you have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, you have been called. You have been called by God and you have answered that call.
Think back, how old were you when you gave your life to Christ? Some of you might remember the exact day, some maybe not. I do not. I have a vague recollection of being in a church and going up front and kneeling at the altar to ask Jesus to come into my heart, but I have not idea how old I was or even who had taken me to church that day. I know I was young, quite young. I know that I have lived with the knowledge that I am saved for everyday of my life since then.
I also know that I didn’t always live that that saved person I claimed to be, either. I thank God that he called me back to him when he knew the time was right, when he knew I was ready to really start living for him more than for myself. I’m thankful that he helped me grow and mature in my faith by bringing wonderful, Godly people alongside me. And I am grateful that I knew he was with me always, loving me, calling me, guiding me. But it all started when I was just a child.
There is no age limit or restriction on who can be called by God. Samuel was only about 10 when God first spoke to him, but God allowed him to continue to learn and grow until it was time for Samuel to step into the fullness of his calling to lead God’s people, the nation of Israel. There is no age restriction on when we answer that call and begin to become the people of God. Even a child can be called, even a child can be nurtured, loved, taught, guided by God for his purpose.
It is time we stop thinking of our children as just the future of our church and begin to see them as the present, the now, the right here, and see them as equally and fully called as any of the rest of us. God can, and he will, call a servant to himself at any age, whether they be 10, 50, 90, or older. We’ve all been called, and we have answered – but what more is God calling each of us to, if we will only hear his voice and say, as Samuel did, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” Are we listening? I pray we are. AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful Father, you don’t look at the age of a person, you know their heart, and you call us to you based upon that. Help us Lord, to listen more closely for when you call to us, no matter how young or old we might be. Help us to see our children as a vital and valuable part of our ministry, not disregarding them because they are “too young.” Help us help them to grow in their faith, instill in them the desire to listen for your voice, and help us all, every one of us, to submit to your call, to expect it, to listen to it, to joyfully obey it. Help us to become your people always. AMEN.
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: Even a Child
Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Before we dive into today’s scripture, let me set the scene for you. Where are we historically as we read about Samuel’s first encounter with God? Well, the Israelites were led out of Egypt and through the wilderness by Moses, but he has died. They were led into the Promised land by Joshua and much of the land had been conquered, though not all of it, and Joshua has died.
Scripture tells us that after Joshua had died, the Israelites began to fall into sin. They were intermarrying with the people of the land and taking on the customs that these people had – including worshiping many gods and idols. Because of their disobedience, God would allow his people to be conquered and oppressed by other nation tribes until the Israelites would remember that they had a God who was good, and they would call on him to be saved. God would raise up a judge for his people who would lead them in victory over their oppressors and they would once again follow him faithfully.
Eventually, that judge would die, and the people of Israel would fall back into sin and God would once more allow them to become subject to foreign powers because of their disobedience. This was a cycle that would repeat itself over and over for many years. Some of the judges we read about in their book are Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, as well as the more recognizable Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. And there were several others.
It was a vicious cycle, and God did not spend much time in communication or relationship with his people in these years. They only seemed to remember him and call out to him when they were in trouble. When the trouble was overcome, they forgot how God had brought them through and saved them. It is in this time period when we read the words that close the book of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.”
So, now we come to the time of Samuel. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, was married to Elkanah, and she was barren. More than anything in the world, Hannah wanted a child and she prayed with all her heart for God to answer that prayer. She promised God that if he would grant her a son, she would dedicate him back to God as a Nazarite for his whole life.
God did answer her prayer and Hannah gave birth to a son, Samuel, whom she loved and nurtured for three years, and then she took him to the temple and left him in the care of Eli, the temple priest. It must have been really hard for Hannah to leave her young son at the temple, but she was faithful to her word and each year, when his parents came to the temple for the yearly sacrifice, Hannah would bring Samuel a new robe for him to wear.
Samuel grew up in the temple, learning to serve God, helping Eli with the work of the temple, and God took note of Samuel. We are told in chapter 2 that Samuel “continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and with the people.”
There were two other men who had also grown up in the temple, Hophni and Phineas. These were Eli’s sons, but they had no regard for the LORD. They were terrible men, scoundrels, both of them. They had been taught to be priests like their father, but instead, they preferred to take the meat that was to be offered to the LORD by the people and keep it for themselves, doing this by force if they felt it was needed.
They also had a habit of “hanging out” with the women who frequented the entrance of the temple, if you know what I mean. Their wicked ways were noticed by Eli, and he would admonish them, but they refused to listen. This would be their downfall; God would punish them both. Eli’s two sons would die on the same day, bringing and end to Eli’s family line.
I think Eli just gave up on his boys. Perhaps he had been an overindulgent father for too long, or perhaps he had tried to instill discipline, but they refused to listen, but we just don’t know how they had gone so far away from God. Samuel was a different story. Samuel was a good boy, learning what Eli taught him, learning how to serve God and God’s people. Then came that fateful night.
Eli, who was growing old and couldn’t see well, was laying down for the night in his room, and Samuel, still a boy, had gone to bed in his room. Suddenly, Samuel heard someone call his name, “Samuel! Samuel!” Jumping up, the boy went to Eli’s room and said, “Here I am.” Eli hadn’t called the child, so he sent him back to bed. This happened two more times, Samuel would hear someone call his name, he would go to Eli and Eli would send him back to bed.
The third time Samuel came to Eli, saying, “Here I am for you called me.” Eli finally realized that it was God who was calling to Samuel. He sent him back to bed once again, but this time, he gave him instructions: “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’”
Why did it take three times before Eli realized who was really calling Samuel? Well, partly because, as scripture said, God wasn’t speaking to his people in those days. Eli didn’t expect to hear God’s voice and he didn’t expect anyone else to hear it either. I think the fact that Samuel was still a young boy, I read he was likely about ten or so, also prevented Eli from realizing God was speaking to Samuel.
You see, we tend to think of God’s calling falling on grown-ups, not children. Even today, we might discount the child who tells of hearing God speak to them. We think it’s just their imagination, or someone was playing a trick on them, or they misunderstood what they thought they heard.
We think children aren’t “ready” to be used by God, so he doesn’t pay any attention to them. God will speak to anyone at any age. We see other examples of God calling those who were young in scripture. God called Jeremiah who cried out, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Then the LORD answered him by saying, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.”
Another example is Timothy, to whom Paul writes, “Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Age is not the most important factor in God’s calling in our lives. God doesn’t just call on a person and tell them to go and do, he calls them, and then he stays with them and instructs them and guides them in all they say and do for him. Not just Samuel, Jeremiah, and Timothy, not just the older folks, but all whom he calls, no matter their age.
Guess what? If you are here today, you have been called. If you are a Christian, one who professes Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, you have been called. If you know you have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, you have been called. You have been called by God and you have answered that call.
Think back, how old were you when you gave your life to Christ? Some of you might remember the exact day, some maybe not. I do not. I have a vague recollection of being in a church and going up front and kneeling at the altar to ask Jesus to come into my heart, but I have not idea how old I was or even who had taken me to church that day. I know I was young, quite young. I know that I have lived with the knowledge that I am saved for everyday of my life since then.
I also know that I didn’t always live that that saved person I claimed to be, either. I thank God that he called me back to him when he knew the time was right, when he knew I was ready to really start living for him more than for myself. I’m thankful that he helped me grow and mature in my faith by bringing wonderful, Godly people alongside me. And I am grateful that I knew he was with me always, loving me, calling me, guiding me. But it all started when I was just a child.
There is no age limit or restriction on who can be called by God. Samuel was only about 10 when God first spoke to him, but God allowed him to continue to learn and grow until it was time for Samuel to step into the fullness of his calling to lead God’s people, the nation of Israel. There is no age restriction on when we answer that call and begin to become the people of God. Even a child can be called, even a child can be nurtured, loved, taught, guided by God for his purpose.
It is time we stop thinking of our children as just the future of our church and begin to see them as the present, the now, the right here, and see them as equally and fully called as any of the rest of us. God can, and he will, call a servant to himself at any age, whether they be 10, 50, 90, or older. We’ve all been called, and we have answered – but what more is God calling each of us to, if we will only hear his voice and say, as Samuel did, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” Are we listening? I pray we are. AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful Father, you don’t look at the age of a person, you know their heart, and you call us to you based upon that. Help us Lord, to listen more closely for when you call to us, no matter how young or old we might be. Help us to see our children as a vital and valuable part of our ministry, not disregarding them because they are “too young.” Help us help them to grow in their faith, instill in them the desire to listen for your voice, and help us all, every one of us, to submit to your call, to expect it, to listen to it, to joyfully obey it. Help us to become your people always. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMon SUNDAY January 7, 2024. today the sermon was titled "Nations shall come".
January 7, 2024
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: Nations Shall Come
Scripture: Isaiah 60:1-6
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For darkness shall cover the earth
and thick darkness the peoples,
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
3 Nations shall come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,[a]
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you;
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
During our devotions before the Presiding Elders meeting Thursday, Greg Stover talked about how we tend to see the Christmas story from a slightly skewed angle. We condense it into a one-night event. We set up the nativity sets, and they include the Holy Family, the shepherds, some sheep, maybe an angel, a few barn animals, and the three wisemen with their camels. Our view is that within a couple of hours’ time span, everyone showed up to see and worship the newborn baby, converging on a stable in Bethlehem.
I believe that part of that story is the way it really happened all on the night Jesus was born, but not all of it. The angels lighting up the night and giving the good news to the shepherds in the fields outside of town, the shepherds leaving their flocks and searching for the place where the baby lay wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, just as they had been told, and maybe even the barn animals standing around, munching on their hay, settling into their beds of straw were all there that first night.
Those wisemen, though, weren’t there that night. If we read Matthew 2 carefully, we will see that the timeline was longer than we portray today. These men, maybe three, maybe not, came to Jerusalem looking for the child whose star they had been following. When they spoke with Herod, and he asked them when the star had first appeared, they told him. He then gave them orders to go and find the child, not the baby, and report back to him when they did.
They left Herod, continued to follow the star and when they came to the place where the child was, they rejoiced. As they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary. Did you catch that? They entered a house, not a stable; they saw a child, not a baby. Likely Jesus was about two years old or so at this point. We don’t know for sure, but if we continue to read Matthew’s account, we see that Herod, in a fit of rage after the wisemen returned home without reporting back to him, ordered the massacre of all children two years old and under.
We keep putting those wisemen, or Magi, or kings, whoever they were, right into the stable with all the other Christmas characters, but maybe it’s not when they showed up that matters, but that they showed up at all.
Think about this – they weren’t Jewish, so why were they so interested in this one child? They seemed to know he was someone important; they traveled from the east to find him, saying to Herod, “Where is the child who is born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.”
What does that mean to “pay him homage?” Well, we use the word as paying tribute to someone, to show honor or respect in a public way. Historically, though, the word was used as a public declaration of allegiance. These men were coming to find a child, a Jewish child, with the stated intent to declare their allegiance to him, to worship him. And that is what they did. Matthew tells us, “On entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
Today we celebrate this visit by the wise men to Jesus. “Epiphany,” we call it. But our celebration isn’t really that these men from the east came to visit – it is because they came to reveal the new King of the Jews to those outside of the Jewish culture – the Gentiles. Through divine revelation, these men recognized that this child was the One to be worshiped. This was God breaking through the barriers between Jews and Gentiles, bringing them together as one family – his Chosen people and his adopted children.
This wasn’t the first time God had broken through, promising to bring together two differing factions. We see this about six hundred years earlier, in Isaiah’s words from today’s text. The exiled people are returning home from the Babylonian captivity. They are going home to Jerusalem, reuniting with the remnant who had been left behind. But when they arrive, they discover Jerusalem lies in ruins, living conditions are deplorable, and they now have to deal with conflict – not from neighboring enemies but from those who are their own people. It became a conflict between the one who had stayed and the one who were returning.
The two groups clashed over many things, including who could serve at the altar of the Lord. The exiles had expected to come home and find life easier than they had known it before. They were disappointed. Life was harder, darker than expected. They were separated from God by the way they had lived, even in captivity, never really turning to him, never really repenting for their sins, never really worshiping God with their whole hearts. They had paid him lip service at best and ignored him at worst.
Yet, God still kept his promise and brought them home when the time was right. And he gave Isaiah this message to give to his people to shore them up, to give them hope for the future, saying, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”
God is promising that the day will come when his Light will shine on his people once again and he will be present with them all, when their infighting will end and there will be peace among them. He’s promising a time when all people will come streaming into the city, returning home from wherever they are. “Look up,” God says through Isaiah, “Look up and see this wonderous sight. See your sons coming, and your daughters coming, too. And when you see this your hearts will be filled with joy, and you will rejoice.”
He isn’t telling them to get their lives straightened out and he will do this. He doesn’t say he will do this if they stop sinning and learn to live right. This is a promise God is making to his people, a gift he will give without strings.
Dirk Lange, at workingpreacher.com writes this: “This coming, this shining forth is unconditional. God is always a God whose glory is salvific. The people’s repentance, the mending of ways, the living out of justice is a response to this coming! It is not an attempt to be made right with God, but it is thanksgiving for the one who comes, who reveals life and salvation in the midst of the community.”
Whenever we read of God’s glory in the Old Testament, we know we are reading about God’s presence among his people. But this promise to be among his people is a little different; now God is including all his people, as explained by Lange, who writes, “Now this glory and light rises among the people, it is the Lord who rises among them, giving what the Lord gives: life and salvation. But this giving is not just for the remnant of Israel, it is not just for those who have returned from exile, but for all the nations.”
We see this promise beginning to be fulfilled in Matthew’s account of the visit from the wise men. God’s presence is among his people in the person of Jesus. His light is already shining among the nations, drawing them to him, as he has come to bring life, abundant life, and salvation to all who will confess him as their Lord and Savior.
They came, these Gentile men, to pledge their allegiance, to worship the Messiah, to give him gifts, because they knew He came to give life, to bring salvation to the nations. Not because the people had learned to live right, not because they had learned to not sin, but because they couldn’t learn that at all. Jesus came into a sinful world where death was the price that was paid for a sinful life. He came to pay that price with his own body, his own blood, so that we would no longer be held accountable for our own debt.
The visit from the wise men wasn’t on Christmas night, but they definitely have their place in the Christmas story that is every bit as important as the angels and the shepherds who were. Their journey, their visit, opened the door to those of us who are not Jews, reminding us that we were a part of God’s salvation plan from the very beginning. And so, we honor them today, and we thank God for them and their visit.
God has come, God has been revealed. This is the story of Christmas. The Christmas season is officially over, and now the church calendar tells us we are in the season of Epiphany, the season of the revelation of Christ to the world. It’s hard to let the Christmas season go, isn’t it? I don’t mean the trappings we call Christmas, the gifts, the paper, the bows, the chaos and the stress. I mean the feeling of Christmas we have as we stand in a circle in the darkened church on Christmas Eve, the peace of singing “Silent Night” over our lit candles. The certainty that Christ has come, and God’s plan is perfect. That’s the Christmas that is hard to put away.
But maybe we aren’t supposed to put that away with the tree and all the decorations. Maybe Howard Thurman’s poem, “The Work of Christmas,” is how we keep Christmas alive all year long. Maybe his words are what we need to hear, a reminder of how we are to live, not just at Christmas, but always.
The Work of Christmas
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.
PRAYER: Lord of glory, you have come, as you said you would. In Jesus, you have come to us, all of us, and you brought the gift of life. Lord, help us treasure this gift in our hearts, a gift that is even more precious than gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Help us not only to treasure this gift but to share it with others. Guide us to do the work of Christmas all through the year, that more and more people might come to know you through your son, Jesus Christ, for their salvation, for your glory. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/epiphany-of-our-lord/commentary-on-isaiah-601-6-7
Series: Becoming People of God
Message: Nations Shall Come
Scripture: Isaiah 60:1-6
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For darkness shall cover the earth
and thick darkness the peoples,
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
3 Nations shall come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,[a]
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you;
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
During our devotions before the Presiding Elders meeting Thursday, Greg Stover talked about how we tend to see the Christmas story from a slightly skewed angle. We condense it into a one-night event. We set up the nativity sets, and they include the Holy Family, the shepherds, some sheep, maybe an angel, a few barn animals, and the three wisemen with their camels. Our view is that within a couple of hours’ time span, everyone showed up to see and worship the newborn baby, converging on a stable in Bethlehem.
I believe that part of that story is the way it really happened all on the night Jesus was born, but not all of it. The angels lighting up the night and giving the good news to the shepherds in the fields outside of town, the shepherds leaving their flocks and searching for the place where the baby lay wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, just as they had been told, and maybe even the barn animals standing around, munching on their hay, settling into their beds of straw were all there that first night.
Those wisemen, though, weren’t there that night. If we read Matthew 2 carefully, we will see that the timeline was longer than we portray today. These men, maybe three, maybe not, came to Jerusalem looking for the child whose star they had been following. When they spoke with Herod, and he asked them when the star had first appeared, they told him. He then gave them orders to go and find the child, not the baby, and report back to him when they did.
They left Herod, continued to follow the star and when they came to the place where the child was, they rejoiced. As they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary. Did you catch that? They entered a house, not a stable; they saw a child, not a baby. Likely Jesus was about two years old or so at this point. We don’t know for sure, but if we continue to read Matthew’s account, we see that Herod, in a fit of rage after the wisemen returned home without reporting back to him, ordered the massacre of all children two years old and under.
We keep putting those wisemen, or Magi, or kings, whoever they were, right into the stable with all the other Christmas characters, but maybe it’s not when they showed up that matters, but that they showed up at all.
Think about this – they weren’t Jewish, so why were they so interested in this one child? They seemed to know he was someone important; they traveled from the east to find him, saying to Herod, “Where is the child who is born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.”
What does that mean to “pay him homage?” Well, we use the word as paying tribute to someone, to show honor or respect in a public way. Historically, though, the word was used as a public declaration of allegiance. These men were coming to find a child, a Jewish child, with the stated intent to declare their allegiance to him, to worship him. And that is what they did. Matthew tells us, “On entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
Today we celebrate this visit by the wise men to Jesus. “Epiphany,” we call it. But our celebration isn’t really that these men from the east came to visit – it is because they came to reveal the new King of the Jews to those outside of the Jewish culture – the Gentiles. Through divine revelation, these men recognized that this child was the One to be worshiped. This was God breaking through the barriers between Jews and Gentiles, bringing them together as one family – his Chosen people and his adopted children.
This wasn’t the first time God had broken through, promising to bring together two differing factions. We see this about six hundred years earlier, in Isaiah’s words from today’s text. The exiled people are returning home from the Babylonian captivity. They are going home to Jerusalem, reuniting with the remnant who had been left behind. But when they arrive, they discover Jerusalem lies in ruins, living conditions are deplorable, and they now have to deal with conflict – not from neighboring enemies but from those who are their own people. It became a conflict between the one who had stayed and the one who were returning.
The two groups clashed over many things, including who could serve at the altar of the Lord. The exiles had expected to come home and find life easier than they had known it before. They were disappointed. Life was harder, darker than expected. They were separated from God by the way they had lived, even in captivity, never really turning to him, never really repenting for their sins, never really worshiping God with their whole hearts. They had paid him lip service at best and ignored him at worst.
Yet, God still kept his promise and brought them home when the time was right. And he gave Isaiah this message to give to his people to shore them up, to give them hope for the future, saying, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”
God is promising that the day will come when his Light will shine on his people once again and he will be present with them all, when their infighting will end and there will be peace among them. He’s promising a time when all people will come streaming into the city, returning home from wherever they are. “Look up,” God says through Isaiah, “Look up and see this wonderous sight. See your sons coming, and your daughters coming, too. And when you see this your hearts will be filled with joy, and you will rejoice.”
He isn’t telling them to get their lives straightened out and he will do this. He doesn’t say he will do this if they stop sinning and learn to live right. This is a promise God is making to his people, a gift he will give without strings.
Dirk Lange, at workingpreacher.com writes this: “This coming, this shining forth is unconditional. God is always a God whose glory is salvific. The people’s repentance, the mending of ways, the living out of justice is a response to this coming! It is not an attempt to be made right with God, but it is thanksgiving for the one who comes, who reveals life and salvation in the midst of the community.”
Whenever we read of God’s glory in the Old Testament, we know we are reading about God’s presence among his people. But this promise to be among his people is a little different; now God is including all his people, as explained by Lange, who writes, “Now this glory and light rises among the people, it is the Lord who rises among them, giving what the Lord gives: life and salvation. But this giving is not just for the remnant of Israel, it is not just for those who have returned from exile, but for all the nations.”
We see this promise beginning to be fulfilled in Matthew’s account of the visit from the wise men. God’s presence is among his people in the person of Jesus. His light is already shining among the nations, drawing them to him, as he has come to bring life, abundant life, and salvation to all who will confess him as their Lord and Savior.
They came, these Gentile men, to pledge their allegiance, to worship the Messiah, to give him gifts, because they knew He came to give life, to bring salvation to the nations. Not because the people had learned to live right, not because they had learned to not sin, but because they couldn’t learn that at all. Jesus came into a sinful world where death was the price that was paid for a sinful life. He came to pay that price with his own body, his own blood, so that we would no longer be held accountable for our own debt.
The visit from the wise men wasn’t on Christmas night, but they definitely have their place in the Christmas story that is every bit as important as the angels and the shepherds who were. Their journey, their visit, opened the door to those of us who are not Jews, reminding us that we were a part of God’s salvation plan from the very beginning. And so, we honor them today, and we thank God for them and their visit.
God has come, God has been revealed. This is the story of Christmas. The Christmas season is officially over, and now the church calendar tells us we are in the season of Epiphany, the season of the revelation of Christ to the world. It’s hard to let the Christmas season go, isn’t it? I don’t mean the trappings we call Christmas, the gifts, the paper, the bows, the chaos and the stress. I mean the feeling of Christmas we have as we stand in a circle in the darkened church on Christmas Eve, the peace of singing “Silent Night” over our lit candles. The certainty that Christ has come, and God’s plan is perfect. That’s the Christmas that is hard to put away.
But maybe we aren’t supposed to put that away with the tree and all the decorations. Maybe Howard Thurman’s poem, “The Work of Christmas,” is how we keep Christmas alive all year long. Maybe his words are what we need to hear, a reminder of how we are to live, not just at Christmas, but always.
The Work of Christmas
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.
- Howard Thurman
PRAYER: Lord of glory, you have come, as you said you would. In Jesus, you have come to us, all of us, and you brought the gift of life. Lord, help us treasure this gift in our hearts, a gift that is even more precious than gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Help us not only to treasure this gift but to share it with others. Guide us to do the work of Christmas all through the year, that more and more people might come to know you through your son, Jesus Christ, for their salvation, for your glory. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/epiphany-of-our-lord/commentary-on-isaiah-601-6-7
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON NEW YEAR'S EVE, SUNDAY DECEMBER 31, 2023. WAS TITLED "sTILL, WE WAIT".
Message: Still, We Wait
Scripture: Luke 2:25-32
At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So, when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
as you have promised.
I have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared for all people.
He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
and he is the glory of your people Israel!”
A wise gentleman once said, “Life is composed of waiting periods. The child must wait until he is old enough to have a bicycle, the young man until he is old enough to drive a car, the medical student must wait for his diploma, the husband for his promotion, the young couple for savings to buy a new home. The art of waiting is not learned at once.”
Sometimes it feels like we spend all our lives waiting for something or other. We’ve spent the last month waiting for Christmas, we will spend today waiting for a ball to drop, some of us are waiting for winter to be over and spring to get here. We are always, always waiting for something.
Even in the Bible we see stories of people who had a hard time waiting. Remember Abraham and Sarah? There are few people who walked so closely with God in early biblical times like Abraham. And God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, a nation that would grow so large that it would number more than the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the beach.
Abraham believed God, but he and Sarah grew impatient waiting for God to keep his promise, and they eventually took matters into their own hands and made arrangements with Haggai. Ishmael was born, but this was not the son that God was talking about when he made his vow to Abraham. But waiting is hard and when we get impatient, we start to want to do things our way – we want to “help” God. Like he needs our help, right?
The people of Israel had been waiting for a very long time for the God-promised Messiah. For many of them, they maybe didn’t even believe anymore that this was a promise that would be kept. If we do all the math, or just read Matthews genealogical account, we discover that there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the time of exile, and then another fourteen generations from the exile until the birth of Jesus. This adds up to almost 1,500 years. Is it any wonder that the people may have lost focus in all that waiting? Is it even surprising that waiting for almost 1,500 years may have shaken the belief of many?
Life was hard in the days leading up to Jesus’ birth. Rome was in control of the area – of most of the known world – and Rome ruled with strict rules and a penchant for violence. Pastor Clarence Eisburg describes it this way: “The power of Rome was undeniable. Revolts were constant. Roman Generals jockeyed for power. Government sanctioned murders were without end.”
And even though Rome was almost 1,500 miles from Jerusalem, that didn’t mean that the Jews and the city were overlooked by the rulers. Even their own local rulers were hard and cruel. King Herod was one of the worst. He even killed two of his own sons and his wife. It is claimed that Caesar once said of Herod, “it is safer to be a pig in Jerusalem that a son of Herod.”
Jerusalem in the time of Herod and Roman rule could be a dark and dangerous place to live. On top of all that, it had been about 400 years since God had even sent a prophet to his people. How could they be expected to live in such a time and a place and still believe that God would send his Messiah any day now? Are we surprised that some had given up? Are surprised that some didn’t recognize the messiah when he finally did come?
Can we say that we are any different? It has been 2,000 years now since the Messiah was born. We just celebrated his birth only one week ago, yet it feels longer than that already. Now we are in a period of waiting for his return, or rather, still we wait. We know that God has promised that one day he will send Christ again, we read it in scripture, we talk about it from time to time, but do we live with knowledge that that promise is a reality and that it could happen any minute? Do we realize that it could be today, or tomorrow? Maybe yes, maybe no. We know it, like we know about it, we believe it could happen, but do we really believe it will happen?
We live our lives as though we will never see Jesus’ return in our lifetime. We forget that God’s promises are always kept because it’s just been so long and it hasn’t happened yet, so we think God must have forgotten, or that it isn’t gonna happen at all. We are wrong. So, still we wait. And wait.
If we want a really good example of how to wait on God, we have it in today’s scripture. We learn from our reading that Simeon is a man who lives in Jerusalem. He is a righteous and devout man who is eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. He is an old man, and he has been waiting for a long time to see this promise brought to reality, but he has been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he saw the fulfillment of God’s promise. Simeon had been told that he himself would see the Messiah. So, he waited.
Then, on this particular day, the Holy Spirit led Simeon to the Temple. And while he was there, a family came into the Temple. A man and a woman with a baby. Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus. It is the eighth day, the day that Joseph and Mary were required by Jewish law to bring the baby to the Temple to be presented to God. And Simeon sees them as they enter, and he knows – he just knows that this is the One he has been waiting for all his life – the One for whom all of Israel has been waiting, for almost 1,500 years.
And so, Simeon approaches the Holy Family, and he reaches out to take the baby in his arms. I’ve always wondered how Mary and Joseph could just let a stranger walk up and take their baby to hold, but I think that just as the Holy Spirit was guiding Simeon to them that day, he was also helping these new parents know that it was okay, that this man was there because of their son, and he would not cause any harm to the innocent baby.
I can picture Simeon as he held this baby in his arms. His face was old and wrinkled but wreathed in a smile so big that it was all you could see. The look in his old, tired eyes suddenly sparkled with a life and a joy that they hadn’t known in a long time. His heart felt both calm and excited at the same time. Calm from knowing that this baby was God’s gift sent to rescue Israel and excitement in knowing that this baby was God’s gift sent to rescue Israel – finally the time had come! The wait was over!
Simeon had been patient. He didn’t give up hope, he didn’t try to hurry God, he didn’t take matters into his own hands. He simply trusted in God’s word, trusted in God’s plan, and trusted in God’s timing. He continued to believe even when it felt like God was taking too long to send his promise into the world.
We can take a lesson from Simeon. We know that God has promised to send Jesus back again. We know that promise from God’s word, and because we have seen all the promises that have already been kept, we can be assured that this one will be kept, too.
We need to learn to live with the belief that Christ will come again, trust that he will come in God’s timing, and that all will be fulfilled according to God’s plan. We have to believe this – even while we wait – even though we’ve waiting now been for about 2,000 years. And we need to start living like this promise could be fulfilled even in our lifetime, because it could.
Jesus could come back before this day is over. Or maybe before this week is over. Or maybe not for another 2,000 years, but no matter how soon or how long – we want to be ready. We want to be ready for this promise to be fulfilled – just as Simeon was ready and waiting – because God promised it and Simeon believed in that promise. So too, we will believe – even now. And so, we wait, with hopeful expectations, and we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”
When we start feeling like God is taking too long, when we start to get impatient for this promise to be brought to pass, we need to look at today’s scripture. By his example, Simeon teaches us how to wait, how to trust. We read his story, and we take a breath, knowing we can keep on going, and we remind ourselves that God’s plan is perfect. God’s timing is perfect. So, still, we wait. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, we try to be patient in waiting but it is just so hard. We have been waiting for the return of your son for so long and sometimes it feels like he’s just never coming. But Lord, help us to stay strong in our faith, help us to stay strong in our waiting, help us believe that you will keep your promise, and help us to live like it could happen today. AMEN.
Scripture: Luke 2:25-32
At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So, when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
as you have promised.
I have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared for all people.
He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
and he is the glory of your people Israel!”
A wise gentleman once said, “Life is composed of waiting periods. The child must wait until he is old enough to have a bicycle, the young man until he is old enough to drive a car, the medical student must wait for his diploma, the husband for his promotion, the young couple for savings to buy a new home. The art of waiting is not learned at once.”
Sometimes it feels like we spend all our lives waiting for something or other. We’ve spent the last month waiting for Christmas, we will spend today waiting for a ball to drop, some of us are waiting for winter to be over and spring to get here. We are always, always waiting for something.
Even in the Bible we see stories of people who had a hard time waiting. Remember Abraham and Sarah? There are few people who walked so closely with God in early biblical times like Abraham. And God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, a nation that would grow so large that it would number more than the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the beach.
Abraham believed God, but he and Sarah grew impatient waiting for God to keep his promise, and they eventually took matters into their own hands and made arrangements with Haggai. Ishmael was born, but this was not the son that God was talking about when he made his vow to Abraham. But waiting is hard and when we get impatient, we start to want to do things our way – we want to “help” God. Like he needs our help, right?
The people of Israel had been waiting for a very long time for the God-promised Messiah. For many of them, they maybe didn’t even believe anymore that this was a promise that would be kept. If we do all the math, or just read Matthews genealogical account, we discover that there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the time of exile, and then another fourteen generations from the exile until the birth of Jesus. This adds up to almost 1,500 years. Is it any wonder that the people may have lost focus in all that waiting? Is it even surprising that waiting for almost 1,500 years may have shaken the belief of many?
Life was hard in the days leading up to Jesus’ birth. Rome was in control of the area – of most of the known world – and Rome ruled with strict rules and a penchant for violence. Pastor Clarence Eisburg describes it this way: “The power of Rome was undeniable. Revolts were constant. Roman Generals jockeyed for power. Government sanctioned murders were without end.”
And even though Rome was almost 1,500 miles from Jerusalem, that didn’t mean that the Jews and the city were overlooked by the rulers. Even their own local rulers were hard and cruel. King Herod was one of the worst. He even killed two of his own sons and his wife. It is claimed that Caesar once said of Herod, “it is safer to be a pig in Jerusalem that a son of Herod.”
Jerusalem in the time of Herod and Roman rule could be a dark and dangerous place to live. On top of all that, it had been about 400 years since God had even sent a prophet to his people. How could they be expected to live in such a time and a place and still believe that God would send his Messiah any day now? Are we surprised that some had given up? Are surprised that some didn’t recognize the messiah when he finally did come?
Can we say that we are any different? It has been 2,000 years now since the Messiah was born. We just celebrated his birth only one week ago, yet it feels longer than that already. Now we are in a period of waiting for his return, or rather, still we wait. We know that God has promised that one day he will send Christ again, we read it in scripture, we talk about it from time to time, but do we live with knowledge that that promise is a reality and that it could happen any minute? Do we realize that it could be today, or tomorrow? Maybe yes, maybe no. We know it, like we know about it, we believe it could happen, but do we really believe it will happen?
We live our lives as though we will never see Jesus’ return in our lifetime. We forget that God’s promises are always kept because it’s just been so long and it hasn’t happened yet, so we think God must have forgotten, or that it isn’t gonna happen at all. We are wrong. So, still we wait. And wait.
If we want a really good example of how to wait on God, we have it in today’s scripture. We learn from our reading that Simeon is a man who lives in Jerusalem. He is a righteous and devout man who is eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. He is an old man, and he has been waiting for a long time to see this promise brought to reality, but he has been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he saw the fulfillment of God’s promise. Simeon had been told that he himself would see the Messiah. So, he waited.
Then, on this particular day, the Holy Spirit led Simeon to the Temple. And while he was there, a family came into the Temple. A man and a woman with a baby. Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus. It is the eighth day, the day that Joseph and Mary were required by Jewish law to bring the baby to the Temple to be presented to God. And Simeon sees them as they enter, and he knows – he just knows that this is the One he has been waiting for all his life – the One for whom all of Israel has been waiting, for almost 1,500 years.
And so, Simeon approaches the Holy Family, and he reaches out to take the baby in his arms. I’ve always wondered how Mary and Joseph could just let a stranger walk up and take their baby to hold, but I think that just as the Holy Spirit was guiding Simeon to them that day, he was also helping these new parents know that it was okay, that this man was there because of their son, and he would not cause any harm to the innocent baby.
I can picture Simeon as he held this baby in his arms. His face was old and wrinkled but wreathed in a smile so big that it was all you could see. The look in his old, tired eyes suddenly sparkled with a life and a joy that they hadn’t known in a long time. His heart felt both calm and excited at the same time. Calm from knowing that this baby was God’s gift sent to rescue Israel and excitement in knowing that this baby was God’s gift sent to rescue Israel – finally the time had come! The wait was over!
Simeon had been patient. He didn’t give up hope, he didn’t try to hurry God, he didn’t take matters into his own hands. He simply trusted in God’s word, trusted in God’s plan, and trusted in God’s timing. He continued to believe even when it felt like God was taking too long to send his promise into the world.
We can take a lesson from Simeon. We know that God has promised to send Jesus back again. We know that promise from God’s word, and because we have seen all the promises that have already been kept, we can be assured that this one will be kept, too.
We need to learn to live with the belief that Christ will come again, trust that he will come in God’s timing, and that all will be fulfilled according to God’s plan. We have to believe this – even while we wait – even though we’ve waiting now been for about 2,000 years. And we need to start living like this promise could be fulfilled even in our lifetime, because it could.
Jesus could come back before this day is over. Or maybe before this week is over. Or maybe not for another 2,000 years, but no matter how soon or how long – we want to be ready. We want to be ready for this promise to be fulfilled – just as Simeon was ready and waiting – because God promised it and Simeon believed in that promise. So too, we will believe – even now. And so, we wait, with hopeful expectations, and we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”
When we start feeling like God is taking too long, when we start to get impatient for this promise to be brought to pass, we need to look at today’s scripture. By his example, Simeon teaches us how to wait, how to trust. We read his story, and we take a breath, knowing we can keep on going, and we remind ourselves that God’s plan is perfect. God’s timing is perfect. So, still, we wait. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, we try to be patient in waiting but it is just so hard. We have been waiting for the return of your son for so long and sometimes it feels like he’s just never coming. But Lord, help us to stay strong in our faith, help us to stay strong in our waiting, help us believe that you will keep your promise, and help us to live like it could happen today. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON CHRISTMAS EVE, SUNDAY DECEMBER 24, 2023. WAS TITLED "A PRECIOUS GIFT".
December 24, 2023, PM Service
Series: The Traditions of Christmas
Message: A Precious Gift
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
Well, we’ve made it through another Advent season. Tomorrow officially begins Christmastide, the twelve days of Christmas. During Advent, we have been thinking about our traditions, the ways in which we celebrate, the things we do, the foods we eat, the rituals we ensure take place. Tonight, here in this place, for many of us, we are following yet another of our traditions – to gather in God’s house on Christmas Eve and worship the Giver of Life.
As we look back at the last few weeks and think of all we have done to get here tonight, what were your plans for this Christmas season? What were all the things on your to-do list? Sending Christmas cards, or even the family letter? Baking dozens of cookies, decorating cakes, planning the perfect Christmas day meal? Shopping for the perfect gifts for all your loved ones and having everything wrapped and ribboned before midnight tonight?
Maybe this year you planned to decorate the house in a big way, to put up lights outside and in, to festoon the tree with strings of popcorn and all those precious ornaments from years past. Perhaps this year you planned to take the family for a pajama clad nighttime drive to see the beautiful light displays or find a new way to serve the needy in the community. We all make plans for what we will do and how we will spend our days leading up to Christmas, but how many of us can honestly say that the season has passed exactly as we had planned?
I’d be shocked if there were anyone who made the perfect plan and everything, absolutely everything, fell perfectly into place from beginning to end. The truth is, we make our plans but then life happens, and we simply cannot control life.
A job is lost, or overtime is added, or it’s cut. There was an unexpected car repair that reduced the gift buying budget. The store was out of the ingredients you needed to make Grandma’s special dish, or you got everything but ruined it in the making. You planned for just the right number of people to be at your table, but someone got sick and couldn’t come, or someone impulsively brought an extra guest or two that you didn’t know were coming.
You took your little ones to see Santa, anticipating the perfect picture of them sitting on his lap, but instead they screamed and cried and wriggled without stop, trying to escape, and you left with them crying and you were disappointed. You bought the Christmas cards, but they are still sitting on your desk, in the box, unopened, unsigned, and unsent.
No matter how much we plan for our Christmas, something unexpected will happen. Plans will change, be rearranged, even cancelled. How do we respond to those changes? With anger and despair or with grace and humor? Do we rail against the changes, or do we adjust and move on, accepting what is and making the best of where we are and what we have?
In the midst of my Christmas planning, when things don’t go the way I had planned, and I find myself getting stressed, I think of a young couple from long ago whose plans were suddenly changed. I think of how they handled themselves and how they set an example for us by how they reacted and accepted that change.
Joseph was a carpenter, established in his trade, ready to get married and settle down, ready to start a family. Mary was a young girl betrothed to Joseph, planning her wedding, planning her future, planning for her family. They both had their plans, each of them and as a couple, but their plans changed with a visit from an angel.
First the angel came to Mary. He told her she had been chosen to bear the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah. She accepted the mission, knowing that in doing so she was bringing scandal upon herself, her family, and her betrothed. She knew that this change of plans could even put her own life in danger, but with grace and obedience, Mary said yes.
Then the angel came to Joseph, who was now making a new plan, a plan to divorce Mary quietly, to not cause her any trouble. The angel explained to Joseph God’s plan, and Jospeh, with grace and obedience, said yes.
Even then, in the moment they both said yes to God, they couldn’t have known how much more they would have to adjust their plans to the reality of life. They were barely married when the decree from Caesar Augustus demanded every man go to his “hometown.” The place of his heritage, to be counted in a census. This couple would not have planned to make such an arduous journey at this stage, with Mary’s due date approaching quickly. Her condition would require them to go more slowly than most, making them some of the later arrivals to a small town that was now bursting at the seams with people.
I’m sure they thought they would find a place to stay once they got to Bethlehem, a place where they could live while the census was being taken, a place where their child could be born. I’m also sure they never expected that place to be a stable, surrounded by livestock. As they settled in for the night, I can hear one of them say to the other, “Well, this isn’t quite what we had planned for, is it?”
And then it happened, the labor pains began, the baby was coming – here – in this stable, this very night! This was certainly not the way they had expected their baby to be born, not in this place, not in this way, but there’s no stopping a child who is ready to come into the world, is there? And so, the Christ Child was born right there, in that unexpected place in that unexpected way.
Sometimes the best gifts come to us in unexpected ways. There is a story about the Baptist pastor and evangelist, F. B. Meyer, and a time when he was asked to address a university class on the topic of “answered prayer” while on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic. One of those present was an atheist. After the presentation, his friends asked him what he thought of Dr. Meyer’s message, and he responded by saying he didn’t believe a single word of it.
Later in the day, Meyer gave another address to some of the other passengers and many from the university class went to hear him again. The atheist also went, claiming that he just wanted to hear what this babbler had to say next. As he got up to go, he put two oranges from the table in his pockets. As he was making his way to the place where Meyer would be speaking, the atheist spotted an older lady sitting in a deck chair, fast asleep, with open hands lying in her lap. On a whim, he placed his two oranges in her two hands and went on his way.
As he was returning to his room a little while later, the lady was still sitting in her deck chair, fully awake, and enjoying an orange. "You sure seem to be enjoying that orange," the man slyly remarked. "Yes, sir," she replied, "My Father is very good to me." He was surprised, "Surely your father can’t still be alive!"
"Oh, Praise God," she said, "Yes, He is very much alive!" "But how can that be possible for someone of your age?" the man rudely asked. The lady explained, "I’ll tell you sir. I have been seasick for several days. I had been asking my heavenly Father if he could please send me an orange to help me feel better. I guess I fell asleep while I was praying, and when I awoke, I found he had not only given me one orange but two!"
The atheist was speechless, as you might imagine, but he did later come to believe in Christ. An unexpected gift indeed. Oranges for a seasick daughter of Christ, given to her through one who claimed no faith, but whose act that day was the first step to his salvation through Christ himself.
The atheist had no plans of changing his mind, no plans to change his heart, no plans to change his life, but then the gift of Christmas was given to him and in grace and obedience, he finally said yes.
A young couple had no plans for the way their life turned out, but in grace and obedience they said yes to God. The shepherds in the field that night had no plans to leave their flocks and go into town, but after their angelic visitation, with grace and obedience, they said yes and were the first to see Emmanuel, God with us, in flesh, in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger filled with hay.
What about you? What has been unexpected for you this season? Where were your plans changed? Where did you have to adjust? When did you, with grace and obedience, say yes to those changes? Life isn’t perfect – yet. Not here on this earth, not here in this world. But the Perfect One has come, it is his birth we celebrate tonight and tomorrow. He has come in unexpected ways, to unexpected people, in unexpected circumstances, but the thing is, in whatever way he comes, to whomever he comes, in whatever circumstances he comes, he is still, and always will be a precious, perfect gift.
If you have never accepted this gift, if you have never opened your heart, and with grace and obedience, invited Jesus Christ to be Lord of your life, perhaps tonight is the time to do so. There is no better time to accept his gift than on the night when he was the Gift, the Perfect Gift, the most Precious Gift of all. AMEN.
PRAYER: Oh God, you are the giver of the Perfect Gift, and we thank you. We thank you that you sent your Son to us, even in an unexpected way, to unexpected people, in an unexpected place, at an unexpected time. Yet you sent him in the perfect way, to the right people, in the right place, at the perfect time. Lord, help us to treasure this gift in our hearts as Mary did, help us to share this gift with others as the shepherds did, help us to always, with grace and obedience, say yes to you in all we do as they all did. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/68055/unexpected-by-sermon-central
Series: The Traditions of Christmas
Message: A Precious Gift
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
Well, we’ve made it through another Advent season. Tomorrow officially begins Christmastide, the twelve days of Christmas. During Advent, we have been thinking about our traditions, the ways in which we celebrate, the things we do, the foods we eat, the rituals we ensure take place. Tonight, here in this place, for many of us, we are following yet another of our traditions – to gather in God’s house on Christmas Eve and worship the Giver of Life.
As we look back at the last few weeks and think of all we have done to get here tonight, what were your plans for this Christmas season? What were all the things on your to-do list? Sending Christmas cards, or even the family letter? Baking dozens of cookies, decorating cakes, planning the perfect Christmas day meal? Shopping for the perfect gifts for all your loved ones and having everything wrapped and ribboned before midnight tonight?
Maybe this year you planned to decorate the house in a big way, to put up lights outside and in, to festoon the tree with strings of popcorn and all those precious ornaments from years past. Perhaps this year you planned to take the family for a pajama clad nighttime drive to see the beautiful light displays or find a new way to serve the needy in the community. We all make plans for what we will do and how we will spend our days leading up to Christmas, but how many of us can honestly say that the season has passed exactly as we had planned?
I’d be shocked if there were anyone who made the perfect plan and everything, absolutely everything, fell perfectly into place from beginning to end. The truth is, we make our plans but then life happens, and we simply cannot control life.
A job is lost, or overtime is added, or it’s cut. There was an unexpected car repair that reduced the gift buying budget. The store was out of the ingredients you needed to make Grandma’s special dish, or you got everything but ruined it in the making. You planned for just the right number of people to be at your table, but someone got sick and couldn’t come, or someone impulsively brought an extra guest or two that you didn’t know were coming.
You took your little ones to see Santa, anticipating the perfect picture of them sitting on his lap, but instead they screamed and cried and wriggled without stop, trying to escape, and you left with them crying and you were disappointed. You bought the Christmas cards, but they are still sitting on your desk, in the box, unopened, unsigned, and unsent.
No matter how much we plan for our Christmas, something unexpected will happen. Plans will change, be rearranged, even cancelled. How do we respond to those changes? With anger and despair or with grace and humor? Do we rail against the changes, or do we adjust and move on, accepting what is and making the best of where we are and what we have?
In the midst of my Christmas planning, when things don’t go the way I had planned, and I find myself getting stressed, I think of a young couple from long ago whose plans were suddenly changed. I think of how they handled themselves and how they set an example for us by how they reacted and accepted that change.
Joseph was a carpenter, established in his trade, ready to get married and settle down, ready to start a family. Mary was a young girl betrothed to Joseph, planning her wedding, planning her future, planning for her family. They both had their plans, each of them and as a couple, but their plans changed with a visit from an angel.
First the angel came to Mary. He told her she had been chosen to bear the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah. She accepted the mission, knowing that in doing so she was bringing scandal upon herself, her family, and her betrothed. She knew that this change of plans could even put her own life in danger, but with grace and obedience, Mary said yes.
Then the angel came to Joseph, who was now making a new plan, a plan to divorce Mary quietly, to not cause her any trouble. The angel explained to Joseph God’s plan, and Jospeh, with grace and obedience, said yes.
Even then, in the moment they both said yes to God, they couldn’t have known how much more they would have to adjust their plans to the reality of life. They were barely married when the decree from Caesar Augustus demanded every man go to his “hometown.” The place of his heritage, to be counted in a census. This couple would not have planned to make such an arduous journey at this stage, with Mary’s due date approaching quickly. Her condition would require them to go more slowly than most, making them some of the later arrivals to a small town that was now bursting at the seams with people.
I’m sure they thought they would find a place to stay once they got to Bethlehem, a place where they could live while the census was being taken, a place where their child could be born. I’m also sure they never expected that place to be a stable, surrounded by livestock. As they settled in for the night, I can hear one of them say to the other, “Well, this isn’t quite what we had planned for, is it?”
And then it happened, the labor pains began, the baby was coming – here – in this stable, this very night! This was certainly not the way they had expected their baby to be born, not in this place, not in this way, but there’s no stopping a child who is ready to come into the world, is there? And so, the Christ Child was born right there, in that unexpected place in that unexpected way.
Sometimes the best gifts come to us in unexpected ways. There is a story about the Baptist pastor and evangelist, F. B. Meyer, and a time when he was asked to address a university class on the topic of “answered prayer” while on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic. One of those present was an atheist. After the presentation, his friends asked him what he thought of Dr. Meyer’s message, and he responded by saying he didn’t believe a single word of it.
Later in the day, Meyer gave another address to some of the other passengers and many from the university class went to hear him again. The atheist also went, claiming that he just wanted to hear what this babbler had to say next. As he got up to go, he put two oranges from the table in his pockets. As he was making his way to the place where Meyer would be speaking, the atheist spotted an older lady sitting in a deck chair, fast asleep, with open hands lying in her lap. On a whim, he placed his two oranges in her two hands and went on his way.
As he was returning to his room a little while later, the lady was still sitting in her deck chair, fully awake, and enjoying an orange. "You sure seem to be enjoying that orange," the man slyly remarked. "Yes, sir," she replied, "My Father is very good to me." He was surprised, "Surely your father can’t still be alive!"
"Oh, Praise God," she said, "Yes, He is very much alive!" "But how can that be possible for someone of your age?" the man rudely asked. The lady explained, "I’ll tell you sir. I have been seasick for several days. I had been asking my heavenly Father if he could please send me an orange to help me feel better. I guess I fell asleep while I was praying, and when I awoke, I found he had not only given me one orange but two!"
The atheist was speechless, as you might imagine, but he did later come to believe in Christ. An unexpected gift indeed. Oranges for a seasick daughter of Christ, given to her through one who claimed no faith, but whose act that day was the first step to his salvation through Christ himself.
The atheist had no plans of changing his mind, no plans to change his heart, no plans to change his life, but then the gift of Christmas was given to him and in grace and obedience, he finally said yes.
A young couple had no plans for the way their life turned out, but in grace and obedience they said yes to God. The shepherds in the field that night had no plans to leave their flocks and go into town, but after their angelic visitation, with grace and obedience, they said yes and were the first to see Emmanuel, God with us, in flesh, in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger filled with hay.
What about you? What has been unexpected for you this season? Where were your plans changed? Where did you have to adjust? When did you, with grace and obedience, say yes to those changes? Life isn’t perfect – yet. Not here on this earth, not here in this world. But the Perfect One has come, it is his birth we celebrate tonight and tomorrow. He has come in unexpected ways, to unexpected people, in unexpected circumstances, but the thing is, in whatever way he comes, to whomever he comes, in whatever circumstances he comes, he is still, and always will be a precious, perfect gift.
If you have never accepted this gift, if you have never opened your heart, and with grace and obedience, invited Jesus Christ to be Lord of your life, perhaps tonight is the time to do so. There is no better time to accept his gift than on the night when he was the Gift, the Perfect Gift, the most Precious Gift of all. AMEN.
PRAYER: Oh God, you are the giver of the Perfect Gift, and we thank you. We thank you that you sent your Son to us, even in an unexpected way, to unexpected people, in an unexpected place, at an unexpected time. Yet you sent him in the perfect way, to the right people, in the right place, at the perfect time. Lord, help us to treasure this gift in our hearts as Mary did, help us to share this gift with others as the shepherds did, help us to always, with grace and obedience, say yes to you in all we do as they all did. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/68055/unexpected-by-sermon-central
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON cHRISTMAS eVE mORNING, SUNDAY DECEMBER 24, 2023. WE COMPLETED A SERMON SERIES FOR ADVENT TITLED "THE TRADITIONS OF CHRIST" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "THE LOVE OF HOME".
December 24, 2023
Series: The Traditions of Christmas
Message: The Love of Home
Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus 2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and shouting.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.]]
3 Strengthen the weak hands
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be opened;
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp;
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
but it shall be for God’s people;
no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
I read recently that more people call home on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year and more people travel home for Thanksgiving than for any other holiday. I would be willing to bet, though, that more people go home for Christmas than any other time of the year – even if they go home only in their hearts, and in their memories.
Think about it, don’t we have more memories of Christmas’ past than any other time? We think of the family traditions that we grew up with, the foods that we still have today because they were a part of our childhood, the ways in which we decorate, our family rituals, the people with whom we shared them. The things we do now are, in large part, because doing them now brings back memories of then, and those memories warm our hearts and carry us home, even when “home’ might be miles away.
What traditions spark your memories? What did you do, as a family, that you still do today with your family? I read a story this week of two young boys who stood outside the church one evening watching the happenings inside. The grownups had gathered in the church basement and the boys were fascinated by the efficient way they were carrying in bags of food, sorting, stacking, packing, and wrapping that food into beautiful boxes wrapped in shiny gold cellophane and tied with long, curling ribbons.
There were canned goods, a turkey, fresh fruit, and a specially packaged, carefully placed box of decorated Christmas cookies, all put precisely into a larger box, and then, right before it was tied up with that pretty paper and ribbon, candy canes and hard candies were sprinkled over the top. Those two boys had never seen any gift so beautiful, and they could only wonder at the special people who would receive these food boxes. They decided that those boxes must be going to some important families if they were done up so fancy.
Later that night, their father explained to the boys that those food boxes were going to people from the church and the community who were wrestling with some hard times. He told them that because these boxes were going to people in need. He said that this was a tradition for their church, to serve others in this way, and the church folks worked extra hard to make those gifts look good because, “The real joy of Christmas comes in sharing one’s best with those who need it the most.”
That is exactly what God did so long ago when he gave his son, Jesus to his people. God gave his best to those who needed him the most. Jesus didn’t come as one might expect. He wasn’t born in a palace, dressed in royal robes, given rich foods, cared for by paid servants. No, Jesus was born to poor parents in a town that was not their home. He was born in a stable, wrapped in strips of cloth, and laid in a manger, which is a feeding trough – made of hewn stone. He was surrounded by barn animals, and his birth announcement was first given to lowly shepherds out in the fields. Not the auspicious beginning we would have planned for the King of Kings, for sure, but this was God’s plan, not ours, and God wanted to give his best gift to those who needed it the most.
It is through this gift that God began, for us, a new way to get “home.” Not the home we remember from our childhood, not the home that we go to everyday, but the home that is waiting for us, the home that is promised to us as followers of Jesus Christ, the home that he has prepared for us and where we will one day live for all of eternity with him.
That is the promise embedded in today’s scripture. Isaiah wrote these words of hope to a people who were enduring hardship. They were living in captivity, away from home and in a foreign land. They were living under the rule of an enemy king. All they had were their memories of home to sustain them in their present time.
Then Isaiah tells them better times are coming. There will be a day when the desert will rejoice and blossom like a crocus to herald the Glory of the Lord and the majesty of our God. He says this is a promise from God, so they can be sure and certain of its truth. In that day, he said, weak hands will be strengthened, feeble knees will stand firm once again, and fearful hearts will grow strong enough to cast out fear, all because God himself will come and save you.
This was hope for a hopeless people. This was encouragement for the oppressed. In that day, Isaiah prophesied, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap, and the mute will sing for joy, all because God is coming, he’s really coming. Isaiah’s prophecy meant that no longer would God’s people live only off their memories of the home they had lost, but now they will have the hope of a new home, a home like they never had before, a home created just for them.
Isaiah was speaking of a time in the future, a time he knew not when, but a time that he was sure would come. Time and history have shown us that some of Isaiah’s prophecy has already come to pass. We know that in Jesus’ ministry he healed the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute. He strengthened the weak, he made men bold, he healed the sick and he cured the leper. Jesus did all of that, and yet, among us today we still have people who are blind, deaf, lame, mute, sick, disabled, downtrodden, oppressed, miserable, lost, lonely.
But Isaiah was speaking of a time even beyond just the birth and earthly life of Jesus. He was speaking of the time of perfection when there would be no more sickness, no one would need cured, healed, made whole, because they would already be completely fine. Isaiah is writing about a day when no longer will there be a need for hospitals, doctors, medicines. No longer will we worry about childhood illnesses, old age, or accidents. The day will come when we will live in a perfect world. A world like it was supposed to be from the beginning.
In that day there will be water in the wilderness, streams in the desert, and pools and springs of water will cool the burning sand. And in that place, there will appear a highway called the Holy Way, and it will be a way for God’s people to travel, a way where no traveler will be led astray. This highway will be a safe place for travelers, no lions shall be upon it, no other ravenous beasts will walk its length.
Only God’s people will walk on this Holy Way, all those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Savior will have access, and they shall walk this highway with joy and singing, not sorrow, nor sighing. They will walk this highway with love in their hearts. Love for the gift of salvation they were given through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and love for the Father who gave such a precious gift.
And the good news is, we will be with them. We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are part of the body of the redeemed that will walk that highway. We will walk it with our brothers and sisters of the faith, we will walk it in confidence, knowing we are on the right road and that this is the road that will lead us to the home we were promised in Isaiah’s prophecy. We will walk it and remember that true joy is in sharing one’s best with those who need it the most, and that is exactly what God did for us when he shared himself, through the birth of his son, on that night long ago.
That day that Isaiah foretold in today’s scripture isn’t here yet, but it is coming. The people who first heard his message needed its promise and encouragement as they languished in a foreign land, longing for a home that was lost to them. Isaiah gave them a new hope, and he planted a new seed, a love for a home that is yet to come. We also need Isaiah’s promise and encouragement. We have a love in our hearts for home, a love that is strong, so that is why we go home for Christmas, if not physically, then in our hearts and minds, because our memories draw us there.
Isaiah’s words have also planted a seed in our hearts, a seed of hope, and a seed of love for a new home, a home we haven’t yet seen, yet we long for. A home that we know will be perfect because God’s joy is to give his best to those who need it the most. We are the ones who need it the most. We are God’s creation, and he loves us so much that He gave us Jesus, whose birth we celebrate this day. But there is so much more he wants to give because God’s best knows no end.
God is the perfect gift-giver because he gave us the perfect gift in his son, Jesus. He gave his best to those who needed him the most. Not wrapped in fancy blankets but in swaddling clothes, not born in a palace but in a stable, not laid in an elegant crib but in a borrowed bed, but he came in the most perfect way – the way God had planned for him to come. Today, and tomorrow, we celebrate the birth of our Savior, but even as we do so, we know, in our hearts, that there is more to the gift. Jesus will return one day, and just as Isaiah didn’t know when, neither do we. So, we wait. We wait with hope for that day, and we wait with love in our hearts, love for one another, love for our God, and love for home – even a home which we have not seen but is even now being prepared for us. Because it is God’s joy to give his best to those who need it the most. Thank you, Father, for your best. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, just as we want to give our best gifts to those whom we love, you want to give us your best. You did that in the birth of your son on that night so long ago. Jesus was and is the most perfect gift ever given and we thank you for him. Now, we wait for his return, when he will come and take us to the home you are preparing for us so we can be with you where you are. Lord, thank you for being a promise keeper so that the seeds of hope you planted through Isaiah’s words continue to be rooted in us, even today. May we share that promise and that hope with others, this day and always. AMEN.
Series: The Traditions of Christmas
Message: The Love of Home
Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus 2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and shouting.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.]]
3 Strengthen the weak hands
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be opened;
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp;
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
but it shall be for God’s people;
no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
I read recently that more people call home on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year and more people travel home for Thanksgiving than for any other holiday. I would be willing to bet, though, that more people go home for Christmas than any other time of the year – even if they go home only in their hearts, and in their memories.
Think about it, don’t we have more memories of Christmas’ past than any other time? We think of the family traditions that we grew up with, the foods that we still have today because they were a part of our childhood, the ways in which we decorate, our family rituals, the people with whom we shared them. The things we do now are, in large part, because doing them now brings back memories of then, and those memories warm our hearts and carry us home, even when “home’ might be miles away.
What traditions spark your memories? What did you do, as a family, that you still do today with your family? I read a story this week of two young boys who stood outside the church one evening watching the happenings inside. The grownups had gathered in the church basement and the boys were fascinated by the efficient way they were carrying in bags of food, sorting, stacking, packing, and wrapping that food into beautiful boxes wrapped in shiny gold cellophane and tied with long, curling ribbons.
There were canned goods, a turkey, fresh fruit, and a specially packaged, carefully placed box of decorated Christmas cookies, all put precisely into a larger box, and then, right before it was tied up with that pretty paper and ribbon, candy canes and hard candies were sprinkled over the top. Those two boys had never seen any gift so beautiful, and they could only wonder at the special people who would receive these food boxes. They decided that those boxes must be going to some important families if they were done up so fancy.
Later that night, their father explained to the boys that those food boxes were going to people from the church and the community who were wrestling with some hard times. He told them that because these boxes were going to people in need. He said that this was a tradition for their church, to serve others in this way, and the church folks worked extra hard to make those gifts look good because, “The real joy of Christmas comes in sharing one’s best with those who need it the most.”
That is exactly what God did so long ago when he gave his son, Jesus to his people. God gave his best to those who needed him the most. Jesus didn’t come as one might expect. He wasn’t born in a palace, dressed in royal robes, given rich foods, cared for by paid servants. No, Jesus was born to poor parents in a town that was not their home. He was born in a stable, wrapped in strips of cloth, and laid in a manger, which is a feeding trough – made of hewn stone. He was surrounded by barn animals, and his birth announcement was first given to lowly shepherds out in the fields. Not the auspicious beginning we would have planned for the King of Kings, for sure, but this was God’s plan, not ours, and God wanted to give his best gift to those who needed it the most.
It is through this gift that God began, for us, a new way to get “home.” Not the home we remember from our childhood, not the home that we go to everyday, but the home that is waiting for us, the home that is promised to us as followers of Jesus Christ, the home that he has prepared for us and where we will one day live for all of eternity with him.
That is the promise embedded in today’s scripture. Isaiah wrote these words of hope to a people who were enduring hardship. They were living in captivity, away from home and in a foreign land. They were living under the rule of an enemy king. All they had were their memories of home to sustain them in their present time.
Then Isaiah tells them better times are coming. There will be a day when the desert will rejoice and blossom like a crocus to herald the Glory of the Lord and the majesty of our God. He says this is a promise from God, so they can be sure and certain of its truth. In that day, he said, weak hands will be strengthened, feeble knees will stand firm once again, and fearful hearts will grow strong enough to cast out fear, all because God himself will come and save you.
This was hope for a hopeless people. This was encouragement for the oppressed. In that day, Isaiah prophesied, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap, and the mute will sing for joy, all because God is coming, he’s really coming. Isaiah’s prophecy meant that no longer would God’s people live only off their memories of the home they had lost, but now they will have the hope of a new home, a home like they never had before, a home created just for them.
Isaiah was speaking of a time in the future, a time he knew not when, but a time that he was sure would come. Time and history have shown us that some of Isaiah’s prophecy has already come to pass. We know that in Jesus’ ministry he healed the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute. He strengthened the weak, he made men bold, he healed the sick and he cured the leper. Jesus did all of that, and yet, among us today we still have people who are blind, deaf, lame, mute, sick, disabled, downtrodden, oppressed, miserable, lost, lonely.
But Isaiah was speaking of a time even beyond just the birth and earthly life of Jesus. He was speaking of the time of perfection when there would be no more sickness, no one would need cured, healed, made whole, because they would already be completely fine. Isaiah is writing about a day when no longer will there be a need for hospitals, doctors, medicines. No longer will we worry about childhood illnesses, old age, or accidents. The day will come when we will live in a perfect world. A world like it was supposed to be from the beginning.
In that day there will be water in the wilderness, streams in the desert, and pools and springs of water will cool the burning sand. And in that place, there will appear a highway called the Holy Way, and it will be a way for God’s people to travel, a way where no traveler will be led astray. This highway will be a safe place for travelers, no lions shall be upon it, no other ravenous beasts will walk its length.
Only God’s people will walk on this Holy Way, all those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Savior will have access, and they shall walk this highway with joy and singing, not sorrow, nor sighing. They will walk this highway with love in their hearts. Love for the gift of salvation they were given through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and love for the Father who gave such a precious gift.
And the good news is, we will be with them. We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are part of the body of the redeemed that will walk that highway. We will walk it with our brothers and sisters of the faith, we will walk it in confidence, knowing we are on the right road and that this is the road that will lead us to the home we were promised in Isaiah’s prophecy. We will walk it and remember that true joy is in sharing one’s best with those who need it the most, and that is exactly what God did for us when he shared himself, through the birth of his son, on that night long ago.
That day that Isaiah foretold in today’s scripture isn’t here yet, but it is coming. The people who first heard his message needed its promise and encouragement as they languished in a foreign land, longing for a home that was lost to them. Isaiah gave them a new hope, and he planted a new seed, a love for a home that is yet to come. We also need Isaiah’s promise and encouragement. We have a love in our hearts for home, a love that is strong, so that is why we go home for Christmas, if not physically, then in our hearts and minds, because our memories draw us there.
Isaiah’s words have also planted a seed in our hearts, a seed of hope, and a seed of love for a new home, a home we haven’t yet seen, yet we long for. A home that we know will be perfect because God’s joy is to give his best to those who need it the most. We are the ones who need it the most. We are God’s creation, and he loves us so much that He gave us Jesus, whose birth we celebrate this day. But there is so much more he wants to give because God’s best knows no end.
God is the perfect gift-giver because he gave us the perfect gift in his son, Jesus. He gave his best to those who needed him the most. Not wrapped in fancy blankets but in swaddling clothes, not born in a palace but in a stable, not laid in an elegant crib but in a borrowed bed, but he came in the most perfect way – the way God had planned for him to come. Today, and tomorrow, we celebrate the birth of our Savior, but even as we do so, we know, in our hearts, that there is more to the gift. Jesus will return one day, and just as Isaiah didn’t know when, neither do we. So, we wait. We wait with hope for that day, and we wait with love in our hearts, love for one another, love for our God, and love for home – even a home which we have not seen but is even now being prepared for us. Because it is God’s joy to give his best to those who need it the most. Thank you, Father, for your best. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, just as we want to give our best gifts to those whom we love, you want to give us your best. You did that in the birth of your son on that night so long ago. Jesus was and is the most perfect gift ever given and we thank you for him. Now, we wait for his return, when he will come and take us to the home you are preparing for us so we can be with you where you are. Lord, thank you for being a promise keeper so that the seeds of hope you planted through Isaiah’s words continue to be rooted in us, even today. May we share that promise and that hope with others, this day and always. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY DECEMBER 17, 2023. WE continue A SERMON SERIES FOR ADVENT TITLED "THE TRADITIONS OF CHRIST" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "The Hope for Which we wait".
December 17, 2023
Series: The Traditions of Christmas
Message: The Hope for Which We Wait
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked each group of kids from Bridge Builders, “What is usually the first thing your family puts out to start your Christmas decorating at your house?” There were a few different answers, but the majority of them said the first thing they do is put up the Christmas tree. That’s their tradition. That’s my tradition, too. First the tree is put up and then I can start opening the other boxes of decorations and putting them in their place.
It's fun to open those boxes and pull out the decorations that are used year after year. Some make me smile, some remind me of someone or a special time, but all have a place in my heart. It’s not the size of the item, nor is it the price that it cost to purchase that makes pieces special. A dime-store decoration may take its prominent place right beside something that cost much more, but both are equally loved and equally valuable to me.
What are the things that bring you a smile as you unwrap them from their resting place? What memories stir in you as you place that one special item in that one special place where it always goes?
My friend, Mark, in his book, “Unpacking a Traditional Christmas,” writes about a plastic village, and a train set that surrounded it, that used to sit under his family tree every year when he was a child. A few years ago, his brother came across those old houses and gave them to Mark and his family. Although it had been years since he had seen them, he knew exactly what each house and shop looked like. He could picture exactly where each one had sat under that tree every year, and that memory took him back to happy times.
He writes about setting up the plastic town every year as a child and then, very carefully, setting up that railroad track and placing the train just so, so that it would work the way it was supposed to, running smoothly around and around the town, keeping two young boys who were anticipating Christmas entertained.
Then, Mark asked a question of his readers, “What is the one thing that one must do to get the train carefully placed on the track and ready to go?” Set it up, right? Yes, but…. Make sure it’s level? Yes, but…. The most important thing to do to ensure that the train is placed on the track in its proper position so that it will run smoothly and as it should, and the way to do that is to get right down there at eye level so as to set it perfectly and precisely on those tracks.
You can’t see from up above whether the train is sitting right, and if it isn’t, then when you hit the go switch, it won’t work right. The train that is not on the tracks correctly will derail. It will come off the track and stop doing what it is supposed to do. Yes, that’s exactly what needs to be done, stooping down, eye-level work.
My friends, that is exactly what God did in Jesus Christ. The world he had created had come off the rails. His people weren’t working properly. They were worshiping false gods, they were cheating one another, there was crime and disobedience to God’s law, and God just couldn’t let that continue. If you have a train that goes off the track, and it keeps trying to run but can’t, there will be a lot of problems. God saw that we were off the track and trying to keep running, and that was causing a lot of problems.
So, God saw that it was the right time to put his plan into motion. This was a promise he had made long ago, and now it was time to bring that promise to fruition, and he did that through a young girl named Mary and her betrothed, Joseph.
Our scripture is very clear on this. “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit.” In that day, this was a huge scandal. An unmarried woman, although engaged to be married, is pregnant, and the fiancé is not the father. I know that sounds like an episode of a daytime talk show, but it was the reality of a young couple two thousand years ago.
To be betrothed meant there was a legal contract binding a couple together for marriage. They were as good as married, but they hadn’t formalized the marriage yet, they hadn’t had the ceremony, they hadn’t had the wedding night. Yet Mary is pregnant. What is Joseph to do?
Joseph had the law on his side. He could publicly shame Mary. He could even have her stoned to death for her infidelity. But he did not. “Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly.” This was Joseph’s way of showing love and grace to a woman who had brought shame on him. He wouldn’t accuse her publicly, he refused to expose her shame, and he never considered having her subjected to the full punishment that he had a right to claim for her betrayal. He would divorce her quietly and go on with his life.
“But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”
I cannot even begin to imagine how Joseph reacted when that angel appeared. Did he question the angel, or like Mary had earlier, did he immediately submit and go forward in obedience? Did he feel relief to know his fiancé hadn’t cheated on him, or did he think about how he was going to explain this to the rest of his family?
We don’t know what ran through Joseph’s mind, but we do know how he ultimately responded. Joseph would accept the word of the angel, when the time came to go to Bethlehem to be counted for the census, Mary would accompany Joseph as his wife. They would bring a baby boy into the world, they would name him Jesus as directed, and they would raise him to the best of their ability.
Joseph would love this child as his own, he would teach him his trade, he would be his father in every human way possible. That’s why, when we take our nativity sets out of their boxes each year, we see Joseph included in the set. There he is, standing over Mary and the Baby Jesus, looking down on them, standing guard over them, pondering how he had been chosen to be the earthly father of the Hope of the Nations, this newborn Prince of Peace.
Perhaps, as Joseph heard the words of the angel, or even as he stood gazing at this baby held in the arms of his wife, whom he loved, Joseph remembered the words of Isaiah, written hundreds of years before, “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”
He remembered hearing those words in the synagogue, remembered the hope that filled his heart when he heard them, and now, as they come to his mind, he smiles, and he realizes that this is Emmanel himself. God is with us. he has bent down, gotten on eye-level with humanity, and set us back on the track that we were supposed to be on, the track that moves us in the direction we were intended all along – toward God, toward forgiveness, toward eternal life.
Joseph may not have been Jesus’ biological father, but he was his earthly one and as such, he deserves his place on our mantels, in our yards, on our side tables, right there with Mary and the baby, with the angel and the shepherds. Because Jospeh, like Mary, like those shepherds, like the wisemen who would come later, knew that this baby was the Hope for which the nation of Israel had been waiting for centuries. He had finally arrived.
Now we wait. We have been waiting for a long time, but we still wait with hope in our hearts because we know that the day will come when our Hope, the Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Counselor, the Savior of the World will return, we just don’t know when.
Maybe, instead of starting each year by first setting up the Christmas tree, we should start by setting up the nativity. After all, it is the birth of Jesus depicted in porcelain, glass, or wooden figures. And there is Mary, and Joseph, and there, between them, is the Baby Jesus, our Hope, our Savior, our God, come to earth to be one of us, to be the Hope for which we wait. That’s a tradition worth starting. AMEN
PRAYER: God of all creation, thank you for your willingness to come down to our level. Through your son, Jesus, we have finally been reconciled to you just as you had planned. Thank you for stooping down, seeing our need, and knowing just what, or who, we needed to get us back on track. In this season, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, we also wait for his return – and we know that he alone is the Hope for which we wait. AMEN.
References
“Unpacking a Traditional Christmas” by Mark Hecht and Janet Lord
Series: The Traditions of Christmas
Message: The Hope for Which We Wait
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked each group of kids from Bridge Builders, “What is usually the first thing your family puts out to start your Christmas decorating at your house?” There were a few different answers, but the majority of them said the first thing they do is put up the Christmas tree. That’s their tradition. That’s my tradition, too. First the tree is put up and then I can start opening the other boxes of decorations and putting them in their place.
It's fun to open those boxes and pull out the decorations that are used year after year. Some make me smile, some remind me of someone or a special time, but all have a place in my heart. It’s not the size of the item, nor is it the price that it cost to purchase that makes pieces special. A dime-store decoration may take its prominent place right beside something that cost much more, but both are equally loved and equally valuable to me.
What are the things that bring you a smile as you unwrap them from their resting place? What memories stir in you as you place that one special item in that one special place where it always goes?
My friend, Mark, in his book, “Unpacking a Traditional Christmas,” writes about a plastic village, and a train set that surrounded it, that used to sit under his family tree every year when he was a child. A few years ago, his brother came across those old houses and gave them to Mark and his family. Although it had been years since he had seen them, he knew exactly what each house and shop looked like. He could picture exactly where each one had sat under that tree every year, and that memory took him back to happy times.
He writes about setting up the plastic town every year as a child and then, very carefully, setting up that railroad track and placing the train just so, so that it would work the way it was supposed to, running smoothly around and around the town, keeping two young boys who were anticipating Christmas entertained.
Then, Mark asked a question of his readers, “What is the one thing that one must do to get the train carefully placed on the track and ready to go?” Set it up, right? Yes, but…. Make sure it’s level? Yes, but…. The most important thing to do to ensure that the train is placed on the track in its proper position so that it will run smoothly and as it should, and the way to do that is to get right down there at eye level so as to set it perfectly and precisely on those tracks.
You can’t see from up above whether the train is sitting right, and if it isn’t, then when you hit the go switch, it won’t work right. The train that is not on the tracks correctly will derail. It will come off the track and stop doing what it is supposed to do. Yes, that’s exactly what needs to be done, stooping down, eye-level work.
My friends, that is exactly what God did in Jesus Christ. The world he had created had come off the rails. His people weren’t working properly. They were worshiping false gods, they were cheating one another, there was crime and disobedience to God’s law, and God just couldn’t let that continue. If you have a train that goes off the track, and it keeps trying to run but can’t, there will be a lot of problems. God saw that we were off the track and trying to keep running, and that was causing a lot of problems.
So, God saw that it was the right time to put his plan into motion. This was a promise he had made long ago, and now it was time to bring that promise to fruition, and he did that through a young girl named Mary and her betrothed, Joseph.
Our scripture is very clear on this. “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit.” In that day, this was a huge scandal. An unmarried woman, although engaged to be married, is pregnant, and the fiancé is not the father. I know that sounds like an episode of a daytime talk show, but it was the reality of a young couple two thousand years ago.
To be betrothed meant there was a legal contract binding a couple together for marriage. They were as good as married, but they hadn’t formalized the marriage yet, they hadn’t had the ceremony, they hadn’t had the wedding night. Yet Mary is pregnant. What is Joseph to do?
Joseph had the law on his side. He could publicly shame Mary. He could even have her stoned to death for her infidelity. But he did not. “Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly.” This was Joseph’s way of showing love and grace to a woman who had brought shame on him. He wouldn’t accuse her publicly, he refused to expose her shame, and he never considered having her subjected to the full punishment that he had a right to claim for her betrayal. He would divorce her quietly and go on with his life.
“But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”
I cannot even begin to imagine how Joseph reacted when that angel appeared. Did he question the angel, or like Mary had earlier, did he immediately submit and go forward in obedience? Did he feel relief to know his fiancé hadn’t cheated on him, or did he think about how he was going to explain this to the rest of his family?
We don’t know what ran through Joseph’s mind, but we do know how he ultimately responded. Joseph would accept the word of the angel, when the time came to go to Bethlehem to be counted for the census, Mary would accompany Joseph as his wife. They would bring a baby boy into the world, they would name him Jesus as directed, and they would raise him to the best of their ability.
Joseph would love this child as his own, he would teach him his trade, he would be his father in every human way possible. That’s why, when we take our nativity sets out of their boxes each year, we see Joseph included in the set. There he is, standing over Mary and the Baby Jesus, looking down on them, standing guard over them, pondering how he had been chosen to be the earthly father of the Hope of the Nations, this newborn Prince of Peace.
Perhaps, as Joseph heard the words of the angel, or even as he stood gazing at this baby held in the arms of his wife, whom he loved, Joseph remembered the words of Isaiah, written hundreds of years before, “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”
He remembered hearing those words in the synagogue, remembered the hope that filled his heart when he heard them, and now, as they come to his mind, he smiles, and he realizes that this is Emmanel himself. God is with us. he has bent down, gotten on eye-level with humanity, and set us back on the track that we were supposed to be on, the track that moves us in the direction we were intended all along – toward God, toward forgiveness, toward eternal life.
Joseph may not have been Jesus’ biological father, but he was his earthly one and as such, he deserves his place on our mantels, in our yards, on our side tables, right there with Mary and the baby, with the angel and the shepherds. Because Jospeh, like Mary, like those shepherds, like the wisemen who would come later, knew that this baby was the Hope for which the nation of Israel had been waiting for centuries. He had finally arrived.
Now we wait. We have been waiting for a long time, but we still wait with hope in our hearts because we know that the day will come when our Hope, the Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Counselor, the Savior of the World will return, we just don’t know when.
Maybe, instead of starting each year by first setting up the Christmas tree, we should start by setting up the nativity. After all, it is the birth of Jesus depicted in porcelain, glass, or wooden figures. And there is Mary, and Joseph, and there, between them, is the Baby Jesus, our Hope, our Savior, our God, come to earth to be one of us, to be the Hope for which we wait. That’s a tradition worth starting. AMEN
PRAYER: God of all creation, thank you for your willingness to come down to our level. Through your son, Jesus, we have finally been reconciled to you just as you had planned. Thank you for stooping down, seeing our need, and knowing just what, or who, we needed to get us back on track. In this season, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, we also wait for his return – and we know that he alone is the Hope for which we wait. AMEN.
References
“Unpacking a Traditional Christmas” by Mark Hecht and Janet Lord
There was not a sermon on sunday december 10, 2023 as we presented our annual christmas play which is on the worship services page to the left. enjoy!
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY december 3, 2023. WE begin A new SERMON SERIES for advent TITLED "THE traditions of Christ" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "when does christmas begin".
December 3, 2023
Series: The Traditions of Christmas
Message: When Does Christmas Begin?
Scripture: Micah 5:2-5
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth,
5 and he shall be the one of peace.
Today is the first day of Advent, the season of waiting, anticipating, and preparing for… what? For celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior two thousand years ago, and for waiting for his return. Notice, I said this is the season of Advent, not Christmas. The Christmas season doesn’t officially begin until the day after Christmas – and it goes for the next twelve days, until Epiphany on January 6th. Now you know why the song is the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”
So, if this is Advent, not Christmas, why is today’s sermon title asking the question, “When does Christmas begin?” The truth is, in our modern times, we have expanded the Christmas season. We are in a season of waiting and preparation for Christmas Day, and we add to that sense of waiting through the traditions we hold as a family, and as a church.
When does Christmas begin for you? In his book, “Unpacking a Traditional Christmas,” Mark Hecht, one of the Presiding Elders in our Conference, writes that when he was a boy Christmas officially began for him the day after Thanksgiving, when Santa parachuted out of an airplane and landed on the roof of the Sears and Roebuck store at the local mall. That was the day, every year, when he and his family knew the Christmas season had begun. I can imagine, if I were a kid, that would certainly do it for me. Santa, an airplane, a parachute, yep, must be Christmas!
Others may have different thoughts. Maybe for you it is when the Christmas tree gets put up and all the special ornaments get placed just so on its branches. Maybe for some of you it is when you break out the old family recipes and make those traditional Christmas cookies that have been made every year for generations. Or, for some it may be the first evening snowfall after the outside Christmas lights have been hung, or the day you devote to getting all your shopping done.
Christmas, for so many of us, is full of the traditions that we grew up with, traditions that we have passed down to our children, and they to theirs. Traditions can be comforting if they are practices that create positive memories. Some traditions, though we do without even knowing why, like the woman who always made a ham for the family Christmas dinner.
Every year, she would take out the most beautiful ham she could find and slice off about a third from one end, put both pieces in the pan, place the pan in the oven and go about the rest of her meal preparations. One year, curious about the practice, her husband finally asked her why she cut a chunk off the ham before cooking it. She said that’s just always how her mother had done it, and she was following tradition.
She called her mother to ask her why the end of the ham had to be cut off before putting it in the oven. Her mother said she wasn’t sure why, that’s just the way her mom had always done it and so she had always followed the tradition. Curious now, the mother called her mom to ask if she knew why the ham was always cut into two pieces before being put into the oven. “Simple,” her mom replied, “It was the only way I could get it to fit in the pan I had.”
You see, some traditions might not make a lot of sense to outsiders, but we hold our family traditions near to our heart. Continuing these traditions, especially at Christmas, helps us feel the joy of the season, connects us to our past, and moves us through the time of waiting until the big day arrives.
Now, let’s expand our question. If we were to search the scriptures, when would they tell us that Christmas begins? Is it when the shepherds arrived at the stable to see for themselves this baby the angel had told them about? Or is it the moment the angel made the announcement that the Christ had been born? Could it have begun before that?
What about when Joseph and Mary set out on their journey to Bethlehem to be counted in the census? Or when Joseph made the decision, based upon the angel’s words, not to divorce Mary after all? Perhaps Christmas began when the angel appeared to Mary, called her highly favored, and announced that she would bear the Son of God by the Holy Spirit?
There are so many scriptural moments that point to the beginning of Christmas, that it is hard to pinpoint the right one. Maybe we have to go even further back than the angel’s message to Mary. Like back 600 years to the prophet Isaiah who prophesied about the birth of the Messiah when he said, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Six hundred years from Isaiah’s prophesy to the birth of Jesus is a long Advent season, a long period of waiting and preparing for the promise to be fulfilled, yet not knowing exactly when the time would come.
Isaiah’s prophecy was not yet the beginning, though. He was reminding the people of the promise that had already been made by the prophet Micah a hundred years before him, seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus.
Micah was the first prophet to predict that Jerusalem would be broken, but his promised destruction for Judah also came with words of comfort that one day it would be restored and would be better than ever before. In today’s scripture, we hear Micah’s prophecy of the coming of the Savior.
When the wise men were looking for the baby whose star they were following, King Herod’s advisors referenced Micah when they said the promised Messiah would come from Bethlehem, “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”
Micah didn’t just prophecy that the Messiah would be born, he told of how the Messiah would live. “And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be the one of peace.”
Micah’s messianic prediction may have been when Christmas began. Long before Mary and Joseph’s calling, before the shepherds who were in the field that night were even born. Hundreds of years before all of that which makes the Christmas season come alive for us.
Is it any wonder that we have extended the Christmas season and all but forgotten what Advent is? We are excited to celebrate what God has done for us. We are eager to make our preparations, we are living in the expectancy of Christmas, knowing that we are one this side of it. Christ has come already! That is the best reason ever to celebrate, so we do.
We put up lights to remind us that Jesus is the Light of the world. We bake cookies and share them with friends, family, and neighbors because it reminds us that we love our neighbor as ourselves. We hang a wreath to remind us that just as a circle has no beginning and no end, neither does God. We set up a nativity scene and put the figures in place to remind ourselves that it really happened, just as the prophets predicted, Jesus was born. He is Emmanuel – God with us.
So, when does Christmas begin? Maybe when a church bell rings and puts a spark of hope into a weary man’s heart. That’s what happened in the winter of 1863, during the Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg had been fought the previous summer, the bloodiest, deadliest battle of a war that saw no end in sight that Christmas. That winter, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned a poem that is still known today. His poem spoke of the absence of peace in the midst of war, of the despair he felt, of the losses of life, of the brokenness of this world.
“Christmas Bells” might just be one of the saddest poems ever written, except for the last verse. It was Christmas morning, and from one church, faintly, Longfellow heard a bell ring in the steeple. It was enough, just that one chime, to put hope back in Henry’s heart, and he added the last verse to his poem:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep,
The wrong, shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth good will to men!
That morning, Christmas began for the poet, just in time, because one man remembered that if the promises of Jesus’ birth have been fulfilled, then the promises of his return must one day come to pass. If God could keep his word then, he can surely be trusted to keep his word now. Even if we don’t know when, we do know it will happen. So, we wait, we anticipate, and we prepare. And we celebrate what did happen – the birth of our Lord and Savior – to show that we trust that one day we will celebrate his return.
When will Christmas begin for you this year? Will it be when you eat your first, fresh-baked cookie, finish your shopping, attend a party, put up the tree, watch a favorite movie, write out your Christmas card? For some, it began long ago in a stable in Bethlehem. For some it began longer ago with Isaiah’s prophecy, or even before that with Micah’s own words. I think, for God, it began even before Micah, like all the way back to Genesis when “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s truly when Christmas began, because it was God’s plan from the very beginning.
As we celebrate the season of Advent, it’s okay to celebrate Christmas at the same time. After all, there is nothing better to celebrate than the love of God, come to earth, born as a baby, who became the Savior of the world. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of love and light, as we celebrate this Advent season, we are reminded that your people waited hundreds of years for your promise of the Messiah to be fulfilled. In this season of waiting, we are reminded that you kept your word, and we celebrate that. We also acknowledge that we are in our own season of waiting, waiting for the return of your son, Jesus. As we wait, Lord, help us not to do so idly, but to seek out those who still live in darkness and share your light with them. For their benefit, for your glory, AMEN.
Series: The Traditions of Christmas
Message: When Does Christmas Begin?
Scripture: Micah 5:2-5
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth,
5 and he shall be the one of peace.
Today is the first day of Advent, the season of waiting, anticipating, and preparing for… what? For celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior two thousand years ago, and for waiting for his return. Notice, I said this is the season of Advent, not Christmas. The Christmas season doesn’t officially begin until the day after Christmas – and it goes for the next twelve days, until Epiphany on January 6th. Now you know why the song is the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”
So, if this is Advent, not Christmas, why is today’s sermon title asking the question, “When does Christmas begin?” The truth is, in our modern times, we have expanded the Christmas season. We are in a season of waiting and preparation for Christmas Day, and we add to that sense of waiting through the traditions we hold as a family, and as a church.
When does Christmas begin for you? In his book, “Unpacking a Traditional Christmas,” Mark Hecht, one of the Presiding Elders in our Conference, writes that when he was a boy Christmas officially began for him the day after Thanksgiving, when Santa parachuted out of an airplane and landed on the roof of the Sears and Roebuck store at the local mall. That was the day, every year, when he and his family knew the Christmas season had begun. I can imagine, if I were a kid, that would certainly do it for me. Santa, an airplane, a parachute, yep, must be Christmas!
Others may have different thoughts. Maybe for you it is when the Christmas tree gets put up and all the special ornaments get placed just so on its branches. Maybe for some of you it is when you break out the old family recipes and make those traditional Christmas cookies that have been made every year for generations. Or, for some it may be the first evening snowfall after the outside Christmas lights have been hung, or the day you devote to getting all your shopping done.
Christmas, for so many of us, is full of the traditions that we grew up with, traditions that we have passed down to our children, and they to theirs. Traditions can be comforting if they are practices that create positive memories. Some traditions, though we do without even knowing why, like the woman who always made a ham for the family Christmas dinner.
Every year, she would take out the most beautiful ham she could find and slice off about a third from one end, put both pieces in the pan, place the pan in the oven and go about the rest of her meal preparations. One year, curious about the practice, her husband finally asked her why she cut a chunk off the ham before cooking it. She said that’s just always how her mother had done it, and she was following tradition.
She called her mother to ask her why the end of the ham had to be cut off before putting it in the oven. Her mother said she wasn’t sure why, that’s just the way her mom had always done it and so she had always followed the tradition. Curious now, the mother called her mom to ask if she knew why the ham was always cut into two pieces before being put into the oven. “Simple,” her mom replied, “It was the only way I could get it to fit in the pan I had.”
You see, some traditions might not make a lot of sense to outsiders, but we hold our family traditions near to our heart. Continuing these traditions, especially at Christmas, helps us feel the joy of the season, connects us to our past, and moves us through the time of waiting until the big day arrives.
Now, let’s expand our question. If we were to search the scriptures, when would they tell us that Christmas begins? Is it when the shepherds arrived at the stable to see for themselves this baby the angel had told them about? Or is it the moment the angel made the announcement that the Christ had been born? Could it have begun before that?
What about when Joseph and Mary set out on their journey to Bethlehem to be counted in the census? Or when Joseph made the decision, based upon the angel’s words, not to divorce Mary after all? Perhaps Christmas began when the angel appeared to Mary, called her highly favored, and announced that she would bear the Son of God by the Holy Spirit?
There are so many scriptural moments that point to the beginning of Christmas, that it is hard to pinpoint the right one. Maybe we have to go even further back than the angel’s message to Mary. Like back 600 years to the prophet Isaiah who prophesied about the birth of the Messiah when he said, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Six hundred years from Isaiah’s prophesy to the birth of Jesus is a long Advent season, a long period of waiting and preparing for the promise to be fulfilled, yet not knowing exactly when the time would come.
Isaiah’s prophecy was not yet the beginning, though. He was reminding the people of the promise that had already been made by the prophet Micah a hundred years before him, seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus.
Micah was the first prophet to predict that Jerusalem would be broken, but his promised destruction for Judah also came with words of comfort that one day it would be restored and would be better than ever before. In today’s scripture, we hear Micah’s prophecy of the coming of the Savior.
When the wise men were looking for the baby whose star they were following, King Herod’s advisors referenced Micah when they said the promised Messiah would come from Bethlehem, “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”
Micah didn’t just prophecy that the Messiah would be born, he told of how the Messiah would live. “And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be the one of peace.”
Micah’s messianic prediction may have been when Christmas began. Long before Mary and Joseph’s calling, before the shepherds who were in the field that night were even born. Hundreds of years before all of that which makes the Christmas season come alive for us.
Is it any wonder that we have extended the Christmas season and all but forgotten what Advent is? We are excited to celebrate what God has done for us. We are eager to make our preparations, we are living in the expectancy of Christmas, knowing that we are one this side of it. Christ has come already! That is the best reason ever to celebrate, so we do.
We put up lights to remind us that Jesus is the Light of the world. We bake cookies and share them with friends, family, and neighbors because it reminds us that we love our neighbor as ourselves. We hang a wreath to remind us that just as a circle has no beginning and no end, neither does God. We set up a nativity scene and put the figures in place to remind ourselves that it really happened, just as the prophets predicted, Jesus was born. He is Emmanuel – God with us.
So, when does Christmas begin? Maybe when a church bell rings and puts a spark of hope into a weary man’s heart. That’s what happened in the winter of 1863, during the Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg had been fought the previous summer, the bloodiest, deadliest battle of a war that saw no end in sight that Christmas. That winter, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned a poem that is still known today. His poem spoke of the absence of peace in the midst of war, of the despair he felt, of the losses of life, of the brokenness of this world.
“Christmas Bells” might just be one of the saddest poems ever written, except for the last verse. It was Christmas morning, and from one church, faintly, Longfellow heard a bell ring in the steeple. It was enough, just that one chime, to put hope back in Henry’s heart, and he added the last verse to his poem:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep,
The wrong, shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth good will to men!
That morning, Christmas began for the poet, just in time, because one man remembered that if the promises of Jesus’ birth have been fulfilled, then the promises of his return must one day come to pass. If God could keep his word then, he can surely be trusted to keep his word now. Even if we don’t know when, we do know it will happen. So, we wait, we anticipate, and we prepare. And we celebrate what did happen – the birth of our Lord and Savior – to show that we trust that one day we will celebrate his return.
When will Christmas begin for you this year? Will it be when you eat your first, fresh-baked cookie, finish your shopping, attend a party, put up the tree, watch a favorite movie, write out your Christmas card? For some, it began long ago in a stable in Bethlehem. For some it began longer ago with Isaiah’s prophecy, or even before that with Micah’s own words. I think, for God, it began even before Micah, like all the way back to Genesis when “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s truly when Christmas began, because it was God’s plan from the very beginning.
As we celebrate the season of Advent, it’s okay to celebrate Christmas at the same time. After all, there is nothing better to celebrate than the love of God, come to earth, born as a baby, who became the Savior of the world. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of love and light, as we celebrate this Advent season, we are reminded that your people waited hundreds of years for your promise of the Messiah to be fulfilled. In this season of waiting, we are reminded that you kept your word, and we celebrate that. We also acknowledge that we are in our own season of waiting, waiting for the return of your son, Jesus. As we wait, Lord, help us not to do so idly, but to seek out those who still live in darkness and share your light with them. For their benefit, for your glory, AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2023. WE CONTINUE A SERMON SERIES TITLED "THE GRACE OF GOD" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "Grace lived and shared daily".
November 26, 2023
Rootstown
Series: The Grace of God
Message: Grace Lived and Shared Daily
Scripture: Hebrews 12:14-17
Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. 16 Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal. 17 You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.
This week we are wrapping up our series on the Grace of God. We have learned what grace is – forgiveness of sins and transformation to a new life in Christ. We learned that we should dress ourselves daily in humility, using it like a shield so that God’s grace can protect us from the roaring, seeking lion that is Satan on the prowl. Now, this week, we will see what it looks like to live a life of grace and share it daily. The twelfth chapter of Hebrews is where we turn for some practical advice to do this.
Remember, the book of Hebrews is a letter written to a church that was weary and wondering if being a Christian was worth the effort. They lived in a time of persecution when faith in Jesus put them in danger. They were trying to remain faithful, but reality made it difficult. The writer of Hebrews wanted to encourage these believers, to bolster their faith and their confidence, remind them that they have real hope in Jesus Christ and that following him was always worth it, even when it wasn’t the easy thing to do.
That is why this book is so relevant to us today, too. We don’t live in a place where our faith puts us in danger, but there are Christians around the world who do. We do live in a place where we sometimes find it difficult to profess our faith with confidence that we will be accepted. We do find there are times and places where expressing our faith isn’t encouraged at all or is sometimes prohibited. We do have times when we may even wonder if what we do and how we live is worth it when we see non-believers who are more successful than we are, when we are struggling day after day, week after week.
We need these words in this letter to encourage us, to help us keep on keeping on. This letter encourages, and it also warns against certain dangers. We need both. Encouragement alone doesn’t keep us from wandering into dangerous territory; warnings alone don’t give us the hope we need to take the next step. Today, we will look at some encouraging words and we will hear the words of warning, and we will be grateful for the grace of God that is to be found in both.
The chapter begins by reminding us that whatever we are going through, we are not alone. We are surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses, the saints who have already endured all that this world put them through and have now entered into eternity with God. We can look to their example, see how they suffered and overcame adversity, learn how some were martyred for their faith, read the words of the early father and mothers of the church who can teach us so much. We can remember those whom we have personally known and appreciate how they have shaped us into the people we are today, and we can realize that we are doing the same for others, right now, every day, even when we don’t always realize it.
We are told to strip off everything that slows us down or is a weight that leads us to sin, and that we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus himself, the author and perfector of our faith. We are directed to remember all that Jesus gave up, all he endured, and how he died for us. And we are taught that God will discipline us sometimes just as a parent disciplines their child, to teach and direct them when they go astray, because of the love he has for us.
Then we come to today’s scripture reading and in my Bible this section is titled, “A Call to Listen to God.” The writer doesn’t hold back or give us anything easy to start with here because he writes, “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.” Umm, ok. Does this mean I’ve already failed? I know I don’t always live in peace with everyone. I mean, I do drive on the freeway sometimes, or in the Walmart parking lot. I have been known to utter some not so peace-filled sentences in certain situations.
And what about when I have a disagreement with a friend or a family member? Does that automatically mean I am in trouble, that I have negated my chances of eternal life lived in the presence of God? No, it doesn’t mean that. The truth is, we will always have times of disagreement, but the important thing is how we handle ourselves in those moments.
Can we disagree and still speak kindly? Can we still portray Jesus even in our disagreements? Jesus didn’t agree with everyone in his time, and reality says we won’t either, but we can follow his example of speaking in love, hearing the other person’s viewpoint, and sometimes agreeing to disagree and move on. There will be times when the only way we can do this is by tapping into the strength that only God can provide to us. We cannot live the holy life we are called to live on our own, but with God’s help we can work at it, getting better each time we are tested.
Next we are told to look after one another so that no one might miss out in receiving the grace of God.
References
Call to Worship:
L: God poured out his grace on us through Jesus Christ,
P: Now, as his followers, we are to be peacemakers.
L: Spread the Good News everywhere,
P: Share the love of God through Jesus with everyone,
L: People need the Lord,
P: He is the open door through which we find love and grace,
ALL: Where we find healing and peace. We need the Lord. AMEN.
Hymn: People Need the Lord (2X)
Rootstown
Series: The Grace of God
Message: Grace Lived and Shared Daily
Scripture: Hebrews 12:14-17
Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. 16 Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal. 17 You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.
This week we are wrapping up our series on the Grace of God. We have learned what grace is – forgiveness of sins and transformation to a new life in Christ. We learned that we should dress ourselves daily in humility, using it like a shield so that God’s grace can protect us from the roaring, seeking lion that is Satan on the prowl. Now, this week, we will see what it looks like to live a life of grace and share it daily. The twelfth chapter of Hebrews is where we turn for some practical advice to do this.
Remember, the book of Hebrews is a letter written to a church that was weary and wondering if being a Christian was worth the effort. They lived in a time of persecution when faith in Jesus put them in danger. They were trying to remain faithful, but reality made it difficult. The writer of Hebrews wanted to encourage these believers, to bolster their faith and their confidence, remind them that they have real hope in Jesus Christ and that following him was always worth it, even when it wasn’t the easy thing to do.
That is why this book is so relevant to us today, too. We don’t live in a place where our faith puts us in danger, but there are Christians around the world who do. We do live in a place where we sometimes find it difficult to profess our faith with confidence that we will be accepted. We do find there are times and places where expressing our faith isn’t encouraged at all or is sometimes prohibited. We do have times when we may even wonder if what we do and how we live is worth it when we see non-believers who are more successful than we are, when we are struggling day after day, week after week.
We need these words in this letter to encourage us, to help us keep on keeping on. This letter encourages, and it also warns against certain dangers. We need both. Encouragement alone doesn’t keep us from wandering into dangerous territory; warnings alone don’t give us the hope we need to take the next step. Today, we will look at some encouraging words and we will hear the words of warning, and we will be grateful for the grace of God that is to be found in both.
The chapter begins by reminding us that whatever we are going through, we are not alone. We are surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses, the saints who have already endured all that this world put them through and have now entered into eternity with God. We can look to their example, see how they suffered and overcame adversity, learn how some were martyred for their faith, read the words of the early father and mothers of the church who can teach us so much. We can remember those whom we have personally known and appreciate how they have shaped us into the people we are today, and we can realize that we are doing the same for others, right now, every day, even when we don’t always realize it.
We are told to strip off everything that slows us down or is a weight that leads us to sin, and that we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus himself, the author and perfector of our faith. We are directed to remember all that Jesus gave up, all he endured, and how he died for us. And we are taught that God will discipline us sometimes just as a parent disciplines their child, to teach and direct them when they go astray, because of the love he has for us.
Then we come to today’s scripture reading and in my Bible this section is titled, “A Call to Listen to God.” The writer doesn’t hold back or give us anything easy to start with here because he writes, “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.” Umm, ok. Does this mean I’ve already failed? I know I don’t always live in peace with everyone. I mean, I do drive on the freeway sometimes, or in the Walmart parking lot. I have been known to utter some not so peace-filled sentences in certain situations.
And what about when I have a disagreement with a friend or a family member? Does that automatically mean I am in trouble, that I have negated my chances of eternal life lived in the presence of God? No, it doesn’t mean that. The truth is, we will always have times of disagreement, but the important thing is how we handle ourselves in those moments.
Can we disagree and still speak kindly? Can we still portray Jesus even in our disagreements? Jesus didn’t agree with everyone in his time, and reality says we won’t either, but we can follow his example of speaking in love, hearing the other person’s viewpoint, and sometimes agreeing to disagree and move on. There will be times when the only way we can do this is by tapping into the strength that only God can provide to us. We cannot live the holy life we are called to live on our own, but with God’s help we can work at it, getting better each time we are tested.
Next we are told to look after one another so that no one might miss out in receiving the grace of God.
References
Call to Worship:
L: God poured out his grace on us through Jesus Christ,
P: Now, as his followers, we are to be peacemakers.
L: Spread the Good News everywhere,
P: Share the love of God through Jesus with everyone,
L: People need the Lord,
P: He is the open door through which we find love and grace,
ALL: Where we find healing and peace. We need the Lord. AMEN.
Hymn: People Need the Lord (2X)
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 19, 2023. WE CONTINUE A SERMON SERIES TITLED "THE GRACE OF GOD" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "Be Clothed in humility".
November 19, 2023
Series: The Grace of God
Message: Be Clothed in Humility
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:5-11
In the same way, you who are younger must be subject to the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8 Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
Do you remember the Hans Christian Andersen story about the emperor and his new clothes? The tale goes that two men of disreputable character came to town and discovered that the emperor was one who spent lavish amounts of money on clothes. This wouldn’t be of any great concern if the emperor was spending his own money, but of course he was not. Instead, he spent the people’s money – funds that were to go to promote the general welfare of the people and the upkeep of the town’s infrastructure.
These two men saw a wonderful opportunity and they convinced the emperor that they could make him the most exquisite suit, a suit so fine that only the most refined people could even see it. Those who were stupid, or incompetent would never be able to see and appreciate this very special outfit. Of course, this particular garment could only be had for a ridiculously high price.
Without a doubt, the emperor had to have such a magnificent set of clothes and he ordered them at once. He let the men use a special room in the castle to weave their magical fabric and fashion this most fashionable suit. The emperor could hardly wait to see the finished work and from time to time he would visit the workplace to check on the tailors’ progress.
The only problem was, whenever the emperor would go to see how the work was progressing, he couldn’t actually see anything! He couldn’t see the fabulous fabric the weavers were weaving; he couldn’t feel the fine texture of the tunic they showed him. He couldn’t tell what color the collar or the cuffs were that were so intricately and delicately stitched with beautiful designs. But he couldn’t say he couldn’t see anything, could he?
If the emperor were to admit his problem, everyone would know that he was ignorant and incompetent instead of refined, polished, and high-class. That wouldn’t do for an emperor, now would it? Sometimes he would send officials to check on the work being done and each one would report back that the suit was coming along just fine and that it was the dreamiest clothes they had ever seen. Funny thing is, they couldn’t see anything any more than their boss could see anything – because there was nothing to see!
These two hucksters understood human vanity very well and so they built their business around it. They weren’t weaving any special suit, they weren’t cutting, sewing, tailoring anything for the emperor to wear. They were scamming the emperor, and his people, for all they were worth. No one could see anything, yet no one would speak up to say so because then everyone else would know they were stupid or ignorant or incompetent, and that just wouldn’t do.
We all remember what happened next, the two men pronounced the suit was finished, they “helped” the emperor to dress in this new outfit, and the emperor proudly paraded through the town for all the people to see and admire his magnificent new clothes. The people were shocked to see so much of their leader, he felt drafts in places he shouldn’t feel drafts, and no one spoke a word of truth. Until a young child, that is. It was a child who spoke up and declared that the emperor was not wearing anything.
At that moment, the townspeople realized the emperor had been fooled and they had been too vain to admit the truth themselves. Imagine how they felt. Imagine how the emperor felt. Imagine how far the two crooks had already gotten with their boatload of cash for pretending to work for weeks at nothing. What a fiasco.
Based on what Peter is writing in today’s scripture, I think there are plenty of people who are walking around spiritually naked, pretending for all the world that they are clothed with the finest of garments because they claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but in fact are only pretending.
Chapter five of Peter’s letter begins by giving instructions to the elders in the church, telling them to care for the people, to watch over them diligently, doing so willingly and out of a desire to serve God. Now, beginning where we read today, Peter turns his attention to the members of the church. He writes, “you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
We don’t always like to submit ourselves to authority, do we? We like to have things go our way and sometimes we don’t want anyone else telling us what to do or how to do it. Peter is warning against the proud nature we all have when we try to get our own way. “Don’t do that,” he says, “instead, accept the authority of the elders and do so willingly, with an attitude of humility.” In fact, Peter urges his readers to “dress yourselves in humility.”
In other words, don’t pretend to accept authority, but really, willingly accept it and submit to it. When we dress ourselves with humility, it is a way we cover ourselves, like with a shield that will protect us from asserting our own way when we should acquiesce instead. Why is that important? He tells us by quoting Proverbs 3:34: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
You see, when we get puffed up and become full of pride, we close ourselves off to God’s reach. That’s when we start to think “I, I, I” and begin to feel like we are important, like we don’t need God. We set ourselves above others, like the emperor set himself above his subjects. When we start to do that, it becomes difficult to admit when we are wrong, and we end up parading down the street in invisible clothes because we can’t bear to admit the truth.
That’s why God opposes the proud; they turn their backs on him, but those who dress daily in humility know they need God as much as they need air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. To those people God will pour out his grace. To those who admit their need, admit their faults, confess their sins, and turn in a new direction, God grants his grace, that full grace of forgiveness and transformation through him.
There is another part of this grace that is given to those who are humble and that is found in verses 6-7, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” God cares for you. He cares for all of us, and he invites us to give him our troubles, our worries, our cares, our concerns so that he can shoulder the burden for us. That is why sharing our prayers is part of our worship service every week. It is a time to praise God for working in our lives and a time to share our cares and worries, giving them over to the God who can carry them all, who works in them on our behalf. That’s another beautiful aspect of God’s grace.
Peter also cautions his readers about another reason we should dress ourselves in humility and remain in God’s care. Satan is on the prowl. He is always on the move, seeking and searching for those he can attack, those who are vulnerable because they have cast off their robe of humility and donned the suit of pride. Pride does not offer any protection against such a stalker. Humility allows us to stand firm against that roaring lion. It allows us to lean on and trust one another to stand together against him, and it allows us to lean on and trust in the God who wants to save us. That’s God’s grace and it is beautiful!
My friends, God’s grace is not something to be meted out, bit by bit. It is not something that God holds in short supply and only gives to a select few who work harder than the rest of us. God’s grace is abundant, and never ending. God wants to pour out his grace on everyone, that’s why it is a free gift. If it came at a cost, if it had a price tag, then there would be some who could get it, buy it, earn it, and some who would never be able to achieve it. That’s not God’s way.
God has given us his gift of grace, free for the asking, so that everyone, and anyone who wants it can have it. He pours it out on all those who come to know him and call Jesus their Savior. He pours it out through forgiveness and then he calls us to a new life, a life free from the penalty of sin, an eternal life lived in his presence. All we have to do is ask for him to forgive our sins, accept his gift, and begin to live a new life.
Only those who can humble themselves and submit to him can ask for his gift. Those who wear the suit of pride cannot bring themselves to ask, so they never receive the gift. They walk around all day, every day, wearing what they have been told is their best life, yet really wearing nothing at all.
Who do you know who is like that? We all know someone, probably lots of someones like that. How will we respond? Will we be like the townspeople who wouldn’t tell the emperor he was naked because they were afraid of what others would think of them? Or will we be like the child who spoke the truth? It was only when the truth was made known that the emperor would finally put on his clothes and live the truth.
I challenge us all to speak the truth, in love, to those who are bare, so they can finally be clothed in God’s truth. And then, they will experience the wonderful, beautiful grace of God, just as we do, and I am so thankful for it. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of truth, help us to not only live in your truth but to help others find their way to you, too. May we be more like the child in the story than the townspeople. May we speak truth when it needs to be spoken and may we do it with love while wearing the robe of humility with which we dress ourselves daily. By our lives, our words, and our actions, may we point people to you, the giver of grace through forgiveness and transformation. Thank you for taking us from who we were to who you are calling us to be. We submit to you, this day and every day. AMEN.
Series: The Grace of God
Message: Be Clothed in Humility
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:5-11
In the same way, you who are younger must be subject to the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8 Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
Do you remember the Hans Christian Andersen story about the emperor and his new clothes? The tale goes that two men of disreputable character came to town and discovered that the emperor was one who spent lavish amounts of money on clothes. This wouldn’t be of any great concern if the emperor was spending his own money, but of course he was not. Instead, he spent the people’s money – funds that were to go to promote the general welfare of the people and the upkeep of the town’s infrastructure.
These two men saw a wonderful opportunity and they convinced the emperor that they could make him the most exquisite suit, a suit so fine that only the most refined people could even see it. Those who were stupid, or incompetent would never be able to see and appreciate this very special outfit. Of course, this particular garment could only be had for a ridiculously high price.
Without a doubt, the emperor had to have such a magnificent set of clothes and he ordered them at once. He let the men use a special room in the castle to weave their magical fabric and fashion this most fashionable suit. The emperor could hardly wait to see the finished work and from time to time he would visit the workplace to check on the tailors’ progress.
The only problem was, whenever the emperor would go to see how the work was progressing, he couldn’t actually see anything! He couldn’t see the fabulous fabric the weavers were weaving; he couldn’t feel the fine texture of the tunic they showed him. He couldn’t tell what color the collar or the cuffs were that were so intricately and delicately stitched with beautiful designs. But he couldn’t say he couldn’t see anything, could he?
If the emperor were to admit his problem, everyone would know that he was ignorant and incompetent instead of refined, polished, and high-class. That wouldn’t do for an emperor, now would it? Sometimes he would send officials to check on the work being done and each one would report back that the suit was coming along just fine and that it was the dreamiest clothes they had ever seen. Funny thing is, they couldn’t see anything any more than their boss could see anything – because there was nothing to see!
These two hucksters understood human vanity very well and so they built their business around it. They weren’t weaving any special suit, they weren’t cutting, sewing, tailoring anything for the emperor to wear. They were scamming the emperor, and his people, for all they were worth. No one could see anything, yet no one would speak up to say so because then everyone else would know they were stupid or ignorant or incompetent, and that just wouldn’t do.
We all remember what happened next, the two men pronounced the suit was finished, they “helped” the emperor to dress in this new outfit, and the emperor proudly paraded through the town for all the people to see and admire his magnificent new clothes. The people were shocked to see so much of their leader, he felt drafts in places he shouldn’t feel drafts, and no one spoke a word of truth. Until a young child, that is. It was a child who spoke up and declared that the emperor was not wearing anything.
At that moment, the townspeople realized the emperor had been fooled and they had been too vain to admit the truth themselves. Imagine how they felt. Imagine how the emperor felt. Imagine how far the two crooks had already gotten with their boatload of cash for pretending to work for weeks at nothing. What a fiasco.
Based on what Peter is writing in today’s scripture, I think there are plenty of people who are walking around spiritually naked, pretending for all the world that they are clothed with the finest of garments because they claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but in fact are only pretending.
Chapter five of Peter’s letter begins by giving instructions to the elders in the church, telling them to care for the people, to watch over them diligently, doing so willingly and out of a desire to serve God. Now, beginning where we read today, Peter turns his attention to the members of the church. He writes, “you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
We don’t always like to submit ourselves to authority, do we? We like to have things go our way and sometimes we don’t want anyone else telling us what to do or how to do it. Peter is warning against the proud nature we all have when we try to get our own way. “Don’t do that,” he says, “instead, accept the authority of the elders and do so willingly, with an attitude of humility.” In fact, Peter urges his readers to “dress yourselves in humility.”
In other words, don’t pretend to accept authority, but really, willingly accept it and submit to it. When we dress ourselves with humility, it is a way we cover ourselves, like with a shield that will protect us from asserting our own way when we should acquiesce instead. Why is that important? He tells us by quoting Proverbs 3:34: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
You see, when we get puffed up and become full of pride, we close ourselves off to God’s reach. That’s when we start to think “I, I, I” and begin to feel like we are important, like we don’t need God. We set ourselves above others, like the emperor set himself above his subjects. When we start to do that, it becomes difficult to admit when we are wrong, and we end up parading down the street in invisible clothes because we can’t bear to admit the truth.
That’s why God opposes the proud; they turn their backs on him, but those who dress daily in humility know they need God as much as they need air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. To those people God will pour out his grace. To those who admit their need, admit their faults, confess their sins, and turn in a new direction, God grants his grace, that full grace of forgiveness and transformation through him.
There is another part of this grace that is given to those who are humble and that is found in verses 6-7, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” God cares for you. He cares for all of us, and he invites us to give him our troubles, our worries, our cares, our concerns so that he can shoulder the burden for us. That is why sharing our prayers is part of our worship service every week. It is a time to praise God for working in our lives and a time to share our cares and worries, giving them over to the God who can carry them all, who works in them on our behalf. That’s another beautiful aspect of God’s grace.
Peter also cautions his readers about another reason we should dress ourselves in humility and remain in God’s care. Satan is on the prowl. He is always on the move, seeking and searching for those he can attack, those who are vulnerable because they have cast off their robe of humility and donned the suit of pride. Pride does not offer any protection against such a stalker. Humility allows us to stand firm against that roaring lion. It allows us to lean on and trust one another to stand together against him, and it allows us to lean on and trust in the God who wants to save us. That’s God’s grace and it is beautiful!
My friends, God’s grace is not something to be meted out, bit by bit. It is not something that God holds in short supply and only gives to a select few who work harder than the rest of us. God’s grace is abundant, and never ending. God wants to pour out his grace on everyone, that’s why it is a free gift. If it came at a cost, if it had a price tag, then there would be some who could get it, buy it, earn it, and some who would never be able to achieve it. That’s not God’s way.
God has given us his gift of grace, free for the asking, so that everyone, and anyone who wants it can have it. He pours it out on all those who come to know him and call Jesus their Savior. He pours it out through forgiveness and then he calls us to a new life, a life free from the penalty of sin, an eternal life lived in his presence. All we have to do is ask for him to forgive our sins, accept his gift, and begin to live a new life.
Only those who can humble themselves and submit to him can ask for his gift. Those who wear the suit of pride cannot bring themselves to ask, so they never receive the gift. They walk around all day, every day, wearing what they have been told is their best life, yet really wearing nothing at all.
Who do you know who is like that? We all know someone, probably lots of someones like that. How will we respond? Will we be like the townspeople who wouldn’t tell the emperor he was naked because they were afraid of what others would think of them? Or will we be like the child who spoke the truth? It was only when the truth was made known that the emperor would finally put on his clothes and live the truth.
I challenge us all to speak the truth, in love, to those who are bare, so they can finally be clothed in God’s truth. And then, they will experience the wonderful, beautiful grace of God, just as we do, and I am so thankful for it. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of truth, help us to not only live in your truth but to help others find their way to you, too. May we be more like the child in the story than the townspeople. May we speak truth when it needs to be spoken and may we do it with love while wearing the robe of humility with which we dress ourselves daily. By our lives, our words, and our actions, may we point people to you, the giver of grace through forgiveness and transformation. Thank you for taking us from who we were to who you are calling us to be. We submit to you, this day and every day. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2023. WE CONTINUE A SERMON SERIES TITLED "THE GRACE OF GOD" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "GRACE IS PERFECTED IN CHRIST".
November 12, 2023
Rootstown
Series: The Grace of God
Message: Grace is Perfected in Christ
Scripture: Hebrews 10:1-10
The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,
“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
But you have given me a body to offer.
6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings
or other offerings for sin.
7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God--
as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”
8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). 9 Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. 10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Last week, we talked about how grace is more than just forgiveness with no expectations for change. Remember we said that true, full grace is forgiveness and transformation – a person forgiven who is transformed into a new or better person because they recognize that grace calls them to be more like Jesus. This week, we are going to remember that as we look back at the old system of grace given by God to Moses for the wandering Israelites.
The old system, the Mosaic Law that called for the sacrifice of bulls and goats for the forgiveness of sins is grace, to be sure. But it is not the full grace that we have come to know. This was grace that required an acknowledgement of sin, an act of death to the bull or the goat so that the blood of the animal could be sprinkled on the altar in the Tabernacle or the Temple, and then repeated again the following year.
That system, that grace, the Hebrews writer is saying, was only a shadow of the real grace, the full grace we have today through Jesus Christ. He wrote, “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.”
How disappointing to have to offer that sacrifice over and over again, knowing that last year’s sacrifice didn’t carry over to this year, and this year’s won’t count toward next year, either. The Day of Atonement rolled around every year, and every year, the people would line up and bring their sacrifices to the altar so that for the next several months they would be forgiven for their sins.
Now, before we go much further, let me remind us that God himself instituted the sacrificial system, so it wasn’t all bad. It was a way to offer grace to people who were in need of grace through forgiveness. God never intended for this system to last forever, he just wanted to give his people something to get them through until his full plan of grace would come into being. Atonement by animal sacrifice was a shadow of what was to come.
The writer of Hebrews is writing to a church on the brink of quitting. This is a group of people who are weary of living in a world that does not accept them or their beliefs. They are on the verge of throwing in the towel and reverting back to Judaism – back to the Law as given by Moses where animals were sacrificed for the temporary forgiveness of sin. They weren’t sure living as a Christian was worth it when the living was this hard. Have you ever felt like that?
Maybe we can’t quite relate to the hardships these Hebrews readers were living, but I’m guessing there have been times when each one of us has felt a little like an outsider in a group of people simply because we might be the only Christ-follower in the bunch. Magnify that feeling by a hundred, add in persecution for being a believer, and maybe we will have a small idea of what they were facing. But even then, when we think we might know how they feel, it is only a shadow of what it was really like for them.
We were not there, we didn’t experience what they did, so we cannot really know or understand. A shadow is almost the real thing, but yet it isn’t the real thing at all. A shadow has no substance, no clarity, no permanence. A shadow is a distortion of what it portrays, it is not the same as what it represents.
That’s why we read that “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.” The old system did its job, but it was always inferior to the real thing that God had planned. How do we know? Because our scripture says, “If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.”
The grace that was available through the old system was not the full grace that God wanted us to have. “But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
I am so grateful that we do not have to live under that old system. I am so grateful that we do not need to offer animals as a stand in to take the sins we committed last year off our shoulders, knowing even as we do, that we would have to do the same thing again next year. I am so grateful that God’s grace has been perfected in Christ Jesus for our sake. As the Hebrews writes reminds us, “For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Jesus knew that the old system was inadequate, that is why he agreed to leave his throne in heaven and come to earth as a lowly infant, born to a poor couple, raised as a carpenter’s son. That is why he became an itinerant preacher with no place to call home or a place to lay his head. He came here knowing full well what the end would be even before he took off his crown. Jesus knew he would be beaten, he would suffer, he would be crucified to die a horrible death. And he came anyway.
Jesus knew that the old system was inadequate, that is why he agreed to leave his throne in heaven and come to earth to be the One, Perfect, Final sacrifice for the benefit of God’s people. Nothing else would do it. No one else could do it. Only Jesus, the One in whom God’s full grace for his people is perfected, could be the perfect sacrifice that would provide grace and restoration for God’s people.
Our scripture continues, “First, Christ said, ‘You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them’ (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will.’” Do you hear his understanding? Can you see his willingness? He did that! Jesus did that for us!
That church that this letter was written to needed this reminder. They needed to know that Jesus’ sacrifice was for them – each and every one of them. They needed this reminder to bolster them as their faith was sinking in the hardships of life. We need it too.
We need to be reminded sometimes just what it was that God did for us through Jesus. We need to remember what Jesus did for us, how hard it was, what he gave up for us, what he went through for us, because sometimes we get so caught up in our every day lives that we forget what grace looks like. The enemy catches us when we are weak and tired and whispers in our ear that we aren’t good enough so we might as well give up this faith-thing. He tries to convince us that it’s not worth the effort.
I’m here to tell you the enemy is lying! It is always worth the effort to follow Jesus. There is nothing – absolutely nothing – we can go through that Jesu hasn’t already endured. He knows our hurts and our hardships, and he is with us through them all. He paid the price for our sins so we wouldn’t have to, and he did it willingly!
Grace is the forgiveness of our sins; it is our debt paid for us because we could never pay it ourselves. Grace is a new life, a transformed life, because of forgiveness. Grace comes to us, not as a shadow, but as the real thing in Jesus Christ.
Jesus has cancelled the first covenant, the old system of the Law and its sacrifices, and he has made a new covenant by the giving of his body and the shedding of his blood. He came to do the will of God – that is to make a way for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus once for all time. The shadow is gone, and the real deal has come. A shadow can only exist where there is light to cast it, and that Light is Jesus, the Light of life, eternal life for all who accept him and call him their Savior. Jesus, the perfect grace of God in its fullness, given to us, freely and with love. What a gift. Have you accepted this gift yet? May today be the day you do. AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, we are so unworthy and so undeserving, and yet, you want us to be yours. You love us and want us so much that you sent your perfect grace, your Son, Jesus, to be the perfect and final sacrifice for the sins of your people. We are overwhelmed by your acts of love and mercy on our behalf. Thank you, dear Lord, for the gift of grace, full grace, forgiveness and transformation, through Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Rootstown
Series: The Grace of God
Message: Grace is Perfected in Christ
Scripture: Hebrews 10:1-10
The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,
“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
But you have given me a body to offer.
6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings
or other offerings for sin.
7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God--
as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”
8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). 9 Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. 10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Last week, we talked about how grace is more than just forgiveness with no expectations for change. Remember we said that true, full grace is forgiveness and transformation – a person forgiven who is transformed into a new or better person because they recognize that grace calls them to be more like Jesus. This week, we are going to remember that as we look back at the old system of grace given by God to Moses for the wandering Israelites.
The old system, the Mosaic Law that called for the sacrifice of bulls and goats for the forgiveness of sins is grace, to be sure. But it is not the full grace that we have come to know. This was grace that required an acknowledgement of sin, an act of death to the bull or the goat so that the blood of the animal could be sprinkled on the altar in the Tabernacle or the Temple, and then repeated again the following year.
That system, that grace, the Hebrews writer is saying, was only a shadow of the real grace, the full grace we have today through Jesus Christ. He wrote, “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.”
How disappointing to have to offer that sacrifice over and over again, knowing that last year’s sacrifice didn’t carry over to this year, and this year’s won’t count toward next year, either. The Day of Atonement rolled around every year, and every year, the people would line up and bring their sacrifices to the altar so that for the next several months they would be forgiven for their sins.
Now, before we go much further, let me remind us that God himself instituted the sacrificial system, so it wasn’t all bad. It was a way to offer grace to people who were in need of grace through forgiveness. God never intended for this system to last forever, he just wanted to give his people something to get them through until his full plan of grace would come into being. Atonement by animal sacrifice was a shadow of what was to come.
The writer of Hebrews is writing to a church on the brink of quitting. This is a group of people who are weary of living in a world that does not accept them or their beliefs. They are on the verge of throwing in the towel and reverting back to Judaism – back to the Law as given by Moses where animals were sacrificed for the temporary forgiveness of sin. They weren’t sure living as a Christian was worth it when the living was this hard. Have you ever felt like that?
Maybe we can’t quite relate to the hardships these Hebrews readers were living, but I’m guessing there have been times when each one of us has felt a little like an outsider in a group of people simply because we might be the only Christ-follower in the bunch. Magnify that feeling by a hundred, add in persecution for being a believer, and maybe we will have a small idea of what they were facing. But even then, when we think we might know how they feel, it is only a shadow of what it was really like for them.
We were not there, we didn’t experience what they did, so we cannot really know or understand. A shadow is almost the real thing, but yet it isn’t the real thing at all. A shadow has no substance, no clarity, no permanence. A shadow is a distortion of what it portrays, it is not the same as what it represents.
That’s why we read that “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.” The old system did its job, but it was always inferior to the real thing that God had planned. How do we know? Because our scripture says, “If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.”
The grace that was available through the old system was not the full grace that God wanted us to have. “But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
I am so grateful that we do not have to live under that old system. I am so grateful that we do not need to offer animals as a stand in to take the sins we committed last year off our shoulders, knowing even as we do, that we would have to do the same thing again next year. I am so grateful that God’s grace has been perfected in Christ Jesus for our sake. As the Hebrews writes reminds us, “For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Jesus knew that the old system was inadequate, that is why he agreed to leave his throne in heaven and come to earth as a lowly infant, born to a poor couple, raised as a carpenter’s son. That is why he became an itinerant preacher with no place to call home or a place to lay his head. He came here knowing full well what the end would be even before he took off his crown. Jesus knew he would be beaten, he would suffer, he would be crucified to die a horrible death. And he came anyway.
Jesus knew that the old system was inadequate, that is why he agreed to leave his throne in heaven and come to earth to be the One, Perfect, Final sacrifice for the benefit of God’s people. Nothing else would do it. No one else could do it. Only Jesus, the One in whom God’s full grace for his people is perfected, could be the perfect sacrifice that would provide grace and restoration for God’s people.
Our scripture continues, “First, Christ said, ‘You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them’ (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will.’” Do you hear his understanding? Can you see his willingness? He did that! Jesus did that for us!
That church that this letter was written to needed this reminder. They needed to know that Jesus’ sacrifice was for them – each and every one of them. They needed this reminder to bolster them as their faith was sinking in the hardships of life. We need it too.
We need to be reminded sometimes just what it was that God did for us through Jesus. We need to remember what Jesus did for us, how hard it was, what he gave up for us, what he went through for us, because sometimes we get so caught up in our every day lives that we forget what grace looks like. The enemy catches us when we are weak and tired and whispers in our ear that we aren’t good enough so we might as well give up this faith-thing. He tries to convince us that it’s not worth the effort.
I’m here to tell you the enemy is lying! It is always worth the effort to follow Jesus. There is nothing – absolutely nothing – we can go through that Jesu hasn’t already endured. He knows our hurts and our hardships, and he is with us through them all. He paid the price for our sins so we wouldn’t have to, and he did it willingly!
Grace is the forgiveness of our sins; it is our debt paid for us because we could never pay it ourselves. Grace is a new life, a transformed life, because of forgiveness. Grace comes to us, not as a shadow, but as the real thing in Jesus Christ.
Jesus has cancelled the first covenant, the old system of the Law and its sacrifices, and he has made a new covenant by the giving of his body and the shedding of his blood. He came to do the will of God – that is to make a way for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus once for all time. The shadow is gone, and the real deal has come. A shadow can only exist where there is light to cast it, and that Light is Jesus, the Light of life, eternal life for all who accept him and call him their Savior. Jesus, the perfect grace of God in its fullness, given to us, freely and with love. What a gift. Have you accepted this gift yet? May today be the day you do. AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, we are so unworthy and so undeserving, and yet, you want us to be yours. You love us and want us so much that you sent your perfect grace, your Son, Jesus, to be the perfect and final sacrifice for the sins of your people. We are overwhelmed by your acts of love and mercy on our behalf. Thank you, dear Lord, for the gift of grace, full grace, forgiveness and transformation, through Jesus Christ. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY November 5, 2023. WE begin a new SERIES TITLED "the grace of god" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "grace is more than forgiveness".
November 5, 2023
Series: The Grace of God
Message: Grace is More Than Forgiveness
Scripture: Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, 12 training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
What do you think of when you hear the word, “grace?” How much thought have you even given to the word and what it means? For the next couple weeks, we are going to be learning about the Grace of God and we need to start this week by realizing that there is more to grace than we usually think there is.
So, I ask you again, what do you think of when you hear the word, “grace?” Usually, the first thing that comes to our minds is forgiveness. We are saved from our sins by the grace of God through the forgiveness of our sins. Yes, this is so, and praise God for it. We certainly need God’s forgiveness, don’t we? We cannot, on our own, overcome the sinful nature and attain the goodness or the righteousness that would allow us to be in God’s presence. We need the forgiveness of sins to make us right with God, to restore our relationship with our Creator and Father.
Grace is about forgiveness, but it goes deeper than just forgiving and moving on or forgiving and allowing wrong behavior to continue without consequences. I want to tell you a story I came upon as I was preparing this sermon. It’s a hard story to hear because it exposes an ugly behavior.
This story is about a married couple. The husband is prone to fits of anger that erupt without warning and are often directed at the wife. There is shouting, belittling, sometimes even violence against her physically. When the anger subsides, the husband is contrite. He apologizes profusely. He is truly sorry for how he acted, and he asks his wife to forgive him.
The wife is a Christian woman who loves her husband. She can list all his good qualities, even as she lives in fear that the next time he loses his temper, he may go too far, that the next time his anger may cause harm that cannot be healed. She stays with him, though, because when he apologizes, she knows he means it. And she feels that it is her duty as his wife, and as a Christian, to continue to forgive and extend grace when he asks for it.
You see, the wife knows about the grace of forgiveness, but she doesn’t know there is more to grace than simply forgiving over and over with no hope of anything changing. She does not realize that she is actually not extending grace after all, in the way that grace is supposed to work. All her life, the wife has been taught that all humans are powerless over sin, and it is only through the grace of God that sin is forgiven and our relationship with God is restored. She knows enough to know that since God has forgiven her, she should forgive others, especially her husband. The wife knows only enough about God’s grace to put her in danger.
We crave God’s forgiveness and restoration, we want to forgive others as we have been taught to do, and out of gratitude for the forgiveness we have received, but when forgiveness stands alone, grace is not complete. When we hear this story, we want to scream for the wife to run away fast, to help her save herself from danger. We know this woman has no duty or obligation as a wife, or as a Christian, to remain in an unsafe situation. Constant forgiveness is a band-aid that keeps coming off in her marriage. Where is the grace that keeps her safe, where is the grace that helps her feel secure in her own home?
What about the husband? Here is a man trapped in a cycle of thoughts and emotions that he doesn’t know how to handle. He is harming his wife because he can’t control his anger, He is ruining his life, and his marriage, with his uncontrollable outbursts. He is in need of help that runs deeper than the cycle of forgiveness that his wife extends and yet it changes nothing.
Where is the grace that moves him from forgiveness to healing? Where is the grace that makes him own up to his issues and admit he needs help? He is a man who is tormented by his emotions and who is tormenting others with his response to what he doesn’t understand. He may not understand what is making him act out this way, but where is the grace that calls him to take responsibility for his actions and find a way to change?
As hard as it is for the wife to admit, the most grace-filled thing she can do is move out, get to safety, and demand that the husband get the help he needs to overcome his anger and pain that make him lash out in harmful ways. Yes, I know it isn’t always that easy, and I don’t mean to make it sound as though it is, but the point is that there is more to grace than just forgiving and then waiting for the next time the anger comes again.
The grace of God starts with forgiveness, but it doesn’t end there, because the full grace of God’s forgiveness is a transformed life. The grace of God doesn’t just offer forgiveness, but it also offers healing and hope in a better way of living.
Today’s scripture tells us that “the Grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.” This is Jesus. Jesus is the visible manifestation of God’s grace in a broken world. He came to change us from the sinful creatures we were to the forgiven people we are, but that forgiveness brings about a change. Jesus didn’t just forgive people; he forgave them and told them to go and sin no more. He gave them an opportunity to start over with a clean slate, but forgiveness alone means that the slate will just be covered with the exact same stuff as before. Grace through forgiveness helps us write a new story on that slate, a story of a changed life, a life lived for Jesus instead of self and selfishness.
Paul goes on to write to Titus that when Jesus came, he taught us to renounce impiety and worldly passions in this present age and to live lives that are upright, self-controlled and godly. Jesus had to teach us because we couldn’t learn it on our own. We needed someone who could help us learn to live differently, just as the husband in our story needs someone to help him to learn to live differently.
Jesus taught the disciples to live godly lives when he was with them, but how is Jesus teaching us? How are we supposed to learn what we need to know while we await his return? Well, we have his word, the Bible. In that we have the stories Jesus told, we have the words he used when he taught the disciples and the crowds face-to-face, words that are just a valid today as they were a couple thousand years ago. And we have each other. We are a community of believers who are called to live upright, self-controlled, holy lives and to help others do the same so that we all can experience the full grace of God through forgiveness and transformation.
When one of us stumbles, another will be there to help us up. When one of us takes a wrong turn, another will be there to bring us back onto the right path. When one of us is tired and weak, another will help shoulder our burdens so we can go on. When one of us causes harm in any way, another will be there to forgive, and offer help that will heal, not a band-aid that covers over and does nothing more. All of this is what we do as followers of Jesus because he taught us to do so, and he continues to teach us how to do it.
Look around you and see who here has been there for you before. Who has come alongside you in Jesus’ name and helped you when you needed it the most? Now, think further back to those who have done that for you who may not be with us today. Who may not be with us in this life any longer. Think of the saints who have been your role model, your example to follow in following Jesus. Where would we be without them?
What do you think of when you hear the word, “grace?” Forgiveness? Yes, I hope so, but I hope you hear something more. I hope you hear of transformation through the Grace of God who has appeared to us to bring salvation to all. Jesus came to save us and to change us. He would no more leave us in the sorry state he found us in than he would leave a blind man by the side of the road, leave a paralyzed man on his mat, leave a woman to bleed for another twelve years, leave the demons inside a boy, leave a tax collector in his booth, leave fishermen mending their nets, or leave a religious zealot to persecute his Church.
Jesus saves. Jesus changes. Jesus gave himself for us that he might “redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds,” That, my friends, is true grace, the full grace of God. Thank God for his grace. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious God, you are that – full of grace. Your grace is more than forgiveness, though, your grace first forgives and then transforms the forgiven. You seem to do it backwards, but we are so grateful for your way of working. Thank you for sending your grace through Jesus Christ, that all these years later we still have his words, his teachings to help us. Thank you for our faith community right here in this church, that we love and care for one another and help one another as you have taught us. And today we especially thank you for all those who have taught us, loved us, and helped us in our faith but are no longer with us. These saints have made a difference in so many lives, Lord. We would not be the people we are without them. Thank you for the blessings they poured out on us in your name. AMEN.
Series: The Grace of God
Message: Grace is More Than Forgiveness
Scripture: Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, 12 training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
What do you think of when you hear the word, “grace?” How much thought have you even given to the word and what it means? For the next couple weeks, we are going to be learning about the Grace of God and we need to start this week by realizing that there is more to grace than we usually think there is.
So, I ask you again, what do you think of when you hear the word, “grace?” Usually, the first thing that comes to our minds is forgiveness. We are saved from our sins by the grace of God through the forgiveness of our sins. Yes, this is so, and praise God for it. We certainly need God’s forgiveness, don’t we? We cannot, on our own, overcome the sinful nature and attain the goodness or the righteousness that would allow us to be in God’s presence. We need the forgiveness of sins to make us right with God, to restore our relationship with our Creator and Father.
Grace is about forgiveness, but it goes deeper than just forgiving and moving on or forgiving and allowing wrong behavior to continue without consequences. I want to tell you a story I came upon as I was preparing this sermon. It’s a hard story to hear because it exposes an ugly behavior.
This story is about a married couple. The husband is prone to fits of anger that erupt without warning and are often directed at the wife. There is shouting, belittling, sometimes even violence against her physically. When the anger subsides, the husband is contrite. He apologizes profusely. He is truly sorry for how he acted, and he asks his wife to forgive him.
The wife is a Christian woman who loves her husband. She can list all his good qualities, even as she lives in fear that the next time he loses his temper, he may go too far, that the next time his anger may cause harm that cannot be healed. She stays with him, though, because when he apologizes, she knows he means it. And she feels that it is her duty as his wife, and as a Christian, to continue to forgive and extend grace when he asks for it.
You see, the wife knows about the grace of forgiveness, but she doesn’t know there is more to grace than simply forgiving over and over with no hope of anything changing. She does not realize that she is actually not extending grace after all, in the way that grace is supposed to work. All her life, the wife has been taught that all humans are powerless over sin, and it is only through the grace of God that sin is forgiven and our relationship with God is restored. She knows enough to know that since God has forgiven her, she should forgive others, especially her husband. The wife knows only enough about God’s grace to put her in danger.
We crave God’s forgiveness and restoration, we want to forgive others as we have been taught to do, and out of gratitude for the forgiveness we have received, but when forgiveness stands alone, grace is not complete. When we hear this story, we want to scream for the wife to run away fast, to help her save herself from danger. We know this woman has no duty or obligation as a wife, or as a Christian, to remain in an unsafe situation. Constant forgiveness is a band-aid that keeps coming off in her marriage. Where is the grace that keeps her safe, where is the grace that helps her feel secure in her own home?
What about the husband? Here is a man trapped in a cycle of thoughts and emotions that he doesn’t know how to handle. He is harming his wife because he can’t control his anger, He is ruining his life, and his marriage, with his uncontrollable outbursts. He is in need of help that runs deeper than the cycle of forgiveness that his wife extends and yet it changes nothing.
Where is the grace that moves him from forgiveness to healing? Where is the grace that makes him own up to his issues and admit he needs help? He is a man who is tormented by his emotions and who is tormenting others with his response to what he doesn’t understand. He may not understand what is making him act out this way, but where is the grace that calls him to take responsibility for his actions and find a way to change?
As hard as it is for the wife to admit, the most grace-filled thing she can do is move out, get to safety, and demand that the husband get the help he needs to overcome his anger and pain that make him lash out in harmful ways. Yes, I know it isn’t always that easy, and I don’t mean to make it sound as though it is, but the point is that there is more to grace than just forgiving and then waiting for the next time the anger comes again.
The grace of God starts with forgiveness, but it doesn’t end there, because the full grace of God’s forgiveness is a transformed life. The grace of God doesn’t just offer forgiveness, but it also offers healing and hope in a better way of living.
Today’s scripture tells us that “the Grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.” This is Jesus. Jesus is the visible manifestation of God’s grace in a broken world. He came to change us from the sinful creatures we were to the forgiven people we are, but that forgiveness brings about a change. Jesus didn’t just forgive people; he forgave them and told them to go and sin no more. He gave them an opportunity to start over with a clean slate, but forgiveness alone means that the slate will just be covered with the exact same stuff as before. Grace through forgiveness helps us write a new story on that slate, a story of a changed life, a life lived for Jesus instead of self and selfishness.
Paul goes on to write to Titus that when Jesus came, he taught us to renounce impiety and worldly passions in this present age and to live lives that are upright, self-controlled and godly. Jesus had to teach us because we couldn’t learn it on our own. We needed someone who could help us learn to live differently, just as the husband in our story needs someone to help him to learn to live differently.
Jesus taught the disciples to live godly lives when he was with them, but how is Jesus teaching us? How are we supposed to learn what we need to know while we await his return? Well, we have his word, the Bible. In that we have the stories Jesus told, we have the words he used when he taught the disciples and the crowds face-to-face, words that are just a valid today as they were a couple thousand years ago. And we have each other. We are a community of believers who are called to live upright, self-controlled, holy lives and to help others do the same so that we all can experience the full grace of God through forgiveness and transformation.
When one of us stumbles, another will be there to help us up. When one of us takes a wrong turn, another will be there to bring us back onto the right path. When one of us is tired and weak, another will help shoulder our burdens so we can go on. When one of us causes harm in any way, another will be there to forgive, and offer help that will heal, not a band-aid that covers over and does nothing more. All of this is what we do as followers of Jesus because he taught us to do so, and he continues to teach us how to do it.
Look around you and see who here has been there for you before. Who has come alongside you in Jesus’ name and helped you when you needed it the most? Now, think further back to those who have done that for you who may not be with us today. Who may not be with us in this life any longer. Think of the saints who have been your role model, your example to follow in following Jesus. Where would we be without them?
What do you think of when you hear the word, “grace?” Forgiveness? Yes, I hope so, but I hope you hear something more. I hope you hear of transformation through the Grace of God who has appeared to us to bring salvation to all. Jesus came to save us and to change us. He would no more leave us in the sorry state he found us in than he would leave a blind man by the side of the road, leave a paralyzed man on his mat, leave a woman to bleed for another twelve years, leave the demons inside a boy, leave a tax collector in his booth, leave fishermen mending their nets, or leave a religious zealot to persecute his Church.
Jesus saves. Jesus changes. Jesus gave himself for us that he might “redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds,” That, my friends, is true grace, the full grace of God. Thank God for his grace. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious God, you are that – full of grace. Your grace is more than forgiveness, though, your grace first forgives and then transforms the forgiven. You seem to do it backwards, but we are so grateful for your way of working. Thank you for sending your grace through Jesus Christ, that all these years later we still have his words, his teachings to help us. Thank you for our faith community right here in this church, that we love and care for one another and help one another as you have taught us. And today we especially thank you for all those who have taught us, loved us, and helped us in our faith but are no longer with us. These saints have made a difference in so many lives, Lord. We would not be the people we are without them. Thank you for the blessings they poured out on us in your name. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY OCTOBER 29, 2023. WE CONTINUE IN THE SERIES TITLED "A HOT MESS" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "MY HOT MESS faith".
October 29, 2023
Series: A Hot Mess
Message: My Hot Mess Faith
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-18; Colossians 3:16-17
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Colossians 3:16-17
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Today we are wrapping up our sermon series, “A Hot Mess,” with a sermon about our hot mess faith. Have you ever felt like your faith is a hot mess? Maybe not all the time, because sometimes faith comes easy, but there are times when we might struggle with our faith. We might feel like God is distant. We might even wonder if he hears us anymore when we pray. Those days often feel like the dark days of our soul, and we are ever so thankful when the Light breaks through and the dark times pass.
For most of us, faith isn’t practiced on an even plane. There are good times, bad times, great times, and hard times. And what is the answer, the fruit of our faith, in all times? Prayer is the answer. It is always the answer, in all times, no matter whether our faith brings us to the top of the mountain or down to the lowest valley.
Pastor Peter Loughman writes in a sermon that, “The classic test an atheist will give to prove there is no God is this: ‘If there is a God, let him kill me right now’. When nothing happens, they will confidently claim, ‘See there is no God, for I am still alive and well.’ Now if we were to ask the atheist, ‘What if someone came up to you at this very moment and shot you? Would that prove that there is a God?’ ‘No, of course not’, the atheist would respond, ‘God has to do it himself’".
Loughman goes on to say, “Oh, I see how it is. We set the parameters of the possible results, we set the goals that must be achieved, we set the process to work out the results...so when events happen, or when events don't happen THEN we know our faith is real or not, THEN we know if something is real or not.”
We don’t claim to be atheists, though. We are Christians, followers of Jesus. At least that’s what I hope we all claim as we sit here this morning. Even as Christians, though, I see Loughman’s point about how we allow our faith to shape our thoughts about God and the work he does, and is doing, in our lives.
We pray to God, and we give him our list of requests, and then we sit back and wait for him to deliver the goods. And sometimes that works. And sometimes we find ourselves still waiting at the end of the day, or the end of the week, the month, the year, the decade. We want God to work in the way we want and in the time we want, without regard to how God might have a better plan or a better way.
We pray and when we don’t get our way, we are quick to blame God for not listening, not caring. We shake our heads with a sigh, or we shake our fists in anger and declare that God doesn’t answer prayers. But God always answers prayers. Always. Sometimes that answer is an immediate yes. Sometimes it is a yes but not yet, and sometimes the answer is no. Oh, we don’t like those times, do we? Have you ever said no to a toddler who has their mind set on something?
We may not throw ourselves on the ground and throw a physical fit, but sometimes our response to God is the adult equivalent to a toddler temper tantrum. Our faith should not be contingent on God ticking off our “please do” list. Faith comes from knowing that God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins in our place so that we might live with him one day in his heavenly kingdom. When our prayer life devolves into nothing more than a list of requests, then we know our faith has devolved into a hot mess.
That was the faith that many of the Pharisees and other religious leaders exhibited in Jesus’ time – they really had a hot mess faith that put more stock in their man-made rules than in the Messiah who was right in front of them. That is why Jesus cautioned his disciples to avoid following their example when praying. Jesus said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness in front of others so you might be seen and admired for it. If you do this, then you have already received your reward from other men and women and you will have no reward from your heavenly Father. Instead, do what you do for God in a way that does not draw attention to yourself but will bring glory to God.”
He went on to teach that when we give, give quietly, not broadcasting or bragging about the amount we give. When we fast, don’t neglect our appearance to make people notice what we are doing. When we pray, don’t use empty words with no meaning, and don’t pray with big, flowery words that sound good and make us look important, but do not come from the heart.
Jesus reminds us that even before we begin to pray, God knows what we need, so we might as well be honest in our prayers. He also says that we shouldn’t just jump into the “please dos” without first offering up some heartfelt worship and “thank yous.”
Pray like this, “Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy” God is holy, he is the most holy of all beings and he should be recognized and revered for his holiness. He isn’t the great wizard behind the curtain pulling levers and making people believe in false promises. He is good, and holy, and faithful and loving.
“May your kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We are in a waiting period for the coming of God’s Kingdom, and as we wait, we should be working to shape our world to be more in line with God’s will. We should always pray for God’s will to be done here on earth. God knows, and we do too, that we seem to be moving further and further away from it in today’s culture. What would happen if we all earnestly and intentionally began praying for God’s will to be on earth as it is in heaven? No one could accuse us of having a hot mess faith then, could they?
“Give us this day our daily bread,” is a way we put our trust in God to provide what we need at the time we need it. Remember when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years and God fed them each day with manna? They didn’t have to worry on Monday if there would be food on Wednesday, they knew they could trust God that there would be food for them when food was needed. And to model for his people the Sabbath rest, God altered the manna on the sixth day each week to so that it would keep over to the seventh day without rotting like it did any other day if they tried to save it.
When we pray for God to give us this day our daily bread, we are asking God to give us what we need for right now because we know he will give us what we need later when later comes. That is hard to do when our faith becomes a hot mess. Then we tend to worry more and trust God less, so praying, and trusting God, in this way helps improve our faith and helps lower our worries and stresses.
“Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors,” is sometimes a hard one to pray honestly. Remember the story Jesus told about the king who called his servant in to collect on his enormous debt? The servant threw himself on the mercy of the king and the king forgave him the debt. Yet, that same servant, upon leaving the palace, came upon a man who owed him a little and he demanded payment. When the second man threw himself on the mercy of the first, the first man did not relent. He ordered the man and his family be taken into custody and made to work off the debt through hard labor.
When the king found out how his servant had acted to the other man, the king rescinded his debt forgiveness and had the servant put into prison himself. The servant had been forgiven much, and that forgiveness should have resulted in his willingness to extend that same grace to others because of the gratitude in his heart, but it did not.
My friends, think of what God has forgiven us, the sins for which we will never have to pay the price, the grace with which we have been blessed by a merciful, loving God. Should we not, out of gratitude for what was given to us, also extend that same grace to others? What God has forgiven us will always be a bigger debt than anything we need for forgive others for.
“But pastor,” you say, “You don’t know what that person has done to me.” That’s true, I don’t. I don’t know the wrongs others have perpetuated against you, how they have harmed you. But I know what God has done for us through Jesus and I want to extend that grace to others. Sometimes I need his help to do that. Sometimes I need a lot of help to do that. Forgiveness is hard sometimes, but if Jesus can suffer and die for my many sins, then the least I can do is forgive others, especially if I claim to be one of his followers.
Jesus comes right out and warns us, too, that if we refuse to forgive others, our heavenly Father will not forgive us. That’s incentive enough for me to straighten up and forgive others. Besides, as I’ve heard it said, “Withholding forgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
When we refuse to forgive, we are the ones carrying the burden of that unforgiveness. It weighs us down, slows us down, and hardens our heart. Forgive us, God, as we forgive others, and help us forgive others as you have forgiven us is a prayer that we need to say daily.
Now that we have acknowledged God as holy, realized that our world here and now should emulate God’s kingdom as best we can, expressed our trust that God will provide all we need when we need it, and asked God to help us forgive others out of gratitude for the forgiveness he gives to us, we can then lay out our petitions. These are the times we pray for others and ourselves, asking for intervention, protection, strength, or whatever the need may be.
This is when we should pray like the elder at church one day when the pastor asked him to pray. The old farmer stood, and everyone bowed their heads for prayer, but they were surprised when they heard his first words, “Lord, I don’t like buttermilk.” The pastor wasn’t sure he was hearing right, but he waited. The next thing the old man said was, “Lord, I don’t like lard.”
The pastor opened one eye and peeked over at the elder as he stood with head bowed and hands clasped, wondering where this was going. “Lord, you know I don’t like plain old flour, neither.” The pastor was just considering interrupting the prayer when the old gentleman continued, “But, Lord, when you mix them all up and bake it all together, I sure do love the biscuits they become. So, Lord, when stuff happens that we don’t like, and when life gets hard, when we just can’t understand what you’re up to up there, help us to sit back, trust in you and wait for you to finish mixing it all up, because Lord, I bet whatever you are doing will come out even better than biscuits.”
Friends, I think we will find, if we can pray from the heart, like that old farmer, that our faith will rarely become a hot mess. Not that we won’t have our hard moments, not that we will always pray perfectly, not that our trust will never falter, or we will never struggle to forgive, but our faith will keep us open to God’s plan over ours and help us wait on God’s timing instead of trying to rush him to do our will instead of his, because whatever God is doing, whatever he is up to up there, we can count on it being even better than a fresh, hot biscuit right out of the oven just dripping with butter and honey. We may not like what we are enduring, we may not understand what is happening or why, but God’s still mixing so be patient.
When we can do this, being patient and waiting on God even in the hard times, then we will be living Paul’s instructions to the Colossian Church. He wrote to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” I like that. If I can let the word of Christ dwell in me richly and regularly, then I will be more likely to avoid having my faith fall into a hot mess. I will be more likely to be patient while God is still mixing up what great things he has planned.
Paul also wrote that we should, have hearts filled with gratitude so that we will sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. These are acts of praise and worship and are a sweet sound to God. We can never go wrong when our prayers contain songs or words of praise, and when our prayers mimic the words of the psalmists.
When we learn to pray like Jesus taught his disciples, we will then also learn to do all we do, in word or in deed, everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, and we will continually give thanks to God the Father through him. That is how we should pray. This is how our faith goes from being a hot mess to being strong, and a strong faith will help us endure much, because we will remember God’s still at work, God loves us, and God always wants what is best for us. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, there are times when we wonder why you feel so far away, and then we realize you are right here, always here, with us everywhere. It is in those hard times when we realize we have not tended to our faith, and we need to seek you once again. We need to come to you in prayer, not just because we want something or need something, but simply because you are holy, good, and loving. You have done so much for us. You sent your son to die for us so that we can live with you. Lord God, we are so grateful for who you are, for all you do, for how you provide for us, and for how much you love us. We want to worship you with our whole heart today and every day. We want to thank you and praise you today and every day. We want to love you and live for you more and more every day. May it be so. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/70428/real-faith-by-peter-loughman
https://www.rosebudnews.net/opinion/old-farmer-and-prayer
Series: A Hot Mess
Message: My Hot Mess Faith
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-18; Colossians 3:16-17
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Colossians 3:16-17
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Today we are wrapping up our sermon series, “A Hot Mess,” with a sermon about our hot mess faith. Have you ever felt like your faith is a hot mess? Maybe not all the time, because sometimes faith comes easy, but there are times when we might struggle with our faith. We might feel like God is distant. We might even wonder if he hears us anymore when we pray. Those days often feel like the dark days of our soul, and we are ever so thankful when the Light breaks through and the dark times pass.
For most of us, faith isn’t practiced on an even plane. There are good times, bad times, great times, and hard times. And what is the answer, the fruit of our faith, in all times? Prayer is the answer. It is always the answer, in all times, no matter whether our faith brings us to the top of the mountain or down to the lowest valley.
Pastor Peter Loughman writes in a sermon that, “The classic test an atheist will give to prove there is no God is this: ‘If there is a God, let him kill me right now’. When nothing happens, they will confidently claim, ‘See there is no God, for I am still alive and well.’ Now if we were to ask the atheist, ‘What if someone came up to you at this very moment and shot you? Would that prove that there is a God?’ ‘No, of course not’, the atheist would respond, ‘God has to do it himself’".
Loughman goes on to say, “Oh, I see how it is. We set the parameters of the possible results, we set the goals that must be achieved, we set the process to work out the results...so when events happen, or when events don't happen THEN we know our faith is real or not, THEN we know if something is real or not.”
We don’t claim to be atheists, though. We are Christians, followers of Jesus. At least that’s what I hope we all claim as we sit here this morning. Even as Christians, though, I see Loughman’s point about how we allow our faith to shape our thoughts about God and the work he does, and is doing, in our lives.
We pray to God, and we give him our list of requests, and then we sit back and wait for him to deliver the goods. And sometimes that works. And sometimes we find ourselves still waiting at the end of the day, or the end of the week, the month, the year, the decade. We want God to work in the way we want and in the time we want, without regard to how God might have a better plan or a better way.
We pray and when we don’t get our way, we are quick to blame God for not listening, not caring. We shake our heads with a sigh, or we shake our fists in anger and declare that God doesn’t answer prayers. But God always answers prayers. Always. Sometimes that answer is an immediate yes. Sometimes it is a yes but not yet, and sometimes the answer is no. Oh, we don’t like those times, do we? Have you ever said no to a toddler who has their mind set on something?
We may not throw ourselves on the ground and throw a physical fit, but sometimes our response to God is the adult equivalent to a toddler temper tantrum. Our faith should not be contingent on God ticking off our “please do” list. Faith comes from knowing that God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins in our place so that we might live with him one day in his heavenly kingdom. When our prayer life devolves into nothing more than a list of requests, then we know our faith has devolved into a hot mess.
That was the faith that many of the Pharisees and other religious leaders exhibited in Jesus’ time – they really had a hot mess faith that put more stock in their man-made rules than in the Messiah who was right in front of them. That is why Jesus cautioned his disciples to avoid following their example when praying. Jesus said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness in front of others so you might be seen and admired for it. If you do this, then you have already received your reward from other men and women and you will have no reward from your heavenly Father. Instead, do what you do for God in a way that does not draw attention to yourself but will bring glory to God.”
He went on to teach that when we give, give quietly, not broadcasting or bragging about the amount we give. When we fast, don’t neglect our appearance to make people notice what we are doing. When we pray, don’t use empty words with no meaning, and don’t pray with big, flowery words that sound good and make us look important, but do not come from the heart.
Jesus reminds us that even before we begin to pray, God knows what we need, so we might as well be honest in our prayers. He also says that we shouldn’t just jump into the “please dos” without first offering up some heartfelt worship and “thank yous.”
Pray like this, “Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy” God is holy, he is the most holy of all beings and he should be recognized and revered for his holiness. He isn’t the great wizard behind the curtain pulling levers and making people believe in false promises. He is good, and holy, and faithful and loving.
“May your kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We are in a waiting period for the coming of God’s Kingdom, and as we wait, we should be working to shape our world to be more in line with God’s will. We should always pray for God’s will to be done here on earth. God knows, and we do too, that we seem to be moving further and further away from it in today’s culture. What would happen if we all earnestly and intentionally began praying for God’s will to be on earth as it is in heaven? No one could accuse us of having a hot mess faith then, could they?
“Give us this day our daily bread,” is a way we put our trust in God to provide what we need at the time we need it. Remember when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years and God fed them each day with manna? They didn’t have to worry on Monday if there would be food on Wednesday, they knew they could trust God that there would be food for them when food was needed. And to model for his people the Sabbath rest, God altered the manna on the sixth day each week to so that it would keep over to the seventh day without rotting like it did any other day if they tried to save it.
When we pray for God to give us this day our daily bread, we are asking God to give us what we need for right now because we know he will give us what we need later when later comes. That is hard to do when our faith becomes a hot mess. Then we tend to worry more and trust God less, so praying, and trusting God, in this way helps improve our faith and helps lower our worries and stresses.
“Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors,” is sometimes a hard one to pray honestly. Remember the story Jesus told about the king who called his servant in to collect on his enormous debt? The servant threw himself on the mercy of the king and the king forgave him the debt. Yet, that same servant, upon leaving the palace, came upon a man who owed him a little and he demanded payment. When the second man threw himself on the mercy of the first, the first man did not relent. He ordered the man and his family be taken into custody and made to work off the debt through hard labor.
When the king found out how his servant had acted to the other man, the king rescinded his debt forgiveness and had the servant put into prison himself. The servant had been forgiven much, and that forgiveness should have resulted in his willingness to extend that same grace to others because of the gratitude in his heart, but it did not.
My friends, think of what God has forgiven us, the sins for which we will never have to pay the price, the grace with which we have been blessed by a merciful, loving God. Should we not, out of gratitude for what was given to us, also extend that same grace to others? What God has forgiven us will always be a bigger debt than anything we need for forgive others for.
“But pastor,” you say, “You don’t know what that person has done to me.” That’s true, I don’t. I don’t know the wrongs others have perpetuated against you, how they have harmed you. But I know what God has done for us through Jesus and I want to extend that grace to others. Sometimes I need his help to do that. Sometimes I need a lot of help to do that. Forgiveness is hard sometimes, but if Jesus can suffer and die for my many sins, then the least I can do is forgive others, especially if I claim to be one of his followers.
Jesus comes right out and warns us, too, that if we refuse to forgive others, our heavenly Father will not forgive us. That’s incentive enough for me to straighten up and forgive others. Besides, as I’ve heard it said, “Withholding forgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
When we refuse to forgive, we are the ones carrying the burden of that unforgiveness. It weighs us down, slows us down, and hardens our heart. Forgive us, God, as we forgive others, and help us forgive others as you have forgiven us is a prayer that we need to say daily.
Now that we have acknowledged God as holy, realized that our world here and now should emulate God’s kingdom as best we can, expressed our trust that God will provide all we need when we need it, and asked God to help us forgive others out of gratitude for the forgiveness he gives to us, we can then lay out our petitions. These are the times we pray for others and ourselves, asking for intervention, protection, strength, or whatever the need may be.
This is when we should pray like the elder at church one day when the pastor asked him to pray. The old farmer stood, and everyone bowed their heads for prayer, but they were surprised when they heard his first words, “Lord, I don’t like buttermilk.” The pastor wasn’t sure he was hearing right, but he waited. The next thing the old man said was, “Lord, I don’t like lard.”
The pastor opened one eye and peeked over at the elder as he stood with head bowed and hands clasped, wondering where this was going. “Lord, you know I don’t like plain old flour, neither.” The pastor was just considering interrupting the prayer when the old gentleman continued, “But, Lord, when you mix them all up and bake it all together, I sure do love the biscuits they become. So, Lord, when stuff happens that we don’t like, and when life gets hard, when we just can’t understand what you’re up to up there, help us to sit back, trust in you and wait for you to finish mixing it all up, because Lord, I bet whatever you are doing will come out even better than biscuits.”
Friends, I think we will find, if we can pray from the heart, like that old farmer, that our faith will rarely become a hot mess. Not that we won’t have our hard moments, not that we will always pray perfectly, not that our trust will never falter, or we will never struggle to forgive, but our faith will keep us open to God’s plan over ours and help us wait on God’s timing instead of trying to rush him to do our will instead of his, because whatever God is doing, whatever he is up to up there, we can count on it being even better than a fresh, hot biscuit right out of the oven just dripping with butter and honey. We may not like what we are enduring, we may not understand what is happening or why, but God’s still mixing so be patient.
When we can do this, being patient and waiting on God even in the hard times, then we will be living Paul’s instructions to the Colossian Church. He wrote to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” I like that. If I can let the word of Christ dwell in me richly and regularly, then I will be more likely to avoid having my faith fall into a hot mess. I will be more likely to be patient while God is still mixing up what great things he has planned.
Paul also wrote that we should, have hearts filled with gratitude so that we will sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. These are acts of praise and worship and are a sweet sound to God. We can never go wrong when our prayers contain songs or words of praise, and when our prayers mimic the words of the psalmists.
When we learn to pray like Jesus taught his disciples, we will then also learn to do all we do, in word or in deed, everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, and we will continually give thanks to God the Father through him. That is how we should pray. This is how our faith goes from being a hot mess to being strong, and a strong faith will help us endure much, because we will remember God’s still at work, God loves us, and God always wants what is best for us. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, there are times when we wonder why you feel so far away, and then we realize you are right here, always here, with us everywhere. It is in those hard times when we realize we have not tended to our faith, and we need to seek you once again. We need to come to you in prayer, not just because we want something or need something, but simply because you are holy, good, and loving. You have done so much for us. You sent your son to die for us so that we can live with you. Lord God, we are so grateful for who you are, for all you do, for how you provide for us, and for how much you love us. We want to worship you with our whole heart today and every day. We want to thank you and praise you today and every day. We want to love you and live for you more and more every day. May it be so. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/70428/real-faith-by-peter-loughman
https://www.rosebudnews.net/opinion/old-farmer-and-prayer
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY OCTOBER 22, 2023. WE CONTINUE IN THE SERIES TITLED "A HOT MESS" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "MY HOT MESS SCHEDULE".
October 22, 2023
Series: A Hot Mess
Message: My Hot Mess Schedule
Scripture: Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 34:21; Mark 2:27-28
Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all their multitude. 2 On the sixth day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it, God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest.
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath, 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
You ever get really busy? I mean super really busy? So busy that you can’t remember what day it is or what comes next without looking at your calendar? We’ve all been there, haven’t we? I know this week was a busy week for me. On Wednesday there were two instances I had to choose which item on my calendar I would do because I was double-booked at two different times. This coming week is looking pretty much the same, but I know this is just a season, and soon there will be fewer dots on my schedule telling me I have something to do and somewhere to be.
Have you ever thought, knowing how we sometimes scramble to do all that we need to do in a week, how much God did in the first week when he created everything? If we go back to the very beginning, as in Genesis 1:1, scripture tells us that when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was nothing but complete chaos, darkness covered the face of the deep, and the wind of God swept over the face of the waters.
There was nothing, until God made something. Then, just think about it, from nothing to everything in six days. On the first day, God created light, he separated that light from the darkness, and he made night and day. The second day, God created a dome above the earth that separated the earth from the sky.
On the third day, God gave borders to the seas and made dry land appear where water had once been. He separated the land from the sea. Then he made vegetation appear on the dry land, plants that self-propagated by producing seeds and trees that reproduced by the seeds that grew within their fruit. Think about that for a moment. In your own yard, how many types of plants and trees do you see? How about on your street? How many as you drove to church today? Now think about how many plants and trees grow all around the world. God made them all; he made them all on his third day of work. But he didn’t stop there.
On the fourth day, God put lights in the sky. He made the sun to rule in the day, the moon to rule in the night, and all the stars in the universe, or universes. Psalm 147:4 reminds us that “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.” God not only created all those stars, stars that are too numerous for us to count, stars we can’t even see, he also gave them names. And I bet he never calls them by the wrong name, either. I mean, I remember a couple of times when I called my son by the wrong name, and I only have one child. But God never gets it wrong.
Then, on the fifth day, God put creatures in the waters and birds in the sky. He created everything that swims, from the littlest guppies to the great sea monsters, from the swarms of gnats to the great bald eagles. If it flies or if it swims, God made it on day five. But he wasn’t done yet, because God saved the best for last.
On the sixth day, God created land animals, “Cattle, creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And when he had done this, God saw, as he had seen every day for the last five before, that it was good. The work God was doing was good work.
Don’t you just love it when you have a day when you get a lot done and you look back and say, “this was a good day?” God has said that for six days, now. He worked, he looked over his work, and he saw that his work was good. But God isn’t done yet.
It’s still the sixth day when God says, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness.” So, God created humans in his image, male and female. This time, when God looked over his work, he saw that it was very good. Everything we know, and even everything we don’t know yet, God created by his sixth day on the job. What did any of us do in our first week of employment? Then, on the next day, day seven, God rested, and he blessed that day; he made it holy.
Somehow, when I look around me, and I see all the work that God did, and I marvel at how beautiful and perfect God made everything, I realize that the hot mess that stares back at me from my calendar is nothing. I certainly could never do what God did, none of us can. God created, from nothing, everything. He spoke everything into existence, and then he created man by his own hand and with his own breath. What was not, suddenly was, simply because God created it. And when he was done, God rested.
Well, I guess he certainly deserved a rest, right? I mean, he must have been pretty tired from all of that creating. A day off on day seven was just what he needed. Except, he didn’t. God wasn’t tired; he didn’t need rest; he didn’t need a day off to recover and recuperate from his labors. God took the day off for us. We learn this as we continue through scripture. God knew that we humans would make a hot mess out of our lives, and he set in place a plan to help us right from the beginning.
As the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness for those forty years, it became clear that they needed some rules, some guidelines to help them recognize right from wrong. That was the reason for the Law God gave to Moses to give to the people. God called Moses up on the mountain to receive the commandments, but the people down below thought he was taking too long and their fickle hearts and minds conned Aaron into making them a golden calf to worship instead of worshiping the God who had brought them safely thus far.
Now, Moses was a man who could certainly say he had a hot mess of a job, leading this rebellious group of people who whined and complained all the time. He was up there on that mountain, in the presence of God, and the people turned against him. Even his own brother went against God by making that golden calf. Moses broke the Law – he smashed those tablets that contained the words God had written on them. He was that angry with the people. Then Moses had to go back up the mountain and get another copy.
We won’t go through all the laws that were written on those tablets, but let’s focus on just one for a minute. Exodus 34:21: “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest.” Why was it so important that the people had a day of rest? Certainly it was to make time to worship God, right? Partly, yes, but let’s look at Deuteronomy 5 when the law of the sabbath was explained. In verse 15, we read, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
Talk about a hot mess of a schedule. When those Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, they had been pressed into hard labor. They were required to work in the fields, some were forced to make bricks for building. They worked hard, long hours, and there was no day off. They worked seven days a week, always at the beck and call of the Egyptian bosses, who demanded they work harder, longer, faster than the day before. Hot mess doesn’t even begin to describe their schedules, but now, those days are over.
God wants them to remember where they came from and what they had endured so they would know that with him, they were free from all that. God knew the toll working seven days a week took on their bodies and their spirits, and he wants to restore them. The command to keep the sabbath, to have that day of rest, was for their benefit. God didn’t need to rest, but he modeled what a day of rest looked like so his people could follow his example. Sabbath rest was always meant to be a blessing to God’s people. It was meant to be a day of bodily rest that would also revive their spirits and allow them to remember all that God had done for them.
Unfortunately, as the years went by, these instructions about the sabbath rest became just another set of rules and restrictions the religious rulers used to keep the people in line. We see several examples of that in the New Testament, because whenever Jesus healed on the sabbath, the religious leaders would have an absolute fit every single time. Their teachings made it so bad, that even when the disciples walked through a grain field and innocently plucked a few heads of grain to eat, the Pharisees jumped on Jesus about it. They accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Law by working on the sabbath because they harvested the grain they were eating.
Jesus, of course, had an answer for them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath.” God never said, “Oh look, I rested on the seventh day, so how about we make some people who we can make rest, too.” God made humans and knew their limitations so he modeled for them the rhythm of work and rest that they would need to be healthy. God wanted the people to remember the Sabbath for their benefit; it was never meant to be just another law in the list they wouldn’t be able to keep.
Now, the question comes to us today, do we still need to have a Sabbath? We aren’t under the Law anymore, so what does that mean for us? Remember that hot mess schedule we sometimes find ourselves juggling? How tired are we at the end of the day when our schedule is so packed with things to do, places to go, people to see? How tired are we at the end of the week?
The Sabbath day of rest is still for our benefit. We work hard all week, and we need a rest, physically, mentally, and spiritually. When we push ourselves too far, go too long without rest, we are in danger of physical injury or sickness. We are also in danger of spiritual sickness. The more we work, the less time we have for God. The less time we have for God, the further away he seems. The further away God seems, the weaker our faith becomes. The weaker our faith becomes, the more danger we have of falling into temptation and sin.
Sabbath rest strengthens us so that we can keep going through that hot mess schedule in that scary looking calendar we have. Here is a concrete example of how that works:
Back in the days of the wagon trains, there was a group of people who left St Louis for the Oregon Territory. Being a group of Christians, they observed the Sabbath by traveling only six days a week and resting on the seventh. However, as winter was approaching, there were some who began to worry they might not make it to Oregon before the snow began to fall and they began to campaign for the need to travel seven days a week.
There were enough of them that the one large group became two groups – one who set out to travel faster by being on the move every day, and one group who would continue to honor the Sabbath by resting one day a week. You might think that the seven-days-a-week travelers would have beaten the six-days-a-week people to Oregon by a lot, but in fact they were late. That day of rest every week refreshed both the people and the animals and that group was able to go further on the days they did travel, so they arrived at their destination in Oregon ahead of those who were traveling every single day.
Eugene Peterson writes that “Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God's actions. It is taking charge.”
What, you don’t agree that busyness is the easy thing to do? Have you ever been a farmer who is determined to keep the Sabbath on a sunny Sunday when the forecast calls for rain on Monday? Or someone who wants to honor God with a day of rest each week but their boss calls and asks a favor? The easy way is to “do.” The hard way is to do what is right and take that rest.
You see, God knows what is best for us and if we are smart, we will listen to his instructions. We are the ones who get ourselves caught up in all we have to do, we are the ones who create the hot mess we find ourselves in, but if we remember to follow God’s model and take a Sabbath day every week, we will be better able to get everything done, and we will do a better job of it, too. Honor God by keeping the Sabbath day holy as a day of rest, and he will give you the strength you need for the next six days. A car won’t run on an empty tank, and neither will we. Praise God for creating the Sabbath day for us. AMEN.
PRAYER: O God, Lord of the Sabbath, we didn’t realize that we were taking the easy way out when we fell into working seven days a week. Help us recognize the goodness of a Sabbath day of rest each week. Thank you for creating everything out of nothing, and then modeling for us the rhythm of work and rest. May we take it to heart and live into your gift of rest and restoration. Thank you for making the Sabbath for us and not us for the Sabbath. AMEN.
Series: A Hot Mess
Message: My Hot Mess Schedule
Scripture: Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 34:21; Mark 2:27-28
Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all their multitude. 2 On the sixth day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it, God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest.
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath, 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
You ever get really busy? I mean super really busy? So busy that you can’t remember what day it is or what comes next without looking at your calendar? We’ve all been there, haven’t we? I know this week was a busy week for me. On Wednesday there were two instances I had to choose which item on my calendar I would do because I was double-booked at two different times. This coming week is looking pretty much the same, but I know this is just a season, and soon there will be fewer dots on my schedule telling me I have something to do and somewhere to be.
Have you ever thought, knowing how we sometimes scramble to do all that we need to do in a week, how much God did in the first week when he created everything? If we go back to the very beginning, as in Genesis 1:1, scripture tells us that when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was nothing but complete chaos, darkness covered the face of the deep, and the wind of God swept over the face of the waters.
There was nothing, until God made something. Then, just think about it, from nothing to everything in six days. On the first day, God created light, he separated that light from the darkness, and he made night and day. The second day, God created a dome above the earth that separated the earth from the sky.
On the third day, God gave borders to the seas and made dry land appear where water had once been. He separated the land from the sea. Then he made vegetation appear on the dry land, plants that self-propagated by producing seeds and trees that reproduced by the seeds that grew within their fruit. Think about that for a moment. In your own yard, how many types of plants and trees do you see? How about on your street? How many as you drove to church today? Now think about how many plants and trees grow all around the world. God made them all; he made them all on his third day of work. But he didn’t stop there.
On the fourth day, God put lights in the sky. He made the sun to rule in the day, the moon to rule in the night, and all the stars in the universe, or universes. Psalm 147:4 reminds us that “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.” God not only created all those stars, stars that are too numerous for us to count, stars we can’t even see, he also gave them names. And I bet he never calls them by the wrong name, either. I mean, I remember a couple of times when I called my son by the wrong name, and I only have one child. But God never gets it wrong.
Then, on the fifth day, God put creatures in the waters and birds in the sky. He created everything that swims, from the littlest guppies to the great sea monsters, from the swarms of gnats to the great bald eagles. If it flies or if it swims, God made it on day five. But he wasn’t done yet, because God saved the best for last.
On the sixth day, God created land animals, “Cattle, creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And when he had done this, God saw, as he had seen every day for the last five before, that it was good. The work God was doing was good work.
Don’t you just love it when you have a day when you get a lot done and you look back and say, “this was a good day?” God has said that for six days, now. He worked, he looked over his work, and he saw that his work was good. But God isn’t done yet.
It’s still the sixth day when God says, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness.” So, God created humans in his image, male and female. This time, when God looked over his work, he saw that it was very good. Everything we know, and even everything we don’t know yet, God created by his sixth day on the job. What did any of us do in our first week of employment? Then, on the next day, day seven, God rested, and he blessed that day; he made it holy.
Somehow, when I look around me, and I see all the work that God did, and I marvel at how beautiful and perfect God made everything, I realize that the hot mess that stares back at me from my calendar is nothing. I certainly could never do what God did, none of us can. God created, from nothing, everything. He spoke everything into existence, and then he created man by his own hand and with his own breath. What was not, suddenly was, simply because God created it. And when he was done, God rested.
Well, I guess he certainly deserved a rest, right? I mean, he must have been pretty tired from all of that creating. A day off on day seven was just what he needed. Except, he didn’t. God wasn’t tired; he didn’t need rest; he didn’t need a day off to recover and recuperate from his labors. God took the day off for us. We learn this as we continue through scripture. God knew that we humans would make a hot mess out of our lives, and he set in place a plan to help us right from the beginning.
As the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness for those forty years, it became clear that they needed some rules, some guidelines to help them recognize right from wrong. That was the reason for the Law God gave to Moses to give to the people. God called Moses up on the mountain to receive the commandments, but the people down below thought he was taking too long and their fickle hearts and minds conned Aaron into making them a golden calf to worship instead of worshiping the God who had brought them safely thus far.
Now, Moses was a man who could certainly say he had a hot mess of a job, leading this rebellious group of people who whined and complained all the time. He was up there on that mountain, in the presence of God, and the people turned against him. Even his own brother went against God by making that golden calf. Moses broke the Law – he smashed those tablets that contained the words God had written on them. He was that angry with the people. Then Moses had to go back up the mountain and get another copy.
We won’t go through all the laws that were written on those tablets, but let’s focus on just one for a minute. Exodus 34:21: “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest.” Why was it so important that the people had a day of rest? Certainly it was to make time to worship God, right? Partly, yes, but let’s look at Deuteronomy 5 when the law of the sabbath was explained. In verse 15, we read, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
Talk about a hot mess of a schedule. When those Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, they had been pressed into hard labor. They were required to work in the fields, some were forced to make bricks for building. They worked hard, long hours, and there was no day off. They worked seven days a week, always at the beck and call of the Egyptian bosses, who demanded they work harder, longer, faster than the day before. Hot mess doesn’t even begin to describe their schedules, but now, those days are over.
God wants them to remember where they came from and what they had endured so they would know that with him, they were free from all that. God knew the toll working seven days a week took on their bodies and their spirits, and he wants to restore them. The command to keep the sabbath, to have that day of rest, was for their benefit. God didn’t need to rest, but he modeled what a day of rest looked like so his people could follow his example. Sabbath rest was always meant to be a blessing to God’s people. It was meant to be a day of bodily rest that would also revive their spirits and allow them to remember all that God had done for them.
Unfortunately, as the years went by, these instructions about the sabbath rest became just another set of rules and restrictions the religious rulers used to keep the people in line. We see several examples of that in the New Testament, because whenever Jesus healed on the sabbath, the religious leaders would have an absolute fit every single time. Their teachings made it so bad, that even when the disciples walked through a grain field and innocently plucked a few heads of grain to eat, the Pharisees jumped on Jesus about it. They accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Law by working on the sabbath because they harvested the grain they were eating.
Jesus, of course, had an answer for them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath.” God never said, “Oh look, I rested on the seventh day, so how about we make some people who we can make rest, too.” God made humans and knew their limitations so he modeled for them the rhythm of work and rest that they would need to be healthy. God wanted the people to remember the Sabbath for their benefit; it was never meant to be just another law in the list they wouldn’t be able to keep.
Now, the question comes to us today, do we still need to have a Sabbath? We aren’t under the Law anymore, so what does that mean for us? Remember that hot mess schedule we sometimes find ourselves juggling? How tired are we at the end of the day when our schedule is so packed with things to do, places to go, people to see? How tired are we at the end of the week?
The Sabbath day of rest is still for our benefit. We work hard all week, and we need a rest, physically, mentally, and spiritually. When we push ourselves too far, go too long without rest, we are in danger of physical injury or sickness. We are also in danger of spiritual sickness. The more we work, the less time we have for God. The less time we have for God, the further away he seems. The further away God seems, the weaker our faith becomes. The weaker our faith becomes, the more danger we have of falling into temptation and sin.
Sabbath rest strengthens us so that we can keep going through that hot mess schedule in that scary looking calendar we have. Here is a concrete example of how that works:
Back in the days of the wagon trains, there was a group of people who left St Louis for the Oregon Territory. Being a group of Christians, they observed the Sabbath by traveling only six days a week and resting on the seventh. However, as winter was approaching, there were some who began to worry they might not make it to Oregon before the snow began to fall and they began to campaign for the need to travel seven days a week.
There were enough of them that the one large group became two groups – one who set out to travel faster by being on the move every day, and one group who would continue to honor the Sabbath by resting one day a week. You might think that the seven-days-a-week travelers would have beaten the six-days-a-week people to Oregon by a lot, but in fact they were late. That day of rest every week refreshed both the people and the animals and that group was able to go further on the days they did travel, so they arrived at their destination in Oregon ahead of those who were traveling every single day.
Eugene Peterson writes that “Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God's actions. It is taking charge.”
What, you don’t agree that busyness is the easy thing to do? Have you ever been a farmer who is determined to keep the Sabbath on a sunny Sunday when the forecast calls for rain on Monday? Or someone who wants to honor God with a day of rest each week but their boss calls and asks a favor? The easy way is to “do.” The hard way is to do what is right and take that rest.
You see, God knows what is best for us and if we are smart, we will listen to his instructions. We are the ones who get ourselves caught up in all we have to do, we are the ones who create the hot mess we find ourselves in, but if we remember to follow God’s model and take a Sabbath day every week, we will be better able to get everything done, and we will do a better job of it, too. Honor God by keeping the Sabbath day holy as a day of rest, and he will give you the strength you need for the next six days. A car won’t run on an empty tank, and neither will we. Praise God for creating the Sabbath day for us. AMEN.
PRAYER: O God, Lord of the Sabbath, we didn’t realize that we were taking the easy way out when we fell into working seven days a week. Help us recognize the goodness of a Sabbath day of rest each week. Thank you for creating everything out of nothing, and then modeling for us the rhythm of work and rest. May we take it to heart and live into your gift of rest and restoration. Thank you for making the Sabbath for us and not us for the Sabbath. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY October 8, 2023. WE BEGAN A NEW SERIES TITLED "A HOT MESS" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "mY hOT mESS fAMILY".
October 8, 2023
Series: A Hot Mess
Message: My Hot Mess Family
Scripture: Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 16:1-6; Genesis 18:9-15
The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave whose name was Hagar, 2 and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.
They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
I’m sure we have all heard the term “a hot mess.” I don’t know where it came from, but I hear it a lot these days. I Googled the term, and here is the dictionary definition:
“A person or thing that is spectacularly unsuccessful or disordered, especially one that is a peculiar source of fascination.” When I read that, the first thing I thought of was a soap opera. You know, those day-time dramas where every situation is life and death, or a big secret that is about to be revealed, or a scandal that is trying to break out. Whatever it is, if you start watching the show for a few minutes, you can easily find yourself being sucked in, and you find yourself simultaneously wondering why anyone would watch this stuff and yet not being able to stop yourself.
I admit, I watched a fair amount of soap operas growing up, but once I was married and had a child and a business to run, I didn’t have time to sit down in the daytime to watch TV. But a curious thing happened. I was with a friend at the nail salon one day, getting pedicures, and the TV was on. There on the screen was one of the shows I used to watch. I hadn’t seen this show in over twenty years, yet as I sat there, it dawned on me that I knew who all the characters were, and I understood the story lines – nothing had really changed in all the time I hadn’t been watching. The show was still all about being a hot mess – in a spectacularly dysfunctional, yet fascinating to watch sort of way.
The title of our message today is “My Hot Mess Family.” Anyone here relate to that? You know, the families who have to know which topics of conversation must be avoided at all costs at the family reunion. The ones who know which two family members cannot be invited to the same family event unless you want the event to end with an argument and someone storming off. The families with secrets that some people know, some don’t, and the ones who do live in fear that the ones who don’t will find out. The families where there are people missing at the Thanksgiving table who haven’t attended a family celebration in years and won’t talk about why.
To some degree, almost every one can claim their family is a “hot mess,” at least sometimes. I know I can. We love each other – most of the time. We get along well – most of the time. But when we don’t, then “hot mess” fits us well.
If you read the Bible, you will see a lot of other families that can be called a “hot mess.” Just looking at the story of Abraham and Sarah, we see a soap opera unfolding. Theirs is a fascinating story to follow, but man, what they didn’t go through. Most of their problems were brought on by their own actions, (whose aren’t?) but in spite of it all, God saw something in this couple that he knew he could use them for the good of God’s people.
Abram and Sarai’s story begins in Genesis 12 when God first tells Abram to pack up his family and all his belongings and move to a new place. Abram was seventy-five years old at that time. He and Sarai had no children, but God promised Abram that out of him would come a great nation, promising to bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him. Abram believed God, so, he obeyed– even though God hadn’t told him where he was going yet. If this were a soap opera on TV today, there would be intriguing music right here to create tension and let us know that this might not be an easy journey.
Abram left Haran with his wife and his nephew, Lot, but it wasn’t long before… plot twist! A famine came and Abram and company detoured to Egypt to secure some food. Abram looked over at his beautiful wife and feared for his life, so he devised a secret plan. “Let’s tell everyone you are my sister, so they won’t kill me to get to you.” Cue the secret, the intrigue, the danger.
Of course, Pharoah heard about Sarai, took her into his palace, and suffered God’s wrath for doing so. He called Abram, called him out for his deception, and sent them all packing. Then, a short time after this, we read that Abram’s and Lot’s livestock had grown so numerous that there wasn’t enough land to support them all unless they separated and went their own way. Abram gave Lot the choice of where he wanted to go, and of course, Lot chose the lush, fertile plain with good grass and plenty of water. It also was home to the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but that is Lot’s hot mess story to tell.
Abram settled himself and Sarai, his flocks and herds and his servants in Canaan, and this is where he is when the Lord speaks to him in today’s scripture reading. God tells Abram to look out in all directions, to walk the entire length and breadth of all he sees. Then God tells Abram that everything he sees will one day belong to him and his offspring, offspring that will be more numerous than the dust of the earth, offspring that will be too numerous to be counted, yet Abram still had no child from which all these promised offspring were to come. This episode would end with a close-up of Abram’s puzzled face, wondering just how this was to happen, and the announcer asking, “Will Abram ever see Lot again? How long will it take for Abram to walk the entire length and width of this land he sees? And just where will all these offspring come from that God keeps promising?”
Ten years pass. Still, Abram and Sarai have no children. They have tried to be patient with God. They have tried to trust his promise that through Abram a great nation shall exist. It’s just taking so long, and they aren’t getting any younger. Then Sarai comes up with a plan to “help” God keep his promise. She goes to Abram, and tells him, “Since God isn’t letting me have children, what do you think about taking my servant, Hagar as a wife and having children with her?”
We are told, through scripture, that “Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.” I bet he did. He sure didn’t put up any arguments here. In true soap-opera style, Sarai “gave” Hagar to Abram as a wife, and she conceived. It didn’t take long for Hagar to realize that she had one over on Sarai, now that she was pregnant, and Sarai wasn’t. Hagar began treating Sarai with contempt, Sarai got angry at Abram and blamed the whole mess on him, and Abram threw the ball back in Sarai’s court, telling her to deal with Hagar herself. So, Sarai began treating Hagar badly, Abram’s life began to unravel into an even hotter mess with the two wives fighting all the time, and eventually it got so bad that Hagar ran away.
In true soap opera fashion, though, Hagar would return home, have her baby, and at the age of eighty-six, Abram would finally have a son.
Another thirteen years go by. God once again visits Abram. This time, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, because he will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations, thereby reiterating his earlier promise to Abraham. God changes Sarai’s name to Sarah and specifies that the covenant between Abraham and God includes Sarah’s son, not another woman’s. Abraham fell on his face in worship, but he also laughed at the thought – “Can a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old and a woman who is ninety?” Cue the announcer, “Will God keep his promise? How can such an old couple have a baby? How will they keep up with a toddler at their age?”
You see what I mean about Abraham and Sarah being a hot mess of a family? From one family drama to the next, we are fascinated by what unfolds in this family. And yet, would we really have acted any better if we were in their place?
Twenty-five years. That is the time that lapsed between when God first called Abram to leave his homeland, when God first promised to make Abram into a great nation through his offspring to when Isaac was born. Twenty-five, long, drama-filled years. Is it any wonder Abraham and Sarah sometimes messed up? Are we really even shocked that, after waiting for a long time and not seeing any results, they tried to “help” God in his plan?
We do that even now. We want something, we pray for it for a long time, we don’t see the results we want in the way we want them and in the time frame we want them, so we try to “help” God out. Maybe he’s too busy, maybe he didn’t hear my prayer, maybe he didn’t understand what I was saying. That’s what we tell ourselves. What we should be saying is that maybe God knows best. Maybe God’s plan is better than my plan. Maybe God’s time frame is better than my own. Maybe God has this all under control.
The truth is, God does know best, he does have a better plan for us than we have for ourselves, and his timing is always perfect, even if we get impatient with waiting. The truth is, God has everything under control, and he doesn’t need us to “help” him by forcing an action before its time. That is how we get ourselves into a hot mess of our own making.
Instead, we should learn a lesson from Abraham and Sarah’s story, which is we should trust God at all times, even when it doesn’t make sense. It’s a lesson that has to be learned over and over. God’s promise that great nations, and even kings and rulers, would come from descendants of Abraham made no sense to an old couple who had no children. But God doesn’t make empty promises. God always keeps his word.
God’s promise to lead the Israelites to the Promised land didn’t make sense to the people caught between the Egyptian Army and the Red Sea, but God made a way for them. God doesn’t make empty promises. God always keeps his word.
God’s plan to bring a Savior to his people didn’t make sense when that Savior was born as a tiny, helpless baby in a lowly manger, lived as a carpenter’s son, worked as an itinerant preacher, and was eventually crucified. How could that man be the promised Messiah if he died such a shameful death? Why didn’t he save himself if he could? But three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, a victorious conqueror of death who lives to save us from our own death. God doesn’t make empty promises. God always keeps his word.
We still have a promise from God that we are waiting for. God promises that one day he will send Jesus back, that all of us who live in him that are still alive at that time will be taken up to live in heaven, bypassing a physical death. That all who have already died will also rise to live forever in heaven with Jesus who will conquer Satan once and for all. That promise includes God setting up his permanent heavenly kingdom right here in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth where the light from the sun and the moon will not be necessary because the true Light of Life, Jesus Christ will live and love and shine on his people.
God doesn’t need our help to bring this promise to pass. He doesn’t need us to do anything except to keep living our hot mess lives, loving other people who are as much of a hot mess as we are, and sharing Jesus with everyone and anyone we can.
If we can live each day remembering the words of the GloryWay song, “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, about somebody who saved my soul,” then God will use us, in spite of our hot mess lives, in spite of our hot mess families, to bring glory to his name. It’s true. All we have to do is tune into the drama of the people in the Bible to see how God can, and does, use messy people to accomplish his good work. Praise God for all he can do in and through his messy people, living their hot mess lives with their hot mess families. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of light and love, thank you for showing us how you used ordinary, messed-up people to do the work you would have them do. Thank you for Abraham and Sarah and their perfectly imperfect lives that show us that you love us no matter what. May we strive to be better each day, waiting on you, trusting in you, confident that you never make empty promises, that you always keep your word. And thank you, that you can use even a nobody like me, a hot mess of a person, to serve your purposes by serving those whom you love. May all that we do as this body of Christ, please you. AMEN.
Series: A Hot Mess
Message: My Hot Mess Family
Scripture: Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 16:1-6; Genesis 18:9-15
The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave whose name was Hagar, 2 and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.
They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
I’m sure we have all heard the term “a hot mess.” I don’t know where it came from, but I hear it a lot these days. I Googled the term, and here is the dictionary definition:
“A person or thing that is spectacularly unsuccessful or disordered, especially one that is a peculiar source of fascination.” When I read that, the first thing I thought of was a soap opera. You know, those day-time dramas where every situation is life and death, or a big secret that is about to be revealed, or a scandal that is trying to break out. Whatever it is, if you start watching the show for a few minutes, you can easily find yourself being sucked in, and you find yourself simultaneously wondering why anyone would watch this stuff and yet not being able to stop yourself.
I admit, I watched a fair amount of soap operas growing up, but once I was married and had a child and a business to run, I didn’t have time to sit down in the daytime to watch TV. But a curious thing happened. I was with a friend at the nail salon one day, getting pedicures, and the TV was on. There on the screen was one of the shows I used to watch. I hadn’t seen this show in over twenty years, yet as I sat there, it dawned on me that I knew who all the characters were, and I understood the story lines – nothing had really changed in all the time I hadn’t been watching. The show was still all about being a hot mess – in a spectacularly dysfunctional, yet fascinating to watch sort of way.
The title of our message today is “My Hot Mess Family.” Anyone here relate to that? You know, the families who have to know which topics of conversation must be avoided at all costs at the family reunion. The ones who know which two family members cannot be invited to the same family event unless you want the event to end with an argument and someone storming off. The families with secrets that some people know, some don’t, and the ones who do live in fear that the ones who don’t will find out. The families where there are people missing at the Thanksgiving table who haven’t attended a family celebration in years and won’t talk about why.
To some degree, almost every one can claim their family is a “hot mess,” at least sometimes. I know I can. We love each other – most of the time. We get along well – most of the time. But when we don’t, then “hot mess” fits us well.
If you read the Bible, you will see a lot of other families that can be called a “hot mess.” Just looking at the story of Abraham and Sarah, we see a soap opera unfolding. Theirs is a fascinating story to follow, but man, what they didn’t go through. Most of their problems were brought on by their own actions, (whose aren’t?) but in spite of it all, God saw something in this couple that he knew he could use them for the good of God’s people.
Abram and Sarai’s story begins in Genesis 12 when God first tells Abram to pack up his family and all his belongings and move to a new place. Abram was seventy-five years old at that time. He and Sarai had no children, but God promised Abram that out of him would come a great nation, promising to bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him. Abram believed God, so, he obeyed– even though God hadn’t told him where he was going yet. If this were a soap opera on TV today, there would be intriguing music right here to create tension and let us know that this might not be an easy journey.
Abram left Haran with his wife and his nephew, Lot, but it wasn’t long before… plot twist! A famine came and Abram and company detoured to Egypt to secure some food. Abram looked over at his beautiful wife and feared for his life, so he devised a secret plan. “Let’s tell everyone you are my sister, so they won’t kill me to get to you.” Cue the secret, the intrigue, the danger.
Of course, Pharoah heard about Sarai, took her into his palace, and suffered God’s wrath for doing so. He called Abram, called him out for his deception, and sent them all packing. Then, a short time after this, we read that Abram’s and Lot’s livestock had grown so numerous that there wasn’t enough land to support them all unless they separated and went their own way. Abram gave Lot the choice of where he wanted to go, and of course, Lot chose the lush, fertile plain with good grass and plenty of water. It also was home to the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but that is Lot’s hot mess story to tell.
Abram settled himself and Sarai, his flocks and herds and his servants in Canaan, and this is where he is when the Lord speaks to him in today’s scripture reading. God tells Abram to look out in all directions, to walk the entire length and breadth of all he sees. Then God tells Abram that everything he sees will one day belong to him and his offspring, offspring that will be more numerous than the dust of the earth, offspring that will be too numerous to be counted, yet Abram still had no child from which all these promised offspring were to come. This episode would end with a close-up of Abram’s puzzled face, wondering just how this was to happen, and the announcer asking, “Will Abram ever see Lot again? How long will it take for Abram to walk the entire length and width of this land he sees? And just where will all these offspring come from that God keeps promising?”
Ten years pass. Still, Abram and Sarai have no children. They have tried to be patient with God. They have tried to trust his promise that through Abram a great nation shall exist. It’s just taking so long, and they aren’t getting any younger. Then Sarai comes up with a plan to “help” God keep his promise. She goes to Abram, and tells him, “Since God isn’t letting me have children, what do you think about taking my servant, Hagar as a wife and having children with her?”
We are told, through scripture, that “Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.” I bet he did. He sure didn’t put up any arguments here. In true soap-opera style, Sarai “gave” Hagar to Abram as a wife, and she conceived. It didn’t take long for Hagar to realize that she had one over on Sarai, now that she was pregnant, and Sarai wasn’t. Hagar began treating Sarai with contempt, Sarai got angry at Abram and blamed the whole mess on him, and Abram threw the ball back in Sarai’s court, telling her to deal with Hagar herself. So, Sarai began treating Hagar badly, Abram’s life began to unravel into an even hotter mess with the two wives fighting all the time, and eventually it got so bad that Hagar ran away.
In true soap opera fashion, though, Hagar would return home, have her baby, and at the age of eighty-six, Abram would finally have a son.
Another thirteen years go by. God once again visits Abram. This time, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, because he will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations, thereby reiterating his earlier promise to Abraham. God changes Sarai’s name to Sarah and specifies that the covenant between Abraham and God includes Sarah’s son, not another woman’s. Abraham fell on his face in worship, but he also laughed at the thought – “Can a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old and a woman who is ninety?” Cue the announcer, “Will God keep his promise? How can such an old couple have a baby? How will they keep up with a toddler at their age?”
You see what I mean about Abraham and Sarah being a hot mess of a family? From one family drama to the next, we are fascinated by what unfolds in this family. And yet, would we really have acted any better if we were in their place?
Twenty-five years. That is the time that lapsed between when God first called Abram to leave his homeland, when God first promised to make Abram into a great nation through his offspring to when Isaac was born. Twenty-five, long, drama-filled years. Is it any wonder Abraham and Sarah sometimes messed up? Are we really even shocked that, after waiting for a long time and not seeing any results, they tried to “help” God in his plan?
We do that even now. We want something, we pray for it for a long time, we don’t see the results we want in the way we want them and in the time frame we want them, so we try to “help” God out. Maybe he’s too busy, maybe he didn’t hear my prayer, maybe he didn’t understand what I was saying. That’s what we tell ourselves. What we should be saying is that maybe God knows best. Maybe God’s plan is better than my plan. Maybe God’s time frame is better than my own. Maybe God has this all under control.
The truth is, God does know best, he does have a better plan for us than we have for ourselves, and his timing is always perfect, even if we get impatient with waiting. The truth is, God has everything under control, and he doesn’t need us to “help” him by forcing an action before its time. That is how we get ourselves into a hot mess of our own making.
Instead, we should learn a lesson from Abraham and Sarah’s story, which is we should trust God at all times, even when it doesn’t make sense. It’s a lesson that has to be learned over and over. God’s promise that great nations, and even kings and rulers, would come from descendants of Abraham made no sense to an old couple who had no children. But God doesn’t make empty promises. God always keeps his word.
God’s promise to lead the Israelites to the Promised land didn’t make sense to the people caught between the Egyptian Army and the Red Sea, but God made a way for them. God doesn’t make empty promises. God always keeps his word.
God’s plan to bring a Savior to his people didn’t make sense when that Savior was born as a tiny, helpless baby in a lowly manger, lived as a carpenter’s son, worked as an itinerant preacher, and was eventually crucified. How could that man be the promised Messiah if he died such a shameful death? Why didn’t he save himself if he could? But three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, a victorious conqueror of death who lives to save us from our own death. God doesn’t make empty promises. God always keeps his word.
We still have a promise from God that we are waiting for. God promises that one day he will send Jesus back, that all of us who live in him that are still alive at that time will be taken up to live in heaven, bypassing a physical death. That all who have already died will also rise to live forever in heaven with Jesus who will conquer Satan once and for all. That promise includes God setting up his permanent heavenly kingdom right here in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth where the light from the sun and the moon will not be necessary because the true Light of Life, Jesus Christ will live and love and shine on his people.
God doesn’t need our help to bring this promise to pass. He doesn’t need us to do anything except to keep living our hot mess lives, loving other people who are as much of a hot mess as we are, and sharing Jesus with everyone and anyone we can.
If we can live each day remembering the words of the GloryWay song, “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, about somebody who saved my soul,” then God will use us, in spite of our hot mess lives, in spite of our hot mess families, to bring glory to his name. It’s true. All we have to do is tune into the drama of the people in the Bible to see how God can, and does, use messy people to accomplish his good work. Praise God for all he can do in and through his messy people, living their hot mess lives with their hot mess families. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of light and love, thank you for showing us how you used ordinary, messed-up people to do the work you would have them do. Thank you for Abraham and Sarah and their perfectly imperfect lives that show us that you love us no matter what. May we strive to be better each day, waiting on you, trusting in you, confident that you never make empty promises, that you always keep your word. And thank you, that you can use even a nobody like me, a hot mess of a person, to serve your purposes by serving those whom you love. May all that we do as this body of Christ, please you. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2023. WE COMPLETED A SERIES TITLED "A WILDERNESS JOURNEY" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "HURDLES AND HARDSHIPS ALONG THE WAY".
September 17, 2023
Series: A Wilderness Journey
Message: Hurdles and Hardships Along the Way
Scripture: Exodus 14:19-31
The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord, in the pillar of fire and cloud, looked down on the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into a panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
There is a story about a man who tight rope walked across Niagara Falls. As he started out, many in the crowd saw him struggle with the force of the draft, caused by the wind that is generated by the water crashing over the edge of the rocks and hitting even more rocks and water below. The tight rope walker got his balance and continued, crossing over the falls, and then coming back.
Full of confidence now, the man asked the growing crowd, “How many here believe I can take this wheelbarrow over the falls and back again?” Hearing shouts and cheers from the crowd urging him on, he did it, even though it was even more difficult and dangerous than before.
When he returned from his second crossing, he saw the crowd had grown even larger and he shouted out to them, “Now, how many of you here believe I can take a man in the wheelbarrow over the falls and back again?” The crowd roared with excitement and approval, many shouting out, “You can do it!” and “I believe!” So, the daredevil looked around and seeing one gentleman nearby who was nodding his head in approval and shouting out that he believed in him, the tight rope walker pointed to him and said, “Sir, come over here and get in this wheelbarrow.”
That gentleman immediately shook his head in horror, backing away and saying, “No way, not me!” Why, I wonder, if that man believed that the tight rope walker could do what he said he could do, why wouldn’t he jump right into that wheelbarrow and get the ride of his life? He had faith in the stuntman, but not enough faith to be obedient by getting into the wheelbarrow.
I know that’s a silly way to look at it, because I know I sure would not have ever jumped in that wheelbarrow, either, but that’s kind of where the Israelites are in today’s scripture. They had enough faith to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver when God told them to “Get Ready!” They had enough faith to follow God’s instructions about eating the Passover lamb, how to prepare it, how to eat it, and how they should be dressed for it when God told them to “Get Set!” And they had enough faith when God, at just the right time, told them to “Go!”
They left Egypt, following Moses, not really knowing where they were going, how long it would take to get there, or what they would find when they arrived. They went by faith that God was with them and that he was finally fulfilling the promise he had first given to Abraham hundreds of years ago. They had enough faith to be obedient to God as they went in search of the land they had been told was flowing with milk and honey, faith that he would get them to where they were supposed to go.
But now, reality has set in. They are on the road, far from the only home they had ever known. Behind them, they can see the Egyptian army coming after them, while in front of them lay the Red Sea, and no one had a boat. Their faith began to dwindle. It was dissipating as fast as a drop of water on a hot skillet, and along with it went their will to obey.
You know, it’s easy to have faith when things are going the way you want them to go. The Israelites had lived for several hundred years on the promise of the covenant God had made with Abraham, and then confirmed with Isaac and once again with Jacob. When they left Egypt, it was like they were going on a grand adventure, one big party cruise where life would be easier than living under Egyptian oppression and they would be free to be who they wanted to be.
But it didn’t take long for them to realize that there would be hurdles and hardships along the way. And it didn’t take long for their faith to falter and for them to regret their obedience. And it didn’t take long before they began to question God and his motives and his methods, and to lay the blame for their predicament at Moses’ feet.
When they saw those chariots coming, dust clouds billowing behind them as they raced ever closer, the Israelites cried out to Moses, accusing him, saying, “Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in this wilderness? Didn’t we tell you, back in Egypt, that this would happen and that we should have stayed put? We would have been better off serving the Egyptians than dying out here in the wilderness.”
Their fear made their memories faulty. They were certainly eager enough to leave their old way of life behind and journey to a new place. They had no qualms about leaving a life of serving their Egyptian masters, working hard, and being pushed even harder. They had already forgotten that they lived under a harsh ruler who laid down even harsher rules. Nope, right now, with the army hot on their heels, they forgot all the bad they were leaving and began pining for the not so good old days.
How many of us have been in their shoes, at least figuratively. Some one shared with us the Good News of God’s love through his son, Jesus, and we felt a little seed of faith begin to sprout. As our faith grew, we were eager to leave our old selves behind, to forge a new life as a Christ-follower. We gave up our old habits, maybe even lost a few friends who didn’t understand what had come over us, and we thought we had it made, until….
Until we looked back and began to remember our past in a better light than it really was. We think to ourselves, “I wasn’t so bad when I….” whatever it is we were or did. Or we think we can revisit some old, sinful temptations and not be tempted to partake or participate. Or some hurdle or hardship comes along, and we get blindsided, and we wonder how that could happen to someone who is a Christian.
Somehow, we thought that if we had faith and we were obedient, then life would go more smoothly, and now we are seeing that isn’t true. Just like the Israelites, when they obeyed God and left Egypt, they thought everything would be just great all the time. But life isn’t always smooth. Sometimes there are problems, even for people of faith. Sometimes especially for people of faith.
It's hard to read this story of the Israelites and not sympathize with them on some level. We like happy endings to our stories, and it really looked like they were about to get their happy ending after centuries of hard living. We want to cheer with them as they head out of town, and when we see they are being chased, we want to yell, “Run for it!” just as loudly as we can. But they can’t run – they have nowhere to go. Egypt is behind them; the sea is in front of them, and the wilderness is all around them. No wonder they panicked. No wonder their faith slipped. Let’s be honest, ours would have, too. And when our faith starts to falter, we find it harder to be obedient.
But God had chosen the right man to lead his people. Moses saw the people begin to panic. He heard their cries. He watched their faith begin to slip away and fear begin to take over, yet Moses stood firm in his faith. He told the people, “Do not fear! Stand your ground and watch what God will do to deliver you from the Egyptians once and for all. The Lord is prepared to fight for you and all you need to do is keep still.”
Can you imagine how they must have felt hearing that? How can they stand still and wait to see what will happen when they are caught between a rock and a hard place? Or more accurately, an army and a sea? Keep still when they were being chased and their lives were in danger? How could they possibly keep still in their situation? But somehow, they must have found the courage, because they did not run, they did not scatter. They stood their ground, and they waited to see what God would do.
God told Moses to lift up his staff and hold out his hand over the sea and the sea would divide itself so the people could cross over on dry ground. And to add another layer of protection, the angel of the Lord, who was going with them, moved in behind the Israelites, between them and the Egyptians, and then so did the cloud that was guiding them. There was protection behind them so they could move forward.
Then Moses obeyed the Lord and lifted his hand over the sea, and God caused a strong east wind to blow all night long, making a divide in the waters and drying the exposed ground so the Israelites could walk to safety to the other side while a wall of water towered over them on their right and on their left, standing like sentries, holding their positions.
That sight had to restore the Israelites’ faith. Who else but God could hold back the water like that? Who else but God could create dry ground where water had just been? As their faith was restored, so was their will to obey and they crossed over, through the sea, safe and protected from harm, marveling at what they were seeing with every step.
Of course, the Egyptians saw what was happening. They saw the water begin to pile up and stand at attention. They saw the Israelite nation walk across the seabed like it had always been a dry path, so they didn’t hesitate to follow them. That was a mistake.
When his people were safely through, and when all of Pharoah’s army, including their chariots and their horses were in the passage created by the walls of water, God threw the entire army into a panic, he caused the wheels of their chariots to clog up and stop turning, and suddenly the men realized they were in danger. They tried to turn back, they tried to get out of the way, but God commanded the sea to return to what it had been, and when it did, it crashed down upon the Egyptian army, and they were no more.
The last two verses of chapter 14 read, “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So, the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
I wish I could say that was the happy ending we were hoping for – that the Israelites were hoping for, but we know that it was only the beginning of a journey that would take forty years, a journey where they would encounter many more hurdles and hardships, a journey where there would be times of great faith and obedience, and times of little faith and outright rebellion against God.
The story of the Israelites is our story. Not just because it was through these people that the Messiah came and that we are now adopted into the family of God through belief in Jesus, though that is part of it. But their story is our story because it tells of times when they followed God and times when they went their own way. That’s how we live, too.
We want to have a great faith, a bold faith, a strong faith. We want to follow God every day and, in every way, but sometimes we also want to go our own way. When we come to a hurdle that seems too big, or a hardship that lasts too long, we are ready to quit. Like those Israelites, we want to go back to what was, because where we were looks better than what’s ahead.
When those times come, we need to take Moses’ advice for ourselves, “Do not fear! Stand your ground and watch what God will do to deliver you, from whatever it is you are facing, once and for all. The Lord is prepared to fight for you, and all you need to do is keep still until he gives you direction.” Even when there is an army behind you, and a sea in front of you, and you are surrounded by nothing but wilderness, God will make a way through, even when we don’t see how. Just keep your faith strong and always be obedient. God provides, always.
Oh, and remember that guy who wouldn’t get in the wheelbarrow even though he believed the tight rope walker could wheel a man over and back? Well, there is a difference in believing someone can do something and believing they will do it. He believed it was possible that that stuntman could do what he said he could do, but it wasn’t a sure thing.
Moses believed God would save his people, not just that he could, but that he would, save his people from the Egyptians, in spite of not knowing the how. That is the faith we should all strive for – believing in God, no matter what hurdles and hardships we encounter, because our God is always able to overcome and to save. Thanks be to God. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of deliverance, we are sometimes quick to lament the situations in which we find ourselves. Thank you for the reminder this day that the Israelites faced a situation where there was truly no way out except by the path you created for them. You protected them, you guided them to safety on a dry path, you made a way when no way existed. Help us remember that you will do the same for us. No matter what hurdle we find too high to jump, no matter what hardship threatens to bog us down, you will provide the way forward, to the place you have prepared for us. May we always have the faith to be obedient. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100063/get-in-the-barrel-by-ron-freeman-evangelist
Series: A Wilderness Journey
Message: Hurdles and Hardships Along the Way
Scripture: Exodus 14:19-31
The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord, in the pillar of fire and cloud, looked down on the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into a panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
There is a story about a man who tight rope walked across Niagara Falls. As he started out, many in the crowd saw him struggle with the force of the draft, caused by the wind that is generated by the water crashing over the edge of the rocks and hitting even more rocks and water below. The tight rope walker got his balance and continued, crossing over the falls, and then coming back.
Full of confidence now, the man asked the growing crowd, “How many here believe I can take this wheelbarrow over the falls and back again?” Hearing shouts and cheers from the crowd urging him on, he did it, even though it was even more difficult and dangerous than before.
When he returned from his second crossing, he saw the crowd had grown even larger and he shouted out to them, “Now, how many of you here believe I can take a man in the wheelbarrow over the falls and back again?” The crowd roared with excitement and approval, many shouting out, “You can do it!” and “I believe!” So, the daredevil looked around and seeing one gentleman nearby who was nodding his head in approval and shouting out that he believed in him, the tight rope walker pointed to him and said, “Sir, come over here and get in this wheelbarrow.”
That gentleman immediately shook his head in horror, backing away and saying, “No way, not me!” Why, I wonder, if that man believed that the tight rope walker could do what he said he could do, why wouldn’t he jump right into that wheelbarrow and get the ride of his life? He had faith in the stuntman, but not enough faith to be obedient by getting into the wheelbarrow.
I know that’s a silly way to look at it, because I know I sure would not have ever jumped in that wheelbarrow, either, but that’s kind of where the Israelites are in today’s scripture. They had enough faith to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver when God told them to “Get Ready!” They had enough faith to follow God’s instructions about eating the Passover lamb, how to prepare it, how to eat it, and how they should be dressed for it when God told them to “Get Set!” And they had enough faith when God, at just the right time, told them to “Go!”
They left Egypt, following Moses, not really knowing where they were going, how long it would take to get there, or what they would find when they arrived. They went by faith that God was with them and that he was finally fulfilling the promise he had first given to Abraham hundreds of years ago. They had enough faith to be obedient to God as they went in search of the land they had been told was flowing with milk and honey, faith that he would get them to where they were supposed to go.
But now, reality has set in. They are on the road, far from the only home they had ever known. Behind them, they can see the Egyptian army coming after them, while in front of them lay the Red Sea, and no one had a boat. Their faith began to dwindle. It was dissipating as fast as a drop of water on a hot skillet, and along with it went their will to obey.
You know, it’s easy to have faith when things are going the way you want them to go. The Israelites had lived for several hundred years on the promise of the covenant God had made with Abraham, and then confirmed with Isaac and once again with Jacob. When they left Egypt, it was like they were going on a grand adventure, one big party cruise where life would be easier than living under Egyptian oppression and they would be free to be who they wanted to be.
But it didn’t take long for them to realize that there would be hurdles and hardships along the way. And it didn’t take long for their faith to falter and for them to regret their obedience. And it didn’t take long before they began to question God and his motives and his methods, and to lay the blame for their predicament at Moses’ feet.
When they saw those chariots coming, dust clouds billowing behind them as they raced ever closer, the Israelites cried out to Moses, accusing him, saying, “Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in this wilderness? Didn’t we tell you, back in Egypt, that this would happen and that we should have stayed put? We would have been better off serving the Egyptians than dying out here in the wilderness.”
Their fear made their memories faulty. They were certainly eager enough to leave their old way of life behind and journey to a new place. They had no qualms about leaving a life of serving their Egyptian masters, working hard, and being pushed even harder. They had already forgotten that they lived under a harsh ruler who laid down even harsher rules. Nope, right now, with the army hot on their heels, they forgot all the bad they were leaving and began pining for the not so good old days.
How many of us have been in their shoes, at least figuratively. Some one shared with us the Good News of God’s love through his son, Jesus, and we felt a little seed of faith begin to sprout. As our faith grew, we were eager to leave our old selves behind, to forge a new life as a Christ-follower. We gave up our old habits, maybe even lost a few friends who didn’t understand what had come over us, and we thought we had it made, until….
Until we looked back and began to remember our past in a better light than it really was. We think to ourselves, “I wasn’t so bad when I….” whatever it is we were or did. Or we think we can revisit some old, sinful temptations and not be tempted to partake or participate. Or some hurdle or hardship comes along, and we get blindsided, and we wonder how that could happen to someone who is a Christian.
Somehow, we thought that if we had faith and we were obedient, then life would go more smoothly, and now we are seeing that isn’t true. Just like the Israelites, when they obeyed God and left Egypt, they thought everything would be just great all the time. But life isn’t always smooth. Sometimes there are problems, even for people of faith. Sometimes especially for people of faith.
It's hard to read this story of the Israelites and not sympathize with them on some level. We like happy endings to our stories, and it really looked like they were about to get their happy ending after centuries of hard living. We want to cheer with them as they head out of town, and when we see they are being chased, we want to yell, “Run for it!” just as loudly as we can. But they can’t run – they have nowhere to go. Egypt is behind them; the sea is in front of them, and the wilderness is all around them. No wonder they panicked. No wonder their faith slipped. Let’s be honest, ours would have, too. And when our faith starts to falter, we find it harder to be obedient.
But God had chosen the right man to lead his people. Moses saw the people begin to panic. He heard their cries. He watched their faith begin to slip away and fear begin to take over, yet Moses stood firm in his faith. He told the people, “Do not fear! Stand your ground and watch what God will do to deliver you from the Egyptians once and for all. The Lord is prepared to fight for you and all you need to do is keep still.”
Can you imagine how they must have felt hearing that? How can they stand still and wait to see what will happen when they are caught between a rock and a hard place? Or more accurately, an army and a sea? Keep still when they were being chased and their lives were in danger? How could they possibly keep still in their situation? But somehow, they must have found the courage, because they did not run, they did not scatter. They stood their ground, and they waited to see what God would do.
God told Moses to lift up his staff and hold out his hand over the sea and the sea would divide itself so the people could cross over on dry ground. And to add another layer of protection, the angel of the Lord, who was going with them, moved in behind the Israelites, between them and the Egyptians, and then so did the cloud that was guiding them. There was protection behind them so they could move forward.
Then Moses obeyed the Lord and lifted his hand over the sea, and God caused a strong east wind to blow all night long, making a divide in the waters and drying the exposed ground so the Israelites could walk to safety to the other side while a wall of water towered over them on their right and on their left, standing like sentries, holding their positions.
That sight had to restore the Israelites’ faith. Who else but God could hold back the water like that? Who else but God could create dry ground where water had just been? As their faith was restored, so was their will to obey and they crossed over, through the sea, safe and protected from harm, marveling at what they were seeing with every step.
Of course, the Egyptians saw what was happening. They saw the water begin to pile up and stand at attention. They saw the Israelite nation walk across the seabed like it had always been a dry path, so they didn’t hesitate to follow them. That was a mistake.
When his people were safely through, and when all of Pharoah’s army, including their chariots and their horses were in the passage created by the walls of water, God threw the entire army into a panic, he caused the wheels of their chariots to clog up and stop turning, and suddenly the men realized they were in danger. They tried to turn back, they tried to get out of the way, but God commanded the sea to return to what it had been, and when it did, it crashed down upon the Egyptian army, and they were no more.
The last two verses of chapter 14 read, “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So, the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
I wish I could say that was the happy ending we were hoping for – that the Israelites were hoping for, but we know that it was only the beginning of a journey that would take forty years, a journey where they would encounter many more hurdles and hardships, a journey where there would be times of great faith and obedience, and times of little faith and outright rebellion against God.
The story of the Israelites is our story. Not just because it was through these people that the Messiah came and that we are now adopted into the family of God through belief in Jesus, though that is part of it. But their story is our story because it tells of times when they followed God and times when they went their own way. That’s how we live, too.
We want to have a great faith, a bold faith, a strong faith. We want to follow God every day and, in every way, but sometimes we also want to go our own way. When we come to a hurdle that seems too big, or a hardship that lasts too long, we are ready to quit. Like those Israelites, we want to go back to what was, because where we were looks better than what’s ahead.
When those times come, we need to take Moses’ advice for ourselves, “Do not fear! Stand your ground and watch what God will do to deliver you, from whatever it is you are facing, once and for all. The Lord is prepared to fight for you, and all you need to do is keep still until he gives you direction.” Even when there is an army behind you, and a sea in front of you, and you are surrounded by nothing but wilderness, God will make a way through, even when we don’t see how. Just keep your faith strong and always be obedient. God provides, always.
Oh, and remember that guy who wouldn’t get in the wheelbarrow even though he believed the tight rope walker could wheel a man over and back? Well, there is a difference in believing someone can do something and believing they will do it. He believed it was possible that that stuntman could do what he said he could do, but it wasn’t a sure thing.
Moses believed God would save his people, not just that he could, but that he would, save his people from the Egyptians, in spite of not knowing the how. That is the faith we should all strive for – believing in God, no matter what hurdles and hardships we encounter, because our God is always able to overcome and to save. Thanks be to God. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of deliverance, we are sometimes quick to lament the situations in which we find ourselves. Thank you for the reminder this day that the Israelites faced a situation where there was truly no way out except by the path you created for them. You protected them, you guided them to safety on a dry path, you made a way when no way existed. Help us remember that you will do the same for us. No matter what hurdle we find too high to jump, no matter what hardship threatens to bog us down, you will provide the way forward, to the place you have prepared for us. May we always have the faith to be obedient. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100063/get-in-the-barrel-by-ron-freeman-evangelist
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2023. WE CONTINUED A SERIES TITLED "A WILDERNESS JOURNEY" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "get ready".
September 10, 2023
Series: A Wilderness Journey
Message: Get Ready
Scripture: Exodus 12:1-12
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn with fire. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord. 12 I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
Do you remember when you were a kid and you and your friends were all playing out in the backyard, and someone got the idea that you should see who could run the fastest? So, you all lined up and someone yelled, “Get Ready! Get Set!” and everyone would be tensed and waiting for the cry of “Go!” And there was always that one kid who would almost say “Go” but then not say it, and in anticipation, a couple of kids would start to take a few steps, and everyone would have to line up and the whole process would start all over again. The scripture lesson today is kind of like that, except there is no smart-aleck kid having a good time making everyone else have a false start. But God’s instructions to the Israelites was a lot like God telling them all to “Get Ready! Get Set! so they would be really ready when he told them to “Go!”
Moses had come to Egypt. God had overcome all of Moses’ objections as to why he should not be the one to go and rescue the Israelites from oppression, and so here he is. He’d been here for a little while and a pattern had developed. Moses would come before Pharoah and demand that Pharoah let the people go, Pharoah would deny the request, and God would send a plague of some sort on the Egyptians.
First all the water was turned to blood, then there came frogs, gnats, and flies in quick succession. Then the Egyptians’ livestock died. The sixth plague brought festering boils that broke out on both people and animals, the seventh was a storm of hail with fire in it that devastated the crops and killed anyone and anything that did not take shelter in time. Pharoah almost relented that time, but changed his mind at the last minute, going back on his word as soon as the hail had stopped.
When Moses next told Pharoah that if he didn’t let the people go God would send swarms of locusts to devour everything the hail didn’t destroy, Pharoah seemed to soften his stance - at first. He told them they could go, but when he found out they all wanted to go, and even take the children, Pharoah’s heart hardened once more, and he refused. So, the eighth plague was the swarms of locusts that blew in on the wind and covered everything, eating and devouring everything and anything that was left standing after the hailstorm.
Next came darkness. A darkness that was so deep and so complete that it could be felt. There was no light, none at all, for three days in all of Egypt – except for the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Over there it was bright in the daytime like always. This time Pharoah tried to bargain with Moses, saying he could take all the people but leave their livestock behind. When Moses refused to leave the livestock, Pharoah became angry and told Moses to get out and never come back. Moses obliged, but not before giving Pharoah one last warning of what was to come.
While all this is going on, God tells the Israelites to “Get Ready!” by instructing them to ask their neighbors for gold and silver, which they generously gave them. God also told Moses to warn Pharoah that God would soon go through the land of Egypt and the first born of every family would die, animals and people, from the lowliest peasant to the great Pharoah himself, every single family would feel the loss and suffer grief. But the whole of the nation of Israel would be spared. Not one of them would be lost.
Now, in today’s scripture reading we hear God tell his people to “Get Set!” as he gives them the instructions for the meal they are to eat, how they are to prepare the meal, how to eat the meal, and how to get themselves ready for what was coming.
The first thing each family needs to do is to go and choose the lamb that they will eat at just the right time. It must be perfect, without any flaws, a male that is one year old. The word used in the original language actually referred to any animal that came from a flock, so if the family couldn’t afford the lamb, they could choose a goat instead. The people were given very specific instructions on when to choose their animal, how long to wait to slaughter it, what time of day everyone would slaughter their lamb or their goat, and how to place some of its blood on the two door posts and the lintel over the door as a sign that this was a home belonging to one of God’s people. This sign would save them later when the angel of death came. This sign would tell the angel to pass over this house, do no harm here.
The people were instructed to eat the meat roasted, not boiled or raw, and they were to eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The bitter herbs would represent their bitter suffering under Egyptian oppression and the unleavened bread would remind them that there was no time to wait for the bread to rise – they had to be ready to go when the signal was given.
Verse twelve is key to the instructions to “Get Set!” because they are told to eat the meal with “your loins girded, your sandals on their feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord”
Haven’t we all had those times when the kids had to eat breakfast in the car on the way to school, or we ate lunch on our way to an appointment, or the family dinner consisted of food from a drive-thru as we hurried to get to the game on time? We know what it is like to eat on the run, but these Israelites hadn’t had to experience that before. If the word came to head out, God wanted them all to be ready to move immediately, no last-minute searching for a lost shoe, or misplaced socks, but ready to go at a moment’s notice.
In this way, if everyone were prepared and ready to go, no one would get left behind. When the marching orders were given, they would march out of Egypt and toward freedom together.
We know that death came to Egypt that night. The tenth plague was death to all the first born. If we read further into chapter twelve, we see that, “At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone who had died. Then Pharoah summoned Moses and Aaron in the middle of the night and said, “Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord, as you said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone. And ask a blessing for me, too!”
God, through Pharoah, said, “Go!” and the Israelites, because they had followed God’s instructions given through Moses, were ready, and they went. They left the land of Egypt and were well on their way before Pharoah once again changed his mind and sent the troops after them.
When we are getting ready for a race, “Get Ready! Get Set! Go!” are all said together. There is usually no time between them, except for a breath. But when God knew the time was drawing near, he told the Israelites to “Get Ready!” and when the time was almost right for them to leave, he told them to “Get Set!” It was only when the time was perfectly right that God gave the command to “Go!” God’s timing is key to everything. Obedience to God’s commands is vital.
Where are we today in the realm of God’s warning to “Get Ready! Get Set! Go!”?
As soon as Adam and Eve ate that forbidden fruit and were expelled from the Garden because of their sin, God said, “Get Ready!” He already had a plan, and from the first bite that was taken, the time was already drawing near to putting that plan into action.
We have also been told to “Get Ready!” because the time is almost right. Jesus, the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, has come once. He came two thousand years ago, born as a little baby in a stable in Bethlehem. He called his disciples, he traveled throughout Israel, preaching, teaching, healing, and proclaiming the Good News that true freedom from every kind of oppression had come at last. He was loved, he was hated, he was arrested, beaten, crucified, and he died. He was laid in a tomb but was resurrected on the third day. He was seen by the women, by his disciples, by the crowd of 500, and by a man named Saul on the road to Damascus.
For the last two millennia, we have been in the “Get Set!” stage. All we are waiting for now is to hear the word “Go!” and we will, one day, when the time is perfectly right. We will all hear that one word that will move us from where we are here on earth to where we belong in heaven. One day we will either be called home or Jesus will return. Are we ready? Are we set? Are we prepared for “Go!”
The first thing we need to do to “Get Ready!” is to recognize who Jesus is, repent for our sins, ask forgiveness, and accept him as our Savior. What we need to do to “Get Set!” is to grow in our faith, becoming more like Jesus every day, finding ways to serve God by serving his people, sharing the gospel with others so they, too, can “Get Ready!” and “Get Set!”
All we have to do for “Go!” is wait patiently, because God alone knows when that will come, but we can be sure it will be when he is ready. He has warned us to be ready at all times, as we read in the Bible.
Matthew 24:42-44 says, “Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your
Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Mark 13:35-36 reads, “Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at the cockcrow or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.”
And finally, Luke writes in chapter 12, verses 35-36, “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.”
Are you ready? Are you set? We’re just waiting to hear God say, “Go!” It could be any day now. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, you prepared the Israelites for the time when you would bring them out of Egypt and out from under Pharoah’s rule. Now, you are preparing us for the day when you will call us to our heavenly home or send your Son in his second coming. We want to be ready, help us to be ready. If there are any here today who have not yet made the decision to accept your son, Jesus Christ as their Savior, may today be the day that they open their hearts and invite him in. For all who have done that, help us examine our lives and see where we may hear you calling us to serve you by serving others, maybe in places we haven’t before. Help us to share you by loving others and proclaiming the Good News of your gift of salvation through Jesus. Help us be ready, help us be set, so when you say “Go!” we will not hesitate. AMEN.
Series: A Wilderness Journey
Message: Get Ready
Scripture: Exodus 12:1-12
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn with fire. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord. 12 I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
Do you remember when you were a kid and you and your friends were all playing out in the backyard, and someone got the idea that you should see who could run the fastest? So, you all lined up and someone yelled, “Get Ready! Get Set!” and everyone would be tensed and waiting for the cry of “Go!” And there was always that one kid who would almost say “Go” but then not say it, and in anticipation, a couple of kids would start to take a few steps, and everyone would have to line up and the whole process would start all over again. The scripture lesson today is kind of like that, except there is no smart-aleck kid having a good time making everyone else have a false start. But God’s instructions to the Israelites was a lot like God telling them all to “Get Ready! Get Set! so they would be really ready when he told them to “Go!”
Moses had come to Egypt. God had overcome all of Moses’ objections as to why he should not be the one to go and rescue the Israelites from oppression, and so here he is. He’d been here for a little while and a pattern had developed. Moses would come before Pharoah and demand that Pharoah let the people go, Pharoah would deny the request, and God would send a plague of some sort on the Egyptians.
First all the water was turned to blood, then there came frogs, gnats, and flies in quick succession. Then the Egyptians’ livestock died. The sixth plague brought festering boils that broke out on both people and animals, the seventh was a storm of hail with fire in it that devastated the crops and killed anyone and anything that did not take shelter in time. Pharoah almost relented that time, but changed his mind at the last minute, going back on his word as soon as the hail had stopped.
When Moses next told Pharoah that if he didn’t let the people go God would send swarms of locusts to devour everything the hail didn’t destroy, Pharoah seemed to soften his stance - at first. He told them they could go, but when he found out they all wanted to go, and even take the children, Pharoah’s heart hardened once more, and he refused. So, the eighth plague was the swarms of locusts that blew in on the wind and covered everything, eating and devouring everything and anything that was left standing after the hailstorm.
Next came darkness. A darkness that was so deep and so complete that it could be felt. There was no light, none at all, for three days in all of Egypt – except for the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Over there it was bright in the daytime like always. This time Pharoah tried to bargain with Moses, saying he could take all the people but leave their livestock behind. When Moses refused to leave the livestock, Pharoah became angry and told Moses to get out and never come back. Moses obliged, but not before giving Pharoah one last warning of what was to come.
While all this is going on, God tells the Israelites to “Get Ready!” by instructing them to ask their neighbors for gold and silver, which they generously gave them. God also told Moses to warn Pharoah that God would soon go through the land of Egypt and the first born of every family would die, animals and people, from the lowliest peasant to the great Pharoah himself, every single family would feel the loss and suffer grief. But the whole of the nation of Israel would be spared. Not one of them would be lost.
Now, in today’s scripture reading we hear God tell his people to “Get Set!” as he gives them the instructions for the meal they are to eat, how they are to prepare the meal, how to eat the meal, and how to get themselves ready for what was coming.
The first thing each family needs to do is to go and choose the lamb that they will eat at just the right time. It must be perfect, without any flaws, a male that is one year old. The word used in the original language actually referred to any animal that came from a flock, so if the family couldn’t afford the lamb, they could choose a goat instead. The people were given very specific instructions on when to choose their animal, how long to wait to slaughter it, what time of day everyone would slaughter their lamb or their goat, and how to place some of its blood on the two door posts and the lintel over the door as a sign that this was a home belonging to one of God’s people. This sign would save them later when the angel of death came. This sign would tell the angel to pass over this house, do no harm here.
The people were instructed to eat the meat roasted, not boiled or raw, and they were to eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The bitter herbs would represent their bitter suffering under Egyptian oppression and the unleavened bread would remind them that there was no time to wait for the bread to rise – they had to be ready to go when the signal was given.
Verse twelve is key to the instructions to “Get Set!” because they are told to eat the meal with “your loins girded, your sandals on their feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord”
Haven’t we all had those times when the kids had to eat breakfast in the car on the way to school, or we ate lunch on our way to an appointment, or the family dinner consisted of food from a drive-thru as we hurried to get to the game on time? We know what it is like to eat on the run, but these Israelites hadn’t had to experience that before. If the word came to head out, God wanted them all to be ready to move immediately, no last-minute searching for a lost shoe, or misplaced socks, but ready to go at a moment’s notice.
In this way, if everyone were prepared and ready to go, no one would get left behind. When the marching orders were given, they would march out of Egypt and toward freedom together.
We know that death came to Egypt that night. The tenth plague was death to all the first born. If we read further into chapter twelve, we see that, “At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone who had died. Then Pharoah summoned Moses and Aaron in the middle of the night and said, “Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord, as you said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone. And ask a blessing for me, too!”
God, through Pharoah, said, “Go!” and the Israelites, because they had followed God’s instructions given through Moses, were ready, and they went. They left the land of Egypt and were well on their way before Pharoah once again changed his mind and sent the troops after them.
When we are getting ready for a race, “Get Ready! Get Set! Go!” are all said together. There is usually no time between them, except for a breath. But when God knew the time was drawing near, he told the Israelites to “Get Ready!” and when the time was almost right for them to leave, he told them to “Get Set!” It was only when the time was perfectly right that God gave the command to “Go!” God’s timing is key to everything. Obedience to God’s commands is vital.
Where are we today in the realm of God’s warning to “Get Ready! Get Set! Go!”?
As soon as Adam and Eve ate that forbidden fruit and were expelled from the Garden because of their sin, God said, “Get Ready!” He already had a plan, and from the first bite that was taken, the time was already drawing near to putting that plan into action.
We have also been told to “Get Ready!” because the time is almost right. Jesus, the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, has come once. He came two thousand years ago, born as a little baby in a stable in Bethlehem. He called his disciples, he traveled throughout Israel, preaching, teaching, healing, and proclaiming the Good News that true freedom from every kind of oppression had come at last. He was loved, he was hated, he was arrested, beaten, crucified, and he died. He was laid in a tomb but was resurrected on the third day. He was seen by the women, by his disciples, by the crowd of 500, and by a man named Saul on the road to Damascus.
For the last two millennia, we have been in the “Get Set!” stage. All we are waiting for now is to hear the word “Go!” and we will, one day, when the time is perfectly right. We will all hear that one word that will move us from where we are here on earth to where we belong in heaven. One day we will either be called home or Jesus will return. Are we ready? Are we set? Are we prepared for “Go!”
The first thing we need to do to “Get Ready!” is to recognize who Jesus is, repent for our sins, ask forgiveness, and accept him as our Savior. What we need to do to “Get Set!” is to grow in our faith, becoming more like Jesus every day, finding ways to serve God by serving his people, sharing the gospel with others so they, too, can “Get Ready!” and “Get Set!”
All we have to do for “Go!” is wait patiently, because God alone knows when that will come, but we can be sure it will be when he is ready. He has warned us to be ready at all times, as we read in the Bible.
Matthew 24:42-44 says, “Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your
Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Mark 13:35-36 reads, “Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at the cockcrow or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.”
And finally, Luke writes in chapter 12, verses 35-36, “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.”
Are you ready? Are you set? We’re just waiting to hear God say, “Go!” It could be any day now. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, you prepared the Israelites for the time when you would bring them out of Egypt and out from under Pharoah’s rule. Now, you are preparing us for the day when you will call us to our heavenly home or send your Son in his second coming. We want to be ready, help us to be ready. If there are any here today who have not yet made the decision to accept your son, Jesus Christ as their Savior, may today be the day that they open their hearts and invite him in. For all who have done that, help us examine our lives and see where we may hear you calling us to serve you by serving others, maybe in places we haven’t before. Help us to share you by loving others and proclaiming the Good News of your gift of salvation through Jesus. Help us be ready, help us be set, so when you say “Go!” we will not hesitate. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY september 3, 2023. WE continued A SERIES TITLED "A WILDERNESS JOURNEY" AND TODAY THE SERMON WAS CALLED "Trust the Navigator".
September 3, 2023
Series: A Wilderness Journey
Message: Trust the Navigator
Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15 (Matthew 16:21-28)
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:
This is my name forever,
and this my title for all generations.
This week we are talking about trust. Who do we trust and how do we know they can be trusted? In today’s scripture reading, Moses met God in a burning bush and was asked to do something almost unthinkable. “Trust me,” God said to Moses, but how could Moses put his trust in someone he could not see and whose name he did not know? It is a question Moses had to answer for himself, and one we must answer for ourselves, too.
In 1888, at just twenty-five years old, Campbell Morgan was one of a group of 150 young men who were seeking entrance into the Wesleyan ministry. He had passed his doctrinal exams and it came time for him to give his trial sermon. This took place in a cavernous auditorium which could hold over one thousand people. In attendance that day were the three ministers who were grading him and about seventy-five spectators.
As Morgan stepped up to the pulpit and looked around, all he could see was the vast room, the people waiting expectantly to hear his message, and the three pairs of eyes looking at him critically, ready to weigh in on his future, and he choked. He could not deliver his sermon as he had practiced, it went all wrong. It was no surprise to Morgan when, two weeks later, his name was posted, along with 104 others, on the “Rejected” list.
Heart-broken, Morgan wired the results to his father, writing only “Rejected,” and nothing more. In his diary, though, he wrote, “Very dark everything seems. Still, He knoweth best.” It wasn’t long before Morgan received a reply from his father by wire. It, too was brief, reading “Rejected on earth. Accepted in heaven. Dad”
What an encouragement! What a way to put things into their proper perspective. This father knew that being accepted in heaven was way more important than being accepted on earth by human measurements and standards. This was the kind of encouragement Moses needed because he wasn’t feeling too sure of himself after what he had done in his life.
Here he was, having been brought up in the royal palace as the son of Pharoah’s daughter, yet always knowing that he was a Hebrew by birth. The first time he tried to fit in with his Hebrew people he defended one who was being abused by and Egyptian and he killed the Egyptian. He didn’t think anyone had noticed, but shortly after that incident, he discovered that just about everyone knew! So, he fled from Egypt, running for his life. From a member of the royal household to a fugitive in the blink of an eye.
Moses would go on to make a life for himself, in spite of his previous actions. He came to the land of Midian, defended the seven daughters of the priest of Midian from some shepherds who were not playing too nice, and ended up marrying one of those women, Zipporah. They had a family, and Moses went to work for his father-in-law by tending his sheep. Life was comfortable enough, until one day something extraordinary happened.
Moses was tending the sheep and came to Mt Horeb, the mountain of God, and as he was walking along, something caught his eye – a flicker, a flame, a burning bush. But wait, no, there was fire in the bush, but the bush wasn’t burning. I love the calm way Moses is portrayed as saying to himself, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” I think my response would have been more along the lines of “Holy cow! I’ve gotta go see what is going on over here – the bush is ON FIRE! But it isn’t burning up! What is going on! And let me get a picture of this because no one is going to believe me when I tell them!”
Regardless of his reaction, Moses did go closer to check out the burning bush that was on fire but not actually burning. And as he drew closer, he heard his name called out, “Moses, Moses!” and he replied, “Here I am.” Then the voice told him not to come any closer and to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. Moses knew he was in the presence of God, even before God introduced himself, saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And in fear and reverence of God, Moses hid his face.
What Moses heard next must have astounded him. God told Moses that he had heard the cries of the Israelite people and the time had come to set them free from the cruel oppression of the Egyptians. And God had chosen Moses to be the one to lead them out of Egypt and into the land that had been promised to them since Abraham was called to leave his family and travel to an unknown destination hundreds of years ago. Can you imagine Moses’ reaction to that announcement? “Who, me? Why me? Do you know who you are talking to, here? I’m not anyone special, I had to flee from Egypt for committing a capital crime, and now you want me to go back?”
How would you respond if God suddenly showed up and said, “I have a job for you.” I am pretty sure most of us would respond I the same way Moses did. We would think God got the wrong person, that surly he couldn’t mean me. I know that is how I felt for quite a long while as I was realizing God was calling me into pastoral ministry. “Who, me? I think you have the wrong person. I don’t think you really meant to call me into ministry and lead your people in a church. Do you know who I am?”
Of course, God knows who I am. And he knows who you are, too, just as he knew who Moses was. God knew all about Moses. He knew about his past, he knew about his speech problem, he knew everything there was to know about Moses. And he called him anyway. Because God knows exactly what he is doing. He doesn’t make mistakes. Never has God called someone to serve him and then said, “Oops, my bad. I meant that for the other guy.” God calls who he calls because he has a plan and a purpose for that person for that particular calling.
We know that Moses raised several objections, though. He spit and sputtered for a while, throwing out reasons why this wasn’t a good idea, why God should find someone else. God overcame every single one of Moses’ objections, though. “I’m no one, I can’t be effective.” And God said, “I will be with you.” Moses then claimed the Israelites wouldn’t believe him and God said, “Tel them I AM has sent you.” Moses then complained that he couldn’t speak well so he shouldn’t try, but God gave him his brother Aaron to speak for him. God can be persistent, can’t he?
God had an answer for every one of Moses’ objections. What he was effectively saying to Moses was “Trust me. Trust me to guide you. Trust me to give you the words to say and when to say them. Trust me to protect you from the Israelite nay-sayers and the Egyptian police force. Trust me in everything.”
God was not asking Moses to go and try to rescue God’s people on his own. God was willing to be with him the whole time. He never told Moses to go do this and meet me back here, he said, “Let’s go together.” God is the navigator to this whole escape plan. You know the job of the navigator, right? The navigator is the one who sits beside the driver and gives directions. It is the responsibility of the navigator to make sure the driver reaches the destination intact and on time. The navigator must know how to give good instructions by communicating clearly, and they must be trustworthy, so the driver will turn when he is told to turn and take the road she is told to take.
God is the navigator. He was willing to guide Moses through the plan he had laid out to rescue his people and bring them to a better life in a beautiful land. God is also our navigator. He is willing to guide us and protect us wherever he calls us to go in the plans he has made for us. We must learn to trust him and follow him willingly, knowing that he will not take us in the wrong direction.
One day, recently, when I was going to visit someone at their home, I put their address in my GPS and that thing took me to the wrong place. It took me int a housing subdivision and as I was driving around trying to figure out where I was really supposed to be, I passed some guy mowing his yard. I passed him a couple of times. He started waving at me as I drove by. The GPS on my phone is usually accurate, though clearly not 100% accurate, yet I still use it. I still trust that it will get me to where I need to go, 99% of the time. God is wat more trustworthy than a 99% accurate GPS system.
God is 100% accurate and 100% trustworthy. If we answer his call, we can be sure, absolutely sure, that he will give us what we need when we need it, and he will take us to the right place at just the right time, every single time.
Up until the day Moses saw that burning bush, he was no one special. He was a Hebrew raised as and Egyptian. He was a murderer on the lamb. He was a simple shepherd of a flock that didn’t even belong to him. But God saw him in a different light. God saw Moses’ potential. God knew Moses could be trusted and that Moses would learn to trust God. And because Moses made the decision to trust the Navigator, he became the man God knew he could be. He was the one who led his people out of Egypt, through the sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. He brought them to the brink of the Promised Land because he trusted God and let God lead the way.
If you think about it, so many of the heroes of our faith were just ordinary men and women, all of them flawed in one way or another, whom God saw in a different light. They answered God’s call and affected the lives of generation and after generation of people – Jews and now Christians, too. If we broke down the attributes of some of these people, we would find that:
Noah was a drunk.
Abraham was too old.
Isaac was a daydreamer.
Jacob was a liar.
Joseph was abused.
Moses had a stuttering problem.
Gideon was afraid.
Sampson was a womanizer.
Rahab was a prostitute.
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young.
David had an affair and was a murderer.
Elijah was suicidal.
Jonah ran from God.
Naomi was a widow.
Job went bankrupt.
John the Baptist ate bugs.
Peter denied Christ.
The Disciples fell asleep while praying.
Martha worried about everything.
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once.
Zaccheus was too small.
Where would we be today if it weren’t for these people? And how many people can say the same thing about that rejected student from so long ago? He may have been rejected that day, but as his father reminded him, he was accepted in heaven. Campbell Morgan would later write in his diary, "God said to me, in the weeks of loneliness and darkness that followed, ’I want you to cease making plans for yourself and let Me plan your life.’"
Morgan learned to trust his Navigator. He went on to become a great British evangelist, a preacher, a revered Bible teacher, and a prolific writer. Once he learned to trust God instead of himself, once he let God show him the plan God had for him, Morgan would affect the lives of countless thousands of people in England and here in the States.
What is God calling you to do that you thought you couldn’t possibly do? Maybe it’s time to put your trust in the Navigator, knowing that He is fully trustworthy and that if God is calling you to it, he will be with you all the way through it. That doesn’t mean it won’t be difficult, but it does mean that he will give you the strength to not only endure, but to do exceedingly good for his people, for his kingdom, and for his glory. AMEN.
Gracious God, you know our hearts better than we do. You call each of us to and for a purpose, yet sometimes all we give you is our list of objections. Thank you for reminding us that the heroes of our faith were just normal, ordinary people who responded to your call and allowed you to lead them and empower them for the work you laid out for them. Help us to be more open to hearing you and trusting you, knowing that your guidance will never lead us astray, that you are 100% trustworthy at all times and in all things. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83715/the-next-time-you-feel-god-can-39-t-use-you-by-dr-larry-petton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Campbell_Morgan
Series: A Wilderness Journey
Message: Trust the Navigator
Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15 (Matthew 16:21-28)
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:
This is my name forever,
and this my title for all generations.
This week we are talking about trust. Who do we trust and how do we know they can be trusted? In today’s scripture reading, Moses met God in a burning bush and was asked to do something almost unthinkable. “Trust me,” God said to Moses, but how could Moses put his trust in someone he could not see and whose name he did not know? It is a question Moses had to answer for himself, and one we must answer for ourselves, too.
In 1888, at just twenty-five years old, Campbell Morgan was one of a group of 150 young men who were seeking entrance into the Wesleyan ministry. He had passed his doctrinal exams and it came time for him to give his trial sermon. This took place in a cavernous auditorium which could hold over one thousand people. In attendance that day were the three ministers who were grading him and about seventy-five spectators.
As Morgan stepped up to the pulpit and looked around, all he could see was the vast room, the people waiting expectantly to hear his message, and the three pairs of eyes looking at him critically, ready to weigh in on his future, and he choked. He could not deliver his sermon as he had practiced, it went all wrong. It was no surprise to Morgan when, two weeks later, his name was posted, along with 104 others, on the “Rejected” list.
Heart-broken, Morgan wired the results to his father, writing only “Rejected,” and nothing more. In his diary, though, he wrote, “Very dark everything seems. Still, He knoweth best.” It wasn’t long before Morgan received a reply from his father by wire. It, too was brief, reading “Rejected on earth. Accepted in heaven. Dad”
What an encouragement! What a way to put things into their proper perspective. This father knew that being accepted in heaven was way more important than being accepted on earth by human measurements and standards. This was the kind of encouragement Moses needed because he wasn’t feeling too sure of himself after what he had done in his life.
Here he was, having been brought up in the royal palace as the son of Pharoah’s daughter, yet always knowing that he was a Hebrew by birth. The first time he tried to fit in with his Hebrew people he defended one who was being abused by and Egyptian and he killed the Egyptian. He didn’t think anyone had noticed, but shortly after that incident, he discovered that just about everyone knew! So, he fled from Egypt, running for his life. From a member of the royal household to a fugitive in the blink of an eye.
Moses would go on to make a life for himself, in spite of his previous actions. He came to the land of Midian, defended the seven daughters of the priest of Midian from some shepherds who were not playing too nice, and ended up marrying one of those women, Zipporah. They had a family, and Moses went to work for his father-in-law by tending his sheep. Life was comfortable enough, until one day something extraordinary happened.
Moses was tending the sheep and came to Mt Horeb, the mountain of God, and as he was walking along, something caught his eye – a flicker, a flame, a burning bush. But wait, no, there was fire in the bush, but the bush wasn’t burning. I love the calm way Moses is portrayed as saying to himself, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” I think my response would have been more along the lines of “Holy cow! I’ve gotta go see what is going on over here – the bush is ON FIRE! But it isn’t burning up! What is going on! And let me get a picture of this because no one is going to believe me when I tell them!”
Regardless of his reaction, Moses did go closer to check out the burning bush that was on fire but not actually burning. And as he drew closer, he heard his name called out, “Moses, Moses!” and he replied, “Here I am.” Then the voice told him not to come any closer and to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. Moses knew he was in the presence of God, even before God introduced himself, saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And in fear and reverence of God, Moses hid his face.
What Moses heard next must have astounded him. God told Moses that he had heard the cries of the Israelite people and the time had come to set them free from the cruel oppression of the Egyptians. And God had chosen Moses to be the one to lead them out of Egypt and into the land that had been promised to them since Abraham was called to leave his family and travel to an unknown destination hundreds of years ago. Can you imagine Moses’ reaction to that announcement? “Who, me? Why me? Do you know who you are talking to, here? I’m not anyone special, I had to flee from Egypt for committing a capital crime, and now you want me to go back?”
How would you respond if God suddenly showed up and said, “I have a job for you.” I am pretty sure most of us would respond I the same way Moses did. We would think God got the wrong person, that surly he couldn’t mean me. I know that is how I felt for quite a long while as I was realizing God was calling me into pastoral ministry. “Who, me? I think you have the wrong person. I don’t think you really meant to call me into ministry and lead your people in a church. Do you know who I am?”
Of course, God knows who I am. And he knows who you are, too, just as he knew who Moses was. God knew all about Moses. He knew about his past, he knew about his speech problem, he knew everything there was to know about Moses. And he called him anyway. Because God knows exactly what he is doing. He doesn’t make mistakes. Never has God called someone to serve him and then said, “Oops, my bad. I meant that for the other guy.” God calls who he calls because he has a plan and a purpose for that person for that particular calling.
We know that Moses raised several objections, though. He spit and sputtered for a while, throwing out reasons why this wasn’t a good idea, why God should find someone else. God overcame every single one of Moses’ objections, though. “I’m no one, I can’t be effective.” And God said, “I will be with you.” Moses then claimed the Israelites wouldn’t believe him and God said, “Tel them I AM has sent you.” Moses then complained that he couldn’t speak well so he shouldn’t try, but God gave him his brother Aaron to speak for him. God can be persistent, can’t he?
God had an answer for every one of Moses’ objections. What he was effectively saying to Moses was “Trust me. Trust me to guide you. Trust me to give you the words to say and when to say them. Trust me to protect you from the Israelite nay-sayers and the Egyptian police force. Trust me in everything.”
God was not asking Moses to go and try to rescue God’s people on his own. God was willing to be with him the whole time. He never told Moses to go do this and meet me back here, he said, “Let’s go together.” God is the navigator to this whole escape plan. You know the job of the navigator, right? The navigator is the one who sits beside the driver and gives directions. It is the responsibility of the navigator to make sure the driver reaches the destination intact and on time. The navigator must know how to give good instructions by communicating clearly, and they must be trustworthy, so the driver will turn when he is told to turn and take the road she is told to take.
God is the navigator. He was willing to guide Moses through the plan he had laid out to rescue his people and bring them to a better life in a beautiful land. God is also our navigator. He is willing to guide us and protect us wherever he calls us to go in the plans he has made for us. We must learn to trust him and follow him willingly, knowing that he will not take us in the wrong direction.
One day, recently, when I was going to visit someone at their home, I put their address in my GPS and that thing took me to the wrong place. It took me int a housing subdivision and as I was driving around trying to figure out where I was really supposed to be, I passed some guy mowing his yard. I passed him a couple of times. He started waving at me as I drove by. The GPS on my phone is usually accurate, though clearly not 100% accurate, yet I still use it. I still trust that it will get me to where I need to go, 99% of the time. God is wat more trustworthy than a 99% accurate GPS system.
God is 100% accurate and 100% trustworthy. If we answer his call, we can be sure, absolutely sure, that he will give us what we need when we need it, and he will take us to the right place at just the right time, every single time.
Up until the day Moses saw that burning bush, he was no one special. He was a Hebrew raised as and Egyptian. He was a murderer on the lamb. He was a simple shepherd of a flock that didn’t even belong to him. But God saw him in a different light. God saw Moses’ potential. God knew Moses could be trusted and that Moses would learn to trust God. And because Moses made the decision to trust the Navigator, he became the man God knew he could be. He was the one who led his people out of Egypt, through the sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. He brought them to the brink of the Promised Land because he trusted God and let God lead the way.
If you think about it, so many of the heroes of our faith were just ordinary men and women, all of them flawed in one way or another, whom God saw in a different light. They answered God’s call and affected the lives of generation and after generation of people – Jews and now Christians, too. If we broke down the attributes of some of these people, we would find that:
Noah was a drunk.
Abraham was too old.
Isaac was a daydreamer.
Jacob was a liar.
Joseph was abused.
Moses had a stuttering problem.
Gideon was afraid.
Sampson was a womanizer.
Rahab was a prostitute.
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young.
David had an affair and was a murderer.
Elijah was suicidal.
Jonah ran from God.
Naomi was a widow.
Job went bankrupt.
John the Baptist ate bugs.
Peter denied Christ.
The Disciples fell asleep while praying.
Martha worried about everything.
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once.
Zaccheus was too small.
Where would we be today if it weren’t for these people? And how many people can say the same thing about that rejected student from so long ago? He may have been rejected that day, but as his father reminded him, he was accepted in heaven. Campbell Morgan would later write in his diary, "God said to me, in the weeks of loneliness and darkness that followed, ’I want you to cease making plans for yourself and let Me plan your life.’"
Morgan learned to trust his Navigator. He went on to become a great British evangelist, a preacher, a revered Bible teacher, and a prolific writer. Once he learned to trust God instead of himself, once he let God show him the plan God had for him, Morgan would affect the lives of countless thousands of people in England and here in the States.
What is God calling you to do that you thought you couldn’t possibly do? Maybe it’s time to put your trust in the Navigator, knowing that He is fully trustworthy and that if God is calling you to it, he will be with you all the way through it. That doesn’t mean it won’t be difficult, but it does mean that he will give you the strength to not only endure, but to do exceedingly good for his people, for his kingdom, and for his glory. AMEN.
Gracious God, you know our hearts better than we do. You call each of us to and for a purpose, yet sometimes all we give you is our list of objections. Thank you for reminding us that the heroes of our faith were just normal, ordinary people who responded to your call and allowed you to lead them and empower them for the work you laid out for them. Help us to be more open to hearing you and trusting you, knowing that your guidance will never lead us astray, that you are 100% trustworthy at all times and in all things. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83715/the-next-time-you-feel-god-can-39-t-use-you-by-dr-larry-petton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Campbell_Morgan
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY AUGUST 27, 2023. we began a new SERIES TITLED "A Wilderness Journey" and today the sermon was CALLED "And so it begins".
August 27, 2023
Series: A Wilderness Journey
Message: And So It Begins
Scripture: Exodus 1:8-2:10 (Matthew 16:13-20)
Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13 The Egyptians subjected the Israelites to hard servitude 14 and made their lives bitter with hard servitude in mortar and bricks and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews[a] you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4 His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So, the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So, the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
How do you prepare for a trip? You make a plan, you make reservations, you pack, and research your destination. In other words, when we travel, we like to see the end even before we have begun. What if you couldn’t? What if you had to simply go when you were told to go, and you didn’t know where you were going or how long it would take to get there?
That’s how it was for the Israelites. They had lived for four hundred years in Egypt, the generation who lived there now had never known anything but slavery to the Egyptians, but they had the promise that one day they would be free. That day was coming and when it did, they would have to put their trust in God and follow where he led them because they had no direction other than that. They left Egypt not knowing what their next step would bring them; they would have to put their trust in the One who would direct their steps.
But God had a plan. God knew when he would send the one who would deliver his people from bondage and lead them to the Promised Land. The journey didn’t begin when the people packed up their stuff and headed out, it began long before that. Today, we are jumping into the part of the plan when God’s designated leader was born.
Our series is called “A Wilderness Journey,” and the title for today’s message is “And so it Begins,” but we could really go all the way back to the real beginning, the time when God created all things, separating the earth from the heavens, light from dark, land from sea. Back to when God created Adam and even then, already knew what would happen, how humans would sin, how they would worship him one day and turn away from him the next, and how he would send someone to save them over and over. Yes, all the way back, even then, God was already setting this time into motion when his people would be held in bondage in Egypt and God himself would raise up a man named Moses to rescue them when the time was right.
We know how the story goes. How Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, how God warned Pharoah of the coming famine, how Joseph proposed the plan that would save the Egyptians and eventually would save his own family from starvation. Because Joseph was faithful to God and served Pharoah honestly, he became second in the nation in rank and power. Joseph was well known, well respected, and well-loved in his time and likely for a few generations after, but that was then, and this is a new day, a new generation, a new ruler in Egypt who didn’t know Jospeh.
This new Pharoah looked over his land and saw the increasing size and strength of the Hebrews and decided they were a threat that needed to be taken care of before they got out of hand. So, he devised a plan to press them into slavery. The Egyptians oppressed the Hebrews with forced labor, making them build supply cities, assigning them the work of making bricks or working in the fields. The Egyptians made the Hebrew’s lives hard and bitter, treating them ruthlessly as they imposed heavy workloads on them.
Pharoah’s plan backfired, though, because the more the Hebrews were oppressed, the more they multiplied. God strengthened them physically to withstand the work they were made to do, and he strengthened them as a nation to grow and multiply for what lay ahead. I’m sure it didn’t feel like it to the Hebrew people, but God was already preparing them for what he had planned for them.
When Pharoah saw that oppressing the Hebrews wasn’t working, he devised another plan. He called the two Hebrew midwives in and commanded them that whenever they delivered a boy child, they should kill him, but they could let the girl babies live. That didn’t sit well with those two devout midwives. Their job was to minister life, not deliver death. We are told that Shiphrah and Puah feared God more than they feared Pharoah, and so they did not obey Pharoah’s command.
When we see that the midwives feared God, we have to know that this word for fear was not the same word as we know it today. That they “feared” God means they reverenced God, they worshiped God, they were in awe of God. They rightly feared the Egyptian king who could do them harm, but that was not the same kind of fear they felt for God.
Their relationship with God gave them the strength and the determination to disobey Pharoah; they let all the babies live, boys and girls. Of course, this news got back to Pharoah, and he called them in again, demanding an explanation. The midwives were quick to use the Egyptians’ prejudices against them by saying, “The Hebrew women are more vigorous than the Egyptian women and by the time we get to them, they have already delivered their babies on their own.”
It took a lot of courage for these two women to stand up to Pharoah like that, and for their courage and their obedience to God, they were rewarded by God who gave them families of their own. Pharoah then devised another plan – inciting his people to do what the midwives would not. Again, the Egyptian king’s evil plans would not succeed.
Sometime later, a Hebrew couple had a son. When his mother looked at him, she was filled with love and she hid him for three months, to keep him safe. The time came, however, when she knew he could no longer be kept hidden and so she devised a plan of her own. She got a basket, made it waterproof, placed the baby boy inside and put the basket in the Nile River, among the reeds. This was no random place she put him, either, because everyone would have known where Pharoah’s daughter regularly went to bathe.
This mother placed her precious son in a basket and put him in a place where it was highly likely that he would be found, and she stationed her daughter to watch over him from a safe distance away. When the princess did come to bathe, as planned, she saw the basket in the reeds and sent her maid to see what it was. Opening the basket, she saw the three-month old baby, crying, and she felt pity for him, and although she knew he was one of the Hebrew babies, her heart was softened. She adopted the baby, and she paid the baby’s mother to nurse him until he was old enough to come live with her in the palace.
Isn’t it amazing how God works? Where in all of Egypt could a boy Hebrew baby be safe except in the very palace of the king who had ordered his death? When we read this passage and ponder on how God works, we can only shake our heads in wonder and amazement.
Of course, it was no accident that any of this happened. It took Pharoah’s harsh oppression to increase the number of Israelites in his kingdom – not what he had wanted, but it was God’s plan. Then, Pharoah ordered that the boy babies be killed, but God had another plan. It was not coincidence that a boy baby, a particular boy baby was born and placed in the Nile at the right time to be found and rescued by the princess, but it was God’s plan. Pharaoh would have never consented, on his own, to having one of the Hebrew boys grow up in his palace, a member of his family, but God planned it that way. This is Moses, the rescued boy-child, the Hebrew adopted by the royal family, the future liberator of an entire nation.
The Israelites had lived in Egypt for a few hundred years, but so it begins – their time of oppression, and their time of freedom. The time was fast approaching when God’s people would be told to pack up and leave, when they would follow this one man chosen by God to lead them out from captivity and into the land that God wanted to give them.
They wouldn’t have reservations, they didn’t have a map, they couldn’t take all their belongings, they just had to grab what they could and get out. Their journey to freedom was just beginning – and yet it had already begun. Every day that came before this day was a day that brought them closer to now.
The journey that was looming in their future had actually begun when there was a garden created in a place called Eden,
it had begun when Joseph was sent to Egypt,
it had begun when a famine brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt to buy food,
it had begun the moment Pharoah forced the Hebrews into slavery,
it had begun the day a Hebrew boy-child was born,
it had begun when he was placed in a basket, put in the river, found by a princess, and brought into her household to be raised as her son.
The same can be said for our journey through life. Not because we are Israelites, but because we can know and have a relationship with God because of them. Every step they took, up the hills, down the valleys, and through the sea, in the days they were faithful, and in the days when they were not, they were marching closer to where we are today. Their steps teach us, their struggles strengthen us and give us hope, their steps came before ours and yet are a part of us.
“And so it begins” can mean the beginning of the Hebrew nation’s oppression in Egypt, it can mean their journey to freedom, and it can mean the journey of Jesus to the cross. Just as God already had put his plan for these people in place in the beginning, he also put his plan for Jesus to be born, crucified, and resurrected into motion at the same time. He knew that his people would need a Savior, he knew he would send his Son to be that Savior. God knew that his own people would reject him, and that through that rejection, the door would be open for all people to come to him by way of Jesus.
We are all traveling together to the same destination. Some have been walking this trail longer than others, but we all have one thing in common – each day’s steps start new, but they also include yesterday’s steps, too. We are not treading a new path; we are walking in the footsteps of all the saints who have walked before us.
The Israelites would soon take steps in a new direction, called by God to follow him by following Moses. With a holy cloud in front of them by day and a pillar of fire by night, they walked in the right paths, but when they took their eyes off God in the cloud and in the fire, they stumbled, sometimes they fell. We can learn from them. Keep our eyes up and ahead, follow the One who calls to us, and stay on the path together.
Pastor Dale Pilgrim, from the Salvation Army Church, reminds us that “Life is a journey, a journey toward God, toward Home, toward Heaven. If we’re not focused on that, life is just one long, bumpy ride to nowhere.” Oh, but if we keep our focus on our destination, and especially on the One who calls us to follow him, we can say, every day, “And so it begins, and so it has already begun, thanks be to God for the steps we take and the steps that were taken before us, may God always guide our steps.” AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful God, today is no surprise to you. That we are here in this place on this day does not surprise you. You have planned our path and you call us to walk it toward you, always toward you. Thank you, Lord, for those who have walked this path before us, the ones who have shown us how to follow your direction, how to listen for your voice, how to keep our eyes fixed on you. Help us to do the same for one another, now. And, as each day dawns, let us remember to say, “And so it begins,” even as we recognize we have already begun this journey through the saints who came before us, and we are clearing the same paths for those who come after us, keeping our eyes and our hearts fixed on you. AMEN.
Series: A Wilderness Journey
Message: And So It Begins
Scripture: Exodus 1:8-2:10 (Matthew 16:13-20)
Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13 The Egyptians subjected the Israelites to hard servitude 14 and made their lives bitter with hard servitude in mortar and bricks and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews[a] you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4 His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So, the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So, the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
How do you prepare for a trip? You make a plan, you make reservations, you pack, and research your destination. In other words, when we travel, we like to see the end even before we have begun. What if you couldn’t? What if you had to simply go when you were told to go, and you didn’t know where you were going or how long it would take to get there?
That’s how it was for the Israelites. They had lived for four hundred years in Egypt, the generation who lived there now had never known anything but slavery to the Egyptians, but they had the promise that one day they would be free. That day was coming and when it did, they would have to put their trust in God and follow where he led them because they had no direction other than that. They left Egypt not knowing what their next step would bring them; they would have to put their trust in the One who would direct their steps.
But God had a plan. God knew when he would send the one who would deliver his people from bondage and lead them to the Promised Land. The journey didn’t begin when the people packed up their stuff and headed out, it began long before that. Today, we are jumping into the part of the plan when God’s designated leader was born.
Our series is called “A Wilderness Journey,” and the title for today’s message is “And so it Begins,” but we could really go all the way back to the real beginning, the time when God created all things, separating the earth from the heavens, light from dark, land from sea. Back to when God created Adam and even then, already knew what would happen, how humans would sin, how they would worship him one day and turn away from him the next, and how he would send someone to save them over and over. Yes, all the way back, even then, God was already setting this time into motion when his people would be held in bondage in Egypt and God himself would raise up a man named Moses to rescue them when the time was right.
We know how the story goes. How Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, how God warned Pharoah of the coming famine, how Joseph proposed the plan that would save the Egyptians and eventually would save his own family from starvation. Because Joseph was faithful to God and served Pharoah honestly, he became second in the nation in rank and power. Joseph was well known, well respected, and well-loved in his time and likely for a few generations after, but that was then, and this is a new day, a new generation, a new ruler in Egypt who didn’t know Jospeh.
This new Pharoah looked over his land and saw the increasing size and strength of the Hebrews and decided they were a threat that needed to be taken care of before they got out of hand. So, he devised a plan to press them into slavery. The Egyptians oppressed the Hebrews with forced labor, making them build supply cities, assigning them the work of making bricks or working in the fields. The Egyptians made the Hebrew’s lives hard and bitter, treating them ruthlessly as they imposed heavy workloads on them.
Pharoah’s plan backfired, though, because the more the Hebrews were oppressed, the more they multiplied. God strengthened them physically to withstand the work they were made to do, and he strengthened them as a nation to grow and multiply for what lay ahead. I’m sure it didn’t feel like it to the Hebrew people, but God was already preparing them for what he had planned for them.
When Pharoah saw that oppressing the Hebrews wasn’t working, he devised another plan. He called the two Hebrew midwives in and commanded them that whenever they delivered a boy child, they should kill him, but they could let the girl babies live. That didn’t sit well with those two devout midwives. Their job was to minister life, not deliver death. We are told that Shiphrah and Puah feared God more than they feared Pharoah, and so they did not obey Pharoah’s command.
When we see that the midwives feared God, we have to know that this word for fear was not the same word as we know it today. That they “feared” God means they reverenced God, they worshiped God, they were in awe of God. They rightly feared the Egyptian king who could do them harm, but that was not the same kind of fear they felt for God.
Their relationship with God gave them the strength and the determination to disobey Pharoah; they let all the babies live, boys and girls. Of course, this news got back to Pharoah, and he called them in again, demanding an explanation. The midwives were quick to use the Egyptians’ prejudices against them by saying, “The Hebrew women are more vigorous than the Egyptian women and by the time we get to them, they have already delivered their babies on their own.”
It took a lot of courage for these two women to stand up to Pharoah like that, and for their courage and their obedience to God, they were rewarded by God who gave them families of their own. Pharoah then devised another plan – inciting his people to do what the midwives would not. Again, the Egyptian king’s evil plans would not succeed.
Sometime later, a Hebrew couple had a son. When his mother looked at him, she was filled with love and she hid him for three months, to keep him safe. The time came, however, when she knew he could no longer be kept hidden and so she devised a plan of her own. She got a basket, made it waterproof, placed the baby boy inside and put the basket in the Nile River, among the reeds. This was no random place she put him, either, because everyone would have known where Pharoah’s daughter regularly went to bathe.
This mother placed her precious son in a basket and put him in a place where it was highly likely that he would be found, and she stationed her daughter to watch over him from a safe distance away. When the princess did come to bathe, as planned, she saw the basket in the reeds and sent her maid to see what it was. Opening the basket, she saw the three-month old baby, crying, and she felt pity for him, and although she knew he was one of the Hebrew babies, her heart was softened. She adopted the baby, and she paid the baby’s mother to nurse him until he was old enough to come live with her in the palace.
Isn’t it amazing how God works? Where in all of Egypt could a boy Hebrew baby be safe except in the very palace of the king who had ordered his death? When we read this passage and ponder on how God works, we can only shake our heads in wonder and amazement.
Of course, it was no accident that any of this happened. It took Pharoah’s harsh oppression to increase the number of Israelites in his kingdom – not what he had wanted, but it was God’s plan. Then, Pharoah ordered that the boy babies be killed, but God had another plan. It was not coincidence that a boy baby, a particular boy baby was born and placed in the Nile at the right time to be found and rescued by the princess, but it was God’s plan. Pharaoh would have never consented, on his own, to having one of the Hebrew boys grow up in his palace, a member of his family, but God planned it that way. This is Moses, the rescued boy-child, the Hebrew adopted by the royal family, the future liberator of an entire nation.
The Israelites had lived in Egypt for a few hundred years, but so it begins – their time of oppression, and their time of freedom. The time was fast approaching when God’s people would be told to pack up and leave, when they would follow this one man chosen by God to lead them out from captivity and into the land that God wanted to give them.
They wouldn’t have reservations, they didn’t have a map, they couldn’t take all their belongings, they just had to grab what they could and get out. Their journey to freedom was just beginning – and yet it had already begun. Every day that came before this day was a day that brought them closer to now.
The journey that was looming in their future had actually begun when there was a garden created in a place called Eden,
it had begun when Joseph was sent to Egypt,
it had begun when a famine brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt to buy food,
it had begun the moment Pharoah forced the Hebrews into slavery,
it had begun the day a Hebrew boy-child was born,
it had begun when he was placed in a basket, put in the river, found by a princess, and brought into her household to be raised as her son.
The same can be said for our journey through life. Not because we are Israelites, but because we can know and have a relationship with God because of them. Every step they took, up the hills, down the valleys, and through the sea, in the days they were faithful, and in the days when they were not, they were marching closer to where we are today. Their steps teach us, their struggles strengthen us and give us hope, their steps came before ours and yet are a part of us.
“And so it begins” can mean the beginning of the Hebrew nation’s oppression in Egypt, it can mean their journey to freedom, and it can mean the journey of Jesus to the cross. Just as God already had put his plan for these people in place in the beginning, he also put his plan for Jesus to be born, crucified, and resurrected into motion at the same time. He knew that his people would need a Savior, he knew he would send his Son to be that Savior. God knew that his own people would reject him, and that through that rejection, the door would be open for all people to come to him by way of Jesus.
We are all traveling together to the same destination. Some have been walking this trail longer than others, but we all have one thing in common – each day’s steps start new, but they also include yesterday’s steps, too. We are not treading a new path; we are walking in the footsteps of all the saints who have walked before us.
The Israelites would soon take steps in a new direction, called by God to follow him by following Moses. With a holy cloud in front of them by day and a pillar of fire by night, they walked in the right paths, but when they took their eyes off God in the cloud and in the fire, they stumbled, sometimes they fell. We can learn from them. Keep our eyes up and ahead, follow the One who calls to us, and stay on the path together.
Pastor Dale Pilgrim, from the Salvation Army Church, reminds us that “Life is a journey, a journey toward God, toward Home, toward Heaven. If we’re not focused on that, life is just one long, bumpy ride to nowhere.” Oh, but if we keep our focus on our destination, and especially on the One who calls us to follow him, we can say, every day, “And so it begins, and so it has already begun, thanks be to God for the steps we take and the steps that were taken before us, may God always guide our steps.” AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful God, today is no surprise to you. That we are here in this place on this day does not surprise you. You have planned our path and you call us to walk it toward you, always toward you. Thank you, Lord, for those who have walked this path before us, the ones who have shown us how to follow your direction, how to listen for your voice, how to keep our eyes fixed on you. Help us to do the same for one another, now. And, as each day dawns, let us remember to say, “And so it begins,” even as we recognize we have already begun this journey through the saints who came before us, and we are clearing the same paths for those who come after us, keeping our eyes and our hearts fixed on you. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY AUGUST 20, 2023, Completing THE SERIES TITLED "THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP" CALLED "The Heart of the matter".
August 20, 2023
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: The Heart of the Matter
Scripture: Matthew 15:10-20 (Ps 133, Gen 45:1-15)
Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Imagine you just got a phone call from a friend telling you they are going to be in your neighborhood and would like to stop by. You are excited to see this person and gladly tell them to come on over. What is the first thing you do when you hang up the phone? For most of us, the answer is to start cleaning up the house to get ready for our guest.
Is there dust on the end tables? Dishes in the sink? Are the bathrooms clean? Do I need to make my bed, or can I just close the door? It doesn’t matter how clean our house may be, when we know someone is coming over, the majority of people will do a double check to make sure they haven’t missed some nook or cranny.
Now, imagine if that friend that was coming over was Jesus. Even a spotless house might need a good look over before Jesus knocks on the door. We want to make a good presentation of how we live when we know Jesus is coming. We want to make everything clean and bright and perfect for him. That is what Jesus wants us to do, too. Only Jesus isn’t asking for a clean house, he wants a clean heart.
Let me give you a little back story on today’s scripture lesson. If we were to go back to the beginning of Matthew’s chapter, we would see an encounter between Jesus and a group of Pharisees and scribes. These men had traveled from Jerusalem specifically to find Jesus and confront him about some of the practices of his disciples. “Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat,” they accused.
These were men who were entrusted to make sure that the people followed the Law. They knew the Law of Moses better than anyone else and they also knew all the extra, additional, rules that had been added over the years to make sure people kept the Law. Washing hands before eating was one of those rules. It was meant to be a reminder that whatever the people ate should be clean, so that nothing defiled would enter their body. There was a similar rule about washing anything that came in contact with any food that someone was about to eat.
Now, washing your hands before eating is a good idea. Who knows how dirty our hands might be just in the normal course of going about the day? But a rule instituted by the religious leaders was different from a commandment instituted by God, and Jesus called them out on their own practices.
“Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your own tradition?” he asked them. What were they doing? They were putting their own tradition over the Law. The Law told them to honor their father and their mother, but the religious leaders created a loophole that allowed a son or daughter to promise their resources to “God,” meaning the religious authorities acting on behalf of God, and thus to circumvent the commandment. In effect, these leaders were elevating their selfish ideas over God’s law.
Jesus didn’t hold back what he thought of this practice, either. “So, for the sake of your tradition, you nullify the word of God. You hypocrites!” And then Jesus quoted Isaiah who had written, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrine.”
Oh, aren’t we good at that sometimes. We take something that God says and we turn it around to fit what we want. We put our own human thoughts and rules above the real commandments of God and nullify them to suit us in our particular situations. But God sees when we do this, even when we think no one knows, even when we try to convince ourselves that it won’t matter, it won’t really hurt anyone. God still sees and it hurts him.
That brings us to today’s scripture reading. After Jesus calls out the religious leaders, he turns to the crowd that is gathered around him and he says, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” That might have taken a moment to sink in – this teaching was contrary to what the religious leaders had been saying for years.
The disciples were shocked, for sure. And they were concerned for Jesus and how the religious leaders would take what he said. “Uh, Jesus, do you realize you just ticked off all these Pharisees by saying that?” And while scripture doesn’t say Jesus’ response was “Good!” I bet he was thinking it. “Good! Let them hear what I have to say, they need to listen up because their ignorance and pride have blinded them to the truth of what I am preaching and teaching. These men are meant to lead the people in God’s ways and instead they are causing the people and themselves to fall into a pit.”
How can one person who is blind to the truth lead another to that truth? If the leader doesn’t know the way, how can the follower be expected to get there? They can’t, and in trying, both fall into a pit from which they may never be able to climb out, at least not without the help of one who can and does see the way.
On November 30, 1991, in Coalinga, California, a freak dust storm blew in. In no time, the fifty miles per hour winds whipped the dust and dirt into a wall of debris that reduced visibility to zero. When it was over, fourteen people had perished in a three-mile stretch of highway that revealed twisted, burning vehicles everywhere, some stacked one on top of another, up to one hundred feet off the side of the highway. Unable to see where they were going, some motorists simply kept driving blindly into disaster.
This was the path the Pharisees and religious leaders were headed down, unable to see they were navigating themselves, and all who followed them, into disaster. Jesus was trying to warn them, even though he knew they wouldn’t likely listen to him.
Washing or not washing hands before eating does not make a person clean or unclean, because what we eat goes through our system and ends up in the sewer. Food is simply a way for the body to get what nutrients it needs and discard what it does not. Simple biology reveals that the pathway food takes on its journey through our body does not include going through the heart. Food is food, nothing more, nothing less.
But let’s talk about the heart, Jesus says, and how the heart is connected to what we say and how we live, because, as Jesus says, “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and that is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Eating with dirty hands means that any dirt that ends up in our mouths will automatically go out of the body with the discarded food. The inner workings of our heart will come out in the words we say, in the way we treat others, in the way we worship, in the way we live every day. If our hearts are dirty and defiled, our words will be harsh, we will not care for others, our worship will be false or nonexistent, and we will live like we are a part of the world around us. We will be blinded to the truth of the gospel and the saving grace of our Father through his Son, Jesus Christ.
If we have hearts that are pure and undefiled, then we will speak kindly and lovingly, we will treat others with love and respect, and our worship will be genuine. We will live in this world, but we will not let the world’s views become our views when they are contrary to God’s word. We will live as children of the light because we will be filled with the light of Jesus Christ.
We will not be perfect, but we will be improving day-by-day with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. We will not give in to the temptations of evil intentions like Jesus listed, but we will stand against them and do so in the strength of the One who has made our hearts pure for him. If we falter, and if we give in to a momentary temptation, then we will repent of our sin and ask God for forgiveness, and in his mercy, God will be quick to forgive, because he will know when our repentance is real, revealed to him by what is truly in our heart, and once again we will be lifted from the pit of blindness into the world of light.
I am reminded of a story I heard about a man who was driving through an area where mining was the main industry. As he went along, he noticed a pasture where a large number of mules were kept. Thinking of how unusual it was to see so many mules in one pasture, the man asked about them when he stopped for gas.
He was told that those mules were work mules used in the local mines. They had been brought up from the deep, dark passages to have some time in the light in order to save their eyesight. You see, if a mule stays too long in the dark, it will become blind. Only by rotating their time between working in the mines and grazing in the pasture can the mules continue to see.
It is the same way with those of us who want to follow Jesus. Only when we commit to the path of discipleship he has laid for us, keeping our eyes on him as the source of light that leads our way, can we continue to see spiritually. If we stay too long outside of his presence, we will become blinded, unable to see, just as the Pharisees and the scribes who came to Jesus that day, accusing his disciples of living outside the rules. It is then when we are in danger of falling into a pit instead of finding our way to paradise.
As a Christian, a professing follower of Jesus, we must ask ourselves daily what is in our heart. The moment we discover anything that might defile us, we must ask Jesus to help us get rid of it. Purity of heart leads to purity of living. It is what Jesus wants for us, and he is willing to help us, because he knows we can’t do it on our own.
Is there anything on your heart today that you need to confess and ask forgiveness for? Anything that is defiling your heart that you need to get rid of? Don’t wait another day, confess, repent, be forgiven, and live fully in the light of the presence of Jesus. Pray from your seat if you wish, or come forward and kneel at the altar rail, whichever you wish, but pray for a clean, pure, undefiled heart to be restored in you this very day. Jesus is waiting. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we confess that we do like to create rules that are counter to your word. Forgive us, Lord, and help us to put your word above anything and everything human-made. Help us to root out anything in our hearts that makes us unclean, and help us confess our sins to you, so that we can then seek the forgiveness that we need, and you are eager to give. May each day be an opportunity to offer our hearts to you as we continue to grow as your followers. May we lead others to you with the confidence that we can see where the light is calling us to go, and may you keep us from becoming blind to you and your ways. For our good and your glory, AMEN.
(Time of silent prayer before the AMEN)
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/60596/the-results-of-spiritual-blindness-by-sermon-central
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/63397/blind-mules-by-lonnie-erwin
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: The Heart of the Matter
Scripture: Matthew 15:10-20 (Ps 133, Gen 45:1-15)
Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Imagine you just got a phone call from a friend telling you they are going to be in your neighborhood and would like to stop by. You are excited to see this person and gladly tell them to come on over. What is the first thing you do when you hang up the phone? For most of us, the answer is to start cleaning up the house to get ready for our guest.
Is there dust on the end tables? Dishes in the sink? Are the bathrooms clean? Do I need to make my bed, or can I just close the door? It doesn’t matter how clean our house may be, when we know someone is coming over, the majority of people will do a double check to make sure they haven’t missed some nook or cranny.
Now, imagine if that friend that was coming over was Jesus. Even a spotless house might need a good look over before Jesus knocks on the door. We want to make a good presentation of how we live when we know Jesus is coming. We want to make everything clean and bright and perfect for him. That is what Jesus wants us to do, too. Only Jesus isn’t asking for a clean house, he wants a clean heart.
Let me give you a little back story on today’s scripture lesson. If we were to go back to the beginning of Matthew’s chapter, we would see an encounter between Jesus and a group of Pharisees and scribes. These men had traveled from Jerusalem specifically to find Jesus and confront him about some of the practices of his disciples. “Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat,” they accused.
These were men who were entrusted to make sure that the people followed the Law. They knew the Law of Moses better than anyone else and they also knew all the extra, additional, rules that had been added over the years to make sure people kept the Law. Washing hands before eating was one of those rules. It was meant to be a reminder that whatever the people ate should be clean, so that nothing defiled would enter their body. There was a similar rule about washing anything that came in contact with any food that someone was about to eat.
Now, washing your hands before eating is a good idea. Who knows how dirty our hands might be just in the normal course of going about the day? But a rule instituted by the religious leaders was different from a commandment instituted by God, and Jesus called them out on their own practices.
“Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your own tradition?” he asked them. What were they doing? They were putting their own tradition over the Law. The Law told them to honor their father and their mother, but the religious leaders created a loophole that allowed a son or daughter to promise their resources to “God,” meaning the religious authorities acting on behalf of God, and thus to circumvent the commandment. In effect, these leaders were elevating their selfish ideas over God’s law.
Jesus didn’t hold back what he thought of this practice, either. “So, for the sake of your tradition, you nullify the word of God. You hypocrites!” And then Jesus quoted Isaiah who had written, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrine.”
Oh, aren’t we good at that sometimes. We take something that God says and we turn it around to fit what we want. We put our own human thoughts and rules above the real commandments of God and nullify them to suit us in our particular situations. But God sees when we do this, even when we think no one knows, even when we try to convince ourselves that it won’t matter, it won’t really hurt anyone. God still sees and it hurts him.
That brings us to today’s scripture reading. After Jesus calls out the religious leaders, he turns to the crowd that is gathered around him and he says, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” That might have taken a moment to sink in – this teaching was contrary to what the religious leaders had been saying for years.
The disciples were shocked, for sure. And they were concerned for Jesus and how the religious leaders would take what he said. “Uh, Jesus, do you realize you just ticked off all these Pharisees by saying that?” And while scripture doesn’t say Jesus’ response was “Good!” I bet he was thinking it. “Good! Let them hear what I have to say, they need to listen up because their ignorance and pride have blinded them to the truth of what I am preaching and teaching. These men are meant to lead the people in God’s ways and instead they are causing the people and themselves to fall into a pit.”
How can one person who is blind to the truth lead another to that truth? If the leader doesn’t know the way, how can the follower be expected to get there? They can’t, and in trying, both fall into a pit from which they may never be able to climb out, at least not without the help of one who can and does see the way.
On November 30, 1991, in Coalinga, California, a freak dust storm blew in. In no time, the fifty miles per hour winds whipped the dust and dirt into a wall of debris that reduced visibility to zero. When it was over, fourteen people had perished in a three-mile stretch of highway that revealed twisted, burning vehicles everywhere, some stacked one on top of another, up to one hundred feet off the side of the highway. Unable to see where they were going, some motorists simply kept driving blindly into disaster.
This was the path the Pharisees and religious leaders were headed down, unable to see they were navigating themselves, and all who followed them, into disaster. Jesus was trying to warn them, even though he knew they wouldn’t likely listen to him.
Washing or not washing hands before eating does not make a person clean or unclean, because what we eat goes through our system and ends up in the sewer. Food is simply a way for the body to get what nutrients it needs and discard what it does not. Simple biology reveals that the pathway food takes on its journey through our body does not include going through the heart. Food is food, nothing more, nothing less.
But let’s talk about the heart, Jesus says, and how the heart is connected to what we say and how we live, because, as Jesus says, “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and that is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Eating with dirty hands means that any dirt that ends up in our mouths will automatically go out of the body with the discarded food. The inner workings of our heart will come out in the words we say, in the way we treat others, in the way we worship, in the way we live every day. If our hearts are dirty and defiled, our words will be harsh, we will not care for others, our worship will be false or nonexistent, and we will live like we are a part of the world around us. We will be blinded to the truth of the gospel and the saving grace of our Father through his Son, Jesus Christ.
If we have hearts that are pure and undefiled, then we will speak kindly and lovingly, we will treat others with love and respect, and our worship will be genuine. We will live in this world, but we will not let the world’s views become our views when they are contrary to God’s word. We will live as children of the light because we will be filled with the light of Jesus Christ.
We will not be perfect, but we will be improving day-by-day with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. We will not give in to the temptations of evil intentions like Jesus listed, but we will stand against them and do so in the strength of the One who has made our hearts pure for him. If we falter, and if we give in to a momentary temptation, then we will repent of our sin and ask God for forgiveness, and in his mercy, God will be quick to forgive, because he will know when our repentance is real, revealed to him by what is truly in our heart, and once again we will be lifted from the pit of blindness into the world of light.
I am reminded of a story I heard about a man who was driving through an area where mining was the main industry. As he went along, he noticed a pasture where a large number of mules were kept. Thinking of how unusual it was to see so many mules in one pasture, the man asked about them when he stopped for gas.
He was told that those mules were work mules used in the local mines. They had been brought up from the deep, dark passages to have some time in the light in order to save their eyesight. You see, if a mule stays too long in the dark, it will become blind. Only by rotating their time between working in the mines and grazing in the pasture can the mules continue to see.
It is the same way with those of us who want to follow Jesus. Only when we commit to the path of discipleship he has laid for us, keeping our eyes on him as the source of light that leads our way, can we continue to see spiritually. If we stay too long outside of his presence, we will become blinded, unable to see, just as the Pharisees and the scribes who came to Jesus that day, accusing his disciples of living outside the rules. It is then when we are in danger of falling into a pit instead of finding our way to paradise.
As a Christian, a professing follower of Jesus, we must ask ourselves daily what is in our heart. The moment we discover anything that might defile us, we must ask Jesus to help us get rid of it. Purity of heart leads to purity of living. It is what Jesus wants for us, and he is willing to help us, because he knows we can’t do it on our own.
Is there anything on your heart today that you need to confess and ask forgiveness for? Anything that is defiling your heart that you need to get rid of? Don’t wait another day, confess, repent, be forgiven, and live fully in the light of the presence of Jesus. Pray from your seat if you wish, or come forward and kneel at the altar rail, whichever you wish, but pray for a clean, pure, undefiled heart to be restored in you this very day. Jesus is waiting. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we confess that we do like to create rules that are counter to your word. Forgive us, Lord, and help us to put your word above anything and everything human-made. Help us to root out anything in our hearts that makes us unclean, and help us confess our sins to you, so that we can then seek the forgiveness that we need, and you are eager to give. May each day be an opportunity to offer our hearts to you as we continue to grow as your followers. May we lead others to you with the confidence that we can see where the light is calling us to go, and may you keep us from becoming blind to you and your ways. For our good and your glory, AMEN.
(Time of silent prayer before the AMEN)
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/60596/the-results-of-spiritual-blindness-by-sermon-central
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/63397/blind-mules-by-lonnie-erwin
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY AUGUST 13, 2023, CONTINUING THE SERIES TITLED "THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP" CALLED "Fix Your Eyes on Jesus".
August 13, 2023
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: Fix Your Eyes on Jesus
Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
I heard a story about a young man named Jimmy who had grown up listening to the incredible tales of how his father, grandfather, and even his great-grandfather had all walked on water on their twenty-first birthdays. As you can imagine, Jimmy could hardly wait for his twenty-first birthday to come around because he figured if three generations before him had walked on water on that special birthday, then surely, he had also been born with the gift.
Finally, the big day arrived, and Jimmy and his friend Eric got a boat and rowed out to the middle of the lake. They put down their oars and Jimmy stood up and carefully stepped out onto the water, where he immediately sank and almost drowned.
Confused as to what could have gone wrong, Jimmy approached his grandmother later, asking why he had not received the walking on water gift that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been given. Grandma looked at Jimmy for a moment, then she sighed and said, “They were all born in February, not August.”
Poor Jimmy. He only wanted to do what almost all of us have wanted to do since we first heard the story of Jesus walking on water and Peter’s few moments of doing so too. We want to walk on top of the water, just to see what it would be like.
Today’s scripture picks up where last week’s ended. Jesus has fed the crowd of over five thousand with just five loaves of bread and two fish with leftovers that equaled more than they had started out with. But do you remember why Jesus had come to this deserted place to begin with? He had wanted to be alone. He had come here to pray in solitude, but when he got there the crowds were already waiting for him. He had such compassion for them that he had put aside his own needs and tended to them, healing the sick, feeding their bodies.
Now, the dinner is over, the leftovers collected, and Jesus made the disciples get back in the boat to go to the other side while he dismissed the crowds and sent them home. Finally, after every last one of them had gone, Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray.
Jesus is finally finding some peace in his day, spending time with the Father without the distractions of others asking him for healing, needing him to help them in whatever way they needed help. While Jesus is praying in this quiet place, though, the disciples are experiencing anything but peace.
They are far away from land and being battered by the waves. This isn’t the first time these men have been in a boat in the middle of a raging sea. In chapter eight of Matthew’s gospel, they had endured another storm, one that threatened to capsize the boat and drown them all. But that time, Jesus had been with them in the boat, peacefully sleeping down below while the storm raged all around them. That time, they went and woke Jesus who stilled the storm with one word, making the wind and waves obey his command.
This storm, however had the disciples on the boat, battling the waves once again, but without Jesus to fix it for them. We don’t know exactly how long they had been contending with this storm, but if we look at scripture, we see that it was several hours, at least. “When evening came, he was there alone, (Jesus on the mountain) but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land.” So, it was just beginning to be evening when the storm brewed up.
Then we are told, “And early in the morning, he (Jesus) came walking toward them on the sea.” Some versions tell us it was during the fourth watch of the night which means sometime between three and six in the morning, while it was still too dark to see clearly. All night long, the disciples have been fighting the waves that threaten to overturn their boat. They are tired, exhausted, even, so it isn’t any wonder that when they look up and see Jesus walking toward them, they think they are seeing a ghost, and are even more afraid, and they cry out in fear.
As soon as Jesus heard their cries, he called out to them, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Of course, they recognize his voice, and their fear leaves them. Jesus was here, everything would be okay now. He calmed the storm before, surly he will do it again. But Peter doesn’t even give Jesus time to do anything before he calls out, across the waves, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
Peter is showing a huge amount of faith right now. “Jesus, is that really you? Prove you are who you say you are by calling me to come to you by walking on top of this water.” Sounds good, in theory, but that is a lot of trust that Peter is putting in someone he thought was a ghost a moment before. Even if this wasn’t Jesus, whoever was there could have claimed to be him, called Peter to come to them, and then laughed as he sank in the waves. But Peter didn’t have to worry about that. He had heard Jesus’ voice, he knew who was there, he knew that if Jesus called him to leave the boat and walk across those waves, that Jesus would keep him safely on the surface. Peter’s display of faith in this moment was truly remarkable.
“Come,” Jesus called to Peter. So, Peter got out of the boat and began to walk across the waves toward Jesus. Have you ever had a moment when you are doing something and then all of a sudden you realize how amazing it is and you can’t believe it’s real? “Oh my gosh,” we think, “is this really happening right now?”
I think that’s what happened to Peter right then. He was so relieved to see Jesus, the one whom he knew could rescue them from this storm, so relieved that he just wanted to be as close to Jesus as possible when he stilled these tremendous waves. In his moment of excitement, as Jesus called him to come, Peter got out of that boat without thinking about what he was really doing. He was walking on the water, during a great storm, headed toward Jesus, when it suddenly sunk in. “Oh my gosh, is this really happening?” Peter asked himself. And in that moment, he realized the improbability of what he was doing.
Peter became distracted. He noticed that the wind was still blowing, the waves were still rolling, and this was a dangerous situation he was in. And in that moment, whether physically, spiritually, or both, Peter took his eyes off Jesus. He faltered, fear crept in, and he began to sink.
Oh, how many of us have ever done that? I don’t mean walk on water, but find ourselves in a place where faith has taken us? But then we get the least bit distracted, which causes us to take our eyes off Jesus, and in that moment, fear overtakes us, and we begin to sink. We forget who called us out of our proverbial boat and into the waves of life, and we forget where our focus should be. We look around at the world and we look into ourselves, and we see the improbability of what we are doing, and we become blinded to the one who called us to wherever we are in the first place.
We forget that Jesus would never call us to a place that was out of our depth and then abandon us. Jesus would never have called to Peter to come out of the boat if Jesus didn’t know he could keep Peter above the waves. But Peter forgot that for one second, and his faith faltered, because his faith shifted from Jesus to his own ability to accomplish what he was doing.
Peter couldn’t walk on water, and he knew it. It was Jesus who allowed Peter to do something so miraculous, and it was Peter’s faith in Jesus over himself that allowed him to take a few steps. But when we don’t fix our eyes on Jesus and keep them there, we become like Peter, aware of our own limitations, and we begin sinking in the waves. If Peter had never taken his eyes off Jesus, if he had kept his eyes, and his faith trained to where they needed to be, he could have walked on that sea all day long. He would have walked all the way to where Jesus was and stood by his side.
Peter noticed the wind, he became frightened, and he began to sink. I will say one thing about fear, sometimes it is fear that shows us how much we need Jesus, and that is what it did for Peter. As he began to sink, fear made him cry out for help, “Lord, save me!” and Jesus responded immediately. He didn’t wait for Peter to apologize, he didn’t lecture Peter right then on his absence of faith, he simply reached out his hand and caught Peter, bringing him up out of the waves and into the boat, saying to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
As soon as they were in the boat, the wind ceased, and the waves calmed, and the disciples worshiped Jesus, saying, “Truly you are the son of God.”
My friends, faith is a journey, we begin taking our first steps with just a little bit of faith, feeling our way along, learning and growing as we go, through the practice of spiritual disciplines like studying scripture, praying, practicing being in God’s presence, fasting, bible studies, and other things we do that help us learn more about God and grow in our faith. That is what I see in the disciples in this story. Their faith and understanding are growing as they learn who Jesus is and we see evidence of their progress. Only a few chapters ago, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus calmed that other storm by rebuking the winds and waves and ordering them to be still. The response from the disciples was a sense of awe and the question asked among themselves was, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?”
They were beginning to catch on then who Jesus was, but now, in today’s scripture, while the calming of the wind and waves once again leaves them filled with a sense of awe at what Jesus can do and has done, now their response shows a greater faith, “Truly you are the Son of God,” they say.
They have grown; they have matured, and their faith has grown and matured along with them. They have a better understanding of who Jesus is now than they did before. Does that mean they completely “get it?” No. Does that mean they won’t falter and fail and lose their focus again when it comes to Jesus? Of course not, we will see them do just that when they abandon him at his arrest and crucifixion.
What it does mean is that there is hope for those who, like the disciples, sometimes get it right and sometimes don’t when it comes to matters of faith. We can have a strong faith, we can know who Jesus is, we can put our trust in him today, but if we let ourselves get distracted by a storm in our life, we might suddenly lose our focus, take our eyes off Jesus, and begin to sink down deep.
What we need to remember in those moments, though is what Peter remembered just in time, call on the name of the Lord Jesus and he will reach out and save you. Fix your eyes once again on Jesus and let your faith be revived and restored. We know the world around us will continue to throw distractions our way, and we will try to dodge as many as we can, but we will not be successful one hundred percent of the time. We will have sinking moments, we will have a crisis of faith, we will have doubts, we will be human. But Jesus wants nothing more than to save, and at the first call, he will reach out his hand, pull us back up and haul us back into the boat.
And in those moments, may we, too, say as the disciples said, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Not because we have a perfected faith, but because we are growing as we, too, learn more about who Jesus is and what he means to each of us. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, just as you reached out your hand and brought Peter up from the waves and safely into the boat, you will do the same for us. Lord, help us to keep our eyes and our focus on you, especially when the waves of life threaten to overturn and overwhelm us. When we falter, help us to regain our footing, pull us up from the depths, and bring us closer to you. May we continue to grow as we journey on this path we have chosen, the path you laid for us that brings us to you. AMEN.
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: Fix Your Eyes on Jesus
Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
I heard a story about a young man named Jimmy who had grown up listening to the incredible tales of how his father, grandfather, and even his great-grandfather had all walked on water on their twenty-first birthdays. As you can imagine, Jimmy could hardly wait for his twenty-first birthday to come around because he figured if three generations before him had walked on water on that special birthday, then surely, he had also been born with the gift.
Finally, the big day arrived, and Jimmy and his friend Eric got a boat and rowed out to the middle of the lake. They put down their oars and Jimmy stood up and carefully stepped out onto the water, where he immediately sank and almost drowned.
Confused as to what could have gone wrong, Jimmy approached his grandmother later, asking why he had not received the walking on water gift that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been given. Grandma looked at Jimmy for a moment, then she sighed and said, “They were all born in February, not August.”
Poor Jimmy. He only wanted to do what almost all of us have wanted to do since we first heard the story of Jesus walking on water and Peter’s few moments of doing so too. We want to walk on top of the water, just to see what it would be like.
Today’s scripture picks up where last week’s ended. Jesus has fed the crowd of over five thousand with just five loaves of bread and two fish with leftovers that equaled more than they had started out with. But do you remember why Jesus had come to this deserted place to begin with? He had wanted to be alone. He had come here to pray in solitude, but when he got there the crowds were already waiting for him. He had such compassion for them that he had put aside his own needs and tended to them, healing the sick, feeding their bodies.
Now, the dinner is over, the leftovers collected, and Jesus made the disciples get back in the boat to go to the other side while he dismissed the crowds and sent them home. Finally, after every last one of them had gone, Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray.
Jesus is finally finding some peace in his day, spending time with the Father without the distractions of others asking him for healing, needing him to help them in whatever way they needed help. While Jesus is praying in this quiet place, though, the disciples are experiencing anything but peace.
They are far away from land and being battered by the waves. This isn’t the first time these men have been in a boat in the middle of a raging sea. In chapter eight of Matthew’s gospel, they had endured another storm, one that threatened to capsize the boat and drown them all. But that time, Jesus had been with them in the boat, peacefully sleeping down below while the storm raged all around them. That time, they went and woke Jesus who stilled the storm with one word, making the wind and waves obey his command.
This storm, however had the disciples on the boat, battling the waves once again, but without Jesus to fix it for them. We don’t know exactly how long they had been contending with this storm, but if we look at scripture, we see that it was several hours, at least. “When evening came, he was there alone, (Jesus on the mountain) but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land.” So, it was just beginning to be evening when the storm brewed up.
Then we are told, “And early in the morning, he (Jesus) came walking toward them on the sea.” Some versions tell us it was during the fourth watch of the night which means sometime between three and six in the morning, while it was still too dark to see clearly. All night long, the disciples have been fighting the waves that threaten to overturn their boat. They are tired, exhausted, even, so it isn’t any wonder that when they look up and see Jesus walking toward them, they think they are seeing a ghost, and are even more afraid, and they cry out in fear.
As soon as Jesus heard their cries, he called out to them, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Of course, they recognize his voice, and their fear leaves them. Jesus was here, everything would be okay now. He calmed the storm before, surly he will do it again. But Peter doesn’t even give Jesus time to do anything before he calls out, across the waves, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
Peter is showing a huge amount of faith right now. “Jesus, is that really you? Prove you are who you say you are by calling me to come to you by walking on top of this water.” Sounds good, in theory, but that is a lot of trust that Peter is putting in someone he thought was a ghost a moment before. Even if this wasn’t Jesus, whoever was there could have claimed to be him, called Peter to come to them, and then laughed as he sank in the waves. But Peter didn’t have to worry about that. He had heard Jesus’ voice, he knew who was there, he knew that if Jesus called him to leave the boat and walk across those waves, that Jesus would keep him safely on the surface. Peter’s display of faith in this moment was truly remarkable.
“Come,” Jesus called to Peter. So, Peter got out of the boat and began to walk across the waves toward Jesus. Have you ever had a moment when you are doing something and then all of a sudden you realize how amazing it is and you can’t believe it’s real? “Oh my gosh,” we think, “is this really happening right now?”
I think that’s what happened to Peter right then. He was so relieved to see Jesus, the one whom he knew could rescue them from this storm, so relieved that he just wanted to be as close to Jesus as possible when he stilled these tremendous waves. In his moment of excitement, as Jesus called him to come, Peter got out of that boat without thinking about what he was really doing. He was walking on the water, during a great storm, headed toward Jesus, when it suddenly sunk in. “Oh my gosh, is this really happening?” Peter asked himself. And in that moment, he realized the improbability of what he was doing.
Peter became distracted. He noticed that the wind was still blowing, the waves were still rolling, and this was a dangerous situation he was in. And in that moment, whether physically, spiritually, or both, Peter took his eyes off Jesus. He faltered, fear crept in, and he began to sink.
Oh, how many of us have ever done that? I don’t mean walk on water, but find ourselves in a place where faith has taken us? But then we get the least bit distracted, which causes us to take our eyes off Jesus, and in that moment, fear overtakes us, and we begin to sink. We forget who called us out of our proverbial boat and into the waves of life, and we forget where our focus should be. We look around at the world and we look into ourselves, and we see the improbability of what we are doing, and we become blinded to the one who called us to wherever we are in the first place.
We forget that Jesus would never call us to a place that was out of our depth and then abandon us. Jesus would never have called to Peter to come out of the boat if Jesus didn’t know he could keep Peter above the waves. But Peter forgot that for one second, and his faith faltered, because his faith shifted from Jesus to his own ability to accomplish what he was doing.
Peter couldn’t walk on water, and he knew it. It was Jesus who allowed Peter to do something so miraculous, and it was Peter’s faith in Jesus over himself that allowed him to take a few steps. But when we don’t fix our eyes on Jesus and keep them there, we become like Peter, aware of our own limitations, and we begin sinking in the waves. If Peter had never taken his eyes off Jesus, if he had kept his eyes, and his faith trained to where they needed to be, he could have walked on that sea all day long. He would have walked all the way to where Jesus was and stood by his side.
Peter noticed the wind, he became frightened, and he began to sink. I will say one thing about fear, sometimes it is fear that shows us how much we need Jesus, and that is what it did for Peter. As he began to sink, fear made him cry out for help, “Lord, save me!” and Jesus responded immediately. He didn’t wait for Peter to apologize, he didn’t lecture Peter right then on his absence of faith, he simply reached out his hand and caught Peter, bringing him up out of the waves and into the boat, saying to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
As soon as they were in the boat, the wind ceased, and the waves calmed, and the disciples worshiped Jesus, saying, “Truly you are the son of God.”
My friends, faith is a journey, we begin taking our first steps with just a little bit of faith, feeling our way along, learning and growing as we go, through the practice of spiritual disciplines like studying scripture, praying, practicing being in God’s presence, fasting, bible studies, and other things we do that help us learn more about God and grow in our faith. That is what I see in the disciples in this story. Their faith and understanding are growing as they learn who Jesus is and we see evidence of their progress. Only a few chapters ago, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus calmed that other storm by rebuking the winds and waves and ordering them to be still. The response from the disciples was a sense of awe and the question asked among themselves was, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?”
They were beginning to catch on then who Jesus was, but now, in today’s scripture, while the calming of the wind and waves once again leaves them filled with a sense of awe at what Jesus can do and has done, now their response shows a greater faith, “Truly you are the Son of God,” they say.
They have grown; they have matured, and their faith has grown and matured along with them. They have a better understanding of who Jesus is now than they did before. Does that mean they completely “get it?” No. Does that mean they won’t falter and fail and lose their focus again when it comes to Jesus? Of course not, we will see them do just that when they abandon him at his arrest and crucifixion.
What it does mean is that there is hope for those who, like the disciples, sometimes get it right and sometimes don’t when it comes to matters of faith. We can have a strong faith, we can know who Jesus is, we can put our trust in him today, but if we let ourselves get distracted by a storm in our life, we might suddenly lose our focus, take our eyes off Jesus, and begin to sink down deep.
What we need to remember in those moments, though is what Peter remembered just in time, call on the name of the Lord Jesus and he will reach out and save you. Fix your eyes once again on Jesus and let your faith be revived and restored. We know the world around us will continue to throw distractions our way, and we will try to dodge as many as we can, but we will not be successful one hundred percent of the time. We will have sinking moments, we will have a crisis of faith, we will have doubts, we will be human. But Jesus wants nothing more than to save, and at the first call, he will reach out his hand, pull us back up and haul us back into the boat.
And in those moments, may we, too, say as the disciples said, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Not because we have a perfected faith, but because we are growing as we, too, learn more about who Jesus is and what he means to each of us. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, just as you reached out your hand and brought Peter up from the waves and safely into the boat, you will do the same for us. Lord, help us to keep our eyes and our focus on you, especially when the waves of life threaten to overturn and overwhelm us. When we falter, help us to regain our footing, pull us up from the depths, and bring us closer to you. May we continue to grow as we journey on this path we have chosen, the path you laid for us that brings us to you. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY August 6, 2023, CONTINUING THE SERIES TITLED "THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP" CALLED "Not in Our Strength"
August 6, 2023
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: Not in Our Strength
Scripture: Matthew 14:13-21 (Ps 17:1-7,15; Gen 32:22-31)
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Fifty-seven cents. What can you do with fifty-seven cents? Not much, you say? I think you might be surprised to learn what was done with just fifty-seven pennies, saved by a child with a loving heart.
This is a true story about a little girl who lived just before the turn of the twentieth century. She lived in a very poor neighborhood, but she wanted, more than anything, to go to Sunday school. So, one Sunday she finally got to go, only to be turned away because there was no room. The small church was filled to the brim with people already. She stood outside that church and sobbed at being turned away.
Just about that time, the pastor walked up and found the crying girl standing near the church. Finding out the reason for her tears, he picked her up, perched her on his shoulders and carried her into the church where she sat near the pulpit for the entire service. That day, the pastor remarked during his sermon that someday they needed to build a bigger church. The little girl was so happy to finally be able to go to church, but that night, as she got ready for bed, she began to think about other children who couldn’t go and worship Jesus because the church was too small to hold any more people, and she came up with a plan.
A few months later, the little girl became ill and did not recover. After the funeral, the pastor was approached by the little girl’s parents who handed him a worn and faded purse, likely rescued from a garbage bin somewhere, and inside they found fifty-seven cents and a note, scribbled in little girl handwriting that said, “This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school.”
That little girl had been saving all she had with the dream of building a bigger church so that any child who wanted to could come and worship Jesus. Touched by her unselfish desire for others, the pastor took the little ragged purse and its contents with him the next Sunday and when he stood up to preach, he told the congregation about this little girl and what she had left behind. The pastor then challenged his deacons to get busy raising the funds needed to build that bigger church.
A short time later, one of the deacons told the pastor about a property for sale and the pastor paid a visit to the property owner. He told the man the story of the little girl and her fifty-seven cents, and the man offered to sell the property to the church for $10,000, a sum they did not have. But the man then suggested a down payment of fifty-seven cents and he would extend them a low-rate mortgage on the balance.
The church members began making contributions toward the new building, checks began arriving, and it wasn’t long until the entire amount was raised to pay off the property. The building of the church began and was finished in two years, but over the next eighteen years, that fifty-seven cent investment grew to $250,000, allowing the church to be debt free. The new church was built with seating for nearly 3,300 people, and a Sunday school building was also built which allows hundreds of children to come to Sunday school and learn about Jesus.
As I read this story, I had a thought – I am glad no one knew the little girl’s plan before she died. I’m glad no one knew that she had been scrimping and saving to get that fifty-seven cents that she had squirreled away in that dingy purse. I’m afraid if anyone had known what she was up to, they would have laughed at her. They would have told her that there was no way she would ever be able to save enough money to build a bigger church. They would have destroyed her dream, because really, who in their right mind would ever believe that a little girl, especially one so very poor, could do such a thing.
They would have told her that what she wanted to do was impossible, and it was, really. It was an impossible undertaking, for her, for that family, for that congregation. But not for God.
In our scripture reading today, we find Jesus and the disciples surrounded by a great crowd – about 5,000 men and an untold number of women and children. Jesus had wanted to be alone. He had just gotten news that John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod, and he went out by himself in a boat to a deserted place. He wanted to mourn his friend, his cousin, but alas, it was not to be. When the crowds heard he had gone, they followed him on foot, and as Jesus came ashore, they were already waiting for him.
When Jesus saw the people, he had compassion for them, and setting aside his own grief, he began to heal those who were sick. The day passed and evening came, and the disciples came to Jesus. They said to him, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” They were tired. They were ready to be done for the day. They had likely talked among themselves before coming to Jesus with this request, ready to get in the boat and head back to where they could get a hot meal and comfortable bed for the night themselves.
Jesus’ response must have come as quite a shock then. “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” What? What is he talking about? How were they supposed to feed a crowd so large? “Uh, Jesus, there are only five loaves of bread and two fish. What are we supposed to do with that to feed so many people?”
The disciples didn’t need anyone to tell them that what Jesus was asking them to do was impossible – they already knew it. Five loaves of bread, two fish, over five thousand people, you do the math, and you will come to the same conclusion. No way, not gonna happen, who is calling Dominos?
Just as you can’t build a church with fifty-seven cents, you can’t feed a crowd on five loaves and two fish. But the disciples overlooked one important detail, they forgot who they were with. Of course, they couldn’t feed this crowd with what they had on hand, they didn’t have it in them to accomplish such a task. But God can.
Jesus told the disciples to bring him the bread and the fish, and then he told all the people to take a seat on the grass. When the disciples had handed their meager offering to Jesus, he took it and what did he do? He looked up toward heaven and he blessed the meal. Jesus prayed over the food that he had, and then he began to break the loaves into pieces, handing the pieces to the disciples as he did so, so they could begin to serve dinner to the people who were waiting.
And here’s the best part, scripture says, “And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.” Did you hear that? ALL ate and were filled. Every single person there had dinner, not a bite, but dinner. All ate and all were filled. They ate all they wanted; they ate until they were full. And when everyone had finished eating, the disciples went around and gathered up the leftovers – LEFTOVERS! From five loaves and two fish, everyone ate all they wanted and there were still leftovers. Twelve baskets full of leftovers. The leftovers were more than they had started out with!
Who did that? The disciples didn’t suddenly find more food. They didn’t measure out a tiny bit to everyone to make it go as far as possible. No, God did that. God took what was a little bit and he made it into an abundance. God stretched those loaves and fish into a great banquet meal. The disciples couldn’t have done that if they had tried and worked at it for the rest of their lives. God did it right before their eyes.
My friends, when have you worried there wouldn’t be enough of something only to discover that there was? When have you thought there was no money to pay that bill or buy those groceries, but then, suddenly there was? When did you think you didn’t have the strength to get through a trial in your life, but you did? That was God! We do not have the strength or the power to create an abundance out of nothing, but God, who created everything in heaven and on earth can, and does, do miracles for us, just as he did that day when the hour was late, the crowds were hungry, the way home was long, and food was in short supply.
Not in our strength, but in God’s do we accomplish the good we do as the body of Christ. Not in our strength but in God’s can we do anything that affects the lives of others for the good. Not in our strength but in God’s will this church continue to grow and thrive and be a beacon of light on a hill to the community around us. But when did God show his strength? When Jesus had first prayed.
Prayer is not our last resort in times of trial, but our go-to in all situations. We need to be a praying people, a praying church. We need God’s wisdom and guidance and direction now more than ever, and we need to seek that through prayer. That is why it is so important to come together to pay, specifically for our church. That is why we have scheduled the two prayer gatherings later this month, so we can pray together, as the church, and so we can pray together, as individuals, asking God to tell us what is next for us.
What does God have planned for this church? What will he use us for, if we let him, to bring glory to his name? I think God has great plans for us, wonderful plans, and he is just waiting for us to ask him to show us what they are.
On this day, as many of us affirm our commitment to God through this church, and as two people make that commitment here for the first time, we are looking into our future. The road that got us here was a little rough and bumpy, and I can’t promise that the rest of the journey will always be smooth and easy, btu I can promise you this – as long as we continue to seek God first, he will continue to honor and bless us for our faithfulness and he will lend us his strength to do all that he asks of us.
If we begin to doubt along the way, just remember those five loaves and two fish that fed over 5,000 people with twelve baskets full as leftovers. And remember that little girl and her fifty-seven cents that built a church.
By the way, I told you that was a true story, and you can verify it for yourself. If you ever get to Philadelphia, go visit Temple Baptist Church, a church built because a little girl named Hattie May Wiatt put her trust in a God who can turn fifty-seven cents into a quarter of a million dollars to build a church so that more people can come and worship God. Not in our strength, never in our strength, but always in God’s strength can we do his will. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, the faith of a little girl teaches us a lesson this day. She didn’t know it was impossible for a little girl to save enough money to build a bigger church, she just wanted to see it done for the benefit of others, that they might come to know you. Lord, when we begin to doubt that we can overcome the obstacles in our lives, help us remember this little girl, and help us remember the crowd who all had enough to eat from just five loaves of bread and two fish, and help us to put our trust in you and once again seek your will through prayer. Not in our strength, Lord, but in yours, and thank you for it. AMEN.
References
http://www.wrti.com/wrtifriend/baptist.html
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: Not in Our Strength
Scripture: Matthew 14:13-21 (Ps 17:1-7,15; Gen 32:22-31)
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Fifty-seven cents. What can you do with fifty-seven cents? Not much, you say? I think you might be surprised to learn what was done with just fifty-seven pennies, saved by a child with a loving heart.
This is a true story about a little girl who lived just before the turn of the twentieth century. She lived in a very poor neighborhood, but she wanted, more than anything, to go to Sunday school. So, one Sunday she finally got to go, only to be turned away because there was no room. The small church was filled to the brim with people already. She stood outside that church and sobbed at being turned away.
Just about that time, the pastor walked up and found the crying girl standing near the church. Finding out the reason for her tears, he picked her up, perched her on his shoulders and carried her into the church where she sat near the pulpit for the entire service. That day, the pastor remarked during his sermon that someday they needed to build a bigger church. The little girl was so happy to finally be able to go to church, but that night, as she got ready for bed, she began to think about other children who couldn’t go and worship Jesus because the church was too small to hold any more people, and she came up with a plan.
A few months later, the little girl became ill and did not recover. After the funeral, the pastor was approached by the little girl’s parents who handed him a worn and faded purse, likely rescued from a garbage bin somewhere, and inside they found fifty-seven cents and a note, scribbled in little girl handwriting that said, “This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school.”
That little girl had been saving all she had with the dream of building a bigger church so that any child who wanted to could come and worship Jesus. Touched by her unselfish desire for others, the pastor took the little ragged purse and its contents with him the next Sunday and when he stood up to preach, he told the congregation about this little girl and what she had left behind. The pastor then challenged his deacons to get busy raising the funds needed to build that bigger church.
A short time later, one of the deacons told the pastor about a property for sale and the pastor paid a visit to the property owner. He told the man the story of the little girl and her fifty-seven cents, and the man offered to sell the property to the church for $10,000, a sum they did not have. But the man then suggested a down payment of fifty-seven cents and he would extend them a low-rate mortgage on the balance.
The church members began making contributions toward the new building, checks began arriving, and it wasn’t long until the entire amount was raised to pay off the property. The building of the church began and was finished in two years, but over the next eighteen years, that fifty-seven cent investment grew to $250,000, allowing the church to be debt free. The new church was built with seating for nearly 3,300 people, and a Sunday school building was also built which allows hundreds of children to come to Sunday school and learn about Jesus.
As I read this story, I had a thought – I am glad no one knew the little girl’s plan before she died. I’m glad no one knew that she had been scrimping and saving to get that fifty-seven cents that she had squirreled away in that dingy purse. I’m afraid if anyone had known what she was up to, they would have laughed at her. They would have told her that there was no way she would ever be able to save enough money to build a bigger church. They would have destroyed her dream, because really, who in their right mind would ever believe that a little girl, especially one so very poor, could do such a thing.
They would have told her that what she wanted to do was impossible, and it was, really. It was an impossible undertaking, for her, for that family, for that congregation. But not for God.
In our scripture reading today, we find Jesus and the disciples surrounded by a great crowd – about 5,000 men and an untold number of women and children. Jesus had wanted to be alone. He had just gotten news that John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod, and he went out by himself in a boat to a deserted place. He wanted to mourn his friend, his cousin, but alas, it was not to be. When the crowds heard he had gone, they followed him on foot, and as Jesus came ashore, they were already waiting for him.
When Jesus saw the people, he had compassion for them, and setting aside his own grief, he began to heal those who were sick. The day passed and evening came, and the disciples came to Jesus. They said to him, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” They were tired. They were ready to be done for the day. They had likely talked among themselves before coming to Jesus with this request, ready to get in the boat and head back to where they could get a hot meal and comfortable bed for the night themselves.
Jesus’ response must have come as quite a shock then. “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” What? What is he talking about? How were they supposed to feed a crowd so large? “Uh, Jesus, there are only five loaves of bread and two fish. What are we supposed to do with that to feed so many people?”
The disciples didn’t need anyone to tell them that what Jesus was asking them to do was impossible – they already knew it. Five loaves of bread, two fish, over five thousand people, you do the math, and you will come to the same conclusion. No way, not gonna happen, who is calling Dominos?
Just as you can’t build a church with fifty-seven cents, you can’t feed a crowd on five loaves and two fish. But the disciples overlooked one important detail, they forgot who they were with. Of course, they couldn’t feed this crowd with what they had on hand, they didn’t have it in them to accomplish such a task. But God can.
Jesus told the disciples to bring him the bread and the fish, and then he told all the people to take a seat on the grass. When the disciples had handed their meager offering to Jesus, he took it and what did he do? He looked up toward heaven and he blessed the meal. Jesus prayed over the food that he had, and then he began to break the loaves into pieces, handing the pieces to the disciples as he did so, so they could begin to serve dinner to the people who were waiting.
And here’s the best part, scripture says, “And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.” Did you hear that? ALL ate and were filled. Every single person there had dinner, not a bite, but dinner. All ate and all were filled. They ate all they wanted; they ate until they were full. And when everyone had finished eating, the disciples went around and gathered up the leftovers – LEFTOVERS! From five loaves and two fish, everyone ate all they wanted and there were still leftovers. Twelve baskets full of leftovers. The leftovers were more than they had started out with!
Who did that? The disciples didn’t suddenly find more food. They didn’t measure out a tiny bit to everyone to make it go as far as possible. No, God did that. God took what was a little bit and he made it into an abundance. God stretched those loaves and fish into a great banquet meal. The disciples couldn’t have done that if they had tried and worked at it for the rest of their lives. God did it right before their eyes.
My friends, when have you worried there wouldn’t be enough of something only to discover that there was? When have you thought there was no money to pay that bill or buy those groceries, but then, suddenly there was? When did you think you didn’t have the strength to get through a trial in your life, but you did? That was God! We do not have the strength or the power to create an abundance out of nothing, but God, who created everything in heaven and on earth can, and does, do miracles for us, just as he did that day when the hour was late, the crowds were hungry, the way home was long, and food was in short supply.
Not in our strength, but in God’s do we accomplish the good we do as the body of Christ. Not in our strength but in God’s can we do anything that affects the lives of others for the good. Not in our strength but in God’s will this church continue to grow and thrive and be a beacon of light on a hill to the community around us. But when did God show his strength? When Jesus had first prayed.
Prayer is not our last resort in times of trial, but our go-to in all situations. We need to be a praying people, a praying church. We need God’s wisdom and guidance and direction now more than ever, and we need to seek that through prayer. That is why it is so important to come together to pay, specifically for our church. That is why we have scheduled the two prayer gatherings later this month, so we can pray together, as the church, and so we can pray together, as individuals, asking God to tell us what is next for us.
What does God have planned for this church? What will he use us for, if we let him, to bring glory to his name? I think God has great plans for us, wonderful plans, and he is just waiting for us to ask him to show us what they are.
On this day, as many of us affirm our commitment to God through this church, and as two people make that commitment here for the first time, we are looking into our future. The road that got us here was a little rough and bumpy, and I can’t promise that the rest of the journey will always be smooth and easy, btu I can promise you this – as long as we continue to seek God first, he will continue to honor and bless us for our faithfulness and he will lend us his strength to do all that he asks of us.
If we begin to doubt along the way, just remember those five loaves and two fish that fed over 5,000 people with twelve baskets full as leftovers. And remember that little girl and her fifty-seven cents that built a church.
By the way, I told you that was a true story, and you can verify it for yourself. If you ever get to Philadelphia, go visit Temple Baptist Church, a church built because a little girl named Hattie May Wiatt put her trust in a God who can turn fifty-seven cents into a quarter of a million dollars to build a church so that more people can come and worship God. Not in our strength, never in our strength, but always in God’s strength can we do his will. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, the faith of a little girl teaches us a lesson this day. She didn’t know it was impossible for a little girl to save enough money to build a bigger church, she just wanted to see it done for the benefit of others, that they might come to know you. Lord, when we begin to doubt that we can overcome the obstacles in our lives, help us remember this little girl, and help us remember the crowd who all had enough to eat from just five loaves of bread and two fish, and help us to put our trust in you and once again seek your will through prayer. Not in our strength, Lord, but in yours, and thank you for it. AMEN.
References
http://www.wrti.com/wrtifriend/baptist.html
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY JULY 30, 2023, CONTINUING THE SERIES TITLED "THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP" CALLED "Mustard Seeds, Pearls, and Fish - oh my!"
July 30, 2023
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: Mustard Seeds, Pearls, and Fish – Oh My!
Scripture: Matthew 13:31-32,45-50
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The great evangelist, D. L. Moody, once made a covenant with God. He promised God that he would be a witness for Jesus Christ to at least one person every single day. One particular evening, as it was getting to be about 10 pm, Moody suddenly realized he had not kept his promise that day, so he rushed outside and saw a man leaning against a lamppost. Approaching the man, Moody asked if he was a Christian.
The man unexpectedly and immediately became very angry and threatened Moody with bodily harm. The next day, the man, still angry from his encounter, sought out an elder in the church and complained that Moody was singlehandedly causing more harm than ten men who were trying to do good in that Chicago neighborhood. The church elder begged Moody to temper his enthusiasm and tone down his evangelistic efforts.
Some three months later, however, that man came to find Moody at the YMCA. He apologized for his behavior and confessed that since that night, he had not had any peace in his soul. He had come to find out what he needed to do to find that peace. Moody led the man to Christ, and he went on to become a willing and eager worker for the Kingdom of God.
Dwight L. Moody was but one man who faithfully told people about Jesus. He was but a small person who allowed God to work through him to build up God’s kingdom here on earth. Like the mustard seed which is so very tiny yet grows into a bush that can reach twelve feet high, Moody’s ministry has reached countless thousands of people, and many of those people have further expanded God’s kingdom by going on to tell others what they had been told about this Jesus who saves us from the penalty of death and gives us eternal life in him. One seed, many branches equal more seed, more branches, which means a bigger kingdom for God. That’s how evangelism works. That is how the Church is supposed to work.
The size of the church is not important, it is whether the church will do what it is called to do – to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that those who might come to know Jesus as their Savior might find comfort and shelter in him, just as the birds came and found shelter in the branches of the mighty mustard tree.
Next, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like yeast. A woman took a bit of yeast and mixed it in with three measures of flour. What happens when you do that? You no longer see the yeast, for it becomes hidden within the flour. Yet even though it is a small amount of yeast, it works on the flour – not the other way around. The flour does not change the yeast, but the yeast has the power to transform the flour from what it was into a delicious loaf of bread, and a tiny bit of yeast is all it takes to transform three measures of flour into forty loaves of bread!
In the same way, when we become a follower of Jesus Christ, we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit who is not seen, who is hidden in our hearts, yet who empowers us to do the work we are called to do to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that those who might come to know Jesus as their Savior might find comfort and shelter in him, and strength through the power of the Holy Spirit.
These two parables of Jesus were spoken to the crowds of people who had gathered around him and the disciples. In both of these parables, something very tiny creates a dramatic change over a period of time – weeks or months for the mustard plant to grow, hours for the yeast to make the bread rise. We don’t see the growth, but it is happening, just as we do not always see God at work, but we know that he is always working for the good of his kingdom. Professor John Carroll, in his commentary on this passage, writes that in these two parables we see the world is being re-made and God’s reign is always at work, even when we can’t see his workings. That is why it is up to the Church to bear witness to the continual work of God, and to live as one transformed in its life and its practices, in word and deed.
Okay, I can see how a mustard seed and yeast might make sense together, but what do they have to do with a buried treasure, a fine pearl, and a fishing net? Perhaps we will figure that out as we go on.
Jesus next tells three more parables, back-to-back-to-back, but this time there is no crowd, only the disciples. He begins with a man who found treasure in a field. He was so happy and excited that he reburied the treasure, went and sold everything he had, and used the money to buy that field so that he could claim the treasure as his own.
Everything he had was given to buy that field and have that treasure, and doing so gave him great joy. Some of us might ask why he just didn’t take the treasure and keep everything he already had, but I think he knew he would not have joy in simply taking what he had found. What would you give if you had found the secret to salvation unexpectedly? What if you were just living your life and you found, quite by accident, a jar containing a document that told of the secret of eternal life living with God in heaven, but this jar had been buried on another person’s property?
You could take it anyway, right? You could open that jar, discover the secret, and live forever with God. But could you really live in peace and freedom with him? What if God asked you how you came to have the jar with the secret? What would you say? A treasure so great as eternal life with God in heaven should be come by honestly, not by deception and theft.
The man understood the value of the treasure he found, and he also understood the value of obtaining it the right way. He went and sold everything he had so that he could honestly buy the property and legally own that treasure, and he was overjoyed to do so. That was the only way he would be able to benefit from his find. What have you given up to become a follower of Jesus? Or should I ask, what are you willing to give up to be a follower of Jesus?
We are blessed to live in a world where becoming a Christian is easy and has little impact on our safety. That was not the case in Jesus’ day, and he knew it would get worse – much worse – for those disciples to whom he was speaking. They had already given up their jobs, their families, their friends, to become his disciple. They would be asked to give up their very lives one day soon. Would they think it was worth it? Would they consider the treasure of eternal life with Jesus in heaven to be worth giving up all they had to gain this treasure? That is what he was asking them. That is what he is asking us, too.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Again, we see someone who gives up everything they had to get one thing – this time a perfect pearl. The question we ask, as we asked of the last man, was it worth it to give up everything to gain this one thing? Or as Professor Carroll askes, “if the reigning presence of God in the world is like this, are you all in?”
God’s kingdom is perfect, more perfect than even this pearl, more valuable than a buried treasure. What is it worth to become a part of God’s kingdom? What would we do? What would we give, or give up? Are we willing to give up everything, absolutely everything, for God?
The last parable Jesus uses today says that the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown out into the sea where it caught fish of every kind. Once the net was full, it was pulled to shore and the fishermen began sorting the fish, good ones were put into baskets and bad ones thrown out. Just as the parable of the wheat and weeds, this parable deals with the judgement that is to come at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous and throw the evil ones into the furnace of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
All those who know and claim Jesus as Savior will be considered the righteous ones who will be given entrance to the kingdom of heaven forever, all those who have not made that confession will be the ones thrown out like bad fish.
So, I asked at the beginning what a mustard seed, yeast, buried treasure, a rare pearl, and a fishing net might have in common; why did Jesus tell these parables all together like this? For a great explanation, we turn to Professor Dale Allison, Jr., professor of New Testament at Pittsburg Theological Seminary. He says this, “Everyday life is ruled by custom, habit, and routine, and these can all-too-readily cultivate a God-obscuring stasis. Unless one realizes that things are not what they seem to be and that they will not be as they are forever–as the leaven and the mustard seed reveal–one will miss what matters most–the pearl, the treasure–and substitute a god of lesser value and meaning. People can gain the whole superficial world and yet lose their own souls.”
Jesus uses these parables to get the attention of those who live life one day like the other, never expecting anything different, thinking this life is all there is. He wants to wake us up, shake us up, grab our attention, and make us see him and what he has to offer, because what Jesus is offering is so much better than this imperfect world we live in. Jesus offers us the kingdom of heaven, a perfect world more valuable than buried treasure, more perfect than a rare pearl.
Professor Allison teaches that Jesus “dislikes the default setting of our ordinary consciousness,” because our defect is precisely that we too often accept the present world. We begin to think it is the real world. Jesus’ heart breaks when we see without seeing and when we fail to strive to enter through the narrow gate simply because we have become so accustomed to this everyday life where we have learned to find so much comfort in our material trinkets and the unstable circumstances of our fleeting lives.
So, Jesus constructs these parables, hoping that through them we might begin to ponder more seriously God’s reign, and that perhaps we might even begin to seek it, and eventually, perhaps even to seek it above all else.
D. L. Moody understood this and that is why he promised God to speak to one person every single day about Jesus. Moody wanted the wheat crop to be bigger, he wanted the fish baskets to be fuller because more people were accepting Jesus and becoming his follower. Moody knew that this world was not the end; Jesus made that very clear. This world will end one day, but humans will go on – either in the eternal presence of Jesus or in the eternal fires of hell.
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that starts out small and grows to great heights, providing shelter to the bird who nest in its branches. It is like a bit of yeast, hidden in the flour but transforming that flour by making it rise into a delicious loaf of bread that feeds the body, providing nourishment and strength. It is like a buried treasure and a rare pearl – worth selling everything in order to acquire it. And it is like a fishing net, bringing every person into the presence of God to be sorted into two groups.
Which group will we be in? How many others will we invite to be with us when that time comes? That is up to us. We are free to ignore Jesus’ teachings and his gift, just as we are free to accept it. One decision leads to death, the other to life. Choose wisely and help others do the same – because lives, eternal lives, depend on making the right decision. The invitation is given, the gift is being handed to all who will accept it. Have you already accepted that gift? Will You? I pray the answer is yes. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us enough to tell us the important stuff over and over. To call us to wake up and hear what you have to say and see what you have to offer. Thank you for calling us to you and allowing us to make the decision to follow. Now, Lord Jesus, help us to show others the way to you, so they too can come to know you and find eternal life in you, because we do know that your kingdom is worth more than buried treasure and is more valuable than a rare pearl, or anything else we might value here on earth. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101433/plant-the-seed-and-wait-for-the-harvest-by-dr-larry-petton
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17/commentary-on-matthew-1331-33-44-52-6
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17/commentary-on-matthew-1331-33-44-52-3
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: Mustard Seeds, Pearls, and Fish – Oh My!
Scripture: Matthew 13:31-32,45-50
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The great evangelist, D. L. Moody, once made a covenant with God. He promised God that he would be a witness for Jesus Christ to at least one person every single day. One particular evening, as it was getting to be about 10 pm, Moody suddenly realized he had not kept his promise that day, so he rushed outside and saw a man leaning against a lamppost. Approaching the man, Moody asked if he was a Christian.
The man unexpectedly and immediately became very angry and threatened Moody with bodily harm. The next day, the man, still angry from his encounter, sought out an elder in the church and complained that Moody was singlehandedly causing more harm than ten men who were trying to do good in that Chicago neighborhood. The church elder begged Moody to temper his enthusiasm and tone down his evangelistic efforts.
Some three months later, however, that man came to find Moody at the YMCA. He apologized for his behavior and confessed that since that night, he had not had any peace in his soul. He had come to find out what he needed to do to find that peace. Moody led the man to Christ, and he went on to become a willing and eager worker for the Kingdom of God.
Dwight L. Moody was but one man who faithfully told people about Jesus. He was but a small person who allowed God to work through him to build up God’s kingdom here on earth. Like the mustard seed which is so very tiny yet grows into a bush that can reach twelve feet high, Moody’s ministry has reached countless thousands of people, and many of those people have further expanded God’s kingdom by going on to tell others what they had been told about this Jesus who saves us from the penalty of death and gives us eternal life in him. One seed, many branches equal more seed, more branches, which means a bigger kingdom for God. That’s how evangelism works. That is how the Church is supposed to work.
The size of the church is not important, it is whether the church will do what it is called to do – to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that those who might come to know Jesus as their Savior might find comfort and shelter in him, just as the birds came and found shelter in the branches of the mighty mustard tree.
Next, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like yeast. A woman took a bit of yeast and mixed it in with three measures of flour. What happens when you do that? You no longer see the yeast, for it becomes hidden within the flour. Yet even though it is a small amount of yeast, it works on the flour – not the other way around. The flour does not change the yeast, but the yeast has the power to transform the flour from what it was into a delicious loaf of bread, and a tiny bit of yeast is all it takes to transform three measures of flour into forty loaves of bread!
In the same way, when we become a follower of Jesus Christ, we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit who is not seen, who is hidden in our hearts, yet who empowers us to do the work we are called to do to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that those who might come to know Jesus as their Savior might find comfort and shelter in him, and strength through the power of the Holy Spirit.
These two parables of Jesus were spoken to the crowds of people who had gathered around him and the disciples. In both of these parables, something very tiny creates a dramatic change over a period of time – weeks or months for the mustard plant to grow, hours for the yeast to make the bread rise. We don’t see the growth, but it is happening, just as we do not always see God at work, but we know that he is always working for the good of his kingdom. Professor John Carroll, in his commentary on this passage, writes that in these two parables we see the world is being re-made and God’s reign is always at work, even when we can’t see his workings. That is why it is up to the Church to bear witness to the continual work of God, and to live as one transformed in its life and its practices, in word and deed.
Okay, I can see how a mustard seed and yeast might make sense together, but what do they have to do with a buried treasure, a fine pearl, and a fishing net? Perhaps we will figure that out as we go on.
Jesus next tells three more parables, back-to-back-to-back, but this time there is no crowd, only the disciples. He begins with a man who found treasure in a field. He was so happy and excited that he reburied the treasure, went and sold everything he had, and used the money to buy that field so that he could claim the treasure as his own.
Everything he had was given to buy that field and have that treasure, and doing so gave him great joy. Some of us might ask why he just didn’t take the treasure and keep everything he already had, but I think he knew he would not have joy in simply taking what he had found. What would you give if you had found the secret to salvation unexpectedly? What if you were just living your life and you found, quite by accident, a jar containing a document that told of the secret of eternal life living with God in heaven, but this jar had been buried on another person’s property?
You could take it anyway, right? You could open that jar, discover the secret, and live forever with God. But could you really live in peace and freedom with him? What if God asked you how you came to have the jar with the secret? What would you say? A treasure so great as eternal life with God in heaven should be come by honestly, not by deception and theft.
The man understood the value of the treasure he found, and he also understood the value of obtaining it the right way. He went and sold everything he had so that he could honestly buy the property and legally own that treasure, and he was overjoyed to do so. That was the only way he would be able to benefit from his find. What have you given up to become a follower of Jesus? Or should I ask, what are you willing to give up to be a follower of Jesus?
We are blessed to live in a world where becoming a Christian is easy and has little impact on our safety. That was not the case in Jesus’ day, and he knew it would get worse – much worse – for those disciples to whom he was speaking. They had already given up their jobs, their families, their friends, to become his disciple. They would be asked to give up their very lives one day soon. Would they think it was worth it? Would they consider the treasure of eternal life with Jesus in heaven to be worth giving up all they had to gain this treasure? That is what he was asking them. That is what he is asking us, too.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Again, we see someone who gives up everything they had to get one thing – this time a perfect pearl. The question we ask, as we asked of the last man, was it worth it to give up everything to gain this one thing? Or as Professor Carroll askes, “if the reigning presence of God in the world is like this, are you all in?”
God’s kingdom is perfect, more perfect than even this pearl, more valuable than a buried treasure. What is it worth to become a part of God’s kingdom? What would we do? What would we give, or give up? Are we willing to give up everything, absolutely everything, for God?
The last parable Jesus uses today says that the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown out into the sea where it caught fish of every kind. Once the net was full, it was pulled to shore and the fishermen began sorting the fish, good ones were put into baskets and bad ones thrown out. Just as the parable of the wheat and weeds, this parable deals with the judgement that is to come at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous and throw the evil ones into the furnace of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
All those who know and claim Jesus as Savior will be considered the righteous ones who will be given entrance to the kingdom of heaven forever, all those who have not made that confession will be the ones thrown out like bad fish.
So, I asked at the beginning what a mustard seed, yeast, buried treasure, a rare pearl, and a fishing net might have in common; why did Jesus tell these parables all together like this? For a great explanation, we turn to Professor Dale Allison, Jr., professor of New Testament at Pittsburg Theological Seminary. He says this, “Everyday life is ruled by custom, habit, and routine, and these can all-too-readily cultivate a God-obscuring stasis. Unless one realizes that things are not what they seem to be and that they will not be as they are forever–as the leaven and the mustard seed reveal–one will miss what matters most–the pearl, the treasure–and substitute a god of lesser value and meaning. People can gain the whole superficial world and yet lose their own souls.”
Jesus uses these parables to get the attention of those who live life one day like the other, never expecting anything different, thinking this life is all there is. He wants to wake us up, shake us up, grab our attention, and make us see him and what he has to offer, because what Jesus is offering is so much better than this imperfect world we live in. Jesus offers us the kingdom of heaven, a perfect world more valuable than buried treasure, more perfect than a rare pearl.
Professor Allison teaches that Jesus “dislikes the default setting of our ordinary consciousness,” because our defect is precisely that we too often accept the present world. We begin to think it is the real world. Jesus’ heart breaks when we see without seeing and when we fail to strive to enter through the narrow gate simply because we have become so accustomed to this everyday life where we have learned to find so much comfort in our material trinkets and the unstable circumstances of our fleeting lives.
So, Jesus constructs these parables, hoping that through them we might begin to ponder more seriously God’s reign, and that perhaps we might even begin to seek it, and eventually, perhaps even to seek it above all else.
D. L. Moody understood this and that is why he promised God to speak to one person every single day about Jesus. Moody wanted the wheat crop to be bigger, he wanted the fish baskets to be fuller because more people were accepting Jesus and becoming his follower. Moody knew that this world was not the end; Jesus made that very clear. This world will end one day, but humans will go on – either in the eternal presence of Jesus or in the eternal fires of hell.
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that starts out small and grows to great heights, providing shelter to the bird who nest in its branches. It is like a bit of yeast, hidden in the flour but transforming that flour by making it rise into a delicious loaf of bread that feeds the body, providing nourishment and strength. It is like a buried treasure and a rare pearl – worth selling everything in order to acquire it. And it is like a fishing net, bringing every person into the presence of God to be sorted into two groups.
Which group will we be in? How many others will we invite to be with us when that time comes? That is up to us. We are free to ignore Jesus’ teachings and his gift, just as we are free to accept it. One decision leads to death, the other to life. Choose wisely and help others do the same – because lives, eternal lives, depend on making the right decision. The invitation is given, the gift is being handed to all who will accept it. Have you already accepted that gift? Will You? I pray the answer is yes. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us enough to tell us the important stuff over and over. To call us to wake up and hear what you have to say and see what you have to offer. Thank you for calling us to you and allowing us to make the decision to follow. Now, Lord Jesus, help us to show others the way to you, so they too can come to know you and find eternal life in you, because we do know that your kingdom is worth more than buried treasure and is more valuable than a rare pearl, or anything else we might value here on earth. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101433/plant-the-seed-and-wait-for-the-harvest-by-dr-larry-petton
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17/commentary-on-matthew-1331-33-44-52-6
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17/commentary-on-matthew-1331-33-44-52-3
pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY JULY 23, 2023, CONTINUING THE SERIES TITLED "THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP" CALLED "The good seed"
July23, 2023
Rootstown
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: The Good Seed
Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 (Gen 28:10-19a)
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
I want to share a story with you from Philip Yancey’s book, “Soul Survivor.” This is a true story about a man named Rev. John Perkins from Mendenhall, Mississippi. Rev. Perkins was influenced by Dr. Martin Luther King, and he believed with Dr. King that hope for this world can only be found in the love of Christ, not the power of violence. His belief was put to the test in a way he never saw coming.
Rev. Perkins started a church in his hometown, but that wasn’t all he did to show the love of Christ and share the gospel in his day. He also started a Bible Institute, a radio program, a health clinic, a co-op, a vocational training center, a youth recreation center, a tutoring program, an after-school program, and a housing program. All seemed to be going well. That is, until Rev. Perkins started a voter registration campaign, and then also led an economic boycott in the downtown area as a way of protesting police violence.
As a black man in the south, in that day, there were some who decided he had crossed the line and he needed to be taught a lesson. Over a dozen white police officers attacked Rev. Perkins, and the beating they gave him resulted in injuries so bad that the surgeons had to remove two-thirds of his stomach. His recovery took over a year and a half. Rev. Perkins has admitted that this was a time when his faith was deeply tested and he realized he needed to make a decision, either let what had happened to him turn him away from God and be destroyed by hate, or use it to let God strengthen his resolve to live his life as he had always preached – that is to return good for evil, to follow Jesus’ command to “Love your enemies.”
Rev. Perkins says that as he lay on that bed, pondering his way forward, he felt a transfusion of hope in Jesus, and he knew he could not give up. He resolved to continue to live as he had always lived, to forgive those who had beaten him, even to try to love them. Eventually, rev. Perkins did recover, and several years later, still in Mendenhall, Mississippi, he was leading a movement once again, this time for racial reconciliation, often times working with a man named Thomas Tarrants, who was a former KKK member who had served time for murder.
While in prison, Tarrants was converted, and after serving his time, he went on to become a pastor of a multi-racial church in Washington DC. Two men, one a former Klan member, one a man who almost lost his life to a racially motivated beating, now working together to bring healing to many by preaching the world of God and sharing the love of Jesus in an imperfect world that still struggles with sin.
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/parable-of-the-wheat-and-darnel-revd-martin-dale-sermon-on-discipleship-96019?page=2&wc=800
Rootstown
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: The Good Seed
Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 (Gen 28:10-19a)
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
I want to share a story with you from Philip Yancey’s book, “Soul Survivor.” This is a true story about a man named Rev. John Perkins from Mendenhall, Mississippi. Rev. Perkins was influenced by Dr. Martin Luther King, and he believed with Dr. King that hope for this world can only be found in the love of Christ, not the power of violence. His belief was put to the test in a way he never saw coming.
Rev. Perkins started a church in his hometown, but that wasn’t all he did to show the love of Christ and share the gospel in his day. He also started a Bible Institute, a radio program, a health clinic, a co-op, a vocational training center, a youth recreation center, a tutoring program, an after-school program, and a housing program. All seemed to be going well. That is, until Rev. Perkins started a voter registration campaign, and then also led an economic boycott in the downtown area as a way of protesting police violence.
As a black man in the south, in that day, there were some who decided he had crossed the line and he needed to be taught a lesson. Over a dozen white police officers attacked Rev. Perkins, and the beating they gave him resulted in injuries so bad that the surgeons had to remove two-thirds of his stomach. His recovery took over a year and a half. Rev. Perkins has admitted that this was a time when his faith was deeply tested and he realized he needed to make a decision, either let what had happened to him turn him away from God and be destroyed by hate, or use it to let God strengthen his resolve to live his life as he had always preached – that is to return good for evil, to follow Jesus’ command to “Love your enemies.”
Rev. Perkins says that as he lay on that bed, pondering his way forward, he felt a transfusion of hope in Jesus, and he knew he could not give up. He resolved to continue to live as he had always lived, to forgive those who had beaten him, even to try to love them. Eventually, rev. Perkins did recover, and several years later, still in Mendenhall, Mississippi, he was leading a movement once again, this time for racial reconciliation, often times working with a man named Thomas Tarrants, who was a former KKK member who had served time for murder.
While in prison, Tarrants was converted, and after serving his time, he went on to become a pastor of a multi-racial church in Washington DC. Two men, one a former Klan member, one a man who almost lost his life to a racially motivated beating, now working together to bring healing to many by preaching the world of God and sharing the love of Jesus in an imperfect world that still struggles with sin.
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/parable-of-the-wheat-and-darnel-revd-martin-dale-sermon-on-discipleship-96019?page=2&wc=800
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY JULY 16, 2023, CONTINUING THE SERIES TITLED "THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP" CALLED "Be A Seed Sower"
July 16, 2023
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: Be a Seed Sower
Scripture: Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 If you have ears, hear!”
18 “Hear, then, the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
A sower goes out to sow seeds. Have you ever sown seeds? While many of us may have grown plants, either flowers or vegetables, we are accustomed these days to starting with plants already growing. It saves us time and gets us to our desired results faster – beautiful flowers, juicy tomatoes, ripe melons. But all these plants started once as a seed. A seed carefully planted and tended, watered just right, placed where the temps are perfect for them, and ensured that the right amount of sunlight reaches them. The seed then sprouts, the plant begins to grow, and eventually it is sent to the garden center where we then buy it, take it home, and plant it.
Our seed sower today, though, isn’t doing any of that. He goes out to sow seeds and the seeds go everywhere. Some fall on the path where he walked, some were strewn on ground that was more rocks than dirt, some fell into areas where thorny vines reigned, and some seeds made it into good soil, soil conducive for growing seeds into plants which would mature into crops which could be harvested.
Jesus told this parable to the crowd who had gathered around, pressing in on every side, listening to his words, watching for a miracle. He sat beside the sea, but soon the crowds grew so great that he got into a boat and sat there to address the people who stood on the beach. And he ended this parable by saying, “If you have ears, hear!”
That seems like a funny thing to say. Of course, they all had ears. Of course, they all heard what he had to say. But Jesus isn’t talking about hearing his words, he is talking about listening to his message. You see, Jesus was talking about the people who were standing in front of him. He was also talking about all the people who would eventually hear his message in all the ages to come, including us.
Jesus knew there were people who would hear his words, but they wouldn’t mean anything to them. They were the seed that fell on the path where the ground was so hard-packed that the seed could not penetrate, but could only lay on the surface, where the birds could swoop in and snatch it up.
These people had hearts that had been hardened so that the gospel could not take root. They have an impenetrable shell of protection over their heart that reaches up and stops up their ears from hearing the truth of the gospel. These are the people who came for the show – to see the miracles, or to see the religious leaders of the day try to trip Jesus up with their questions. Never did they come to hear Jesus because they had any faith in him or in who he was. Their cynicism would never allow their hearts to be exposed to such nonsense.
Jesus said these are the people who did not understand, but he didn’t mean they couldn’t understand. They simply refused to try. Perhaps we know people like that. People who just cannot understand the good news we are trying to share with them because they will not try. They will not allow a crack in that shell they have constructed around their hearts so that the seed of the gospel can begin to take root. Satan, the birds in Jesus’ story, snatches away the seeds of truth before they can do any good for this person because if they ever do let their guard down and receive the good news, they just might become powerful witnesses for Jesus and his kingdom, and Satan will fight against that possibility with all he has.
The second group of people are the seeds that fell on shallow ground, ground where the first inch or so is decent soil, but if you look just below the surface, you discover rocks, and a lot of them. These people hear the good news, and they receive it immediately. They are excited to learn the truth of Jesus and they joyfully begin to live as his follower. But then hardship strikes, a job loss, the death of a loved one, or criticism from a non-believer who questions them, or changes their relationship because of this new-found faith. These people don’t know how to handle these situations. They haven’t allowed themselves to become attached to the kingdom of God because they are still too attached to the world in which they live.
These are people who are shallow, they are easily swayed by popular opinion and the fad of the day. Like the ball in a pin ball game, they zing from one thing to another, bouncing from one idea to the next. What they love today could change tomorrow based on what their friends and family are doing, or what their favorite personality is promoting at the moment.
They are seed that has fallen on soil that looks good on top but has no depth. The rocks found just beneath the surface crowd out the air and the nutrients the seedling needs to be able to establish roots that will grow down deep and make the plant strong. They never develop a real relationship with Jesus. Even though they received his gospel with great joy, the next best thing caught their attention and they forgot all about him quickly and moved on.
They came to see Jesus because the miracles drew their attention, they got caught up in the excitement and jumped on the bandwagon, but when they went home that night, they quickly forgot what they learned in anticipation of what tomorrow might bring.
Some people are the seed that fell in with the thorns. They heard the word, they even came to believe in Jesus, but somewhat like the last group, they are too attached to this world to put down deep roots in the kingdom of God. They are willing to accept the gospel as long as it does not interfere with their way of living. They are ready to be Christ followers as long as they can lead the way, or take a shortcut, or call timeout whenever they feel like it.
These are people who make time for Jesus as their schedule permits but then puts him aside if something “more important” demands their attention, and that happens a lot. These are the ones for whom wealth, status, and privilege are more important than giving, serving, and loving. They allow themselves to be so bound up in achieving and acquiring that their desires for worldly things chokes out any spark of their love for Jesus. Eventually, what love they had withers and dies, leaving the thorns victorious once again.
These are the people who came for the miracles, liked what they heard, and realized there was something to gain from following Jesus. They tried it for a while, but then just couldn’t bring themselves to whole-heartedly become a disciple when they realized that doing so required them to think of others more than themselves. They were unable to love people more than possessions.
Some of the people in the crowd that day were the seed that fell on good soil. This was soil that was rich and ready for planting. It was soil that nurtured the seed and allowed its roots to grow down deep, sending up a shoot that became a strong plant that grew and matured and produced a crop that yielded much more than what the single seed was by itself.
These are the people who came seeking something from Jesus that was beyond just witnessing miracles or being part of the crowd. These people had a hunger in their heart, a longing they didn’t understand, but somehow sensed that Jesus was the one who could satisfy it. They heard his words and they worked to understand what he meant. They listened and their faith began to grow. They saw his miracles as evidence that he was who he said he was, and they began to follow him earnestly.
When they didn’t understand, they sought clarity so that they would be strengthened on the Word of God, barring Satan from snatching away their faith. They found a calling and a focus in being a follower of Jesus and were no longer swayed by the opinions of others who mocked him or their faith. They learned to love others and in loving, to serve the least, the lost, and the lonely, and they did so with joy.
These are the people who learned to still live in this world but to stand strong against the voices that encouraged each person to live only for themselves, for what they could get, for what made them feel good, for what made them happy. Instead, these folks are the ones who realized that happiness is fleeting. Happiness is fickle. Happiness is here one minute and gone the next. What these people sought was not happiness, but joy.
They learned that joy is not fickle. Joy can be a part of our nature in good times and in bad, because joy comes from faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Joy comes because we know that whatever we face in this life, it is temporary, but we have eternal life in Christ. Joy comes to us through faith, and faith encourages us to serve, to give, and to love as Jesus served, gave, and loved, and it is in our serving, and giving, and loving, that the fruit of our faith is revealed.
It is this fruit that will attract those who need something they don’t understand, those who come seeking because they are hungry for something they have not yet tasted. And those who are the seed from the good soil will in turn sow the seed born of their fruit, scattering and sowing wherever they go, praying for the crops they are hoping will grow. It is in this way that one will become ten, ten will become one hundred, one hundred will become thousands, and the kingdom of God will grow, bringing glory to his name here on earth as it is in heaven.
Do you remember where this all started, all this sowing and growing and producing fruit? It all started with these words that Jesus said, “Listen! A sower went out to sow.” There was intent on the part of the sower. His sowing was not accidental, he went out to sow. He got dressed, laced up his shoes, grabbed his seed bag, and left the house, fully intending to sow seeds.
Friends, I hope as you heard of all the different types of people who gathered on the beach to hear Jesus preach from a boat, that you saw yourself as the seed that fell on the good soil. I pray that each one of us has heard the words of Jesus and taken them to heart. I pray that we have learned the joy of serving, giving, and loving. I pray that we are producing fruit that will feed others who see Jesus in us and want him for themselves. And I pray that we will be intentional sowers of the seed of the gospel.
Might I add that I pray we are generous, intentional sowers of the seed of the gospel? Remember, the sower sowed in all the places – the path, the rocky soil, the thorny areas, as well as in the fertile places. The sower’s job is to sow everywhere. Those who receive the seed are the ones who will determine whether it will take root in their hearts, not us. We sow, God grows. God grows the seed into a strong plant in the hearts that are open to him, but that openness might not be evident to our human eyes.
Have you ever seen a dandelion grow in the crack of a sidewalk? God can help a seed grow in a hard heart if there is the tiniest crack that opens. Have you ever seen a tree grow out of the side of a mountain? God can grow a seed if its roots can find a hold in even rocky soil. And, my friends, God can remove the thorns that threaten to choke out the seed that grows in their midst so that seed can flourish where none have before. We do not determine where the seed might or might not grow, we are tasked with scattering and sowing seeds so that God can grow them for his kingdom, for their benefit, and for his glory.
So, it is time to check our fruit, to assess our crop. Is it rotting because our attitude is rotten? This will drive people away. This will cause the seed we are producing to be withered and unviable. Or is our fruit full and ripe? Does our fruit hold seed that will go on to produce even more fruit? Does our fruit invite others to come and “taste and see that the Lord is good” and leave them wanting more of Jesus?
Are we sowing in all the places and spaces where we go? Or are we holding back and picking and choosing only the places that look promising to us? Maybe today is the day we make the decision to sow everywhere and anywhere we go. Maybe today is the day we intentionally begin to sow the seed of the gospel generously, even if some falls on the hard path, or the rocky soil, or the thorny patch. It’s okay if some of our seed falls in hard places because some will also fall on the rich, fertile, good soil we are hoping for. And who knows, perhaps God is already at work, amending the poor soil so that it will become good soil once the seed falls upon it. Perhaps God is preparing hearts for us to sow into, even if they don’t look like people who might be worth our time spent sowing. We just need to sow the seeds. Generously, intentionally, everywhere we go. May it be so. AMEN.
PARAYER: Lord Jesus, you knew the hearts of the people who gathered to hear you on that beach so long ago, and you know our hearts today. Help us cultivate good soil in our hearts so that we might grow strong, healthy seed that will become a good crop of abundant fruit. May we sow generously and intentionally wherever we go, casting our seed upon all types of soil, confident that you can make the seed grow in the places it is meant to grow. Thank you, Jesus, for those who sowed their seeds into our lives, thereby drawing us into your presence and into your kingdom, now help us do the same for others. AMEN.
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: Be a Seed Sower
Scripture: Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 If you have ears, hear!”
18 “Hear, then, the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
A sower goes out to sow seeds. Have you ever sown seeds? While many of us may have grown plants, either flowers or vegetables, we are accustomed these days to starting with plants already growing. It saves us time and gets us to our desired results faster – beautiful flowers, juicy tomatoes, ripe melons. But all these plants started once as a seed. A seed carefully planted and tended, watered just right, placed where the temps are perfect for them, and ensured that the right amount of sunlight reaches them. The seed then sprouts, the plant begins to grow, and eventually it is sent to the garden center where we then buy it, take it home, and plant it.
Our seed sower today, though, isn’t doing any of that. He goes out to sow seeds and the seeds go everywhere. Some fall on the path where he walked, some were strewn on ground that was more rocks than dirt, some fell into areas where thorny vines reigned, and some seeds made it into good soil, soil conducive for growing seeds into plants which would mature into crops which could be harvested.
Jesus told this parable to the crowd who had gathered around, pressing in on every side, listening to his words, watching for a miracle. He sat beside the sea, but soon the crowds grew so great that he got into a boat and sat there to address the people who stood on the beach. And he ended this parable by saying, “If you have ears, hear!”
That seems like a funny thing to say. Of course, they all had ears. Of course, they all heard what he had to say. But Jesus isn’t talking about hearing his words, he is talking about listening to his message. You see, Jesus was talking about the people who were standing in front of him. He was also talking about all the people who would eventually hear his message in all the ages to come, including us.
Jesus knew there were people who would hear his words, but they wouldn’t mean anything to them. They were the seed that fell on the path where the ground was so hard-packed that the seed could not penetrate, but could only lay on the surface, where the birds could swoop in and snatch it up.
These people had hearts that had been hardened so that the gospel could not take root. They have an impenetrable shell of protection over their heart that reaches up and stops up their ears from hearing the truth of the gospel. These are the people who came for the show – to see the miracles, or to see the religious leaders of the day try to trip Jesus up with their questions. Never did they come to hear Jesus because they had any faith in him or in who he was. Their cynicism would never allow their hearts to be exposed to such nonsense.
Jesus said these are the people who did not understand, but he didn’t mean they couldn’t understand. They simply refused to try. Perhaps we know people like that. People who just cannot understand the good news we are trying to share with them because they will not try. They will not allow a crack in that shell they have constructed around their hearts so that the seed of the gospel can begin to take root. Satan, the birds in Jesus’ story, snatches away the seeds of truth before they can do any good for this person because if they ever do let their guard down and receive the good news, they just might become powerful witnesses for Jesus and his kingdom, and Satan will fight against that possibility with all he has.
The second group of people are the seeds that fell on shallow ground, ground where the first inch or so is decent soil, but if you look just below the surface, you discover rocks, and a lot of them. These people hear the good news, and they receive it immediately. They are excited to learn the truth of Jesus and they joyfully begin to live as his follower. But then hardship strikes, a job loss, the death of a loved one, or criticism from a non-believer who questions them, or changes their relationship because of this new-found faith. These people don’t know how to handle these situations. They haven’t allowed themselves to become attached to the kingdom of God because they are still too attached to the world in which they live.
These are people who are shallow, they are easily swayed by popular opinion and the fad of the day. Like the ball in a pin ball game, they zing from one thing to another, bouncing from one idea to the next. What they love today could change tomorrow based on what their friends and family are doing, or what their favorite personality is promoting at the moment.
They are seed that has fallen on soil that looks good on top but has no depth. The rocks found just beneath the surface crowd out the air and the nutrients the seedling needs to be able to establish roots that will grow down deep and make the plant strong. They never develop a real relationship with Jesus. Even though they received his gospel with great joy, the next best thing caught their attention and they forgot all about him quickly and moved on.
They came to see Jesus because the miracles drew their attention, they got caught up in the excitement and jumped on the bandwagon, but when they went home that night, they quickly forgot what they learned in anticipation of what tomorrow might bring.
Some people are the seed that fell in with the thorns. They heard the word, they even came to believe in Jesus, but somewhat like the last group, they are too attached to this world to put down deep roots in the kingdom of God. They are willing to accept the gospel as long as it does not interfere with their way of living. They are ready to be Christ followers as long as they can lead the way, or take a shortcut, or call timeout whenever they feel like it.
These are people who make time for Jesus as their schedule permits but then puts him aside if something “more important” demands their attention, and that happens a lot. These are the ones for whom wealth, status, and privilege are more important than giving, serving, and loving. They allow themselves to be so bound up in achieving and acquiring that their desires for worldly things chokes out any spark of their love for Jesus. Eventually, what love they had withers and dies, leaving the thorns victorious once again.
These are the people who came for the miracles, liked what they heard, and realized there was something to gain from following Jesus. They tried it for a while, but then just couldn’t bring themselves to whole-heartedly become a disciple when they realized that doing so required them to think of others more than themselves. They were unable to love people more than possessions.
Some of the people in the crowd that day were the seed that fell on good soil. This was soil that was rich and ready for planting. It was soil that nurtured the seed and allowed its roots to grow down deep, sending up a shoot that became a strong plant that grew and matured and produced a crop that yielded much more than what the single seed was by itself.
These are the people who came seeking something from Jesus that was beyond just witnessing miracles or being part of the crowd. These people had a hunger in their heart, a longing they didn’t understand, but somehow sensed that Jesus was the one who could satisfy it. They heard his words and they worked to understand what he meant. They listened and their faith began to grow. They saw his miracles as evidence that he was who he said he was, and they began to follow him earnestly.
When they didn’t understand, they sought clarity so that they would be strengthened on the Word of God, barring Satan from snatching away their faith. They found a calling and a focus in being a follower of Jesus and were no longer swayed by the opinions of others who mocked him or their faith. They learned to love others and in loving, to serve the least, the lost, and the lonely, and they did so with joy.
These are the people who learned to still live in this world but to stand strong against the voices that encouraged each person to live only for themselves, for what they could get, for what made them feel good, for what made them happy. Instead, these folks are the ones who realized that happiness is fleeting. Happiness is fickle. Happiness is here one minute and gone the next. What these people sought was not happiness, but joy.
They learned that joy is not fickle. Joy can be a part of our nature in good times and in bad, because joy comes from faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Joy comes because we know that whatever we face in this life, it is temporary, but we have eternal life in Christ. Joy comes to us through faith, and faith encourages us to serve, to give, and to love as Jesus served, gave, and loved, and it is in our serving, and giving, and loving, that the fruit of our faith is revealed.
It is this fruit that will attract those who need something they don’t understand, those who come seeking because they are hungry for something they have not yet tasted. And those who are the seed from the good soil will in turn sow the seed born of their fruit, scattering and sowing wherever they go, praying for the crops they are hoping will grow. It is in this way that one will become ten, ten will become one hundred, one hundred will become thousands, and the kingdom of God will grow, bringing glory to his name here on earth as it is in heaven.
Do you remember where this all started, all this sowing and growing and producing fruit? It all started with these words that Jesus said, “Listen! A sower went out to sow.” There was intent on the part of the sower. His sowing was not accidental, he went out to sow. He got dressed, laced up his shoes, grabbed his seed bag, and left the house, fully intending to sow seeds.
Friends, I hope as you heard of all the different types of people who gathered on the beach to hear Jesus preach from a boat, that you saw yourself as the seed that fell on the good soil. I pray that each one of us has heard the words of Jesus and taken them to heart. I pray that we have learned the joy of serving, giving, and loving. I pray that we are producing fruit that will feed others who see Jesus in us and want him for themselves. And I pray that we will be intentional sowers of the seed of the gospel.
Might I add that I pray we are generous, intentional sowers of the seed of the gospel? Remember, the sower sowed in all the places – the path, the rocky soil, the thorny areas, as well as in the fertile places. The sower’s job is to sow everywhere. Those who receive the seed are the ones who will determine whether it will take root in their hearts, not us. We sow, God grows. God grows the seed into a strong plant in the hearts that are open to him, but that openness might not be evident to our human eyes.
Have you ever seen a dandelion grow in the crack of a sidewalk? God can help a seed grow in a hard heart if there is the tiniest crack that opens. Have you ever seen a tree grow out of the side of a mountain? God can grow a seed if its roots can find a hold in even rocky soil. And, my friends, God can remove the thorns that threaten to choke out the seed that grows in their midst so that seed can flourish where none have before. We do not determine where the seed might or might not grow, we are tasked with scattering and sowing seeds so that God can grow them for his kingdom, for their benefit, and for his glory.
So, it is time to check our fruit, to assess our crop. Is it rotting because our attitude is rotten? This will drive people away. This will cause the seed we are producing to be withered and unviable. Or is our fruit full and ripe? Does our fruit hold seed that will go on to produce even more fruit? Does our fruit invite others to come and “taste and see that the Lord is good” and leave them wanting more of Jesus?
Are we sowing in all the places and spaces where we go? Or are we holding back and picking and choosing only the places that look promising to us? Maybe today is the day we make the decision to sow everywhere and anywhere we go. Maybe today is the day we intentionally begin to sow the seed of the gospel generously, even if some falls on the hard path, or the rocky soil, or the thorny patch. It’s okay if some of our seed falls in hard places because some will also fall on the rich, fertile, good soil we are hoping for. And who knows, perhaps God is already at work, amending the poor soil so that it will become good soil once the seed falls upon it. Perhaps God is preparing hearts for us to sow into, even if they don’t look like people who might be worth our time spent sowing. We just need to sow the seeds. Generously, intentionally, everywhere we go. May it be so. AMEN.
PARAYER: Lord Jesus, you knew the hearts of the people who gathered to hear you on that beach so long ago, and you know our hearts today. Help us cultivate good soil in our hearts so that we might grow strong, healthy seed that will become a good crop of abundant fruit. May we sow generously and intentionally wherever we go, casting our seed upon all types of soil, confident that you can make the seed grow in the places it is meant to grow. Thank you, Jesus, for those who sowed their seeds into our lives, thereby drawing us into your presence and into your kingdom, now help us do the same for others. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY JULY 9, 2023, continuing the SERIES titled "THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP" CALLED "an unfair trade"
July 9, 2023
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: An Unfair Trade
Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Have you ever moved? Packed up everything in one house and physically moved it all to a new place? Think about the process, all the work that goes into it. Finding boxes, sorting all your stuff, putting it all in the boxes, wrapping the fragile items extra carefully. Then taping up the boxes and marking them as to where they will go in the new place so it might be easier to stage for unpacking and putting away.
Then there is the stacking of boxes in the moving van, the U-Haul, or pickup trucks, driving to the new place and doing everything all over again – in reverse order. It’s a lot of work, isn’t it? It’s exhausting. Before you’re even done, you find yourself mumbling something about never doing this again. But how many of us who have ever gone through this process have done it all by ourselves? All of it, from start to finish.
Probably not many, if any of us have ever moved without help. Help from family and friends, or even a moving company, is kind of expected, and very appreciated, because as I said, moving is a lot of work, and some work is just meant to be done with others. Some work simply cannot be done on our own.
Last Monday night, I went to see the new movie, “The Sound of Freedom.” It is a powerfully moving story and I highly recommend everyone see it. A quick Google search will turn up a description of the movie which reads, “After rescuing a boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy's sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death.”
Now, that description is true, but it is incomplete. You see, if I had not seen the movie, and all I knew about it was from this description, I might think this man worked alone to rescue these children. That was certainly not the case. Tim Ballard, the real-life agent who the movie is based on, had help from several sources in his quest to save these children.
I won’t give too much of the movie away, so as not to spoil it for those of you who have not seen it yet, but Tim had a lot of help in doing what he did. He simply could not have pulled off a feat like he did if he had acted alone. At each stage of his mission, he assessed what he needed and with whom he could partner to get it done. Like moving, this was a job that needed all hands-on deck.
Over the last month or so, I have talked a lot about our spiritual gifts, stressing that they are given to us to work to build up the church. Our gifts are given to us to work in tandem with the gifts given to others so that we can accomplish what God calls us, as this part of the body of Christ, to do. Like moving, or rescuing children, the work we do as disciples of Jesus Christ just cannot be accomplished on our own. Maybe small parts of the whole picture can be done individually, but the whole of the work that God calls us to takes all of us working together.
Today’s scripture is about working together. Jesus is issuing an invitation to a weary disciple, saying, “Come to me, all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Who among us is not carrying a heavy burden? Who among us is not weary sometimes? No one. This invitation from Jesus is to every single one of us.
For some of us, this is like throwing us a life jacket as we struggle in the deep waters. We have been so busy trying to keep our heads above water that we haven’t taken time to rest in a while. There are things to do, lists that have been made and have not been completed, work to be accomplished. Sometimes we are like Alice in Wonderland’s White Rabbit, no time to stop, to time to sit, no time to rest, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late! Even doing God’s work can be time-consuming and exhausting. “Come to me,” Jesus calls, “I see you. I see what you are doing, and I see that you need a breather. Find your rest in me.”
Rest, especially rest in the Lord, is vital to our successful mission as a disciple of Christ, even though sometimes it is hard for us to admit. I think too often we tell ourselves, “I will rest when this (whatever “this” is) is finished,” but the truth is, sometimes, in order to finish, and finish well, we need to rest along the way. “Come to me,” Jesus calls, “I will give you rest, rest that will restore you so you can go on.”
Jesus doesn’t just offer a place to rest, though. He goes even further in his offer. “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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
“Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says. Do you know what a yoke is? It is a wooden crosspiece designed to fit over the necks of two animals so that they will work in tandem, usually to pull a plow or a wagon. By yoking two animals together, each of them shares a part of a burden that would be too much for either of them alone.
Now, the principle of being yoked is that both parties have to learn to work together, in lockstep with one another, because if one were to pull against the yoke and not cooperate, the yoke would chafe their neck, it would rub a raw spot and cause pain. It would place a greater burden of work on the one on the other side of the yoke. But when the two are in sync, then the yoke is not a burden any longer. The people to whom Jesus was speaking would have understood this analogy right away because this was normal for them. They often plowed their fields with a yoke of oxen, and whenever they had a young ox who needed to learn what to do, they would yoke him with an older, more experienced ox who would teach him the right way to go.
The younger ox might wear himself out at first, pulling the wrong way, not understanding how settling in and following the teacher would make his life easier, but eventually, he would learn, and he would do as his teacher taught him. The old ox had already learned how to walk together and work together with the one sharing his yoke, and now he is teaching the younger ox in his ways.
When Jesus tells us to “Take my yoke upon you,” he is offering to share our burden, to lighten our load so that we can do what seems too difficult to do on our own. This is an offer that goes to every disciple. We try to do what we think is best. We try to do things our own way. We wear ourselves out by chafing against the yoke that is put upon us, the yoke of discipleship, of service. We think it isn’t for us. We are too tired, we are too busy, we are too, whatever we are, to answer the call to discipleship and service because we haven’t learned how to find rest in Jesus by taking his yoke upon us.
Jesus isn’t calling us to do the work of the kingdom to put a burden us. He calls us to serve in our church, our neighborhoods, and our world, because he wants others to know him as we know him. He wants us to be out and about so that through us, his love can be shared with those who do not yet know him. Jesus calls us to serve others because he has already served us in a way we can never repay. Jesus calls us to serve others because so many are in need, physically and spiritually, and he wants us to let them know they need not go on alone.
“Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says to us, “Learn from me. I will teach you to be like me. I will teach you to be humble and gentle. I will teach you how to work and how to rest. I will teach you that both work and rest are for me and found in me.” And Jesus then says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Take this yoke and give me yours.”
What Jesus never says is that this isn’t a fair trade. When we carry our burdens and they weigh us down, Jesus is ready and willing to take the weight of them off our shoulders and give us his lighter burden. He doesn’t have to do that. He could tell us that our burdens are our own to bear. He could tell us that our burdens are our own doing so suck it up and carry that load.
Jesus never says that. He never points out how we tend to go about our lives adding stresses and problems like we are collecting prized possessions. He never points out that so many of our burdens are because we have failed to love as he has taught us to love. He never reminds us that we have been holding on to our burdens out of a sense of pride, as a witness to the world about how hard our life is, so they might honor us for being so strong. No, Jesus never says that this is an unfair trade, he just keeps issuing the invitation in the hopes that one day, we will wake up and take him up on his offer. That one day, we will lay our burdens down at his feet and admit that we cannot do this alone. That one day we will realize that we cannot be disciples in a vacuum, that we need help – his help, and we need rest – his rest. And then, when we have learned who we really are and to whom we really belong, we will be ready to learn Jesus’ way.
We will learn to be humble and gentle; we will learn to serve and love others as he has served and loved us. We will learn to be like Jesus, and we will find that the yoke he had given us is light, that the burdens we now bear are easier to carry, that we have joy in our lives because now we are growing in faith and love, being taught by Jesus.
Dr. Larry Petton tells a story that reminds us of this lesson on serving and loving. He writes, “After World War II, a group of German students volunteered to help rebuild an English cathedral that had been severely damaged by German bombs. As work progressed, they became concerned about a large statue of Jesus, whose arms were outstretched, and beneath which was the inscription: ‘Come unto Me.’
Because of the extensive damage, they had difficulty trying to restore the hands, which had been completely destroyed. After much discussion, they decided to let the hands remain missing and changed the inscription to: ‘Christ has no hands but ours.’”
Dr. Petton goes on to say, “As believers in Christ living in a dark world, we are the very hands and feet of Christ sharing hope through the good news of the Gospel.”
If you put two animals in a yoke, the work they are doing is easier to accomplish. When we take up Jesus’ yoke, being his hands and feet in the world is easier to accomplish. This is the message that Jesus was conveying to his audience so long ago, and to us right now. We were never meant to do the work Jesus calls us to do alone. We have one another. We work alongside our brothers and sisters and share the work and make it easier to do, this sharing the love of Jesus by serving others as his disciples.
And we have Jesus himself, helping us every step of the way. Offering us rest so that when we find our load getting too heavy, we can trade him, and he will allow us to take his yoke upon us, while shouldering our own on himself. He will bear our heavier burden while we rest in him. Whether we are packing and unpacking for moving to a new place, or rescuing children from the hands of evil people, or giving a meal to a hungry person in need, or doing whatever else it is that we need to do, we need to partner with others who will share our work, and all the while, Jesus will continue to offer us rest, so that we can get refreshed and reenergized to continue the mission before us. “Come to me, all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Accept the invitation. AMEN.
PRAYER: Jesus, we admit that we do often take on more that we can handle, and we become weary and burdened by all we need to do. Sometimes the load gets heavy through nothing we have done but through circumstances in our lives. Thank you for the offer of rest. When we grow tired, help us turn to you. When our burdens become too heavy to carry, help us give them to you. We are so grateful for your humble, gentle spirit that teaches us to be like you. May we share you with others, as you have called us to do, so that they, too, may come and find their much-needed rest in you. AMEN.
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Message: An Unfair Trade
Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Have you ever moved? Packed up everything in one house and physically moved it all to a new place? Think about the process, all the work that goes into it. Finding boxes, sorting all your stuff, putting it all in the boxes, wrapping the fragile items extra carefully. Then taping up the boxes and marking them as to where they will go in the new place so it might be easier to stage for unpacking and putting away.
Then there is the stacking of boxes in the moving van, the U-Haul, or pickup trucks, driving to the new place and doing everything all over again – in reverse order. It’s a lot of work, isn’t it? It’s exhausting. Before you’re even done, you find yourself mumbling something about never doing this again. But how many of us who have ever gone through this process have done it all by ourselves? All of it, from start to finish.
Probably not many, if any of us have ever moved without help. Help from family and friends, or even a moving company, is kind of expected, and very appreciated, because as I said, moving is a lot of work, and some work is just meant to be done with others. Some work simply cannot be done on our own.
Last Monday night, I went to see the new movie, “The Sound of Freedom.” It is a powerfully moving story and I highly recommend everyone see it. A quick Google search will turn up a description of the movie which reads, “After rescuing a boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy's sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death.”
Now, that description is true, but it is incomplete. You see, if I had not seen the movie, and all I knew about it was from this description, I might think this man worked alone to rescue these children. That was certainly not the case. Tim Ballard, the real-life agent who the movie is based on, had help from several sources in his quest to save these children.
I won’t give too much of the movie away, so as not to spoil it for those of you who have not seen it yet, but Tim had a lot of help in doing what he did. He simply could not have pulled off a feat like he did if he had acted alone. At each stage of his mission, he assessed what he needed and with whom he could partner to get it done. Like moving, this was a job that needed all hands-on deck.
Over the last month or so, I have talked a lot about our spiritual gifts, stressing that they are given to us to work to build up the church. Our gifts are given to us to work in tandem with the gifts given to others so that we can accomplish what God calls us, as this part of the body of Christ, to do. Like moving, or rescuing children, the work we do as disciples of Jesus Christ just cannot be accomplished on our own. Maybe small parts of the whole picture can be done individually, but the whole of the work that God calls us to takes all of us working together.
Today’s scripture is about working together. Jesus is issuing an invitation to a weary disciple, saying, “Come to me, all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Who among us is not carrying a heavy burden? Who among us is not weary sometimes? No one. This invitation from Jesus is to every single one of us.
For some of us, this is like throwing us a life jacket as we struggle in the deep waters. We have been so busy trying to keep our heads above water that we haven’t taken time to rest in a while. There are things to do, lists that have been made and have not been completed, work to be accomplished. Sometimes we are like Alice in Wonderland’s White Rabbit, no time to stop, to time to sit, no time to rest, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late! Even doing God’s work can be time-consuming and exhausting. “Come to me,” Jesus calls, “I see you. I see what you are doing, and I see that you need a breather. Find your rest in me.”
Rest, especially rest in the Lord, is vital to our successful mission as a disciple of Christ, even though sometimes it is hard for us to admit. I think too often we tell ourselves, “I will rest when this (whatever “this” is) is finished,” but the truth is, sometimes, in order to finish, and finish well, we need to rest along the way. “Come to me,” Jesus calls, “I will give you rest, rest that will restore you so you can go on.”
Jesus doesn’t just offer a place to rest, though. He goes even further in his offer. “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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
“Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says. Do you know what a yoke is? It is a wooden crosspiece designed to fit over the necks of two animals so that they will work in tandem, usually to pull a plow or a wagon. By yoking two animals together, each of them shares a part of a burden that would be too much for either of them alone.
Now, the principle of being yoked is that both parties have to learn to work together, in lockstep with one another, because if one were to pull against the yoke and not cooperate, the yoke would chafe their neck, it would rub a raw spot and cause pain. It would place a greater burden of work on the one on the other side of the yoke. But when the two are in sync, then the yoke is not a burden any longer. The people to whom Jesus was speaking would have understood this analogy right away because this was normal for them. They often plowed their fields with a yoke of oxen, and whenever they had a young ox who needed to learn what to do, they would yoke him with an older, more experienced ox who would teach him the right way to go.
The younger ox might wear himself out at first, pulling the wrong way, not understanding how settling in and following the teacher would make his life easier, but eventually, he would learn, and he would do as his teacher taught him. The old ox had already learned how to walk together and work together with the one sharing his yoke, and now he is teaching the younger ox in his ways.
When Jesus tells us to “Take my yoke upon you,” he is offering to share our burden, to lighten our load so that we can do what seems too difficult to do on our own. This is an offer that goes to every disciple. We try to do what we think is best. We try to do things our own way. We wear ourselves out by chafing against the yoke that is put upon us, the yoke of discipleship, of service. We think it isn’t for us. We are too tired, we are too busy, we are too, whatever we are, to answer the call to discipleship and service because we haven’t learned how to find rest in Jesus by taking his yoke upon us.
Jesus isn’t calling us to do the work of the kingdom to put a burden us. He calls us to serve in our church, our neighborhoods, and our world, because he wants others to know him as we know him. He wants us to be out and about so that through us, his love can be shared with those who do not yet know him. Jesus calls us to serve others because he has already served us in a way we can never repay. Jesus calls us to serve others because so many are in need, physically and spiritually, and he wants us to let them know they need not go on alone.
“Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says to us, “Learn from me. I will teach you to be like me. I will teach you to be humble and gentle. I will teach you how to work and how to rest. I will teach you that both work and rest are for me and found in me.” And Jesus then says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Take this yoke and give me yours.”
What Jesus never says is that this isn’t a fair trade. When we carry our burdens and they weigh us down, Jesus is ready and willing to take the weight of them off our shoulders and give us his lighter burden. He doesn’t have to do that. He could tell us that our burdens are our own to bear. He could tell us that our burdens are our own doing so suck it up and carry that load.
Jesus never says that. He never points out how we tend to go about our lives adding stresses and problems like we are collecting prized possessions. He never points out that so many of our burdens are because we have failed to love as he has taught us to love. He never reminds us that we have been holding on to our burdens out of a sense of pride, as a witness to the world about how hard our life is, so they might honor us for being so strong. No, Jesus never says that this is an unfair trade, he just keeps issuing the invitation in the hopes that one day, we will wake up and take him up on his offer. That one day, we will lay our burdens down at his feet and admit that we cannot do this alone. That one day we will realize that we cannot be disciples in a vacuum, that we need help – his help, and we need rest – his rest. And then, when we have learned who we really are and to whom we really belong, we will be ready to learn Jesus’ way.
We will learn to be humble and gentle; we will learn to serve and love others as he has served and loved us. We will learn to be like Jesus, and we will find that the yoke he had given us is light, that the burdens we now bear are easier to carry, that we have joy in our lives because now we are growing in faith and love, being taught by Jesus.
Dr. Larry Petton tells a story that reminds us of this lesson on serving and loving. He writes, “After World War II, a group of German students volunteered to help rebuild an English cathedral that had been severely damaged by German bombs. As work progressed, they became concerned about a large statue of Jesus, whose arms were outstretched, and beneath which was the inscription: ‘Come unto Me.’
Because of the extensive damage, they had difficulty trying to restore the hands, which had been completely destroyed. After much discussion, they decided to let the hands remain missing and changed the inscription to: ‘Christ has no hands but ours.’”
Dr. Petton goes on to say, “As believers in Christ living in a dark world, we are the very hands and feet of Christ sharing hope through the good news of the Gospel.”
If you put two animals in a yoke, the work they are doing is easier to accomplish. When we take up Jesus’ yoke, being his hands and feet in the world is easier to accomplish. This is the message that Jesus was conveying to his audience so long ago, and to us right now. We were never meant to do the work Jesus calls us to do alone. We have one another. We work alongside our brothers and sisters and share the work and make it easier to do, this sharing the love of Jesus by serving others as his disciples.
And we have Jesus himself, helping us every step of the way. Offering us rest so that when we find our load getting too heavy, we can trade him, and he will allow us to take his yoke upon us, while shouldering our own on himself. He will bear our heavier burden while we rest in him. Whether we are packing and unpacking for moving to a new place, or rescuing children from the hands of evil people, or giving a meal to a hungry person in need, or doing whatever else it is that we need to do, we need to partner with others who will share our work, and all the while, Jesus will continue to offer us rest, so that we can get refreshed and reenergized to continue the mission before us. “Come to me, all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Accept the invitation. AMEN.
PRAYER: Jesus, we admit that we do often take on more that we can handle, and we become weary and burdened by all we need to do. Sometimes the load gets heavy through nothing we have done but through circumstances in our lives. Thank you for the offer of rest. When we grow tired, help us turn to you. When our burdens become too heavy to carry, help us give them to you. We are so grateful for your humble, gentle spirit that teaches us to be like you. May we share you with others, as you have called us to do, so that they, too, may come and find their much-needed rest in you. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY July 2, 2023, beginning a new SERIES "The path of discipleship" CALLED "true freedom in christ"
July 2, 2023 Series: The Path of Discipleship Message: True Freedom in Christ Scripture: Galatians 5:1,13-15 1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become enslaved to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Tuesday is July fourth. For us, it’s a holiday, Independence Day. This year we will celebrate our 247th birthday as a country. This holiday is unique to the United States of America, not because other countries don’t celebrate their own independence, but because July 4th is ours. There will be parades and speeches, picnics and BBQs, and fireworks will light up the skies, because this is how we celebrate. But what are we celebrating? Freedom, you say, and you are correct. We celebrate freedom from - Freedom from the oppressive rule of a king who never set foot on this side of the pond, freedom from a government who was disconnected from the real, everyday life of the people in this “new land,” freedom from taxation without representation (although I don’t think taxation with representation is going quite like the founding fathers envisioned.) 2 We are also celebrating freedom to – Freedom to speak out when we want, freedom to gather together in public places, freedom to elect our governing officials, freedom to worship as we choose. There are many facets of freedom and on July 4th, we celebrate them all. Today we are celebrating freedom, too. Freedom to choose to leave one denomination and align with another. Today is our first Sunday to worship as a Global Methodist congregation. It has been a long process to get to where we are today, and the leadership of this church has worked very hard to make sure we have done everything we need to do and do it well. There are still some tasks that are being worked through, but with their diligence and dedication, we will get all our ducks in a row, all our “i”s will be dotted and all our “t”s will be crossed, and we will continue to move forward as God calls us to, right here in our community. But Paul is talking about a different freedom in today’s scripture. He is talking about a true freedom, the one freedom that is given to anyone who wants it, the kind of freedom that cannot be taken away, the kind of freedom that means more than any other kind we could list. Paul is writing to the church in Galatia, and he says, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” As usual, Paul is discussing an issue facing the church. Remember, the first members of the Church – that is the big “C” church, were all Jews who had lived under the law, but now there are people coming to faith as followers of Christ who were Gentiles. They had never lived under the rules and restrictions of the law of Moses, but some of the believers in the Galatian church 3 are insisting that new believers must follow that law now, in order to be a Christian, and they are focusing on the requirement of circumcision. First be circumcised, they told the men, and then you can be a member of our church. As you can imagine, these Gentile Christians were not keen on following this order. Complaints were made and somehow, Paul was notified of the growing problem. Paul absolutely disputes the wrong thinking that the Jewish believers are promoting. “No way,” Paul writes, “don’t go there. You Jews were circumcised under the law, but now there is one who has superseded the law and has set us all free.” He wants them to understand that this insistence on circumcision is taking Christ out of the equation. He says, “If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you, because if you fall back on the law then you must then follow all the law and follow it perfectly.” We know that no one could follow the law perfectly. That is why God sent his only son, to free us from the punishment of death that comes from not being able to be made righteous in the law. Our righteousness comes from grace, not from the law. The grace of God, through Jesus Christ, is what saves us, not circumcision, nor any of the other works of the law. Paul wrote, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” 4 In other words, the law can never give us freedom. No matter how hard we try to follow it, we will fail. But through faith in Jesus Christ, we have finally been given true freedom. The Galatian church was trying to impose the law over grace, thereby obscuring grace. They were imposing a false freedom over true freedom, and in the process, they were destroying the most valuable gift ever given. Let me tell you a story to illustrate what this looked like. This comes from Philip Graham Ryken’s commentary on Galatians. There was a man who had an old baseball that had been autographed by Babe Ruth. He had had that old ball for a very long time when he learned that it could actually be quite valuable, so he decided he would sell it and see what he could get out of it. As he was getting ready to take it to be looked at and evaluated, though, he noticed that Babe’s signature was looking a bit worn and kind of faded. He wanted to make sure that the writing could be clearly seen, since it was Babe Ruth, after all, so he took out a Sharpie and carefully traced over the famous signature. He was trying to “fix” what he thought was a problem, but what he really ended up doing was turning something that had been valuable into something that was now worthless. That was the lesson Paul was trying to convey to the Galatian church. By insisting that the new believers revert back to the law, they were making the priceless grace of the freedom we have in 5 Christ completely worthless. The work Jesus did on the cross would have been for nothing if we were still required to live under the law. Freedom – true freedom – comes only through Jesus Christ, but it also come with a caution from Paul. This freedom is not a license to live without regard for others, as he says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for selfindulgence, but through love become enslaved to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” When this country became free from the rule of England, that didn’t mean everyone just went home and that was that. True freedom does come with responsibility. Some great men met and began to work out how this new freedom would work. They acknowledged the blessings they received from God, who saw them through a war where they were the underdog and yet became the victor, and they continued to depend on God to lead them in forming a new nation. Two hundred forty-seven years later, we are still here, and we are still free, although I think we need to work a whole lot more on that “Love your neighbor” stuff these days. When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, and we receive this gift of freedom, we, too, have a responsibility. We are called to love more than we loved before, because we begin to understand that God loved us first. That commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves isn’t a suggestion, but an order. For a follower of Jesus, love becomes a way of living – not just loving those who 6 are family, or friends, but everyone. Even those who are hard to love. Especially those who are hard to love. In a time when disagreements divide us more than they used to, we need to intentionally let love rule our words and our actions. The only way we can do this is to remember that we do have this freedom to choose love, because we have freedom in Jesus. Paul’s words to the Galatians are just as valid today, “If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” We can very rarely change someone’s mind by argument, but the grace of God can change a person’s heart, so it is up to us to respond in love to someone with whom we disagree. In the past few years, the world has seen the disagreements that flew throughout the United Methodist Church, and unfortunately, there was not much love in those arguments. But that is the past, and just as the United States and England are now strong allies, we need to move forward, now as Global Methodists, with love for our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we have separated, praying that one day, we, too will become allies once again. We will pray that we will find ways to work together, showing one another love. And we will invite the world to know us, not as we were, but as we are now, and as we are becoming, and we pray that they will know we are followers of Jesus Christ by the love we show each other and the world – all because we live in the true freedom of being a follower of Jesus Christ. That is the freedom we all can have, if we just believe and call on the name of Jesus, we will be saved. 7 If you have not received this gift of grace through Jesus Christ, the gift that gives true freedom, I pray that today is the day. If today is the day you finally give your heart to Christ, I would love to know so I can celebrate with you. During our closing prayer, while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, if this is you, could you please raise your hand so I will know? Or, if you feel led, the alter rail is a great place to come and give your heart to God. You may come forward and kneel and pray. If you come over to my left side to pray, I will know you want to be alone with God, or you may come to this side, and I will come and pray with you. Now, let’s pray. PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gift of freedom you have given us through your death and resurrection. On that cross, you took on our sins and died – a punishment that was meant for us, but you intervened. At your resurrection, you defeated death forever and secured for us the freedom of eternal life. If there are any here today who have made the decision to become one of your followers, let them raise a hand or come to your alter and give their heart to you now with these words: Lord Jesus, I am a sinner in need of saving. I repent of my sins and thank you for the gift of true freedom you are offering. I want to be yours. I want to live for you. I invite you to live in me, now and always. I love you, Jesus. AMEN. 8 References
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY JUNE 25, 2023, CONTINUING FROM THE SERIES "SPIRITUAL GIFTS" CALLED "Be good stewards of god's grace"
June 25, 2023
Series: Spiritual Gifts
Message: Be Good Stewards of God’s Grace
Scripture: 1 Peter 4:7-11
The end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory, and the power forever and ever. Amen.
I came across an article the other day that was written several years ago by Erma Bombeck. Many of you may have already read it before, but it is the one where she was listing what she would do over again if she had the chance. Things like listening more and talking less, spending more time with her children, saying “I love you” more, and cherishing relationships more. The one that always catches my attention though is when she said, “I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.”
It makes me think of my grandmother, my dad’s mom. She was really good at getting a gift and “putting it up,” meaning putting it away for safe keeping and never using it for fear it would get ruined. My dad’s family didn’t have a lot as he was growing up – except kids. There were nine kids in the family and five were boys. My grandma was likely used to having to keep nice things out of harm’s way of five rowdy, rambunctious boys, and the habit became so ingrained in her that it became second nature.
After she had passed, as the family was cleaning out the house, they found lots of gifts that had been given to my grandma that she had “put up,” and never gotten to use or enjoy. One of those items I particularly remember is a beautifully crocheted afghan of yellow roses on a blue and white background that my mom had made for grandma one year for Christmas. It was perfectly preserved, folded and wrapped in a box - given, received, never used.
Have you ever given a gift to someone and then discovered that they put it away, never to be seen again, never to be used as it was intended? How did that make you feel? Kind of sad, maybe? Did it make you question whether your relationship was what you thought it to be?
We have been talking these last couple of weeks about spiritual gifts, what they are, why they are given, and how we are to use them. We will wrap up this series this week, and I hope that somewhere along the line, we have all come to appreciate our gifts a little more than we did before and have come to understand just how important these gifts really are to us, and to the rest of the Church.
We spent the last two weeks covering a partial list of spiritual gifts, recalling that they are given to us by the Holy Spirt, and learning they are to be used to build up the body of Christ, which is the Church. Let’s talk for a minute about what happens when we choose not to use our gifts.
First of all, when we don’t use our gifts, we bring grief to the Holy Spirit. Why? Because he is the gift-giver, and as such, he has given each of us the precise, perfect gift, chosen just for us. When we choose not to use a gift that is given to us out a deep love, he feels grief at the realization of a broken relationship.
I lived with an aunt and uncle after I graduated from high school, and that Christmas my cousin was about three. I had bought a big dump truck for his gift because I knew how much he loved to play with his trucks and cars out in his sandbox. Instead of loving his gift, as I thought he would, he was mad because it didn’t take batteries. He threw it down and refused to play with it. I felt bad that I had failed to make him happy with a gift that I was sure he would love.
That is how it is when we refuse to use our gifts. The Holy Spirit is grieved because, in effect, we are like a toddler who wanted something else, so we selfishly ignore what we have been given and pretend it doesn’t exist.
Something else that happens when we don’t use our gifts is that others have to pick up our slack and carry our weight. Since Paul likened our spiritual gifts to body parts, let me continue his train of thought. Suppose any one of us were to break a leg or an arm. Would we cease to function? No, we would not. Our daily routines would be more difficult, but we would figure out a way to get things done, wouldn’t we?
The thing is, while we are compensating for the injury, other body parts have to adjust and carry an extra load for the part that isn’t working, and that puts a strain on that body part, causing it to wear out faster.
That is how it is in the church. If one of us is not using our gifts, then there will be others who will compensate. That is how we roll. What needs to get done will get done. But here lies the danger; while the ones who are picking up the slack are working their extra load, they are wearing out faster, because they are doing extra work, and some of that work is harder for them to do because it is work that is not a part of their gift.
Do you see why our spiritual gifts are so important? When we recognize our gifts and begin to use them in the way they are meant to be used, we will each then carry the weight of our own load, lightening the weight carried by others, so that we will all be able to do what we are called to do to the best of our abilities and for the glory of God.
One day, while Jesus was teaching, a scribe asked him which of the commandments was the greatest. Jesus answered him, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
My friends, when we put our spiritual gifts to use, we are living into these two commandments. We show how much we love God by using the gifts he has given us through the Holy Spirit. If we truly love the Lord our God, we will want to be used for his service in whatever way we can. The more we love God, the more we will want to do for him, and the more we do for him, the more we will discover that we love God.
The second commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself is also demonstrated when we use our gifts. If we want our brothers and sisters to use their gifts to the best of their ability, then we need to love them enough to use our own. In this way, we will all be working together to do the work, the work will be done with so much more joy and enthusiasm because we are all pitching in together, and once again God is glorified through what we do for him.
Jesus commands us to love as he loved, and Peter’s epistle today teaches us that we should, “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.” Then Peter teaches what it looks like to maintain constant love for one another – that we will be hospitable to one another without complaining, and we will serve one another with whatever gift each of us has received. Who knows, by working together, we may even be able to carry a barn. Sound crazy?
It so happens that a man named Herman had purchased some property in Nebraska, and on that property, he built a barn. It was a great barn, but then, one day it began to rain, and it rained a lot. Herman’s barn was flooded. There was twenty-nine inches of water in Herman’s barn. This was not good. As he stood with his family assessing the damage, Herman joked to his son, that if he only had enough people, they would just pick up that barn and move it to higher ground.
Herman’s son, Mike, took him seriously, and he began calculating. Mike figured the barn probably weighed about 19,000 pounds, and he ran some numbers and estimated that if he could find 344 men who could each lift 55 pounds, this barn could surely be moved. Working by faith, Mike designed a web of steel tubing that was then attached inside and outside the barn, and he began rounding up volunteers.
When everything was in place - barn, steel carrying system, and 344 men - Herman called out, “One, two, three…lift!” and lift they did. Then, moving along together, shuffling in the right direction, the men carried that barn one hundred forty-three feet up a hill and placed it on its new foundation, above the reach of flood waters.
Three hundred forty-three men, all working together accomplished an amazing feat and demonstrated love for their neighbor. Not three hundred forty-two, but three hundred forty-three, exactly the number needed to complete the task. Each one made a commitment. Each one showed up. Each one gave his best. But it took all of them to get it done.
I want to end today by saying that I have seen some great things in this church over the past few months. We just had an awesome VBS where we had many volunteers who worked together to teach children, some of them not churched, about the love of Jesus. I have witnessed people coming together to organize a successful rummage and bake sale and now they are at it again, this time to raise money for our Habitat project.
I love how there are so many different people who are a part of this worship service each week. I think it is great that there are so many people here who are already using their gifts and building up this body while serving this community. This is part of the reason I love being here with you all so much. I see your commitment to Christ and to each other. But I know there are even more opportunities, and I can’t wait to see what God presents to us next, and I can’t wait to see who will step up to serve in a new way, or for the first time.
This is an exciting time to be a part of this church. Can you feel it? It’s gonna take all of us pitching in, but I promise you, it will be worth it. The Holy Spirit gives us all we need to do what God calls us to do and the only limit to what we can accomplish is what we haven’t yet imagined. To God be the glory for what we will do for him and through him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great God Almighty, Jesus taught us that we are to love you above all else, and that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Lord, we cannot do one without doing the other. Help us to love more. Help us to love deeper and higher and wider than we do right now, or have ever loved before, because when we do that, Lord, then we will be eager to use our gifts that your Spirit has poured out upon us. We will joyfully work together to serve you by serving others, thereby showing our love for both you and our neighbor. Strengthen us for your service, pour your grace upon us, and surround us with your love, as we honor you and praise you in all that we do. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100227/example-of-ministry-team-work-by-clarence-eisberg
Series: Spiritual Gifts
Message: Be Good Stewards of God’s Grace
Scripture: 1 Peter 4:7-11
The end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory, and the power forever and ever. Amen.
I came across an article the other day that was written several years ago by Erma Bombeck. Many of you may have already read it before, but it is the one where she was listing what she would do over again if she had the chance. Things like listening more and talking less, spending more time with her children, saying “I love you” more, and cherishing relationships more. The one that always catches my attention though is when she said, “I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.”
It makes me think of my grandmother, my dad’s mom. She was really good at getting a gift and “putting it up,” meaning putting it away for safe keeping and never using it for fear it would get ruined. My dad’s family didn’t have a lot as he was growing up – except kids. There were nine kids in the family and five were boys. My grandma was likely used to having to keep nice things out of harm’s way of five rowdy, rambunctious boys, and the habit became so ingrained in her that it became second nature.
After she had passed, as the family was cleaning out the house, they found lots of gifts that had been given to my grandma that she had “put up,” and never gotten to use or enjoy. One of those items I particularly remember is a beautifully crocheted afghan of yellow roses on a blue and white background that my mom had made for grandma one year for Christmas. It was perfectly preserved, folded and wrapped in a box - given, received, never used.
Have you ever given a gift to someone and then discovered that they put it away, never to be seen again, never to be used as it was intended? How did that make you feel? Kind of sad, maybe? Did it make you question whether your relationship was what you thought it to be?
We have been talking these last couple of weeks about spiritual gifts, what they are, why they are given, and how we are to use them. We will wrap up this series this week, and I hope that somewhere along the line, we have all come to appreciate our gifts a little more than we did before and have come to understand just how important these gifts really are to us, and to the rest of the Church.
We spent the last two weeks covering a partial list of spiritual gifts, recalling that they are given to us by the Holy Spirt, and learning they are to be used to build up the body of Christ, which is the Church. Let’s talk for a minute about what happens when we choose not to use our gifts.
First of all, when we don’t use our gifts, we bring grief to the Holy Spirit. Why? Because he is the gift-giver, and as such, he has given each of us the precise, perfect gift, chosen just for us. When we choose not to use a gift that is given to us out a deep love, he feels grief at the realization of a broken relationship.
I lived with an aunt and uncle after I graduated from high school, and that Christmas my cousin was about three. I had bought a big dump truck for his gift because I knew how much he loved to play with his trucks and cars out in his sandbox. Instead of loving his gift, as I thought he would, he was mad because it didn’t take batteries. He threw it down and refused to play with it. I felt bad that I had failed to make him happy with a gift that I was sure he would love.
That is how it is when we refuse to use our gifts. The Holy Spirit is grieved because, in effect, we are like a toddler who wanted something else, so we selfishly ignore what we have been given and pretend it doesn’t exist.
Something else that happens when we don’t use our gifts is that others have to pick up our slack and carry our weight. Since Paul likened our spiritual gifts to body parts, let me continue his train of thought. Suppose any one of us were to break a leg or an arm. Would we cease to function? No, we would not. Our daily routines would be more difficult, but we would figure out a way to get things done, wouldn’t we?
The thing is, while we are compensating for the injury, other body parts have to adjust and carry an extra load for the part that isn’t working, and that puts a strain on that body part, causing it to wear out faster.
That is how it is in the church. If one of us is not using our gifts, then there will be others who will compensate. That is how we roll. What needs to get done will get done. But here lies the danger; while the ones who are picking up the slack are working their extra load, they are wearing out faster, because they are doing extra work, and some of that work is harder for them to do because it is work that is not a part of their gift.
Do you see why our spiritual gifts are so important? When we recognize our gifts and begin to use them in the way they are meant to be used, we will each then carry the weight of our own load, lightening the weight carried by others, so that we will all be able to do what we are called to do to the best of our abilities and for the glory of God.
One day, while Jesus was teaching, a scribe asked him which of the commandments was the greatest. Jesus answered him, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
My friends, when we put our spiritual gifts to use, we are living into these two commandments. We show how much we love God by using the gifts he has given us through the Holy Spirit. If we truly love the Lord our God, we will want to be used for his service in whatever way we can. The more we love God, the more we will want to do for him, and the more we do for him, the more we will discover that we love God.
The second commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself is also demonstrated when we use our gifts. If we want our brothers and sisters to use their gifts to the best of their ability, then we need to love them enough to use our own. In this way, we will all be working together to do the work, the work will be done with so much more joy and enthusiasm because we are all pitching in together, and once again God is glorified through what we do for him.
Jesus commands us to love as he loved, and Peter’s epistle today teaches us that we should, “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.” Then Peter teaches what it looks like to maintain constant love for one another – that we will be hospitable to one another without complaining, and we will serve one another with whatever gift each of us has received. Who knows, by working together, we may even be able to carry a barn. Sound crazy?
It so happens that a man named Herman had purchased some property in Nebraska, and on that property, he built a barn. It was a great barn, but then, one day it began to rain, and it rained a lot. Herman’s barn was flooded. There was twenty-nine inches of water in Herman’s barn. This was not good. As he stood with his family assessing the damage, Herman joked to his son, that if he only had enough people, they would just pick up that barn and move it to higher ground.
Herman’s son, Mike, took him seriously, and he began calculating. Mike figured the barn probably weighed about 19,000 pounds, and he ran some numbers and estimated that if he could find 344 men who could each lift 55 pounds, this barn could surely be moved. Working by faith, Mike designed a web of steel tubing that was then attached inside and outside the barn, and he began rounding up volunteers.
When everything was in place - barn, steel carrying system, and 344 men - Herman called out, “One, two, three…lift!” and lift they did. Then, moving along together, shuffling in the right direction, the men carried that barn one hundred forty-three feet up a hill and placed it on its new foundation, above the reach of flood waters.
Three hundred forty-three men, all working together accomplished an amazing feat and demonstrated love for their neighbor. Not three hundred forty-two, but three hundred forty-three, exactly the number needed to complete the task. Each one made a commitment. Each one showed up. Each one gave his best. But it took all of them to get it done.
I want to end today by saying that I have seen some great things in this church over the past few months. We just had an awesome VBS where we had many volunteers who worked together to teach children, some of them not churched, about the love of Jesus. I have witnessed people coming together to organize a successful rummage and bake sale and now they are at it again, this time to raise money for our Habitat project.
I love how there are so many different people who are a part of this worship service each week. I think it is great that there are so many people here who are already using their gifts and building up this body while serving this community. This is part of the reason I love being here with you all so much. I see your commitment to Christ and to each other. But I know there are even more opportunities, and I can’t wait to see what God presents to us next, and I can’t wait to see who will step up to serve in a new way, or for the first time.
This is an exciting time to be a part of this church. Can you feel it? It’s gonna take all of us pitching in, but I promise you, it will be worth it. The Holy Spirit gives us all we need to do what God calls us to do and the only limit to what we can accomplish is what we haven’t yet imagined. To God be the glory for what we will do for him and through him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great God Almighty, Jesus taught us that we are to love you above all else, and that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Lord, we cannot do one without doing the other. Help us to love more. Help us to love deeper and higher and wider than we do right now, or have ever loved before, because when we do that, Lord, then we will be eager to use our gifts that your Spirit has poured out upon us. We will joyfully work together to serve you by serving others, thereby showing our love for both you and our neighbor. Strengthen us for your service, pour your grace upon us, and surround us with your love, as we honor you and praise you in all that we do. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100227/example-of-ministry-team-work-by-clarence-eisberg
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON Sunday JUNE 18, 2023, continuing from the SERIES "SPIRITUAL GIFTS" CALLED "one body, many members"
June 18, 2023
Rootstown
Series: Spiritual Gifts
Message: One Body, Many Members
Scripture: Romans 12:4-13
For as in one body, we have many members and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.
I love that we begin our worship service each week with music. I love that we have people who play instruments and others who sing. It just sets the stage and helps me focus on the reason we are here – to worship God. So, I was thinking this week, since the music is so beneficial, why don’t we all just start coming up and joining in?
I would imagine we could all find an instrument if we wanted to play something, or we could join the women who lead us in singing. We could all just crowd in together on the stage, we will make room somehow, and we will make beautiful music for God.
What? Are you doubting my plan? Just wait, there’s more. Hear me out. We need to light the altar candles so I think we need to buy more of those candlelighter things that Lora uses, and we can all light the candles together before we start singing. Then, later, everyone can find something to use to collect the offering and we will all walk around the sanctuary holding out our containers and hoping to fil them up.
Don’t sit down when we get done with that, though, because now we all have to come back up front to have the children’s sermon – maybe we could recruit some more kids so that we can all do that one-on-one. I think there should be a little bit of order and organization, though when we get to the sermon part. Let’s see, how about we just start with the first row and go up and down the pews, each taking turns giving a sermon until everyone has had a chance to speak.
Wouldn’t that make a great service? No, of course not. It would be chaos, and most of you would leave before we got to the end - especially if you heard me singing at the beginning. There is a reason I don’t sing with the worship team and that is because I can’t sing. I can’t play an instrument, either. In fact, my only musical ability is to tell Alexa what station to play when I want to listen to music.
I leave the music to people who know how to do music, and by that, I mean they have the ability and the gift of music that they are offering to us, to help us all focus on the reason why we are here – to worship God.
This week, we are once again looking at our spiritual gifts; what they are for and what we are to do with them. Last week we heard a list of some gifts, including wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophesy, discernment, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. We learned that spiritual gifts are given to all believers by the Holy Spirit and we are expected to use our gifts for the common good of the body of Christ, which is the Church.
This week, Paul is writing to the Roman church, and he is once again listing some of the spiritual gifts. This time he lists faith, ministry, teaching, encouragement, giving, leading, and compassion. Again, this is not the entirety of the spiritual gifts, but a small sampling that Paul is using to help make his point. There are a variety of gifts because as the church, we are made up of a diverse group of people, people with different needs, different abilities, and different gifts, so that we all may work together, each one doing his or her part to make everyone better together.
You may be thinking that this sounds a lot like last week’s message, and to some degree, you are right, because the central theme of the topic of spiritual gifts doesn’t really change. But we need to hear it repeated because in our human minds, we often forget why we have been given these gifts, and sometimes we forget who gave them to us.
Bill Hybels, in his book, “Descending into Greatness,” explains why we forget, writing that we have a mindset which says, “me first.” It’s a mindset that tempts us to indulge ourselves, tells us our desires are our priority, our appetites must be satisfied. It’s a mindset where the pursuit of pleasure has become our primary pastime.
We live in a world that tells us that to be happy, we must seek out what is good for us, satisfy our every desire for bigger, better, more. We are inundated with this message, bombarded by ads on TV, in the movies, on social media, everywhere we look. It’s in our face and it infiltrates our minds.
Yet, if we are honest, this mindset is not producing its promised results. We may find momentary happiness in the newest, hottest thing, but it will not bring us lasting joy, because true joy is not found in “things.” Joy comes from living our life the way Jesus wants us to live it. Joy comes from seeing others, loving others, serving others, and we do this by putting our spiritual gifts to work as the Holy Spirit intended when he poured them out on us, by working together for the good of the body, so the body can not only live, but grow and thrive and be strong.
Since we know the body is the church and we want the body, that is our church, to thrive and grow, then we should be putting our gifts to work to make that happen, but it takes all of us, not just some of us, working together to do that.
In his book “Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow,” C Peter Wagner addresses this issue as he asks, "Who needs to know about spiritual gifts?” Then he answers that everyone who is a Christian, who believes Jesus is Lord, who loves him and wants to follow him as best they can, and who wants their church to be one that is healthy, attracts people, and shows God’s love in your community, needs to know about spiritual gifts.
I think we can all agree that we fit Wagner’s description. We do love Jesus. We do believe he is our Lord and Savior. We do love him and want to follow him to the best of our ability. We do want our church to be a church that is growing, thriving, and showing God’s love to the people around us. Just as importantly, though, we want to fit Wagner’s description for the right reasons – not to look good in our own eyes, not to simply increase the number of people in the pews, but to bring others to a saving faith in Jesus Christ for their benefit and for God’s glory.
That sounds a lot like putting our gifts to work for the common good of the body, doesn’t it?
There is more to Paul’s message this morning, than just another list of spiritual gifts, because he goes on to remind us that the attitude with which we use our gifts is important. A lot of people can do nice things, that doesn’t make them a Christian or shine Jesus’ love for him. Paul wants us to remember that when we are using our gifts, when we are working together, when we are serving in our community, that we should always, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.”
Oh, that Paul. First, he wants us to use our gifts, and now he wants us to remember to do all that while we do. How can we possibly live up to that standard? My friends, I am here to tell you, we can’t. Not on our own, but we can if we work together. We can help each other love better, stand strong against evil, embrace what is good, and serve the Lord by serving his people. That is the beauty of our spiritual gifts, that there are as many gifts as we need to do the work laid out before us as the body of Christ right here in Rootstown and in the world.
By working together, we will, as Paul commanded, “Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.” And the world will know who we are, and whose we are, by the love we show to the least, the lost, and the lonely, doing all we do in the name of Jesus. AMEN.
Before we pray, I wanted to share something with you all. Last week, we had ice cream at the end of the service to help us remember the good that can come from working together, so I was wondering if this week, you all might like to have a chocolate chip cookie. Anyone want one?
Could my cookie helpers come up here, please?
9 people – flour, baking soda, salt, butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, chocolate chips. Have each person take out their ingredients, one at a time.
Who would want to eat this? Or this?
After all are shown:
Most of these ingredients would not taste good on their own, but when you mix them all together, they make a delicious cookie treat that we can all enjoy. It is the same way with our spiritual gifts. They were never meant to stand alone, they were meant to be mixed together and used in conjunction with other gifts, to create a strong church, a strong body of believers, for the good of us all. Glory to God, AMEN.
PRAYER: God, you created us to be unique individuals, yet you never meant for us to live life alone. You created us for community, for relationship, with you and with one another. You gave us all we need to live, and work, and worship together by pouring out spiritual gifts to help us be the best we can be, together. Lord, help us recognize our gifts and put them to use, so that we might grow this body to its fullest potential. Help us use our gifts to strengthen one another so we can share you with others by serving them and loving them as you call us to do. Let us not be simply the ingredients, but make us a delicious confection. AMEN
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-art-of-teamwork-anthony-zibolski-sermon-on-teamwork-204464
Rootstown
Series: Spiritual Gifts
Message: One Body, Many Members
Scripture: Romans 12:4-13
For as in one body, we have many members and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.
I love that we begin our worship service each week with music. I love that we have people who play instruments and others who sing. It just sets the stage and helps me focus on the reason we are here – to worship God. So, I was thinking this week, since the music is so beneficial, why don’t we all just start coming up and joining in?
I would imagine we could all find an instrument if we wanted to play something, or we could join the women who lead us in singing. We could all just crowd in together on the stage, we will make room somehow, and we will make beautiful music for God.
What? Are you doubting my plan? Just wait, there’s more. Hear me out. We need to light the altar candles so I think we need to buy more of those candlelighter things that Lora uses, and we can all light the candles together before we start singing. Then, later, everyone can find something to use to collect the offering and we will all walk around the sanctuary holding out our containers and hoping to fil them up.
Don’t sit down when we get done with that, though, because now we all have to come back up front to have the children’s sermon – maybe we could recruit some more kids so that we can all do that one-on-one. I think there should be a little bit of order and organization, though when we get to the sermon part. Let’s see, how about we just start with the first row and go up and down the pews, each taking turns giving a sermon until everyone has had a chance to speak.
Wouldn’t that make a great service? No, of course not. It would be chaos, and most of you would leave before we got to the end - especially if you heard me singing at the beginning. There is a reason I don’t sing with the worship team and that is because I can’t sing. I can’t play an instrument, either. In fact, my only musical ability is to tell Alexa what station to play when I want to listen to music.
I leave the music to people who know how to do music, and by that, I mean they have the ability and the gift of music that they are offering to us, to help us all focus on the reason why we are here – to worship God.
This week, we are once again looking at our spiritual gifts; what they are for and what we are to do with them. Last week we heard a list of some gifts, including wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophesy, discernment, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. We learned that spiritual gifts are given to all believers by the Holy Spirit and we are expected to use our gifts for the common good of the body of Christ, which is the Church.
This week, Paul is writing to the Roman church, and he is once again listing some of the spiritual gifts. This time he lists faith, ministry, teaching, encouragement, giving, leading, and compassion. Again, this is not the entirety of the spiritual gifts, but a small sampling that Paul is using to help make his point. There are a variety of gifts because as the church, we are made up of a diverse group of people, people with different needs, different abilities, and different gifts, so that we all may work together, each one doing his or her part to make everyone better together.
You may be thinking that this sounds a lot like last week’s message, and to some degree, you are right, because the central theme of the topic of spiritual gifts doesn’t really change. But we need to hear it repeated because in our human minds, we often forget why we have been given these gifts, and sometimes we forget who gave them to us.
Bill Hybels, in his book, “Descending into Greatness,” explains why we forget, writing that we have a mindset which says, “me first.” It’s a mindset that tempts us to indulge ourselves, tells us our desires are our priority, our appetites must be satisfied. It’s a mindset where the pursuit of pleasure has become our primary pastime.
We live in a world that tells us that to be happy, we must seek out what is good for us, satisfy our every desire for bigger, better, more. We are inundated with this message, bombarded by ads on TV, in the movies, on social media, everywhere we look. It’s in our face and it infiltrates our minds.
Yet, if we are honest, this mindset is not producing its promised results. We may find momentary happiness in the newest, hottest thing, but it will not bring us lasting joy, because true joy is not found in “things.” Joy comes from living our life the way Jesus wants us to live it. Joy comes from seeing others, loving others, serving others, and we do this by putting our spiritual gifts to work as the Holy Spirit intended when he poured them out on us, by working together for the good of the body, so the body can not only live, but grow and thrive and be strong.
Since we know the body is the church and we want the body, that is our church, to thrive and grow, then we should be putting our gifts to work to make that happen, but it takes all of us, not just some of us, working together to do that.
In his book “Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow,” C Peter Wagner addresses this issue as he asks, "Who needs to know about spiritual gifts?” Then he answers that everyone who is a Christian, who believes Jesus is Lord, who loves him and wants to follow him as best they can, and who wants their church to be one that is healthy, attracts people, and shows God’s love in your community, needs to know about spiritual gifts.
I think we can all agree that we fit Wagner’s description. We do love Jesus. We do believe he is our Lord and Savior. We do love him and want to follow him to the best of our ability. We do want our church to be a church that is growing, thriving, and showing God’s love to the people around us. Just as importantly, though, we want to fit Wagner’s description for the right reasons – not to look good in our own eyes, not to simply increase the number of people in the pews, but to bring others to a saving faith in Jesus Christ for their benefit and for God’s glory.
That sounds a lot like putting our gifts to work for the common good of the body, doesn’t it?
There is more to Paul’s message this morning, than just another list of spiritual gifts, because he goes on to remind us that the attitude with which we use our gifts is important. A lot of people can do nice things, that doesn’t make them a Christian or shine Jesus’ love for him. Paul wants us to remember that when we are using our gifts, when we are working together, when we are serving in our community, that we should always, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.”
Oh, that Paul. First, he wants us to use our gifts, and now he wants us to remember to do all that while we do. How can we possibly live up to that standard? My friends, I am here to tell you, we can’t. Not on our own, but we can if we work together. We can help each other love better, stand strong against evil, embrace what is good, and serve the Lord by serving his people. That is the beauty of our spiritual gifts, that there are as many gifts as we need to do the work laid out before us as the body of Christ right here in Rootstown and in the world.
By working together, we will, as Paul commanded, “Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.” And the world will know who we are, and whose we are, by the love we show to the least, the lost, and the lonely, doing all we do in the name of Jesus. AMEN.
Before we pray, I wanted to share something with you all. Last week, we had ice cream at the end of the service to help us remember the good that can come from working together, so I was wondering if this week, you all might like to have a chocolate chip cookie. Anyone want one?
Could my cookie helpers come up here, please?
9 people – flour, baking soda, salt, butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, chocolate chips. Have each person take out their ingredients, one at a time.
Who would want to eat this? Or this?
After all are shown:
Most of these ingredients would not taste good on their own, but when you mix them all together, they make a delicious cookie treat that we can all enjoy. It is the same way with our spiritual gifts. They were never meant to stand alone, they were meant to be mixed together and used in conjunction with other gifts, to create a strong church, a strong body of believers, for the good of us all. Glory to God, AMEN.
PRAYER: God, you created us to be unique individuals, yet you never meant for us to live life alone. You created us for community, for relationship, with you and with one another. You gave us all we need to live, and work, and worship together by pouring out spiritual gifts to help us be the best we can be, together. Lord, help us recognize our gifts and put them to use, so that we might grow this body to its fullest potential. Help us use our gifts to strengthen one another so we can share you with others by serving them and loving them as you call us to do. Let us not be simply the ingredients, but make us a delicious confection. AMEN
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-art-of-teamwork-anthony-zibolski-sermon-on-teamwork-204464
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON JUNE 11, 2023 SUNDAY, FROM A NEW SERIES "spiritual gifts" CALLED "for the common good"
June 11, 2023
Rootstown
Series: Spiritual Gifts
Message: For the Common Good
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:4-21
Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, 5 and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of powerful deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
“In the summer of 1904, at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, it was hot, and people were searching for something to help cool them off. A vendor named Arnold had just what they were looking for……something called ice cream. People lined up for what seemed like miles to get some of his cool and satisfying ice cream but there was one problem - Arnold was not prepared for the demand and ran out of paper bowls. Next to Arnold’s ice cream booth was a man named Ernest, a pastry chef who was making a Persian wafer desert. Ernest also had a problem; his pastry was not selling. He noticed the problem Arnold was having and took some warm pastry and rolled it into a cone shape. He then went over and showed Arnold how the cone could hold a scoop of the ice cream. On that hot day during the World’s Fair in St Louis the first ICE CREAM CONE was born! These two vendors worked together to solve problems and served a bigger purpose than one man alone could perform.”
Imagine what would have happened if these two men had not put their ideas together on that day over one hundred years ago. Many people would have been disappointed to not get a taste of cool, refreshing ice cream on a hot day. Arnold would have been stuck with lots of ice cream and no way to sell it, and Ernest would have had many pastries going to waste. But, when the two came together and put what they had into partnership – magic happened! Both men were able to sell their product, the people who had lined up and patiently waited for a new treat were able to be served, and history was made. I mean, who doesn’t love an ice cream cone? Ice cream is good. Pastries are good. But put them together, make an ice cream cone and you turn good into better.
There was a businessman who was suddenly let go from his job and he was trying to discern what to do next. In talking to a pastor friend of his, he confessed that he had prayed about this job before taking it, but he didn’t hear anything from God, so he had gone ahead and accepted the position.
His friend asked him, “What did your wife think about the job?” She had been against it but said it was up to him to decide. The friend then asked if he had invited any of his friends to pray about the job with him. Yes, he had asked some his friends at church, and they had prayed with him. Afterward there were a few who had raised concerns about the position, but none of them had ever led a company of that size so he had thought that was the issue.
“So,” his friend pointed out to him, “you asked God for guidance and when he gave it to you, through your wife’s concerns and your friends’ concerns, you went ahead and did what you wanted anyway.”
Can anyone relate to that story? I know I can, but in a slightly different way. I had a period of time when I had been praying to God and offering myself to be used by him in any way he saw fit. I felt like I was prepared for any answer he might give me, but nothing seemed to be coming. So, I kept praying. And waiting.
Meanwhile, I kept getting told by friends, family members and pastors that they felt God was calling me into ministry. I didn’t believe them. I mean, I was praying to God and waiting for his answer – I just didn’t understand why it was taking so long to get that answer. I liked the idea of pastoral ministry, but I wanted God to tell me that’s what he wanted me to do.
Finally, in a conversation with my pastor at the time, I confessed to being frustrated. I was really thinking I wanted to be in ministry, I was praying, I was asking and offering, but God still wasn’t talking. And I will never forget what my pastor told me that night, “Sometimes God uses the people around you to tell you what you will not hear from him.” It was like a lightbulb moment for me.
I finally realized that God was answering my prayers – he just wasn’t answering them in the way I expected him to. I thought I was open to whatever God wanted for me, but I wasn’t open to the way in which he would communicate his call to me. But what I really learned, and what I believe Paul is trying to convey to the Corinthian church, is that we are not in this faith alone. We are a family. We are children of God by adoption through Jesus Christ. And each of us has a particular calling that we are to be using to help our brothers and sisters in Christ be encouraged, be stronger in their faith, be more attuned to the needs of those with less, be more ready and willing to help whenever and wherever we can. These are what Paul is referring to – the gifts of the Spirit.
And let me tell you, that congregation in Corinth needed each other and needed those gifts just to hold the line in a place that was all about everything but serving God and serving others. Corinth, in these days, was often called “Sin City.” It was “an every person for themselves, whatever feels good is good” kind of place. And for the people who lived there and worshiped there, it was difficult for them to live and work and play in a city like that and not let some of its customs and traditions creep into the church. One of the issues that Paul is addressing in his letters to the Corinthian faithful is the one of spiritual gifts.
It seems that some of the people in the church had gotten the notion that their gift was better than another person’s gift. In other words, they liked to rack and stack the gifts into a kind of hierarchy that would make some out to be better than others, even maybe calling themselves “Super apostles.” But what they were doing was destroying the unity of the church and causing divisions amongst themselves. This is what Paul was trying to teach against as he wrote these letters.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” “Look,” Paul is saying, “each of you have different gifts and those gifts may be used for different purposes, but they all come from the same place and for the same reason.”
All the spiritual gifts come from the Holy Spirit, and all are given to be used for the good of the body of Christ which is the Church. If all gifts come from the Holy Spirit, and all are to be used for the good of the Church, then how can one gift be more important than another? The answer is they can’t! And that hasn’t changed in the last two thousand years, either.
We have all been given our gifts by the same Holy Spirit who gave them to the early Christians in Corinth, and in Rome, in Ephesus, in Jerusalem, and everywhere else. The gifts we have are not more important than the gifts someone else has – the Spirit gives gifts according to our abilities, our heart, and our willingness to share. And still today, the gifts we are given are to be used to build up the body of Christ – the Church – this church.
Each of us are given specific gifts. Most of us use those gifts without even thinking about them because they feel natural to us. One has the gift of wisdom – others seem to come to you for advice and counsel. Another has the gift of knowledge – learning comes easily, facts and figures stick in your mind, people come to you for answers on how to fix something that is broken or to learn how something is made or can be made.
There are some who seem to have an abundance of faith – you are the prayer warrior who bolsters the faith of others because yours is so strong, you are the one people seek out when they find themselves asking the question “Why, God?” The list Paul uses in today’s scripture is not exhaustive – these are not the only gifts the Spirit is able to give – but each one receives the gift that is just right for them so that they can use that gift in service to others. For as many needs there are, that is the number of gifts that have been given, so there is no way to count them all. Just as there is no way to rank any of them as better or more important than another.
Let me give you a great example. How many of you have ever played an instrument or had one of your kids play one? Remember in the beginning when you would practice that instrument, you had to learn the notes and then learn how to properly play them. Press the right valve and blow with just the right force on a trumpet, hit the right key on the piano, keep rhythm perfectly on the drums, or learn to hold the bow and draw it across the violin strings at just the right angle with the right amount of pressure.
Did it sound good at first? No! But with practice, you eventually learned to play a song on your particular instrument. Now, think about the first time you had to play your instrument with others who played different instruments – are you cringing at the memory? Can you hear the cacophony in your mind even this day?
But you kept playing together and eventually, everyone learned how to keep the same tempo, how to listen to their own instrument playing while also listening to the other instruments and how to watch the band director all at the same time. And lo and behold, one day you all played a piece of music together that could be recognized as a particular song. But it didn’t stop there. Eventually you all got better at playing together and you came to appreciate that while you loved your instrument, if one of the others were missing, the music just wasn’t the same. That’s because it takes the whole band working together to make the best music.
It's the same way with spiritual gifts. When we use our gifts in any way – that is a good thing. But when we work together it’s even better. We need people with the gift of hospitality to warmly welcome others into our space. We need people with the gift of service to read scripture and call to worship. We certainly need people with the gift of music to enhance our worship – we remember that quickly enough on the days when there is no music because we miss it terribly.
Each and every one of us has been given our own special gift by the Holy Spirt and we are expected to use that gift, or those gifts in some cases, for the good of the Church. Each and every gift is important and vital to the ministry of this church. And what that all boils down to is this – we need you to put your gift to use. When you are not here, we miss you, it feels like one of our instruments is missing and the song doesn’t sound the same. We all love what everyone else brings to serve in the church because what you bring is what someone else cannot, and what they bring is what you cannot. Each of us works together to make our church a place of better, stronger, more faithful disciples who then work together to bring the light and the love of Christ to others.
God’s plans are always the best plans, and this spiritual gift giving is one of his best. We cannot all be leaders, we cannot all be administrators, or full of wisdom, or healers, or teachers. We cannot all be the same thing because we are each unique. No one can be everything, but the gifts of the Holy Spirit enable us to be the one God needs us to be for his glory and to build up his Church. And isn’t that a beautiful picture? Makes me want to go get an ice cream cone. AMEN.
PRAYER: Sweet Holy Spirit, we give you thanks for the gifts that you give, for the discernment that you have to know what is best for each of us and then to dispense to us the gifts that will work together for the good of the Church and for the kingdom of God here on earth. For any who have not yet figured out their gift, we pray you will make it known to them, and for those who do know, we pray that they will be willing to put that gift to use. AMEN.
Rootstown
Series: Spiritual Gifts
Message: For the Common Good
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:4-21
Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, 5 and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of powerful deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
“In the summer of 1904, at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, it was hot, and people were searching for something to help cool them off. A vendor named Arnold had just what they were looking for……something called ice cream. People lined up for what seemed like miles to get some of his cool and satisfying ice cream but there was one problem - Arnold was not prepared for the demand and ran out of paper bowls. Next to Arnold’s ice cream booth was a man named Ernest, a pastry chef who was making a Persian wafer desert. Ernest also had a problem; his pastry was not selling. He noticed the problem Arnold was having and took some warm pastry and rolled it into a cone shape. He then went over and showed Arnold how the cone could hold a scoop of the ice cream. On that hot day during the World’s Fair in St Louis the first ICE CREAM CONE was born! These two vendors worked together to solve problems and served a bigger purpose than one man alone could perform.”
Imagine what would have happened if these two men had not put their ideas together on that day over one hundred years ago. Many people would have been disappointed to not get a taste of cool, refreshing ice cream on a hot day. Arnold would have been stuck with lots of ice cream and no way to sell it, and Ernest would have had many pastries going to waste. But, when the two came together and put what they had into partnership – magic happened! Both men were able to sell their product, the people who had lined up and patiently waited for a new treat were able to be served, and history was made. I mean, who doesn’t love an ice cream cone? Ice cream is good. Pastries are good. But put them together, make an ice cream cone and you turn good into better.
There was a businessman who was suddenly let go from his job and he was trying to discern what to do next. In talking to a pastor friend of his, he confessed that he had prayed about this job before taking it, but he didn’t hear anything from God, so he had gone ahead and accepted the position.
His friend asked him, “What did your wife think about the job?” She had been against it but said it was up to him to decide. The friend then asked if he had invited any of his friends to pray about the job with him. Yes, he had asked some his friends at church, and they had prayed with him. Afterward there were a few who had raised concerns about the position, but none of them had ever led a company of that size so he had thought that was the issue.
“So,” his friend pointed out to him, “you asked God for guidance and when he gave it to you, through your wife’s concerns and your friends’ concerns, you went ahead and did what you wanted anyway.”
Can anyone relate to that story? I know I can, but in a slightly different way. I had a period of time when I had been praying to God and offering myself to be used by him in any way he saw fit. I felt like I was prepared for any answer he might give me, but nothing seemed to be coming. So, I kept praying. And waiting.
Meanwhile, I kept getting told by friends, family members and pastors that they felt God was calling me into ministry. I didn’t believe them. I mean, I was praying to God and waiting for his answer – I just didn’t understand why it was taking so long to get that answer. I liked the idea of pastoral ministry, but I wanted God to tell me that’s what he wanted me to do.
Finally, in a conversation with my pastor at the time, I confessed to being frustrated. I was really thinking I wanted to be in ministry, I was praying, I was asking and offering, but God still wasn’t talking. And I will never forget what my pastor told me that night, “Sometimes God uses the people around you to tell you what you will not hear from him.” It was like a lightbulb moment for me.
I finally realized that God was answering my prayers – he just wasn’t answering them in the way I expected him to. I thought I was open to whatever God wanted for me, but I wasn’t open to the way in which he would communicate his call to me. But what I really learned, and what I believe Paul is trying to convey to the Corinthian church, is that we are not in this faith alone. We are a family. We are children of God by adoption through Jesus Christ. And each of us has a particular calling that we are to be using to help our brothers and sisters in Christ be encouraged, be stronger in their faith, be more attuned to the needs of those with less, be more ready and willing to help whenever and wherever we can. These are what Paul is referring to – the gifts of the Spirit.
And let me tell you, that congregation in Corinth needed each other and needed those gifts just to hold the line in a place that was all about everything but serving God and serving others. Corinth, in these days, was often called “Sin City.” It was “an every person for themselves, whatever feels good is good” kind of place. And for the people who lived there and worshiped there, it was difficult for them to live and work and play in a city like that and not let some of its customs and traditions creep into the church. One of the issues that Paul is addressing in his letters to the Corinthian faithful is the one of spiritual gifts.
It seems that some of the people in the church had gotten the notion that their gift was better than another person’s gift. In other words, they liked to rack and stack the gifts into a kind of hierarchy that would make some out to be better than others, even maybe calling themselves “Super apostles.” But what they were doing was destroying the unity of the church and causing divisions amongst themselves. This is what Paul was trying to teach against as he wrote these letters.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” “Look,” Paul is saying, “each of you have different gifts and those gifts may be used for different purposes, but they all come from the same place and for the same reason.”
All the spiritual gifts come from the Holy Spirit, and all are given to be used for the good of the body of Christ which is the Church. If all gifts come from the Holy Spirit, and all are to be used for the good of the Church, then how can one gift be more important than another? The answer is they can’t! And that hasn’t changed in the last two thousand years, either.
We have all been given our gifts by the same Holy Spirit who gave them to the early Christians in Corinth, and in Rome, in Ephesus, in Jerusalem, and everywhere else. The gifts we have are not more important than the gifts someone else has – the Spirit gives gifts according to our abilities, our heart, and our willingness to share. And still today, the gifts we are given are to be used to build up the body of Christ – the Church – this church.
Each of us are given specific gifts. Most of us use those gifts without even thinking about them because they feel natural to us. One has the gift of wisdom – others seem to come to you for advice and counsel. Another has the gift of knowledge – learning comes easily, facts and figures stick in your mind, people come to you for answers on how to fix something that is broken or to learn how something is made or can be made.
There are some who seem to have an abundance of faith – you are the prayer warrior who bolsters the faith of others because yours is so strong, you are the one people seek out when they find themselves asking the question “Why, God?” The list Paul uses in today’s scripture is not exhaustive – these are not the only gifts the Spirit is able to give – but each one receives the gift that is just right for them so that they can use that gift in service to others. For as many needs there are, that is the number of gifts that have been given, so there is no way to count them all. Just as there is no way to rank any of them as better or more important than another.
Let me give you a great example. How many of you have ever played an instrument or had one of your kids play one? Remember in the beginning when you would practice that instrument, you had to learn the notes and then learn how to properly play them. Press the right valve and blow with just the right force on a trumpet, hit the right key on the piano, keep rhythm perfectly on the drums, or learn to hold the bow and draw it across the violin strings at just the right angle with the right amount of pressure.
Did it sound good at first? No! But with practice, you eventually learned to play a song on your particular instrument. Now, think about the first time you had to play your instrument with others who played different instruments – are you cringing at the memory? Can you hear the cacophony in your mind even this day?
But you kept playing together and eventually, everyone learned how to keep the same tempo, how to listen to their own instrument playing while also listening to the other instruments and how to watch the band director all at the same time. And lo and behold, one day you all played a piece of music together that could be recognized as a particular song. But it didn’t stop there. Eventually you all got better at playing together and you came to appreciate that while you loved your instrument, if one of the others were missing, the music just wasn’t the same. That’s because it takes the whole band working together to make the best music.
It's the same way with spiritual gifts. When we use our gifts in any way – that is a good thing. But when we work together it’s even better. We need people with the gift of hospitality to warmly welcome others into our space. We need people with the gift of service to read scripture and call to worship. We certainly need people with the gift of music to enhance our worship – we remember that quickly enough on the days when there is no music because we miss it terribly.
Each and every one of us has been given our own special gift by the Holy Spirt and we are expected to use that gift, or those gifts in some cases, for the good of the Church. Each and every gift is important and vital to the ministry of this church. And what that all boils down to is this – we need you to put your gift to use. When you are not here, we miss you, it feels like one of our instruments is missing and the song doesn’t sound the same. We all love what everyone else brings to serve in the church because what you bring is what someone else cannot, and what they bring is what you cannot. Each of us works together to make our church a place of better, stronger, more faithful disciples who then work together to bring the light and the love of Christ to others.
God’s plans are always the best plans, and this spiritual gift giving is one of his best. We cannot all be leaders, we cannot all be administrators, or full of wisdom, or healers, or teachers. We cannot all be the same thing because we are each unique. No one can be everything, but the gifts of the Holy Spirit enable us to be the one God needs us to be for his glory and to build up his Church. And isn’t that a beautiful picture? Makes me want to go get an ice cream cone. AMEN.
PRAYER: Sweet Holy Spirit, we give you thanks for the gifts that you give, for the discernment that you have to know what is best for each of us and then to dispense to us the gifts that will work together for the good of the Church and for the kingdom of God here on earth. For any who have not yet figured out their gift, we pray you will make it known to them, and for those who do know, we pray that they will be willing to put that gift to use. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON JUNE 4, 2023 SUNDAY, FROM A NEW SERIES "WIND, FIRE, AND MARCHING ORDERS" CALLED "tHE GREAT COMMISSION"
June 4, 2023
Series: Wind, Fire, and Marching Orders
Message: The Great Commission
Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
You may have heard the story of Jesus arriving in heaven after the Ascension and being greeted by the angel Gabriel. After Gabriel had welcomed Jesus, he said to him, “You certainly suffered greatly for the people down on earth, even dying for all mankind. Do they all know what you have done for them?”
“Oh no,” Jesus replied, “Only a handful of people know. Some from Jerusalem and a few others from Galilee.” Somewhat surprised, Gabriel then asked, “So, what is the plan to get the word out?” Jesus answered, “I told the disciples to go and tell everyone and to teach those people to tell others who will tell others, and so on. In this way the message will continue on until everyone in all the world has heard the Good News.”
Shocked to hear this, Gabriel then asked, “But what if they don’t do that? What if Peter and Andrew, James, and John all just go back to fishing? What if Matthew goes back to being a tax collector? What if they don’t tell others what you have done? How will people know then?” To this, Jesus simply smiled and calmly replied, “Gabe, I have no other plan.”
No other plan? That must have taken a lot of trust in the disciples to put that ONE plan into play. Trust that those eleven would do as Jesus directed, to go and tell people in all places and spaces that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, who came to take on the sins of the world and offer forgiveness and eternal life to all who would accept his gift. Trust that the people the disciples told would then go and tell other people and that those people would tell even more people, and on and on and on, until one day, every person in the world would know the name of Jesus and make the decision for themselves whether to claim him as their own Lord and Savior.
If Jesus were to present that plan in a marketing class, he would have been failed by his professor. Imagine trying to put a new product or a concept into the world today. You need a tagline, a catchy jingle, an advertising budget, access to TV and radio commercials, links to social media accounts. Relying on word of mouth alone? That’s crazy! But that was exactly Jesus’ plan – word of mouth, the Good News shared person-to-person, with the expectation that his gospel would continue throughout the world, generation after generation, by one person telling another person who would then tell someone else.
And praise God! The plan has worked so far. How do I know? We are all here, aren’t we? How did we come to be here? Because someone told us about Jesus, about what he has done for us, and about the free gift of grace that he offers to everyone, and we accepted that gift, and became a follower of Christ, which brings us to worship together in this time and in this place. Jesus’ plan sounds pretty precarious, but somehow it is working!
Jesus’ plan may not be what we would expect for such an important message, but we need to remember that Jesus absolutely knew what he was doing. He didn’t randomly call out a few names while walking down the street and expect them to carry out what we call the Great Commission. It may have seemed random when he called each of his disciples to “Come and follow me,” but I assure you, Jesus knew exactly who he was calling. He knew their character and he knew their heart. The disciples were, each and every one of them, chosen on purpose and for a purpose.
In his book, “The Master’s Plan of Evangelism,” Robert E. Coleman lists eight principles that Jesus used in calling disciples who would spread the gospel all around the world and keep it spreading until his planned return. Here are those principles:
So, you can see that while on the surface, Jesus’ plan might not make a lot of sense, he knew all along that it would work, and it has, at least for the last two thousand years.
Those disciples did travel all over the known world and they shared the Good News, and thousands of people became Christians. The years passed and more and more people gave their hearts to Jesus, expanding the reach of the gospel even further, adding members to the family of God, for their benefit and for God’s glory. For years the Church grew and grew, but today that isn’t the case in most churches. Growth has become decline in many churches, I’m sad to say.
Lifeway Research reports that in 2019, forty-five hundred protestant churches closed in the United States. Forty-five hundred! They also reported that three thousand new churches were opened, which is good, but that is still a net loss of fifteen hundred churches. This is a trend that is predicted to continue. Isn’t that heartbreaking?
There are likely many different reasons for a church to close, but what it basically boils down to is a lack of people. Churches are closing because congregations are shrinking, and congregations are shrinking because people aren’t going to church. People aren’t going to church because we have stopped telling others about Jesus. We have stopped sharing the Good News. We have abandoned our commandment to go and make disciples.
We hear that Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” and we panic. “Go? Go where?” we ask. “I can’t go anywhere. I have a family, and a job, and a life right here,” and we think Jesus must not be talking to us, but only to certain people. We are wrong.
“Go and make disciples,” Jesus said. He didn’t say to sit in one place and wait for people to come to you. “Go” is an action, it implies movement on our part. “Go” means everywhere we go, down the street, across town, or to another part of the world – these are all places we can go and make disciples.
Yes, it is true that some people are specifically called to travel to foreign countries as missionaries, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us are off the hook for sharing the gospel. We still have work to do right where we live. We can be local missionaries to our neighbors, coworkers, family members, anyone and everyone we encounter. The first question we must ask ourselves is, “Do the people I know, outside of my church, know I am a Christian?” and the second question then is, “How can I let them know so they can become a follower of Jesus, too?”
How do you grow a church? You invite people to come with you to church. Sometimes you have to invite them more than once. And in between the invitations, we have to remember to live like a Christian. We love one another, we help one another, we encourage one another. We live like the disciple of Jesus Christ that we claim to be. We reach out to the least, the lost, the lonely, and we tell them that there is someone who loves them more than they could ever know, loves them enough to die for them so they can live.
I love the song, “Nobody,” by Casting Crowns because it reminds me that we are all called to share Jesus with others, no matter who we are or who they are. The chorus goes, “”Cause I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, about Somebody who saved my soul.” That is exactly what Jesus’ plan was when he told the disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples.” And if we don’t tell anyone, how will they ever know?
We, as Christians today, are now charged with the Great Commission – we are now the ones who carry the responsibility – and the privilege – of telling people about the Good News of the love of Jesus Christ. With two thousand years of Jesus’ plan in place, we certainly cannot be the generation that fails him now. We are now the ones to whom Jesus has given the marching orders to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” so they can be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we will teach them to obey all that Jesus, through the scriptures, has taught us. And remember, he is with us, always and everywhere, until he one day returns. It is a promise we can believe. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, sometimes we think it is too hard to talk about you to our friends, our neighbors, or even our families, and it is especially difficult to speak of you to strangers. So, Jesus, we ask that you make us bold witnesses, through the leading of your Holy Spirit. Help us to speak up, to speak out, to proclaim your love and share your light in our world, wherever we are. Help us to start by telling one person about the love you have for them and the gift of grace you offer them. Then, Lord Jesus, help us tell one more. Then one more, until sharing you with others becomes as natural as breathing. Help us to carry out your marching orders, for your kingdom, for your glory. AMEN.
Series: Wind, Fire, and Marching Orders
Message: The Great Commission
Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
You may have heard the story of Jesus arriving in heaven after the Ascension and being greeted by the angel Gabriel. After Gabriel had welcomed Jesus, he said to him, “You certainly suffered greatly for the people down on earth, even dying for all mankind. Do they all know what you have done for them?”
“Oh no,” Jesus replied, “Only a handful of people know. Some from Jerusalem and a few others from Galilee.” Somewhat surprised, Gabriel then asked, “So, what is the plan to get the word out?” Jesus answered, “I told the disciples to go and tell everyone and to teach those people to tell others who will tell others, and so on. In this way the message will continue on until everyone in all the world has heard the Good News.”
Shocked to hear this, Gabriel then asked, “But what if they don’t do that? What if Peter and Andrew, James, and John all just go back to fishing? What if Matthew goes back to being a tax collector? What if they don’t tell others what you have done? How will people know then?” To this, Jesus simply smiled and calmly replied, “Gabe, I have no other plan.”
No other plan? That must have taken a lot of trust in the disciples to put that ONE plan into play. Trust that those eleven would do as Jesus directed, to go and tell people in all places and spaces that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, who came to take on the sins of the world and offer forgiveness and eternal life to all who would accept his gift. Trust that the people the disciples told would then go and tell other people and that those people would tell even more people, and on and on and on, until one day, every person in the world would know the name of Jesus and make the decision for themselves whether to claim him as their own Lord and Savior.
If Jesus were to present that plan in a marketing class, he would have been failed by his professor. Imagine trying to put a new product or a concept into the world today. You need a tagline, a catchy jingle, an advertising budget, access to TV and radio commercials, links to social media accounts. Relying on word of mouth alone? That’s crazy! But that was exactly Jesus’ plan – word of mouth, the Good News shared person-to-person, with the expectation that his gospel would continue throughout the world, generation after generation, by one person telling another person who would then tell someone else.
And praise God! The plan has worked so far. How do I know? We are all here, aren’t we? How did we come to be here? Because someone told us about Jesus, about what he has done for us, and about the free gift of grace that he offers to everyone, and we accepted that gift, and became a follower of Christ, which brings us to worship together in this time and in this place. Jesus’ plan sounds pretty precarious, but somehow it is working!
Jesus’ plan may not be what we would expect for such an important message, but we need to remember that Jesus absolutely knew what he was doing. He didn’t randomly call out a few names while walking down the street and expect them to carry out what we call the Great Commission. It may have seemed random when he called each of his disciples to “Come and follow me,” but I assure you, Jesus knew exactly who he was calling. He knew their character and he knew their heart. The disciples were, each and every one of them, chosen on purpose and for a purpose.
In his book, “The Master’s Plan of Evangelism,” Robert E. Coleman lists eight principles that Jesus used in calling disciples who would spread the gospel all around the world and keep it spreading until his planned return. Here are those principles:
- Selection – he chose the twelve. As I said, he knew their character, he knew their heart, he knew exactly who he was choosing.
- Association – Jesus and his disciples lived together, ate together, and traveled together. They were with him for three years, observing him, learning from him, growing to be like him. Jesus’ whole ministry was one of being together; he built his ministry around the twelve.
- Consecration – Coleman writes that the principle of consecration is one of obedience. Jesus asked the disciples to follow him, and they immediately obeyed. They left everything and everyone they had ever known and became his followers. He called them to live like he lived, and love like he loved. Jesus expected obedience, so when he told them to go and tell others, he knew they would do exactly as he asked.
- Impartation – as we learned last week, Jesus breathed on the disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit, empowering them to do the ministry he was calling them to do.
- Demonstration – Jesus didn’t just teach the disciples in a clinical setting; he taught them in the real world. He taught them by modeling for them the way of life, love, and ministry.
- Delegation – Jesus equipped and empowered the disciples, then he sent them out to share the gospel using their gifts and graces given to them by the Holy Spirit. Coleman reminds us that we are to encourage each other in ministry by assigning specific tasks to people who have the spiritual gifts and skills needed to make that ministry successful.
- Supervision – this means accountability. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two for their safety and for accountability. Each could ensure that what was being taught was the true gospel of Jesus, thus always keeping the truth the truth.
- Reproduction - the fruit of Jesus’ plan for every follower to tell someone about him and what he is offering. This is the making disciples who will make disciples part of the plan.
So, you can see that while on the surface, Jesus’ plan might not make a lot of sense, he knew all along that it would work, and it has, at least for the last two thousand years.
Those disciples did travel all over the known world and they shared the Good News, and thousands of people became Christians. The years passed and more and more people gave their hearts to Jesus, expanding the reach of the gospel even further, adding members to the family of God, for their benefit and for God’s glory. For years the Church grew and grew, but today that isn’t the case in most churches. Growth has become decline in many churches, I’m sad to say.
Lifeway Research reports that in 2019, forty-five hundred protestant churches closed in the United States. Forty-five hundred! They also reported that three thousand new churches were opened, which is good, but that is still a net loss of fifteen hundred churches. This is a trend that is predicted to continue. Isn’t that heartbreaking?
There are likely many different reasons for a church to close, but what it basically boils down to is a lack of people. Churches are closing because congregations are shrinking, and congregations are shrinking because people aren’t going to church. People aren’t going to church because we have stopped telling others about Jesus. We have stopped sharing the Good News. We have abandoned our commandment to go and make disciples.
We hear that Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” and we panic. “Go? Go where?” we ask. “I can’t go anywhere. I have a family, and a job, and a life right here,” and we think Jesus must not be talking to us, but only to certain people. We are wrong.
“Go and make disciples,” Jesus said. He didn’t say to sit in one place and wait for people to come to you. “Go” is an action, it implies movement on our part. “Go” means everywhere we go, down the street, across town, or to another part of the world – these are all places we can go and make disciples.
Yes, it is true that some people are specifically called to travel to foreign countries as missionaries, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us are off the hook for sharing the gospel. We still have work to do right where we live. We can be local missionaries to our neighbors, coworkers, family members, anyone and everyone we encounter. The first question we must ask ourselves is, “Do the people I know, outside of my church, know I am a Christian?” and the second question then is, “How can I let them know so they can become a follower of Jesus, too?”
How do you grow a church? You invite people to come with you to church. Sometimes you have to invite them more than once. And in between the invitations, we have to remember to live like a Christian. We love one another, we help one another, we encourage one another. We live like the disciple of Jesus Christ that we claim to be. We reach out to the least, the lost, the lonely, and we tell them that there is someone who loves them more than they could ever know, loves them enough to die for them so they can live.
I love the song, “Nobody,” by Casting Crowns because it reminds me that we are all called to share Jesus with others, no matter who we are or who they are. The chorus goes, “”Cause I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, about Somebody who saved my soul.” That is exactly what Jesus’ plan was when he told the disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples.” And if we don’t tell anyone, how will they ever know?
We, as Christians today, are now charged with the Great Commission – we are now the ones who carry the responsibility – and the privilege – of telling people about the Good News of the love of Jesus Christ. With two thousand years of Jesus’ plan in place, we certainly cannot be the generation that fails him now. We are now the ones to whom Jesus has given the marching orders to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” so they can be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we will teach them to obey all that Jesus, through the scriptures, has taught us. And remember, he is with us, always and everywhere, until he one day returns. It is a promise we can believe. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, sometimes we think it is too hard to talk about you to our friends, our neighbors, or even our families, and it is especially difficult to speak of you to strangers. So, Jesus, we ask that you make us bold witnesses, through the leading of your Holy Spirit. Help us to speak up, to speak out, to proclaim your love and share your light in our world, wherever we are. Help us to start by telling one person about the love you have for them and the gift of grace you offer them. Then, Lord Jesus, help us tell one more. Then one more, until sharing you with others becomes as natural as breathing. Help us to carry out your marching orders, for your kingdom, for your glory. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON MAY 28, 2023, pentecost sunday, FROM a new SERIES "Wind, fire, and marching orders" CALLED "holy wind and fire".
May 28, 2023
Series: Wind, Fire, and Marching Orders
Message: Holy Wind and Fire
Scripture: John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Happy Birthday, Church! Did you know that today is a celebration? It’s Pentecost, the day the Church of Jesus Christ was born, the day the wind rushed into the upper room like a freight train and holy fire danced upon the heads of the disciples, filling them with passion for the gospel like they had not yet experienced. They rushed out into the streets of Jerusalem, a city filled with people from all over the world, come to celebrate the Jewish festival of Shavuot (shuh-voo-owt), or the Festival of Weeks.
It took Moses and the Israelites seven weeks to go from Egypt to Mt Sinai, where they received the Torah, the Law given by God to Moses for God’s chosen people. This is one of the three main festivals that the Jews were required to observe and called to go to Jerusalem to do so. That is why the city was teeming with so many people from so many places.
The day of Pentecost, as we observe it, occurs on the 50th day after Resurrection Sunday – Easter. It is this day that is the setting for Acts 2, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the Church by the disciples and the 3,000 people who became believers that day. When we read Luke’s words as he recounts the story, we can hear the noise, we can feel the excitement in the atmosphere:
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’”
The disciples, who had been huddled together in the upper room just moments before, fearful, timid, lost men, were now on fire with the gospel. Peter preached a sermon that will never be matched, many people stopped, listened, and believed. People repented and turned to God and were baptized. What a party, what a celebration!
Have you ever had a moment like that? A moment when the Holy Spirit falls so strong upon you that you speak or act before you even think about what you’re doing? A moment that comes so unexpectedly, yet so strongly that you couldn’t resist even if you tried, but who wants to even try? That’s what was happening in Acts 2 – a spontaneous outpouring of the Holy Spirit on first the disciples and then on the people who were in the city streets.
The disciples didn’t make a plan, they didn’t form a committee and call a meeting to appoint Peter to be their pastor of the day. They didn’t create a sanctuary and set up chairs, they didn’t set up the baptismal fount in case anyone wanted to be baptized.
Peter didn’t sit down and write out his sermon, researching, writing, rewriting, until he got it just right. These men were winging it! They were living and acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit, moving, speaking, doing as he guided them to do. It was fantastic! Whew! What a day! I wish I had been there, don’t you? I wish I had gotten to be a part of all that exuberance, all that hoopla, all that excitement. I want the Holy Spirit to fall upon me with a violent wind and tongues like fire; I want to be as on fire for the gospel of Jesus as Peter and the others were that day, because I have to confess, I don’t feel that level of excitement all that often. I don’t hear of people filing in from all over the world, I don’t see crowds of people lining up to be baptized, and I will likely never preach to a crowd of thousands like the disciples did that day.
But you know what? That’s okay, because there is another account of the coming of the Holy Spirit, on these same men, and the outcome that day wasn’t the same as what we read about in Acts. In today’s scripture, John tells of an earlier time when the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, a time when they were gathered in the upper room, huddled together, fearful, timid, and lost.
This was about seven weeks earlier, on a Sunday evening. Jesus had been crucified and buried, but that morning, Mary Magdalene and some of the other women were telling a crazy story about seeing Jesus alive. It was unbelievable, of course, this tale they were telling. The disciples were together in a locked room, talking among themselves, mourning, wondering what they were going to do now. Suddenly, there was Jesus, standing in their midst! Jesus was alive – the women were right!
“Peace be with you,” Jesus said to them. Then he showed them his nail-scared hands, and his sword-pierced side. John says the disciples rejoiced when they saw it really was Jesus right there with them. I imagine they were all speaking at once, asking questions, touching him, pinching themselves to make sure this was real. They just couldn’t believe it.
Then Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” After he said this, Jesus breathed on the disciples and he said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Jesus breathed on the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirt, but they did not rush out into the city and begin preaching that very moment, like they would do a few weeks later.
Two experiences of receiving the Holy Spirit, yet two very different reactions. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the Holy Spirt of Pentecost, to want to experience that kind of anointing by the Spirit, but it is also easy to wonder what is wrong if that is not our personal experience. I love Luke’s story in Acts, but I need John’s story, just as much – we all do.
How many of us have gone to a concert to hear a band we really like? Think about the feeling in the stadium or the arena. When the songs were upbeat and fast-paced, people were on their feet, clapping, singing, moving to the music. The atmosphere was loud and boisterous, wasn’t it? But then it changed. The band moved into a new song that was slower, sentimental, emotionally meaningful, and the place would get quiet. People might still be singing, but they weren’t jumping up and down, they weren’t clapping and cheering; they were listening, absorbing the feelings, experiencing the music, yes, but in a completely different way than they were during the last song.
The band needs both styles of music. I heard it said once that fast songs sell concert tickets and slow songs sell albums. We need to hear both as much as they need to play both. We need to feel the energy and the passion of the up-tempo songs, and we need to feel the emotions of the slow ones. The band needs to feel our energy during their fast numbers, and they need to feel our emotions (and catch their breath) during their slow numbers.
We need to quietly receive the Holy Spirit like the disciples did on Easter night, and we also need the energetic, loud, passionate receiving of the same Holy Spirit as they did fifty days later, on Pentecost.
In Acts we learn that the Holy Spirt can work in us in a moment, with no warning, no preparation, no preplanning on our part, and we are called to simply follow his guidance. In those moments, as the Holy Spirit works through us, we are of little importance. Peter gave a grand speech, but it was the Holy Spirit that gave him the words, it was the Holy Spirt that moved in the hearts of three thousand people that day and in thousands more over the next few days, months, and years, and that same Holy Spirit continues to bring people into the family of God through belief in Jesus Christ.
But we can receive the Holy Spirit in quiet, peace-giving ways, too, just as the disciples did on Easter evening, because sometimes we just need to be reminded that the wind of the Holy Spirit is the very breath of God breathed into us. It is this breath that gives us life, both now and eternally. We need the peace of the Holy Spirit as much as we need the boldness of him. We need that balance to keep us going. All of one or the other would leave us off-kilter.
Too much Pentecost would wear us out and leave us with nothing left to give in no time. Too much Peace would make us complacent and leave us unaware of the power God has in our lives.
So, it’s okay to celebrate today, to be loud and joyful and exuberant as we celebrate the birth of the Church; birthdays are a great excuse to celebrate. It is also okay to sit quietly in the presence of God and thank him for all the good he is and does and gives us. And it’s even okay to do both on the same day – because it is the same Holy Spirit living within us that gives us the direction and the power to be both loud and quiet, to be both moving and still. It is the Holy Spirit that keeps us in balance so we can be effective witnesses for the Kingdom of God here on earth. AMEN.
PRAYER: Come Holy Spirit, breathe on us this day, and whether you breathe a great wind and tongues of fire, or a gentle breath of peace, we receive you. Thank you for living within us from the moment we chose to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Thank you for letting us know we are never alone, that you are always with us. Thank you for the balance between peace and exuberance that you give us, a balance that sustains us, and helps us remain faithful, as members of the Church that you helped birth on this day so long ago. We praise you for all you do. AMEN.
Series: Wind, Fire, and Marching Orders
Message: Holy Wind and Fire
Scripture: John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Happy Birthday, Church! Did you know that today is a celebration? It’s Pentecost, the day the Church of Jesus Christ was born, the day the wind rushed into the upper room like a freight train and holy fire danced upon the heads of the disciples, filling them with passion for the gospel like they had not yet experienced. They rushed out into the streets of Jerusalem, a city filled with people from all over the world, come to celebrate the Jewish festival of Shavuot (shuh-voo-owt), or the Festival of Weeks.
It took Moses and the Israelites seven weeks to go from Egypt to Mt Sinai, where they received the Torah, the Law given by God to Moses for God’s chosen people. This is one of the three main festivals that the Jews were required to observe and called to go to Jerusalem to do so. That is why the city was teeming with so many people from so many places.
The day of Pentecost, as we observe it, occurs on the 50th day after Resurrection Sunday – Easter. It is this day that is the setting for Acts 2, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the Church by the disciples and the 3,000 people who became believers that day. When we read Luke’s words as he recounts the story, we can hear the noise, we can feel the excitement in the atmosphere:
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’”
The disciples, who had been huddled together in the upper room just moments before, fearful, timid, lost men, were now on fire with the gospel. Peter preached a sermon that will never be matched, many people stopped, listened, and believed. People repented and turned to God and were baptized. What a party, what a celebration!
Have you ever had a moment like that? A moment when the Holy Spirit falls so strong upon you that you speak or act before you even think about what you’re doing? A moment that comes so unexpectedly, yet so strongly that you couldn’t resist even if you tried, but who wants to even try? That’s what was happening in Acts 2 – a spontaneous outpouring of the Holy Spirit on first the disciples and then on the people who were in the city streets.
The disciples didn’t make a plan, they didn’t form a committee and call a meeting to appoint Peter to be their pastor of the day. They didn’t create a sanctuary and set up chairs, they didn’t set up the baptismal fount in case anyone wanted to be baptized.
Peter didn’t sit down and write out his sermon, researching, writing, rewriting, until he got it just right. These men were winging it! They were living and acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit, moving, speaking, doing as he guided them to do. It was fantastic! Whew! What a day! I wish I had been there, don’t you? I wish I had gotten to be a part of all that exuberance, all that hoopla, all that excitement. I want the Holy Spirit to fall upon me with a violent wind and tongues like fire; I want to be as on fire for the gospel of Jesus as Peter and the others were that day, because I have to confess, I don’t feel that level of excitement all that often. I don’t hear of people filing in from all over the world, I don’t see crowds of people lining up to be baptized, and I will likely never preach to a crowd of thousands like the disciples did that day.
But you know what? That’s okay, because there is another account of the coming of the Holy Spirit, on these same men, and the outcome that day wasn’t the same as what we read about in Acts. In today’s scripture, John tells of an earlier time when the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, a time when they were gathered in the upper room, huddled together, fearful, timid, and lost.
This was about seven weeks earlier, on a Sunday evening. Jesus had been crucified and buried, but that morning, Mary Magdalene and some of the other women were telling a crazy story about seeing Jesus alive. It was unbelievable, of course, this tale they were telling. The disciples were together in a locked room, talking among themselves, mourning, wondering what they were going to do now. Suddenly, there was Jesus, standing in their midst! Jesus was alive – the women were right!
“Peace be with you,” Jesus said to them. Then he showed them his nail-scared hands, and his sword-pierced side. John says the disciples rejoiced when they saw it really was Jesus right there with them. I imagine they were all speaking at once, asking questions, touching him, pinching themselves to make sure this was real. They just couldn’t believe it.
Then Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” After he said this, Jesus breathed on the disciples and he said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Jesus breathed on the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirt, but they did not rush out into the city and begin preaching that very moment, like they would do a few weeks later.
Two experiences of receiving the Holy Spirit, yet two very different reactions. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the Holy Spirt of Pentecost, to want to experience that kind of anointing by the Spirit, but it is also easy to wonder what is wrong if that is not our personal experience. I love Luke’s story in Acts, but I need John’s story, just as much – we all do.
How many of us have gone to a concert to hear a band we really like? Think about the feeling in the stadium or the arena. When the songs were upbeat and fast-paced, people were on their feet, clapping, singing, moving to the music. The atmosphere was loud and boisterous, wasn’t it? But then it changed. The band moved into a new song that was slower, sentimental, emotionally meaningful, and the place would get quiet. People might still be singing, but they weren’t jumping up and down, they weren’t clapping and cheering; they were listening, absorbing the feelings, experiencing the music, yes, but in a completely different way than they were during the last song.
The band needs both styles of music. I heard it said once that fast songs sell concert tickets and slow songs sell albums. We need to hear both as much as they need to play both. We need to feel the energy and the passion of the up-tempo songs, and we need to feel the emotions of the slow ones. The band needs to feel our energy during their fast numbers, and they need to feel our emotions (and catch their breath) during their slow numbers.
We need to quietly receive the Holy Spirit like the disciples did on Easter night, and we also need the energetic, loud, passionate receiving of the same Holy Spirit as they did fifty days later, on Pentecost.
In Acts we learn that the Holy Spirt can work in us in a moment, with no warning, no preparation, no preplanning on our part, and we are called to simply follow his guidance. In those moments, as the Holy Spirit works through us, we are of little importance. Peter gave a grand speech, but it was the Holy Spirit that gave him the words, it was the Holy Spirt that moved in the hearts of three thousand people that day and in thousands more over the next few days, months, and years, and that same Holy Spirit continues to bring people into the family of God through belief in Jesus Christ.
But we can receive the Holy Spirit in quiet, peace-giving ways, too, just as the disciples did on Easter evening, because sometimes we just need to be reminded that the wind of the Holy Spirit is the very breath of God breathed into us. It is this breath that gives us life, both now and eternally. We need the peace of the Holy Spirit as much as we need the boldness of him. We need that balance to keep us going. All of one or the other would leave us off-kilter.
Too much Pentecost would wear us out and leave us with nothing left to give in no time. Too much Peace would make us complacent and leave us unaware of the power God has in our lives.
So, it’s okay to celebrate today, to be loud and joyful and exuberant as we celebrate the birth of the Church; birthdays are a great excuse to celebrate. It is also okay to sit quietly in the presence of God and thank him for all the good he is and does and gives us. And it’s even okay to do both on the same day – because it is the same Holy Spirit living within us that gives us the direction and the power to be both loud and quiet, to be both moving and still. It is the Holy Spirit that keeps us in balance so we can be effective witnesses for the Kingdom of God here on earth. AMEN.
PRAYER: Come Holy Spirit, breathe on us this day, and whether you breathe a great wind and tongues of fire, or a gentle breath of peace, we receive you. Thank you for living within us from the moment we chose to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Thank you for letting us know we are never alone, that you are always with us. Thank you for the balance between peace and exuberance that you give us, a balance that sustains us, and helps us remain faithful, as members of the Church that you helped birth on this day so long ago. We praise you for all you do. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON MAY 21, 2023 FROM THE SERIES "A LIVING HOPE" CALLED "Keep Doing What is Right".
May 21, 2023
Series: A Living Hope
Message: Keep Doing What is Right
Scripture: 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8 Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
In his book, “What Good is God,” Randy Alcorn shares the story of his friend Ethel. Ethel had had a double mastectomy and only two months later learned that the cancer had spread. A friend of Ethel’s upon hearing the news, asked, “How do you feel about God now?”
Ethel’s response was this: "As I sought to explain what has happened in my spirit, it all became clearer to me. God has been preparing me for this moment. He has undergirded me in ways I've never known before. He has made himself increasingly real and precious to me. He has given to me joy such as I've never known before -- and I've no need to work at it, it just comes, even amidst the tears. He has taught me that...he will lead me on whatever journey he chooses and will never leave me for a moment of that journey... God is good no matter what the diagnosis or the prognosis or the fearfulness of the uncertainty of having neither."
What a testimony to have about the goodness of God in the midst of a dire diagnosis. Ethel could have ranted and raved at the injustice of having cancer, she could have become angry and turned her back on God, or she could have simply let her faith die because life wasn’t going the way she thought it should and it was all God’s fault. She didn’t do any of those things. Instead, Ethel spoke of the goodness of God that is a part of her life in all times – both good and bad – and through her words, we can find hope in our own life situations.
I heard a speaker on the radio the other day say that we Christians like to talk about the promises Jesus made but we tend to forget the one where he said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.” This promise is just as valid as all the others, but it isn’t one we like to think about. We want to believe that because we are believers and followers of Jesus we become somehow above the problems of this world. If you have been a Christian for more than five minutes, you know that isn’t the case, though.
We faced difficult times before we came to Christ, and we have dealt with difficult times since we accepted him as our Lord and Savior.
That was Peter’s theme last week and he carries it through into this week, too. Why does he seem to be dwelling on this? Some might say, “Yeah, yeah, we get it. Pain and suffering, we know. Next subject” but Peter wants to make sure that his readers get the message, not because he wants to make them feel fear in following Jesus, but to prepare them for the realities of life so they can stand strong in their faith when tragedy does strike.
You know how we get weather warnings, like this week we got frost advisory, and when storms are brewing, the weatherman or woman tells us where it is likely to hit the hardest, how long it will last, and how much snow or rain we will get? They may not always be right, but their warnings do give us a chance to prepare for what is coming. Don’t you wish we had difficult times warnings, too? Somehow there would be a notification that there is something coming that will be hard to endure – a health diagnosis, a financial hardship, the loss of a loved one – and we could prepare ourselves to handle it.
Now, I know sometimes we do see it coming a little bit, but too often we get hit with something we never saw coming and it knocks us off our feet, leaves us spinning, and wondering what in the world is going on. Our world turns upside down and we don’t know how we will ever get back to “normal” again. We’ve all experienced that. I know one of those times for me was the sudden loss of my husband. It was an ordinary Thursday, no warning at all, one minute he was here, the next he was gone. My world crashed around me.
I had no warning, but looking back, I do see how God was preparing me. God was putting me into places, and putting people into my life, that turned out to be just exactly what I would need when my life spun out of control. So, I totally relate to Ethel’s story when she said, “God has been preparing me for this moment. He has undergirded me in ways I've never known before. He has made himself increasingly real and precious to me. He has given to me joy such as I've never known before -- and I've no need to work at it, it just comes, even amidst the tears. He has taught me that...he will lead me on whatever journey he chooses and will never leave me for a moment of that journey... God is good no matter what.”
If Peter didn’t drive this point home to the early Christians, with all they were going through, they may not have been able to stand under the pressure of persecution. Peter wasn’t just repeating himself to put more words on paper, he was desperately trying to encourage his readers to know that God is with them, that God is preparing them for whatever might come, and that God is still good – even when life isn’t.
Peter wrote, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.” These words of warning are not meant to instill fear, they are meant to inspire hope.
Peter is saying what Pastor Colin Smith said in his book, “Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross.” He wrote, “Faith in Jesus Christ is not a passport to a pain free life. The thief on the cross felt the pain of crucifixion just as sharply after he found faith in Christ as he did before.”
The excruciating pain of his crucifixion for that man did not change, it did not lessen, it did not cease, simply because he put his faith in Jesus as his Savior. His present circumstance was not altered, but his future was vastly different. Before he found faith in Christ, as he hung on that cross, mocking Jesus along with the other thief, he was headed to an eternity in hell. But the moment he finally recognized who Jesus was and came to faith in him, his future was one of eternity in heaven with Jesus. His faith didn’t end his pain and suffering but it made it bearable because he knew where he was headed.
And so, Peter now turns from pleading with his readers to stand firm in their faith to giving them some practical advice on how to do it. He wants his readers to keep doing what is right, even when it isn’t easy. He writes, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Only someone who has learned to humble themselves can truly lean on God in troubling times. It takes a lot to give up our false feeling of control and turn our anxieties over to God – it takes even more to not grab them back when we think he isn’t doing anything or what he is doing isn’t what we thought should be done. God is the one who is really in control and his plan for us is better than anything we could devise for ourselves, yet we often get in his way as we try to tell God how to do what we want him to do, how we want it done, and when he should do it.
God cares for us, he wants what is best for us, he knows what’s best for us, so we need to humble ourselves before God so that we can give him our problems and fully trust that he will work them out for us.
We need to be humble, but we can’t be passive. Peter warns, “Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”
The devil likes to isolate people. One of his biggest lies is that whatever we are going through, no one else knows what it’s like. You see, he takes a little bit of truth and twists it and feeds his version back to us.
Yes, every experience is unique to us as individuals, but that doesn’t mean that we are alone in our suffering. Peter reminds us that all of our brothers and sisters in Christ are undergoing suffering and we can all use our experiences to help one another, to encourage one another, and to help keep each other strong in our faith. That is why it is so important that we come together each week for worship. We share our problems, lift up those in need, and leave here strengthened for the days ahead.
Here’s the good news in Peter’s letter, the reason for enduring our trial and keeping our faith: “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.” I read these words and all I can do is think, “Wow! He would do that for me?” And I marvel that the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”
This was God’s plan from the very beginning, that he would come to earth as Jesus, the One who would make us new in him, the One who would be the means by which our relationship with our heavenly Father would be restored, the One who would make the way for us to be able to be forgiven, be given freedom, and to find eternal life. He did this for our benefit and for his glory. Not because we deserved it, not because we could ever earn it, not because we found a way to achieve it, but because he loves us.
Palmer Chinchen, in his book, “True Religion”, talks about traveling with his brothers to the western edge of Zimbabwe to raft the Zambezi River. They would start at the base of Victoria Falls, which is the largest waterfall in the world. These falls are more than a mile wide and three hundred feet high. For reference, the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara are one hundred eighty-eight feet high.
The water from Victoria Falls rushes down the gorge at the bottom, and the force of it creates the world's largest rapids which can be class 7 and even 8. In the United States, the highest-class rapid you are allowed to raft is a Class 5.
As Chinchen and his brothers sat on the edge of an eight-person raft below those towering falls, their guide told them, WHEN the raft flips..." Notice he didn’t say "IF the raft flips," He said, "WHEN the raft flips, stay in the rough water.”
Right away as I read this, I think that doesn’t sound right. If that raft flips and I get dumped in the water, I want out of the rough stuff as fast as possible. I want to be where I will feel safer. The guide knew this would be the first instinct of the people in the raft – get to the place where the water is gentle. But what the guide knew was that the gentle water held a greater danger.
The guide warned them, “You will be tempted to swim toward the stagnant water at the edge of the banks. Don't do it. Because it is in the stagnant water that the crocs wait for you. They are large and hungry. So, WHEN the raft flips, stay in the rough water."
It seems counterintuitive to stay in the rough water, but when he puts it like that, I understand how the rough water is truly the safer place to be. When life tips our raft and hurls us into the rough water, the first thing we think about is how we are going to get to the gentle water where we think we will be safe, because we don’t realize that’s where the greater danger lies in wait for us. But when we put our trust in God, we can learn to stay in the rough water until he guides us to safety. And we can be sure that he will because he loves us, and we will say with Peter, as his final words to us today, “To God be the power, forever and ever.” AMEN.
PRAYER: God of life, you are our creator, our sustainer, our champion in times of trouble. When we would head for what looks like safe waters, you remind us to first trust in you and stay where you have placed us. We confess we are often confused and uncertain, we admit that we are often stubborn and prideful, but you remain patient and loving. Help us recognize daily that we can rely on you, we can trust you, that you want what is best for us and that your plan is always better than our own ideas. Thank you for loving us, flawed as we are. AMEN.
Series: A Living Hope
Message: Keep Doing What is Right
Scripture: 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8 Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
In his book, “What Good is God,” Randy Alcorn shares the story of his friend Ethel. Ethel had had a double mastectomy and only two months later learned that the cancer had spread. A friend of Ethel’s upon hearing the news, asked, “How do you feel about God now?”
Ethel’s response was this: "As I sought to explain what has happened in my spirit, it all became clearer to me. God has been preparing me for this moment. He has undergirded me in ways I've never known before. He has made himself increasingly real and precious to me. He has given to me joy such as I've never known before -- and I've no need to work at it, it just comes, even amidst the tears. He has taught me that...he will lead me on whatever journey he chooses and will never leave me for a moment of that journey... God is good no matter what the diagnosis or the prognosis or the fearfulness of the uncertainty of having neither."
What a testimony to have about the goodness of God in the midst of a dire diagnosis. Ethel could have ranted and raved at the injustice of having cancer, she could have become angry and turned her back on God, or she could have simply let her faith die because life wasn’t going the way she thought it should and it was all God’s fault. She didn’t do any of those things. Instead, Ethel spoke of the goodness of God that is a part of her life in all times – both good and bad – and through her words, we can find hope in our own life situations.
I heard a speaker on the radio the other day say that we Christians like to talk about the promises Jesus made but we tend to forget the one where he said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.” This promise is just as valid as all the others, but it isn’t one we like to think about. We want to believe that because we are believers and followers of Jesus we become somehow above the problems of this world. If you have been a Christian for more than five minutes, you know that isn’t the case, though.
We faced difficult times before we came to Christ, and we have dealt with difficult times since we accepted him as our Lord and Savior.
That was Peter’s theme last week and he carries it through into this week, too. Why does he seem to be dwelling on this? Some might say, “Yeah, yeah, we get it. Pain and suffering, we know. Next subject” but Peter wants to make sure that his readers get the message, not because he wants to make them feel fear in following Jesus, but to prepare them for the realities of life so they can stand strong in their faith when tragedy does strike.
You know how we get weather warnings, like this week we got frost advisory, and when storms are brewing, the weatherman or woman tells us where it is likely to hit the hardest, how long it will last, and how much snow or rain we will get? They may not always be right, but their warnings do give us a chance to prepare for what is coming. Don’t you wish we had difficult times warnings, too? Somehow there would be a notification that there is something coming that will be hard to endure – a health diagnosis, a financial hardship, the loss of a loved one – and we could prepare ourselves to handle it.
Now, I know sometimes we do see it coming a little bit, but too often we get hit with something we never saw coming and it knocks us off our feet, leaves us spinning, and wondering what in the world is going on. Our world turns upside down and we don’t know how we will ever get back to “normal” again. We’ve all experienced that. I know one of those times for me was the sudden loss of my husband. It was an ordinary Thursday, no warning at all, one minute he was here, the next he was gone. My world crashed around me.
I had no warning, but looking back, I do see how God was preparing me. God was putting me into places, and putting people into my life, that turned out to be just exactly what I would need when my life spun out of control. So, I totally relate to Ethel’s story when she said, “God has been preparing me for this moment. He has undergirded me in ways I've never known before. He has made himself increasingly real and precious to me. He has given to me joy such as I've never known before -- and I've no need to work at it, it just comes, even amidst the tears. He has taught me that...he will lead me on whatever journey he chooses and will never leave me for a moment of that journey... God is good no matter what.”
If Peter didn’t drive this point home to the early Christians, with all they were going through, they may not have been able to stand under the pressure of persecution. Peter wasn’t just repeating himself to put more words on paper, he was desperately trying to encourage his readers to know that God is with them, that God is preparing them for whatever might come, and that God is still good – even when life isn’t.
Peter wrote, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.” These words of warning are not meant to instill fear, they are meant to inspire hope.
Peter is saying what Pastor Colin Smith said in his book, “Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross.” He wrote, “Faith in Jesus Christ is not a passport to a pain free life. The thief on the cross felt the pain of crucifixion just as sharply after he found faith in Christ as he did before.”
The excruciating pain of his crucifixion for that man did not change, it did not lessen, it did not cease, simply because he put his faith in Jesus as his Savior. His present circumstance was not altered, but his future was vastly different. Before he found faith in Christ, as he hung on that cross, mocking Jesus along with the other thief, he was headed to an eternity in hell. But the moment he finally recognized who Jesus was and came to faith in him, his future was one of eternity in heaven with Jesus. His faith didn’t end his pain and suffering but it made it bearable because he knew where he was headed.
And so, Peter now turns from pleading with his readers to stand firm in their faith to giving them some practical advice on how to do it. He wants his readers to keep doing what is right, even when it isn’t easy. He writes, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Only someone who has learned to humble themselves can truly lean on God in troubling times. It takes a lot to give up our false feeling of control and turn our anxieties over to God – it takes even more to not grab them back when we think he isn’t doing anything or what he is doing isn’t what we thought should be done. God is the one who is really in control and his plan for us is better than anything we could devise for ourselves, yet we often get in his way as we try to tell God how to do what we want him to do, how we want it done, and when he should do it.
God cares for us, he wants what is best for us, he knows what’s best for us, so we need to humble ourselves before God so that we can give him our problems and fully trust that he will work them out for us.
We need to be humble, but we can’t be passive. Peter warns, “Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”
The devil likes to isolate people. One of his biggest lies is that whatever we are going through, no one else knows what it’s like. You see, he takes a little bit of truth and twists it and feeds his version back to us.
Yes, every experience is unique to us as individuals, but that doesn’t mean that we are alone in our suffering. Peter reminds us that all of our brothers and sisters in Christ are undergoing suffering and we can all use our experiences to help one another, to encourage one another, and to help keep each other strong in our faith. That is why it is so important that we come together each week for worship. We share our problems, lift up those in need, and leave here strengthened for the days ahead.
Here’s the good news in Peter’s letter, the reason for enduring our trial and keeping our faith: “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.” I read these words and all I can do is think, “Wow! He would do that for me?” And I marvel that the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”
This was God’s plan from the very beginning, that he would come to earth as Jesus, the One who would make us new in him, the One who would be the means by which our relationship with our heavenly Father would be restored, the One who would make the way for us to be able to be forgiven, be given freedom, and to find eternal life. He did this for our benefit and for his glory. Not because we deserved it, not because we could ever earn it, not because we found a way to achieve it, but because he loves us.
Palmer Chinchen, in his book, “True Religion”, talks about traveling with his brothers to the western edge of Zimbabwe to raft the Zambezi River. They would start at the base of Victoria Falls, which is the largest waterfall in the world. These falls are more than a mile wide and three hundred feet high. For reference, the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara are one hundred eighty-eight feet high.
The water from Victoria Falls rushes down the gorge at the bottom, and the force of it creates the world's largest rapids which can be class 7 and even 8. In the United States, the highest-class rapid you are allowed to raft is a Class 5.
As Chinchen and his brothers sat on the edge of an eight-person raft below those towering falls, their guide told them, WHEN the raft flips..." Notice he didn’t say "IF the raft flips," He said, "WHEN the raft flips, stay in the rough water.”
Right away as I read this, I think that doesn’t sound right. If that raft flips and I get dumped in the water, I want out of the rough stuff as fast as possible. I want to be where I will feel safer. The guide knew this would be the first instinct of the people in the raft – get to the place where the water is gentle. But what the guide knew was that the gentle water held a greater danger.
The guide warned them, “You will be tempted to swim toward the stagnant water at the edge of the banks. Don't do it. Because it is in the stagnant water that the crocs wait for you. They are large and hungry. So, WHEN the raft flips, stay in the rough water."
It seems counterintuitive to stay in the rough water, but when he puts it like that, I understand how the rough water is truly the safer place to be. When life tips our raft and hurls us into the rough water, the first thing we think about is how we are going to get to the gentle water where we think we will be safe, because we don’t realize that’s where the greater danger lies in wait for us. But when we put our trust in God, we can learn to stay in the rough water until he guides us to safety. And we can be sure that he will because he loves us, and we will say with Peter, as his final words to us today, “To God be the power, forever and ever.” AMEN.
PRAYER: God of life, you are our creator, our sustainer, our champion in times of trouble. When we would head for what looks like safe waters, you remind us to first trust in you and stay where you have placed us. We confess we are often confused and uncertain, we admit that we are often stubborn and prideful, but you remain patient and loving. Help us recognize daily that we can rely on you, we can trust you, that you want what is best for us and that your plan is always better than our own ideas. Thank you for loving us, flawed as we are. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON MAY 14, 2023 FROM THE SERIES "A LIVING HOPE" CALLED "What to Say".
May 14, 2023
Series: A Living Hope
Message: What to Say
Scripture: 1 Peter 3:13-22
Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, 16 yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
In honor of Mother’s Day today and just because we can always use a laugh, I want to share with you some wisdom from children. These were the answers given to questions they were asked about their moms.
"Why were mothers created?"
1. She’s the only one who knows where the Scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
"How were mothers made?"
1. From dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic, plus superpowers, and a lot of stirring.
3. Just the same as I was made, except bigger parts were used.
"Why were you given your mother and not some other mom?"
1. We’re related.
2. She likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me.
"What ingredients are mothers made of?"
1. Clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string. I think.
"What kind of little girl was your mom?"
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. They say she used to be nice.
"What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?"
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer? Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
"Why did your mom marry your dad?"
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot of spaghetti.
"Who’s the boss at your house?"
1. Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because my Dad is such a goofball.
2. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than Dad.
"What’s the difference between moms and dads?"
1. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
2. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you gotta ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s.
"What does your mom do in her spare time?"
1. Mothers don’t do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
"What’s the difference between moms and grandmas?"
1.About 30 years, I think.
2. You can always count on grandmothers for candy. Sometimes moms don’t even have bread on them!
"Describe the world’s greatest mom."
1. She would make broccoli taste like ice cream!
2. She’d always be smiling and keep her opinions to herself.
"Is anything about your mom perfect?"
1. Her teeth are perfect, but she bought them from the dentist.
2. Her casserole recipes. But we hate them.
3. Just her children.
"What would it take to make your mom perfect?"
1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I’d dye-it, maybe blue.
"If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?"
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean and eating all my vegetables. I’d get rid of that.
These are things said about moms, but have you ever heard of a momism? A momism is something that mothers say a lot, usually it’s a piece of advice that we should know that is meant to give us direction or make us mind, something to help us be a better person, but something we don’t really want to hear. I mean, can you just hear Samson’s mom telling him to get his hand out of that lion’s mouth because he doesn’t know where it’s been? Or David’s mom telling him to quit playing with that slingshot in the house and then sending him to his room to practice playing his lyre because she and his father were paying good money for those lyre lessons.
How about Abraham’s mom telling him to settle down in one place and come over for dinner next week, or Noah’s mom telling him one more time that there will be no more animals brought into the house because this place is starting to look like a zoo. We all have a momism that our mothers said to us – or still say – because moms do have their ways about them, don’t they?
Well, Peter wasn’t a mother, but he is giving some mom-type advice in today’s scripture. He’s advising his readers, “Who would want to hurt you if you’re doing something good?” Can’t you just hear a mom somewhere saying that to their kid? And just like that kid, we want to say, “Um, Peter, it happens, you know?”
Peter knows that. He is trying to do nothing but good himself and yet he is living in a time of persecution for his faith. So, yes, sometimes there may be people who will try to hurt you even when you are doing good, but don’t worry about it, he says, call it a blessing if that happens. Don’t let them intimidate you and don’t live in fear but keep Christ on your mind and in your heart. It’s great advice, but like so many things our mothers tell us, it’s easier said than done.
Again, I remind us that Peter knows how difficult it is to be a Christian, especially in the time in which he was writing. He has seen brothers and sisters of the faith arrested, beaten, even killed for professing their faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior. He isn’t trying to gloss over the hardship, he is trying to give his readers hope even in the midst of trials and tribulation. He is trying to give them the courage and the encouragement they need to keep on going when the going gets tough. Peter loves these fellow believers, and he is doing what he can to help them endure for their faith.
And here is another thing Peter says that sounds like something a mother would say, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and respect.” Be ready, he says, people are watching and when they see you and how you react to the bad things that happen to you, they just may come asking why you are the way you are. Be ready, he says, so you can tell them about the hope you have in Jesus Christ. Be ready, he says, to tell them that they can have that hope, too.
But be gentle with your words, because they may not be ready to believe you, they may not be ready to accept Christ as you have done. Be ready to answer their questions and then answer them again. And again. Give them some respect, even if it takes them a long time to understand, even if they never get there at all. We can’t make a person believe what we believe, we are simply called to tell them, gently and respectfully, that there is hope to be had in Jesus. There is forgiveness to be found through him, and there is eternal life for all who accept him.
Peter’s words were for Christians long ago, but they are also for us today. This is how we should act as a follower of Christ. When we are maligned, accused, or abused for our faith, we should do just as he told the early Christians to do – keep a clear conscience, act with kindness to those who come after us so that in the end, they are the ones put to shame for how they act, not us.
The best of Peter’s advice is this, if believers are going to suffer, and I think we all know that at some point or another, we will all suffer to some degree or another, then we might as well suffer for doing good instead of for doing bad. After all, Christ certainly suffered much for the sake of humanity. Christ suffered through all he did for all people – the righteous and the unrighteous – for those who come to accept him and for those who don’t. He did the work, he suffered and died, it is up to each person to decide if they will follow him or not. The invitation is for all – for everyone.
Jesus didn’t suffer for doing bad, but for doing good, and he didn’t suffer and die only for the ones he knew would become his followers – he did it for all people of all time, so that everyone would have equal opportunity to become a believer, but the final decision is left to each person alone.
Jesus died for our sins – just as surely as he died for the sins of those to whom Peter was writing so long ago, and the ones who are even yet to be born. Yet, he is alive and through him, we too, can live. That is the great hope Peter is reminding his readers of. There is nothing that anyone can do to a believer that can cause permanent harm because Jesus has secured us a place in heaven with him, an eternal life that can never end.
Yes, we know there are times when life is rough. We know there are times of intense pain and suffering in this life, but this life is temporary. As a parent, it’s just like getting through the terrible twos or the teenage years that feel like they will last forever, but time moves along and before you know it, you are looking back on those days and wondering where they went. Well, our earthly lives are the same. The days are long but as we look back, we realize the years are fast, but eternity is forever and that is the hope we have in Jesus – eternity with him.
So, we will do as Peter suggests, we will stand firm in our faith, we will be ready to tell others about this hope we have, and we will do it with gentleness and kindness. We will proclaim our faith publicly, with our words and our actions, through how we live, that through our words and our deeds, others might desire this hope we have and want to know how to have it for themselves. In this way, they will come to know Christ as their Savior, they will become a member of God’s family, and they, too, can live with the promise of eternal life.
As a mother or a mother-figure, we always want what is best for those we love. There is no one better than Jesus, we can count on that. That’s not a momism, nor a Petereism, that is simply the truth, and that is a truth we can truly live with. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly father, thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you for his willingness to die for our sins so that we, as believers, can live in eternity with you. Thank you for mothers today, for all those who love and are loved, who mother their own or someone else’s child, who teach, discipline, and raise children of all ages. Thank you for the love and the wisdom they share, and for all they do. Bless them all. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/72221/children-s-perspective-on-mom-by-bobby-scobey
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76160/mom-isms-from-biblical-by-michael-mccartney
Series: A Living Hope
Message: What to Say
Scripture: 1 Peter 3:13-22
Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, 16 yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
In honor of Mother’s Day today and just because we can always use a laugh, I want to share with you some wisdom from children. These were the answers given to questions they were asked about their moms.
"Why were mothers created?"
1. She’s the only one who knows where the Scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
"How were mothers made?"
1. From dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic, plus superpowers, and a lot of stirring.
3. Just the same as I was made, except bigger parts were used.
"Why were you given your mother and not some other mom?"
1. We’re related.
2. She likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me.
"What ingredients are mothers made of?"
1. Clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string. I think.
"What kind of little girl was your mom?"
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. They say she used to be nice.
"What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?"
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer? Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
"Why did your mom marry your dad?"
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot of spaghetti.
"Who’s the boss at your house?"
1. Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because my Dad is such a goofball.
2. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than Dad.
"What’s the difference between moms and dads?"
1. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
2. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you gotta ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s.
"What does your mom do in her spare time?"
1. Mothers don’t do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
"What’s the difference between moms and grandmas?"
1.About 30 years, I think.
2. You can always count on grandmothers for candy. Sometimes moms don’t even have bread on them!
"Describe the world’s greatest mom."
1. She would make broccoli taste like ice cream!
2. She’d always be smiling and keep her opinions to herself.
"Is anything about your mom perfect?"
1. Her teeth are perfect, but she bought them from the dentist.
2. Her casserole recipes. But we hate them.
3. Just her children.
"What would it take to make your mom perfect?"
1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I’d dye-it, maybe blue.
"If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?"
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean and eating all my vegetables. I’d get rid of that.
These are things said about moms, but have you ever heard of a momism? A momism is something that mothers say a lot, usually it’s a piece of advice that we should know that is meant to give us direction or make us mind, something to help us be a better person, but something we don’t really want to hear. I mean, can you just hear Samson’s mom telling him to get his hand out of that lion’s mouth because he doesn’t know where it’s been? Or David’s mom telling him to quit playing with that slingshot in the house and then sending him to his room to practice playing his lyre because she and his father were paying good money for those lyre lessons.
How about Abraham’s mom telling him to settle down in one place and come over for dinner next week, or Noah’s mom telling him one more time that there will be no more animals brought into the house because this place is starting to look like a zoo. We all have a momism that our mothers said to us – or still say – because moms do have their ways about them, don’t they?
Well, Peter wasn’t a mother, but he is giving some mom-type advice in today’s scripture. He’s advising his readers, “Who would want to hurt you if you’re doing something good?” Can’t you just hear a mom somewhere saying that to their kid? And just like that kid, we want to say, “Um, Peter, it happens, you know?”
Peter knows that. He is trying to do nothing but good himself and yet he is living in a time of persecution for his faith. So, yes, sometimes there may be people who will try to hurt you even when you are doing good, but don’t worry about it, he says, call it a blessing if that happens. Don’t let them intimidate you and don’t live in fear but keep Christ on your mind and in your heart. It’s great advice, but like so many things our mothers tell us, it’s easier said than done.
Again, I remind us that Peter knows how difficult it is to be a Christian, especially in the time in which he was writing. He has seen brothers and sisters of the faith arrested, beaten, even killed for professing their faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior. He isn’t trying to gloss over the hardship, he is trying to give his readers hope even in the midst of trials and tribulation. He is trying to give them the courage and the encouragement they need to keep on going when the going gets tough. Peter loves these fellow believers, and he is doing what he can to help them endure for their faith.
And here is another thing Peter says that sounds like something a mother would say, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and respect.” Be ready, he says, people are watching and when they see you and how you react to the bad things that happen to you, they just may come asking why you are the way you are. Be ready, he says, so you can tell them about the hope you have in Jesus Christ. Be ready, he says, to tell them that they can have that hope, too.
But be gentle with your words, because they may not be ready to believe you, they may not be ready to accept Christ as you have done. Be ready to answer their questions and then answer them again. And again. Give them some respect, even if it takes them a long time to understand, even if they never get there at all. We can’t make a person believe what we believe, we are simply called to tell them, gently and respectfully, that there is hope to be had in Jesus. There is forgiveness to be found through him, and there is eternal life for all who accept him.
Peter’s words were for Christians long ago, but they are also for us today. This is how we should act as a follower of Christ. When we are maligned, accused, or abused for our faith, we should do just as he told the early Christians to do – keep a clear conscience, act with kindness to those who come after us so that in the end, they are the ones put to shame for how they act, not us.
The best of Peter’s advice is this, if believers are going to suffer, and I think we all know that at some point or another, we will all suffer to some degree or another, then we might as well suffer for doing good instead of for doing bad. After all, Christ certainly suffered much for the sake of humanity. Christ suffered through all he did for all people – the righteous and the unrighteous – for those who come to accept him and for those who don’t. He did the work, he suffered and died, it is up to each person to decide if they will follow him or not. The invitation is for all – for everyone.
Jesus didn’t suffer for doing bad, but for doing good, and he didn’t suffer and die only for the ones he knew would become his followers – he did it for all people of all time, so that everyone would have equal opportunity to become a believer, but the final decision is left to each person alone.
Jesus died for our sins – just as surely as he died for the sins of those to whom Peter was writing so long ago, and the ones who are even yet to be born. Yet, he is alive and through him, we too, can live. That is the great hope Peter is reminding his readers of. There is nothing that anyone can do to a believer that can cause permanent harm because Jesus has secured us a place in heaven with him, an eternal life that can never end.
Yes, we know there are times when life is rough. We know there are times of intense pain and suffering in this life, but this life is temporary. As a parent, it’s just like getting through the terrible twos or the teenage years that feel like they will last forever, but time moves along and before you know it, you are looking back on those days and wondering where they went. Well, our earthly lives are the same. The days are long but as we look back, we realize the years are fast, but eternity is forever and that is the hope we have in Jesus – eternity with him.
So, we will do as Peter suggests, we will stand firm in our faith, we will be ready to tell others about this hope we have, and we will do it with gentleness and kindness. We will proclaim our faith publicly, with our words and our actions, through how we live, that through our words and our deeds, others might desire this hope we have and want to know how to have it for themselves. In this way, they will come to know Christ as their Savior, they will become a member of God’s family, and they, too, can live with the promise of eternal life.
As a mother or a mother-figure, we always want what is best for those we love. There is no one better than Jesus, we can count on that. That’s not a momism, nor a Petereism, that is simply the truth, and that is a truth we can truly live with. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly father, thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you for his willingness to die for our sins so that we, as believers, can live in eternity with you. Thank you for mothers today, for all those who love and are loved, who mother their own or someone else’s child, who teach, discipline, and raise children of all ages. Thank you for the love and the wisdom they share, and for all they do. Bless them all. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/72221/children-s-perspective-on-mom-by-bobby-scobey
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76160/mom-isms-from-biblical-by-michael-mccartney
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON mAY 7, 2023 FROM THE SERIES "a LIVING hOPE" CALLED "sTONE BY sTONE".
May 7, 2023
Series: A Living Hope
Message: Stone by Stone
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-10 (Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16)
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and “A stone that makes them stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
How often do you think about rocks? I’m guessing not often. We are aware of them, we can list several uses for them, but we just don’t pay them much attention. Rocks are just rocks, solid, hard, sometimes colorful, sometimes sharp, sometimes useful, and sometimes in the way.
Have you ever noticed how children pay attention to rocks? They can’t walk by and not stop and look them over. Most kids, at one time or another, have a rock collection, a handful of random stones they have picked up from different places and admired enough to keep.
One of my nieces loves rocks so much that she picks them up everywhere she goes. We discovered when she was little that if she didn’t have a pocket to put them in, she would drop them down in her boot. Imagine my shock when I discovered that she was running races with the other kids at a church gathering with boots full of rocks!
As adults, we don’t notice the rocks on the ground much, but what about the stones that are used for buildings? When was the last time you paid any attention to the stones that were used to build this church, especially the original part of the structure? That was what, about 200 years ago? I guess the builder used some good, sturdy stones because it’s still standing. We don’t notice much because they are mostly covered over with siding or painted to blend in, but they are thre.
Peter was clearly thinking a lot about rocks in today’s scripture. He is using the metaphor of a rock to teach the believers about the church, its identity, and its mission as the body of Christ. Peter takes the story of Israel, the story of Jesus, and the story of these Christ-followers that he is writing to, and he draws parallels among all three, providing his audience with a deep connection with both the past, based on scripture they would have been very familiar with, and their present calling to live for Jesus.
Peter writes to these believers, “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” But he doesn’t stop there, if he had, the allusion to the stone metaphor wouldn’t make much sense. Remember, Peter is tying what he is teaching today to scripture that his audience would recognize, so he references Psalm 118:22, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”
The people would understand this. They would have known this verse from the Psalms. Peter was telling them that this verse was embodied by Christ – he is the cornerstone – the firm foundation of their faith – but he was rejected by people who refused to see who he really was, by those who were expecting a different Messiah than who he really was. The people Peter was writing to were also aware that they, too, had been rejected by others for professing belief in this man who was first rejected.
Peter has now made two connections between these people and Jesus. First, Jesus is the living stone, the cornerstone of their faith, and they are called to be living stones, coming together, one with another, to become a spiritual house – God’s Church. Second, that just as Jesus was rejected by people who could not see his truth, they are now being rejected by people who cannot see the truth they are trying to live and to share.
Peter continues to remind the readers of his letter that Jesus is truly the Promised One from long ago. He reminds them of Isaiah 28:16 which says, “therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.’”
Do you know the importance of a cornerstone? It is the one on which the entire building’s integrity rests. It is the first stone set, and the builder must make sure it is straight and square so the building, once complete will be straight and square. Choose the right cornerstone and lay it correctly and your building will last for centuries; choose the wrong cornerstone or lay it incorrectly and you might as well have built that building on sinking sand because it’s just not gonna last.
Choose the right cornerstone and lay it correctly and all the other stones that rest upon its firm foundation will work together to build a shelter, a stronghold, a place of refuge from all that goes on in the world. Choose the wrong cornerstone or lay it incorrectly and you might as well expect the big bad wolf to come huffing and puffing and blow it down, leaving those inside exposed and vulnerable to attack.
Because Jesus is the correct, perfect cornerstone, chosen by God to redeem creation, all those who profess him as their Lord and Savior then become the living stones that come together to form the church – the body of believers who follow Christ together, who encourage and support one another and shelter one another, who become a stronghold for the faith that is constantly being tried and tested by those who stumble on the rock that was laid for their benefit but they refuse to see it or choose to ignore it.
Left on our own, we are not good stones with which to build anything, let alone God’s church, but because of the foundation of our faith, the perfect cornerstone that is Christ Jesus, we can be used and made useful through him to be God’s instruments in this world. God can take us, dirty hunks of stone that we were, and turn us into living stones, beautiful in his sight as he sees us reflected in through image of Jesus.
And because of our faith in Jesus, Peter writes that we have been elevated to a new position, saying, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
God has done this for us – not because we have done anything special, not because we have done anything to make us worthy, not because we have done anything to help us earn it, but simply because he loves us, and he wants to have a relationship with us. I loved Gary’s story last week about the little boy and the boat, how the boat was doubly the boy’s because he had made it and then he had bought it, just as God made us and then bought us with the most precious blood of his only son, Jesus. How perfectly that shows us God’s love for us.
I began today by talking about how much kids love rocks, and that isn’t just kids today, that is kids everywhere and in all time. Way back in 1799 there was a little boy who found a rock that he just had to keep. He was playing in Little Meadow Creek one Sunday afternoon and he spied this rock that was about the size of a shoe. He picked it up, and even though it was very heavy, he carried it all the way back to the house to show his dad.
His father, noticing how heavy the rock was, took it to town to the silversmith to see if it had any value. The silversmith looked it over and said it was just a rock. Dad took the rock back home and the family used it as a door stop for the next three years. Later, the family discovered that this was no ordinary rock after all. It was actually a seventeen-pound hunk of pure gold. As near as I could tell that would be worth over 400 thousand dollars today, yet when they didn’t know the value of the rock they had, that family used it to hold open the front door.
This is what happens today. There are people who don’t know the value of the cornerstone of our faith. They don’t know what Jesus has done for them, or they choose to ignore what it means for their life. They don’t see the value and so they toss him aside like he is worthless, just like those who rejected him when he was living here on earth.
Our job, as living stones, is to keep proclaiming that Jesus is precious – more precious than any amount of gold, more precious and more valuable than any element found on the periodic table, or buried in the earth, or even lying in a creek. Our job, as living stones is to keep proclaiming the name of Jesus as the Savior for all who would recognize how valuable he is, how precious is the gift he offers.
Jesus is the cornerstone, the firm foundation upon which our faith is built and sustained. We cannot go wrong when we put our trust in Jesus, even if the world around us is telling us differently. That is the message that Peter is giving to all who read his words here. Jesus is our rock, we are his living stones, and we live each day with a living hope of his return. I can build upon that, can you? AMEN.
PRAYER: Jesus, you are the solid rock upon which we build our faith and our way of living. You have been tried and tested and have been found true. We can depend on you as the Savior of our souls. It is through you and your work on the cross that our relationship with the Father was restored. It is through your resurrection that death has been defeated and we are given eternal life. It is through you that we are called to be living stones who breathe a living hope into others by sharing your gospel with them that they might recognize you, come to know you, believe in you, and have the abundant life you mean for us all to have. We give you thanks for all you have done, and who you are. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-1-peter-22-10-6
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100142/the-most-expensive-doorstop-in-the-world-by-david-simpson
Series: A Living Hope
Message: Stone by Stone
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-10 (Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16)
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and “A stone that makes them stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
How often do you think about rocks? I’m guessing not often. We are aware of them, we can list several uses for them, but we just don’t pay them much attention. Rocks are just rocks, solid, hard, sometimes colorful, sometimes sharp, sometimes useful, and sometimes in the way.
Have you ever noticed how children pay attention to rocks? They can’t walk by and not stop and look them over. Most kids, at one time or another, have a rock collection, a handful of random stones they have picked up from different places and admired enough to keep.
One of my nieces loves rocks so much that she picks them up everywhere she goes. We discovered when she was little that if she didn’t have a pocket to put them in, she would drop them down in her boot. Imagine my shock when I discovered that she was running races with the other kids at a church gathering with boots full of rocks!
As adults, we don’t notice the rocks on the ground much, but what about the stones that are used for buildings? When was the last time you paid any attention to the stones that were used to build this church, especially the original part of the structure? That was what, about 200 years ago? I guess the builder used some good, sturdy stones because it’s still standing. We don’t notice much because they are mostly covered over with siding or painted to blend in, but they are thre.
Peter was clearly thinking a lot about rocks in today’s scripture. He is using the metaphor of a rock to teach the believers about the church, its identity, and its mission as the body of Christ. Peter takes the story of Israel, the story of Jesus, and the story of these Christ-followers that he is writing to, and he draws parallels among all three, providing his audience with a deep connection with both the past, based on scripture they would have been very familiar with, and their present calling to live for Jesus.
Peter writes to these believers, “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” But he doesn’t stop there, if he had, the allusion to the stone metaphor wouldn’t make much sense. Remember, Peter is tying what he is teaching today to scripture that his audience would recognize, so he references Psalm 118:22, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”
The people would understand this. They would have known this verse from the Psalms. Peter was telling them that this verse was embodied by Christ – he is the cornerstone – the firm foundation of their faith – but he was rejected by people who refused to see who he really was, by those who were expecting a different Messiah than who he really was. The people Peter was writing to were also aware that they, too, had been rejected by others for professing belief in this man who was first rejected.
Peter has now made two connections between these people and Jesus. First, Jesus is the living stone, the cornerstone of their faith, and they are called to be living stones, coming together, one with another, to become a spiritual house – God’s Church. Second, that just as Jesus was rejected by people who could not see his truth, they are now being rejected by people who cannot see the truth they are trying to live and to share.
Peter continues to remind the readers of his letter that Jesus is truly the Promised One from long ago. He reminds them of Isaiah 28:16 which says, “therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.’”
Do you know the importance of a cornerstone? It is the one on which the entire building’s integrity rests. It is the first stone set, and the builder must make sure it is straight and square so the building, once complete will be straight and square. Choose the right cornerstone and lay it correctly and your building will last for centuries; choose the wrong cornerstone or lay it incorrectly and you might as well have built that building on sinking sand because it’s just not gonna last.
Choose the right cornerstone and lay it correctly and all the other stones that rest upon its firm foundation will work together to build a shelter, a stronghold, a place of refuge from all that goes on in the world. Choose the wrong cornerstone or lay it incorrectly and you might as well expect the big bad wolf to come huffing and puffing and blow it down, leaving those inside exposed and vulnerable to attack.
Because Jesus is the correct, perfect cornerstone, chosen by God to redeem creation, all those who profess him as their Lord and Savior then become the living stones that come together to form the church – the body of believers who follow Christ together, who encourage and support one another and shelter one another, who become a stronghold for the faith that is constantly being tried and tested by those who stumble on the rock that was laid for their benefit but they refuse to see it or choose to ignore it.
Left on our own, we are not good stones with which to build anything, let alone God’s church, but because of the foundation of our faith, the perfect cornerstone that is Christ Jesus, we can be used and made useful through him to be God’s instruments in this world. God can take us, dirty hunks of stone that we were, and turn us into living stones, beautiful in his sight as he sees us reflected in through image of Jesus.
And because of our faith in Jesus, Peter writes that we have been elevated to a new position, saying, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
God has done this for us – not because we have done anything special, not because we have done anything to make us worthy, not because we have done anything to help us earn it, but simply because he loves us, and he wants to have a relationship with us. I loved Gary’s story last week about the little boy and the boat, how the boat was doubly the boy’s because he had made it and then he had bought it, just as God made us and then bought us with the most precious blood of his only son, Jesus. How perfectly that shows us God’s love for us.
I began today by talking about how much kids love rocks, and that isn’t just kids today, that is kids everywhere and in all time. Way back in 1799 there was a little boy who found a rock that he just had to keep. He was playing in Little Meadow Creek one Sunday afternoon and he spied this rock that was about the size of a shoe. He picked it up, and even though it was very heavy, he carried it all the way back to the house to show his dad.
His father, noticing how heavy the rock was, took it to town to the silversmith to see if it had any value. The silversmith looked it over and said it was just a rock. Dad took the rock back home and the family used it as a door stop for the next three years. Later, the family discovered that this was no ordinary rock after all. It was actually a seventeen-pound hunk of pure gold. As near as I could tell that would be worth over 400 thousand dollars today, yet when they didn’t know the value of the rock they had, that family used it to hold open the front door.
This is what happens today. There are people who don’t know the value of the cornerstone of our faith. They don’t know what Jesus has done for them, or they choose to ignore what it means for their life. They don’t see the value and so they toss him aside like he is worthless, just like those who rejected him when he was living here on earth.
Our job, as living stones, is to keep proclaiming that Jesus is precious – more precious than any amount of gold, more precious and more valuable than any element found on the periodic table, or buried in the earth, or even lying in a creek. Our job, as living stones is to keep proclaiming the name of Jesus as the Savior for all who would recognize how valuable he is, how precious is the gift he offers.
Jesus is the cornerstone, the firm foundation upon which our faith is built and sustained. We cannot go wrong when we put our trust in Jesus, even if the world around us is telling us differently. That is the message that Peter is giving to all who read his words here. Jesus is our rock, we are his living stones, and we live each day with a living hope of his return. I can build upon that, can you? AMEN.
PRAYER: Jesus, you are the solid rock upon which we build our faith and our way of living. You have been tried and tested and have been found true. We can depend on you as the Savior of our souls. It is through you and your work on the cross that our relationship with the Father was restored. It is through your resurrection that death has been defeated and we are given eternal life. It is through you that we are called to be living stones who breathe a living hope into others by sharing your gospel with them that they might recognize you, come to know you, believe in you, and have the abundant life you mean for us all to have. We give you thanks for all you have done, and who you are. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-1-peter-22-10-6
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100142/the-most-expensive-doorstop-in-the-world-by-david-simpson
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON DURING WORSHIP SERVICE ON APRIL 16, 2023 TITLED "Fullness of Joy' FROM a new SERIES titled "A Living Hope".
April 16, 2023, Holy Humor Sunday
Series: A Living Hope
Message: Fullness of Joy
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Although you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Last week we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we continue the celebration with what has come to be called Holy Humor Sunday. For several centuries, the week after Easter was celebrated as “days of joy and laughter,” leading up to and including what became known as Bright Sunday which is the Sunday after Easter.
All week long, but especially on Bright Sunday, faithful followers of Christ participated in parties and picnics as a way to extend the Easter celebration. Pastors and their congregations would play practical jokes on each other, they would tell jokes, they would sing and dance, and for some reason they would try to drench each other with water. I’ve never been able to definitively determine how that practice came about.
This tradition of celebration seems to have originated in the early Greek church and it was based on the ideas of some of the early church’s leaders that God had pulled one over on Satan by raising Jesus from the grave. Eventually, the practice of celebrating Easter for more than one day fell away and Bright Sunday was not celebrated as often.
In 1988, a group called the Fellowship of Merry Christians, determined to bring back the extended celebration, began teaching about Bright Sunday. They used the theme “Jesus is the Life of the Party” and they began encouraging churches to resurrect the celebration, calling it Holy Humor Sunday. The idea began to catch on and Christian Churches from all denominations now join in the celebration each year.
For some people, having fun and telling jokes in church might be a bit shocking, but why should it? Worship doesn’t always need to be serious. We are Easter people – we live with the Good Tidings of Great joy brought to us by the angels at the birth of Jesus, and then brought to fulfillment by his resurrection! Good Friday was a dark and awful day – but it was one day. The good news of Easter, that Christ is alive - is EVERY DAY. And we should celebrate it every day.
So, today we are continuing the celebration. Today we are remembering the wonder of the extremes – how Jesus was dead but is now alive; how the women went to the tomb in grief and left it with hearts bursting with joy. How they started the day as people whose world had ended and ended the day knowing that death had been defeated. They were people of the Law and now they found themselves living as people of the resurrection. We, too, are resurrection people, and today’s scripture reminds us of that.
We should rejoice when we read Peter’s epistle that says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” These words should put a song in our hearts and make us sing for joy for what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Look at what we have been given – new birth, living hope, an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance that is kept for us in heaven where it cannot be lost, damaged, destroyed, or stolen. We are protected from eternal death by the power of God through faith and given the gift of salvation which means eternal life. We have been snatched out of Satan’s grip and rescued from him by the strong arm and the perfect plan of the Lord of Heaven. There is more to cheer about in this one paragraph than an entire football game of first downs and touchdowns, tackles, and sacks.
Then Peter goes on to write, “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
We have to pause for a moment in our attitude of celebration and remember that Peter wrote these words to a church that was suffering persecution – arrest, rejection, eviction, torture, and even death, all because of their faith in Jesus. Peter wants the church to know that even though all this terrible stuff is going on all around them, it won’t last forever, even if it feels like it right now.
During these trials and tribulations, Peter wants the people to remember that, like gold that must be refined in the fire, what they are experiencing is a refining of their faith. As gold goes into the fire mixed with all sorts of impurities, yet comes out separated and pure, Christians who are tested, and yet continue to sing praises and give honor to God, become stronger for their testing. Not that anyone wants to be put through the refining fire, but at least there is something good that comes out of it – a stronger person who walks more closely with Jesus. I am grateful for Peter’s words here because I have experienced rough times when I needed this reminder. I’m guessing we all have, and that we will need it again from time to time.
Do you know what the state flower of Ohio is? I bet most of you thought it was the scarlet carnation, but the real answer is the orange barrel. They seem to be naturally prevalent along the freeways, coming into full bloom as soon as the weather begins to warm, but some are hardy enough that they have adapted to their environment and now can even survive our cold winters.
We should be grateful, though, for those barrels, because they signal to us that caution while driving is a must. That is because they seem to attract another wild crop that we like to call potholes. Now potholes are an invasive species, and they crop up everywhere – sometimes even overnight. We don’t like potholes, especially when we don’t see them in time, and we can’t avoid hitting them.
There is one in particular as I am getting on the exit ramp from 224 to I77 because of the detour caused by a wild outbreak of orange barrels. I strongly dislike this one and try to avoid it at all costs, but sometimes I can’t. Bump! I can feel it jerk my car when I hit it and I get pretty irritated. Do you ever feel that way? I kind of mumble unkind words about it as I keep on going, wondering which will happen first – the pothole getting fixed or the Kenmore Loop reopening.
Pastor Todd Catteau tells us that there are three things we can learn from a pothole, though, and since I’m always open to learning something new, and frankly quite skeptical of learning it from a pothole, I had to find out what he had to say. It was pretty good, so I am going to share his wisdom with you all so that you, too, can learn the secrets of the pothole.
The first lesson is this – There will ALWAYS be potholes. Wow! What a revelation, right? But think about it, even if one gets fixed, another one will just open up somewhere else. We will never be without potholes, so we might as well let our anger and irritation at them go. That goes for potholes in life, too, not just on the road. As followers of Christ, we are not promised a smooth highway to heaven, but we are promised that we are on the right road that will take us there if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
When we come across a pothole, it’s okay to try to go around it, but we need to know that when we can’t avoid hitting it, we won’t get stuck in it forever. We hit it and we move on, just keep on going, because even if there are a lot of potholes in the road of life – there are also a whole lot of smooth spots as we travel. Maybe those potholes are what help us appreciate the smooth road even more.
Second Lesson – Learn from Your Mistakes. When we travel the same road regularly, and we know there is a pothole on that road, we should learn to go around them whenever we can. I mean, there is no way I want to purposely hit a pothole, do you? Of course not! So, we memorize where they are and we prepare to straddle them or change lanes, or whatever it takes to safely avoid them.
Sometimes we need to remember that in life, too. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. If there is something we have done that has caused a pothole in our life, then we need to memorize that action and work to avoid it. Do something different and we just might get a different, more positive result.
The third lesson is – Talk to Others Who Have Traveled Your Path
How many times have you warned a friend to take a different route because of the potholes on a certain street? We share information with one another as a way of helping one another. I learned this lesson and I want to pass on what I know to you, so you won’t have to learn the same lesson the hard way.
As brothers and sisters in Christ, we should always be on the lookout for those who are willing to share their wisdom with us so that our journey is made better from their lessons, just as they are looking to us for the same. As the body of Christ, we are brought together to encourage and teach one another where the potholes are, to lift and support one another when we have hit that giant bump in the road, and to love and cheer for one another when we manage to avoid the pothole on any given day.
We are a family who loves one another and learns from one another. We help each other stay on the good road and off the bumpy ones, and we do it together, following the path laid for us by our Lord and Savior, calling our neighbors to join us on our journey because we know that if we have just hit a pothole, then others probably have too. And maybe they found a better way out than we can see for ourselves right now.
That’s why Peter tells us to rejoice, even when we experience trials – because if we learn from them, and we remember that they aren’t permanent, then we will grow as a Christian. Each pothole in life is an opportunity to become brighter and purer through the refining fire of adversity, emerging stronger as a person and as a follower of Jesus.
Of course, that’s not what Satan wants. We know he wants us to snarl over life’s potholes. He doesn’t want us to remember that we are Easter people – he wants us to live like it’s always Friday, never Sunday. But the joke’s on him once again. Peter’s words are like a classic joke that we love but Satan doesn’t get, one that begins, “Did you hear what one Christian said to the other?” and the punch line is this: “Although you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Satan thought he had won on Friday when the world grew dark and Jesus died on that cross. The joke was on him, though on Sunday morning when that tomb was found empty.
And that is why we celebrate Holy Humor Sunday – as a testament to our God who, as the Psalmist says, is the One who sits in the heavens and laughs – laughs at the foolishness of Satan who thought he had won – who thought he had everything all figured out and that he had won a victory over God with the death of Jesus on that cross. But I am here to tell you, Satan was wrong. Hallelujah! Christ is risen! Amen.
PRAYER: Oh, Glorious God, laughter is truly a gift from you, and I pray we will use that gift often and generously. May we worship you each day as the Easter people we are, glorifying you for the work of Jesus on the cross and for his rising from the grave. Thank you for the opportunity to grow through the refining fire of adversity and yet being able to laugh, knowing that all trials are temporary, all potholes are not pits of permanent destruction, because you will bring us through, and bring us to you, by the love and grace given to us through your son, Jesus, our risen Savior. AMEN.
Series: A Living Hope
Message: Fullness of Joy
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Although you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Last week we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we continue the celebration with what has come to be called Holy Humor Sunday. For several centuries, the week after Easter was celebrated as “days of joy and laughter,” leading up to and including what became known as Bright Sunday which is the Sunday after Easter.
All week long, but especially on Bright Sunday, faithful followers of Christ participated in parties and picnics as a way to extend the Easter celebration. Pastors and their congregations would play practical jokes on each other, they would tell jokes, they would sing and dance, and for some reason they would try to drench each other with water. I’ve never been able to definitively determine how that practice came about.
This tradition of celebration seems to have originated in the early Greek church and it was based on the ideas of some of the early church’s leaders that God had pulled one over on Satan by raising Jesus from the grave. Eventually, the practice of celebrating Easter for more than one day fell away and Bright Sunday was not celebrated as often.
In 1988, a group called the Fellowship of Merry Christians, determined to bring back the extended celebration, began teaching about Bright Sunday. They used the theme “Jesus is the Life of the Party” and they began encouraging churches to resurrect the celebration, calling it Holy Humor Sunday. The idea began to catch on and Christian Churches from all denominations now join in the celebration each year.
For some people, having fun and telling jokes in church might be a bit shocking, but why should it? Worship doesn’t always need to be serious. We are Easter people – we live with the Good Tidings of Great joy brought to us by the angels at the birth of Jesus, and then brought to fulfillment by his resurrection! Good Friday was a dark and awful day – but it was one day. The good news of Easter, that Christ is alive - is EVERY DAY. And we should celebrate it every day.
So, today we are continuing the celebration. Today we are remembering the wonder of the extremes – how Jesus was dead but is now alive; how the women went to the tomb in grief and left it with hearts bursting with joy. How they started the day as people whose world had ended and ended the day knowing that death had been defeated. They were people of the Law and now they found themselves living as people of the resurrection. We, too, are resurrection people, and today’s scripture reminds us of that.
We should rejoice when we read Peter’s epistle that says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” These words should put a song in our hearts and make us sing for joy for what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Look at what we have been given – new birth, living hope, an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance that is kept for us in heaven where it cannot be lost, damaged, destroyed, or stolen. We are protected from eternal death by the power of God through faith and given the gift of salvation which means eternal life. We have been snatched out of Satan’s grip and rescued from him by the strong arm and the perfect plan of the Lord of Heaven. There is more to cheer about in this one paragraph than an entire football game of first downs and touchdowns, tackles, and sacks.
Then Peter goes on to write, “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
We have to pause for a moment in our attitude of celebration and remember that Peter wrote these words to a church that was suffering persecution – arrest, rejection, eviction, torture, and even death, all because of their faith in Jesus. Peter wants the church to know that even though all this terrible stuff is going on all around them, it won’t last forever, even if it feels like it right now.
During these trials and tribulations, Peter wants the people to remember that, like gold that must be refined in the fire, what they are experiencing is a refining of their faith. As gold goes into the fire mixed with all sorts of impurities, yet comes out separated and pure, Christians who are tested, and yet continue to sing praises and give honor to God, become stronger for their testing. Not that anyone wants to be put through the refining fire, but at least there is something good that comes out of it – a stronger person who walks more closely with Jesus. I am grateful for Peter’s words here because I have experienced rough times when I needed this reminder. I’m guessing we all have, and that we will need it again from time to time.
Do you know what the state flower of Ohio is? I bet most of you thought it was the scarlet carnation, but the real answer is the orange barrel. They seem to be naturally prevalent along the freeways, coming into full bloom as soon as the weather begins to warm, but some are hardy enough that they have adapted to their environment and now can even survive our cold winters.
We should be grateful, though, for those barrels, because they signal to us that caution while driving is a must. That is because they seem to attract another wild crop that we like to call potholes. Now potholes are an invasive species, and they crop up everywhere – sometimes even overnight. We don’t like potholes, especially when we don’t see them in time, and we can’t avoid hitting them.
There is one in particular as I am getting on the exit ramp from 224 to I77 because of the detour caused by a wild outbreak of orange barrels. I strongly dislike this one and try to avoid it at all costs, but sometimes I can’t. Bump! I can feel it jerk my car when I hit it and I get pretty irritated. Do you ever feel that way? I kind of mumble unkind words about it as I keep on going, wondering which will happen first – the pothole getting fixed or the Kenmore Loop reopening.
Pastor Todd Catteau tells us that there are three things we can learn from a pothole, though, and since I’m always open to learning something new, and frankly quite skeptical of learning it from a pothole, I had to find out what he had to say. It was pretty good, so I am going to share his wisdom with you all so that you, too, can learn the secrets of the pothole.
The first lesson is this – There will ALWAYS be potholes. Wow! What a revelation, right? But think about it, even if one gets fixed, another one will just open up somewhere else. We will never be without potholes, so we might as well let our anger and irritation at them go. That goes for potholes in life, too, not just on the road. As followers of Christ, we are not promised a smooth highway to heaven, but we are promised that we are on the right road that will take us there if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
When we come across a pothole, it’s okay to try to go around it, but we need to know that when we can’t avoid hitting it, we won’t get stuck in it forever. We hit it and we move on, just keep on going, because even if there are a lot of potholes in the road of life – there are also a whole lot of smooth spots as we travel. Maybe those potholes are what help us appreciate the smooth road even more.
Second Lesson – Learn from Your Mistakes. When we travel the same road regularly, and we know there is a pothole on that road, we should learn to go around them whenever we can. I mean, there is no way I want to purposely hit a pothole, do you? Of course not! So, we memorize where they are and we prepare to straddle them or change lanes, or whatever it takes to safely avoid them.
Sometimes we need to remember that in life, too. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. If there is something we have done that has caused a pothole in our life, then we need to memorize that action and work to avoid it. Do something different and we just might get a different, more positive result.
The third lesson is – Talk to Others Who Have Traveled Your Path
How many times have you warned a friend to take a different route because of the potholes on a certain street? We share information with one another as a way of helping one another. I learned this lesson and I want to pass on what I know to you, so you won’t have to learn the same lesson the hard way.
As brothers and sisters in Christ, we should always be on the lookout for those who are willing to share their wisdom with us so that our journey is made better from their lessons, just as they are looking to us for the same. As the body of Christ, we are brought together to encourage and teach one another where the potholes are, to lift and support one another when we have hit that giant bump in the road, and to love and cheer for one another when we manage to avoid the pothole on any given day.
We are a family who loves one another and learns from one another. We help each other stay on the good road and off the bumpy ones, and we do it together, following the path laid for us by our Lord and Savior, calling our neighbors to join us on our journey because we know that if we have just hit a pothole, then others probably have too. And maybe they found a better way out than we can see for ourselves right now.
That’s why Peter tells us to rejoice, even when we experience trials – because if we learn from them, and we remember that they aren’t permanent, then we will grow as a Christian. Each pothole in life is an opportunity to become brighter and purer through the refining fire of adversity, emerging stronger as a person and as a follower of Jesus.
Of course, that’s not what Satan wants. We know he wants us to snarl over life’s potholes. He doesn’t want us to remember that we are Easter people – he wants us to live like it’s always Friday, never Sunday. But the joke’s on him once again. Peter’s words are like a classic joke that we love but Satan doesn’t get, one that begins, “Did you hear what one Christian said to the other?” and the punch line is this: “Although you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Satan thought he had won on Friday when the world grew dark and Jesus died on that cross. The joke was on him, though on Sunday morning when that tomb was found empty.
And that is why we celebrate Holy Humor Sunday – as a testament to our God who, as the Psalmist says, is the One who sits in the heavens and laughs – laughs at the foolishness of Satan who thought he had won – who thought he had everything all figured out and that he had won a victory over God with the death of Jesus on that cross. But I am here to tell you, Satan was wrong. Hallelujah! Christ is risen! Amen.
PRAYER: Oh, Glorious God, laughter is truly a gift from you, and I pray we will use that gift often and generously. May we worship you each day as the Easter people we are, glorifying you for the work of Jesus on the cross and for his rising from the grave. Thank you for the opportunity to grow through the refining fire of adversity and yet being able to laugh, knowing that all trials are temporary, all potholes are not pits of permanent destruction, because you will bring us through, and bring us to you, by the love and grace given to us through your son, Jesus, our risen Savior. AMEN.
pASTOR dONNA'S sERMON eASTER mORNING DURING wORSHIP sERVICE ON aPRIL 9, 2023 TITLED "aN eMPTY pROMISE' FROM THE SERIES "iN AWE OF GRACE".
April 9, 2023
Rootstown
Series: In Awe of Grace
Message: An Empty Promise
Scripture: John 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.
The title of today’s message may seem like a bit of an oxymoron – Empty promises are usually promises that people make and don’t follow through on, right? I mean, we are used to politicians making all sorts of promises during their campaign speeches and then forgetting what they said when they get into office. Those of us who have children are used to them promising to get up for school on the first call the next morning if they can stay up just a little bit later, but what happens in the morning? Second and third wake-up calls to very sleepy children.
Sports fans, especially in Ohio are used to the promise of “Wait until next year” only to hear the same tired-old promise again and again.
These are the types of empty promises we are accustomed to hearing. We understand this, but how is it still empty if it is fulfilled? Well, God doesn’t make promises he doesn’t keep and in Jesus Christ there are promises kept, but they are all promises fulfilled because something was left empty.
Let’s start with the cross. We all know that Jesus was arrested, beaten, mocked, spit upon, and finally crucified on a cross on Calvary. You can picture the scene from Luke 23 – 3 crosses, side-by-side, one for Jesus and 2 for the thieves who were also being crucified. One thief mocked Jesus even then, telling him to prove he was the Messiah by saving himself – and both of the thieves as well. But the other thief recognized Jesus for who he was and scolded the first, telling him that while they both deserved to be where they were – being punished for their crimes, Jesus had done nothing to deserve this same punishment. Then, turning his head to Jesus, he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Verse 43 says, “Jesus replied, I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
About 3 hours after this Jesus turned his spirit over to the Father and breathed his last.
This is the first empty promise – the Cross. Isaiah 53:5-6 reads, “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.”
God took all of our sins and put them upon the shoulders of his son, who took those sins to the cross where he died with them. But we celebrate the EMPTY cross, because that is not where the story ended.
They took Jesus down from the cross and wrapped him in a long sheet of linen and laid him in the newly carved tomb of Joseph from Arimathea. They closed the tomb with a very large rock, and Pilate had wax seals put around the stone to make sure no one opened it up. He also stationed guards all around to ensure Jesus’ followers would not try to steal his body.
But early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and some other women came to the tomb with burial spices to anoint Jesus’ body. As they get close to the tomb, they begin to wonder, and ask each other, who is going to roll away that big, heavy stone? Suddenly, the ground begins to shake – an earthquake! And then an angel comes and rolls away the stone himself and sits upon it, scaring the guards who trembled and fainted. Looking at Mary and all the other women, he tells them that Jesus is not in the tomb –He has risen! - and invites them to come look for themselves. Not quite understanding, they see that the tomb is empty.
This is the second empty promise – the tomb, without the body of Jesus laying in it. Jesus himself had promised that he would die and rise again on the third day. And he did.
I read a story that said, ‘A father and son were traveling down a country road one afternoon in the spring time when suddenly a bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the horror on his child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand and the bee began to buzz around once again. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son, and opened his hand showing him the stinger still in his palm. “Relax, son,” the father said, “I took the sting, the bee can’t hurt you anymore.”’
Jesus conquered death – the proof is in the empty tomb – death’s sting can no longer hurt us – just as the bee can no longer hurt the young boy. We celebrate an empty tomb because it proves the Lord is risen – he is risen indeed!
When Mary left the tomb, she ran to tell Peter and John what had happened and they rushed to the tomb to see for themselves - what she was saying didn’t make any sense.
John outran Peter and when he reached the tomb, he stooped down and looked inside. Peter ran up and he went directly into the tomb. And there he saw the linen cloths that Joseph and Nicodemus had used to wrap Jesus’ body in when they took him down from the cross.
Think about it, if someone had actually stolen Jesus’ body, they would not have taken time to unwrap him form this long strip. They would have grabbed the body and run – taking him as they found him. These linen cloths being left behind in the tomb can only mean one thing – that Jesus is ALIVE and no longer in need of them! He is alive – as he was before he went to the cross, recognizable in his body. Able to be with his disciples and the women who had been his followers. And in the next few days, he reveals himself to men and women on multiple occasions – even eating meals with his disciples. Sharing fellowship with them as they had done before his death.
The empty linens are the third promise fulfilled – not just that Jesus would rise again in spirit – but that he would rise again in his body. We celebrate the burial clothes being empty and left behind because they were not needed in his resurrected body.
Steven Kellett explains these empty promises as this:
These promises are fulfilled in the emptiness of what Christ left behind. They are for everyone – anyone who will call upon the name of the Lord, who will believe that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again – as Man and as God.
This is the priceless gift of Easter. Have you opened this gift? Have you accepted Jesus as your savior? Do you know to whom you belong and how precious you are to him – that he paid for you with his life?
If not, let this be the day you do. Ask and it shall be given to you – the blessings of Easter, and the love of Jesus Christ.
PRAY – Father, thank you for this gift we celebrate today – the gift of eternal life through your son, Jesus. Thank you for your promises fulfilled in the empty cross, the empty tomb, and the empty burial clothes.
Search our hearts, father, and if there are any among us who have not yet opened them to you, help them to do so now. Help them to say, right now – Father, I have sinned and fall short of your glory. Forgive me for those sins and send your son to live within me. Help me to learn to live like Jesus through the guiding light and love of the Holy Spirit – now and forever. Amen
Rootstown
Series: In Awe of Grace
Message: An Empty Promise
Scripture: John 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.
The title of today’s message may seem like a bit of an oxymoron – Empty promises are usually promises that people make and don’t follow through on, right? I mean, we are used to politicians making all sorts of promises during their campaign speeches and then forgetting what they said when they get into office. Those of us who have children are used to them promising to get up for school on the first call the next morning if they can stay up just a little bit later, but what happens in the morning? Second and third wake-up calls to very sleepy children.
Sports fans, especially in Ohio are used to the promise of “Wait until next year” only to hear the same tired-old promise again and again.
These are the types of empty promises we are accustomed to hearing. We understand this, but how is it still empty if it is fulfilled? Well, God doesn’t make promises he doesn’t keep and in Jesus Christ there are promises kept, but they are all promises fulfilled because something was left empty.
Let’s start with the cross. We all know that Jesus was arrested, beaten, mocked, spit upon, and finally crucified on a cross on Calvary. You can picture the scene from Luke 23 – 3 crosses, side-by-side, one for Jesus and 2 for the thieves who were also being crucified. One thief mocked Jesus even then, telling him to prove he was the Messiah by saving himself – and both of the thieves as well. But the other thief recognized Jesus for who he was and scolded the first, telling him that while they both deserved to be where they were – being punished for their crimes, Jesus had done nothing to deserve this same punishment. Then, turning his head to Jesus, he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Verse 43 says, “Jesus replied, I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
About 3 hours after this Jesus turned his spirit over to the Father and breathed his last.
This is the first empty promise – the Cross. Isaiah 53:5-6 reads, “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.”
God took all of our sins and put them upon the shoulders of his son, who took those sins to the cross where he died with them. But we celebrate the EMPTY cross, because that is not where the story ended.
They took Jesus down from the cross and wrapped him in a long sheet of linen and laid him in the newly carved tomb of Joseph from Arimathea. They closed the tomb with a very large rock, and Pilate had wax seals put around the stone to make sure no one opened it up. He also stationed guards all around to ensure Jesus’ followers would not try to steal his body.
But early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and some other women came to the tomb with burial spices to anoint Jesus’ body. As they get close to the tomb, they begin to wonder, and ask each other, who is going to roll away that big, heavy stone? Suddenly, the ground begins to shake – an earthquake! And then an angel comes and rolls away the stone himself and sits upon it, scaring the guards who trembled and fainted. Looking at Mary and all the other women, he tells them that Jesus is not in the tomb –He has risen! - and invites them to come look for themselves. Not quite understanding, they see that the tomb is empty.
This is the second empty promise – the tomb, without the body of Jesus laying in it. Jesus himself had promised that he would die and rise again on the third day. And he did.
I read a story that said, ‘A father and son were traveling down a country road one afternoon in the spring time when suddenly a bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the horror on his child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand and the bee began to buzz around once again. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son, and opened his hand showing him the stinger still in his palm. “Relax, son,” the father said, “I took the sting, the bee can’t hurt you anymore.”’
Jesus conquered death – the proof is in the empty tomb – death’s sting can no longer hurt us – just as the bee can no longer hurt the young boy. We celebrate an empty tomb because it proves the Lord is risen – he is risen indeed!
When Mary left the tomb, she ran to tell Peter and John what had happened and they rushed to the tomb to see for themselves - what she was saying didn’t make any sense.
John outran Peter and when he reached the tomb, he stooped down and looked inside. Peter ran up and he went directly into the tomb. And there he saw the linen cloths that Joseph and Nicodemus had used to wrap Jesus’ body in when they took him down from the cross.
Think about it, if someone had actually stolen Jesus’ body, they would not have taken time to unwrap him form this long strip. They would have grabbed the body and run – taking him as they found him. These linen cloths being left behind in the tomb can only mean one thing – that Jesus is ALIVE and no longer in need of them! He is alive – as he was before he went to the cross, recognizable in his body. Able to be with his disciples and the women who had been his followers. And in the next few days, he reveals himself to men and women on multiple occasions – even eating meals with his disciples. Sharing fellowship with them as they had done before his death.
The empty linens are the third promise fulfilled – not just that Jesus would rise again in spirit – but that he would rise again in his body. We celebrate the burial clothes being empty and left behind because they were not needed in his resurrected body.
Steven Kellett explains these empty promises as this:
- The empty cross symbolizes the promise of the forgiveness of your sins. This is where Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb of God.
- The empty tomb symbolizes the promise of eternal life. As Jesus rose from the dead and now resides in paradise – so shall we, as believers in him, one day rise from death and live with him in heaven.
- The empty burial clothes symbolize the body of the risen Lord – that we can worship him and have a relationship with him.
These promises are fulfilled in the emptiness of what Christ left behind. They are for everyone – anyone who will call upon the name of the Lord, who will believe that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again – as Man and as God.
This is the priceless gift of Easter. Have you opened this gift? Have you accepted Jesus as your savior? Do you know to whom you belong and how precious you are to him – that he paid for you with his life?
If not, let this be the day you do. Ask and it shall be given to you – the blessings of Easter, and the love of Jesus Christ.
PRAY – Father, thank you for this gift we celebrate today – the gift of eternal life through your son, Jesus. Thank you for your promises fulfilled in the empty cross, the empty tomb, and the empty burial clothes.
Search our hearts, father, and if there are any among us who have not yet opened them to you, help them to do so now. Help them to say, right now – Father, I have sinned and fall short of your glory. Forgive me for those sins and send your son to live within me. Help me to learn to live like Jesus through the guiding light and love of the Holy Spirit – now and forever. Amen
pASTOR dONNA'S sERMON fOR eASTER mORNING sUNRISE sERVICE ON aPRIL 9, 2023 TITLED "nOT THE eND" FROM THE sERIES "iN aWE OF gRACE".
April 9, 2023 Easter Sunrise
Rootstown
Series: In Awe of Grace
Message: Not the End
Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he[a] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
An Easter Carol
Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger,
Stronger than the dark, the light,
Stronger than the wrong, the right,
Faith and Hope triumphant say
Christ will rise on Easter Day.
While the patient earth lies waking
Till the morning shall be breaking,
Shuddering 'neath the burden dread
of her Master, cold and dead ---
Hark! She hears the Angels say
Christ will rise on Easter Day.
Up and down our lives obedient
Walk dear Christ, with footsteps radiant,
Till those garden lives shall be
Fair with duties done for Thee
And our thankful spirits say,
Christ arose on Easter Day.
And when sunrise smites the mountains,
Pouring light from Heavenly fountains.
Then the earth blooms out to greet
Once again the blessed feet;
And her countless voices say
Christ has risen on Easter Day.
Phillips Brooks
*Sing
Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10
The ResurrectionReader 1:
1Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.
2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
Reader 2:
5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”
Reader 3:
8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
Message: He isn’t here!
1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The true power of God was revealed on the first Easter morning when Mary Magdalene and the others went to the tomb and found it empty. God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ to come to this world in order that we might recognize him as both man and God, that we might know him, that we might believe in him and accept him, and that we might be saved from our sins. There was just no other way to reconcile us – in our sinful nature – to God – in his divine purity.
People on Facebook this week were sharing this same message when they posted and reposted this: “I owe a debt I could never repay, He paid a debt he did not owe.”
And he paid it IN FULL – for us – before we were even born, while he suffered and died, Jesus had YOU on his mind. Since he was willing to die for all of us, should we not be willing to live for HIM?
We started with a poem this morning, let’s end with another:
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went, the Lamb of God would go.
He made His way to Calvary to pay for all our sin,
And three days later, conquered death and rose to life again.
Today and every day, Celebrate the power of God – celebrate the risen Christ – and live your life with the expectation of his glorious return – Amen!
Rootstown
Series: In Awe of Grace
Message: Not the End
Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he[a] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
An Easter Carol
Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger,
Stronger than the dark, the light,
Stronger than the wrong, the right,
Faith and Hope triumphant say
Christ will rise on Easter Day.
While the patient earth lies waking
Till the morning shall be breaking,
Shuddering 'neath the burden dread
of her Master, cold and dead ---
Hark! She hears the Angels say
Christ will rise on Easter Day.
Up and down our lives obedient
Walk dear Christ, with footsteps radiant,
Till those garden lives shall be
Fair with duties done for Thee
And our thankful spirits say,
Christ arose on Easter Day.
And when sunrise smites the mountains,
Pouring light from Heavenly fountains.
Then the earth blooms out to greet
Once again the blessed feet;
And her countless voices say
Christ has risen on Easter Day.
Phillips Brooks
*Sing
Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10
The ResurrectionReader 1:
1Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.
2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
Reader 2:
5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”
Reader 3:
8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
Message: He isn’t here!
1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The true power of God was revealed on the first Easter morning when Mary Magdalene and the others went to the tomb and found it empty. God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ to come to this world in order that we might recognize him as both man and God, that we might know him, that we might believe in him and accept him, and that we might be saved from our sins. There was just no other way to reconcile us – in our sinful nature – to God – in his divine purity.
People on Facebook this week were sharing this same message when they posted and reposted this: “I owe a debt I could never repay, He paid a debt he did not owe.”
And he paid it IN FULL – for us – before we were even born, while he suffered and died, Jesus had YOU on his mind. Since he was willing to die for all of us, should we not be willing to live for HIM?
We started with a poem this morning, let’s end with another:
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went, the Lamb of God would go.
He made His way to Calvary to pay for all our sin,
And three days later, conquered death and rose to life again.
Today and every day, Celebrate the power of God – celebrate the risen Christ – and live your life with the expectation of his glorious return – Amen!
pASTOR dONNA'S sERMON ON MAUNDY THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023 TITLED "dO AS I DO" FROM THE SERIES IN AWE OF GRACE.
April 6, 2023, Maundy Thursday
Series: In Awe of Grace
Message: Do as I Do
Scripture: Exodus 12:1-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn with fire. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord. 12 I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
The original Passover, instituted by God who instructed Moses to teach his people what to do and how to do it, took place after the Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years. The instructions were specific – on the tenth of this month, the first month, every household is to get a lamb and keep it with them. This lamb can be a goat or a sheep, it must be a one-year-old, male, and it must be perfect. This lamb cannot have any defects, blemishes, or deformities of any kind.
Each family is to keep that lamb and care for it for the next four days. Then, on the fourteenth day of the month, the lamb must be slaughtered at twilight, and some of its blood must be smeared on both door posts and the lintel that connects them at the top. The blood, of course, was a sign to the angel of death that an Israelite family lived in that house, and so he would know to pass over that house as he searched out and killed the first born in all the land of Egypt – from the animals to the people.
Further instructions were given as to how to cook the lamb, what to do with the leftovers, what could be eaten along with the lamb, and even how the people were to be dressed as they ate it. No one was to leave the house that night because only those who were inside a marked house were promised safety from the plague of death that was coming that very night.
After he gave these instructions, God said to Moses, “This shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual observance.” Why? Why did generation after generation have to reenact this night? Because God knew that humans were fickle and conceited. He knew that unless this observance was put into place and repeated each year, the Israelites would soon forget that it was through God’s doing, and not their own, that they escaped slavery in Egypt. The people might tell their children the story, and their children might tell their children, but over time, the story would die out. It would no longer be repeated, and God’s miraculous work of liberation would be forgotten.
To observe this day every year in such a tangible way was a way for the Israelites to preserve their history, remember where they came from, praise God for their freedom, and teach their children to do the same. When we do something instead of just talking about it, what we are remembering in the doing becomes more real to us right now, even when it is an ancient practice.
That is what Jesus, and his disciples were doing this night so long ago. They were in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, gathered together in the upper room. The table was set, the food was prepared, and everyone was ready to dig in, except one thing had been forgotten – or ignored. No one’s feet had been washed.
In a time when walking was the most common mode of transportation and sanitation was not yet a city street department, feet became dirty pretty quickly, and that dirt wasn’t always just the ground dirt, it often included something left behind by the animals that roamed the streets, too.
No one wants to eat a good meal with dirty, stinky feet. The smell might ruin the taste of the food. But no one in that room wanted to do the job of washing feet, either. Each of the twelve disciples likely remembered that it needed done, and each of them likely thought to himself, “That’s not my job.” You see, the foot-washing job was usually reserved for the lowliest of the servants to do, and while none of these men were considered “High-class citizens,” they were certainly not lowly servants. No one was willing to do the job they felt was beneath them, except one.
Just as they were about to eat, Jesus got up from the table. He took off his outer robe, tied a towel around his waist, and poured water into a wash basin. He walked over to one of the disciples and began to wash his feet. Can you imagine the silence that fell over that room in that moment? Twelve pairs of eyes watched as Jesus knelt down in front of one of them and began to wash the feet of a beloved brother and friend. When they were clean, he used the towel around his waist to dry them, and then he moved to the next man.
Jesus, their teacher, their Lord, became their servant that night. Peter was the only one who seemed to find his voice. As Jesus approached him, Peter declared that Jesus would not wash his feet, yet when Jesus told Peter “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me,” Peter was suddenly all in – “Yes Lord, wash my feet, and my hands and even my head.”
After Jesus had finished washing all twelve disciples’ feet, he put his robe back on and sat back down at the table and he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
Jesus, the one who could have commanded everyone to serve him, the one who deserved to be served more than anyone else, demonstrated his love for the disciples by serving them instead. He was setting an example for them to follow, and it went deeper than foot washing. “Serving others is the way to show love,” Jesus was saying, “See the needs of the people around you and find a way to fulfill those needs to the best of your ability, because in this way, they will know you love them. In this way, do for others as I do for you.”
And then Jesus gave them the new commandment, “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” In my mind, I can hear the eleven who were left by then saying to one another, “Sure, we can do that. Love each other, serve others. Got it.” But they didn’t understand that the next few hours, Jesus would show his love in a way that they didn’t expect, and they wouldn’t immediately understand.
Have you ever had your kids bring home a stray animal and by the time they get through the door they already love it? Or do you remember ever doing that to your parents as a child? We tend to get attached to animals very quickly, don’t we? Especially if they are cute and even more so when they are little.
Have you ever wondered why God to Moses to have each family select a lamb on the tenth day and keep it until the fourteenth day when it would be slaughtered? Why give a family four days to care for a cute little lamb and then just have to kill and eat it? We know the blood sacrifice of the lamb was what saved the families from the angel of death, but why not just go get a lamb and take it to slaughter all on the same day?
I’ll be honest, this was not something I had ever thought about before, but as I was reading and researching for this week, I came across this thought from Pastor Ron Parrish who said, “The lamb was kept with the family for them to get attached to him and identify with him, so they would feel the loss when he was sacrificed.”
At first, I thought, “No way. Why would God want them to get attached to this cute little lamb and then have to kill it?” But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me. Remember, in Leviticus 17:11, God said, “for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”
The spilling of blood is serious because all life is precious. God didn’t want his people to grow callous about the sacrifice that purified them, the blood that saved them. He didn’t want them to make the killing so sterile that they felt removed from it because then the meaning would be lost, and it would become nothing more than a senseless killing of an innocent life. By making sure the family knew and cared for that lamb for four days, by giving them time to bond with it, the meaning of its sacrifice would hold more weight in their hearts. They would understand more clearly that the consequence of their sin was death in one form or another.
Much of that may not have been clear on the night of that first Passover, before the Law went into effect and the sacrifices were explained to the people as they wandered in the wilderness, but by the night of the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples would have understood. And while the disciples did not know it yet, when Jesus knelt at their feet, and when he gave them the command to love on another, Jesus certainly knew that he was the true Passover Lamb of God.
Jesus was the one who was perfect. He was without blemish, without sin, without flaw. He had been known and loved by many for his thirty-three years, and especially in the last three. The sins of the people could never be entirely washed away by the blood of an animal, no matter how perfect or how adorable they were. It would take the blood of Jesus himself to be able to do that for all people for all time.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was the ultimate act of service and love. It is this gift of grace, given though the blood of the perfect Lamb of God, that sets us free, not from slavery in Egypt, but from something worse – slavery to sin. We stand in awe of that gift, in awe of the grace that God pours out on us, as believers, through the death of his son, Jesus.
As we ponder this act of sacrificial service and love, once again we hear Jesus’ words to his disciples so long ago, “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” After knowing what Jesus did for us, how can we do anything less than this thing he asks? Let us then love one another because Jesus first loved us, and out of that love, let serve others as Jesus has served us through his death and resurrection. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we don’t take a Passover lamb into our homes to nurture for four days, instead, we take the perfect Passover Lamb into our hearts, and we are then loved and nurtured by you for the rest of our lives. You demonstrated your love to us by leaving your royal seat in heaven and coming to live among us, to serve us by giving yourself up for us. Thank you, Jesus, for being our Liberator and our Savior. Thank you for showing us how to love and how to serve one another. May we do both, Lord, so that by how we live, others may see we are your disciples, that they might see you reflected through us, and might come to know you also, for their benefit and for your glory, AMEN.
Series: In Awe of Grace
Message: Do as I Do
Scripture: Exodus 12:1-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn with fire. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord. 12 I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
The original Passover, instituted by God who instructed Moses to teach his people what to do and how to do it, took place after the Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years. The instructions were specific – on the tenth of this month, the first month, every household is to get a lamb and keep it with them. This lamb can be a goat or a sheep, it must be a one-year-old, male, and it must be perfect. This lamb cannot have any defects, blemishes, or deformities of any kind.
Each family is to keep that lamb and care for it for the next four days. Then, on the fourteenth day of the month, the lamb must be slaughtered at twilight, and some of its blood must be smeared on both door posts and the lintel that connects them at the top. The blood, of course, was a sign to the angel of death that an Israelite family lived in that house, and so he would know to pass over that house as he searched out and killed the first born in all the land of Egypt – from the animals to the people.
Further instructions were given as to how to cook the lamb, what to do with the leftovers, what could be eaten along with the lamb, and even how the people were to be dressed as they ate it. No one was to leave the house that night because only those who were inside a marked house were promised safety from the plague of death that was coming that very night.
After he gave these instructions, God said to Moses, “This shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual observance.” Why? Why did generation after generation have to reenact this night? Because God knew that humans were fickle and conceited. He knew that unless this observance was put into place and repeated each year, the Israelites would soon forget that it was through God’s doing, and not their own, that they escaped slavery in Egypt. The people might tell their children the story, and their children might tell their children, but over time, the story would die out. It would no longer be repeated, and God’s miraculous work of liberation would be forgotten.
To observe this day every year in such a tangible way was a way for the Israelites to preserve their history, remember where they came from, praise God for their freedom, and teach their children to do the same. When we do something instead of just talking about it, what we are remembering in the doing becomes more real to us right now, even when it is an ancient practice.
That is what Jesus, and his disciples were doing this night so long ago. They were in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, gathered together in the upper room. The table was set, the food was prepared, and everyone was ready to dig in, except one thing had been forgotten – or ignored. No one’s feet had been washed.
In a time when walking was the most common mode of transportation and sanitation was not yet a city street department, feet became dirty pretty quickly, and that dirt wasn’t always just the ground dirt, it often included something left behind by the animals that roamed the streets, too.
No one wants to eat a good meal with dirty, stinky feet. The smell might ruin the taste of the food. But no one in that room wanted to do the job of washing feet, either. Each of the twelve disciples likely remembered that it needed done, and each of them likely thought to himself, “That’s not my job.” You see, the foot-washing job was usually reserved for the lowliest of the servants to do, and while none of these men were considered “High-class citizens,” they were certainly not lowly servants. No one was willing to do the job they felt was beneath them, except one.
Just as they were about to eat, Jesus got up from the table. He took off his outer robe, tied a towel around his waist, and poured water into a wash basin. He walked over to one of the disciples and began to wash his feet. Can you imagine the silence that fell over that room in that moment? Twelve pairs of eyes watched as Jesus knelt down in front of one of them and began to wash the feet of a beloved brother and friend. When they were clean, he used the towel around his waist to dry them, and then he moved to the next man.
Jesus, their teacher, their Lord, became their servant that night. Peter was the only one who seemed to find his voice. As Jesus approached him, Peter declared that Jesus would not wash his feet, yet when Jesus told Peter “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me,” Peter was suddenly all in – “Yes Lord, wash my feet, and my hands and even my head.”
After Jesus had finished washing all twelve disciples’ feet, he put his robe back on and sat back down at the table and he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
Jesus, the one who could have commanded everyone to serve him, the one who deserved to be served more than anyone else, demonstrated his love for the disciples by serving them instead. He was setting an example for them to follow, and it went deeper than foot washing. “Serving others is the way to show love,” Jesus was saying, “See the needs of the people around you and find a way to fulfill those needs to the best of your ability, because in this way, they will know you love them. In this way, do for others as I do for you.”
And then Jesus gave them the new commandment, “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” In my mind, I can hear the eleven who were left by then saying to one another, “Sure, we can do that. Love each other, serve others. Got it.” But they didn’t understand that the next few hours, Jesus would show his love in a way that they didn’t expect, and they wouldn’t immediately understand.
Have you ever had your kids bring home a stray animal and by the time they get through the door they already love it? Or do you remember ever doing that to your parents as a child? We tend to get attached to animals very quickly, don’t we? Especially if they are cute and even more so when they are little.
Have you ever wondered why God to Moses to have each family select a lamb on the tenth day and keep it until the fourteenth day when it would be slaughtered? Why give a family four days to care for a cute little lamb and then just have to kill and eat it? We know the blood sacrifice of the lamb was what saved the families from the angel of death, but why not just go get a lamb and take it to slaughter all on the same day?
I’ll be honest, this was not something I had ever thought about before, but as I was reading and researching for this week, I came across this thought from Pastor Ron Parrish who said, “The lamb was kept with the family for them to get attached to him and identify with him, so they would feel the loss when he was sacrificed.”
At first, I thought, “No way. Why would God want them to get attached to this cute little lamb and then have to kill it?” But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me. Remember, in Leviticus 17:11, God said, “for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”
The spilling of blood is serious because all life is precious. God didn’t want his people to grow callous about the sacrifice that purified them, the blood that saved them. He didn’t want them to make the killing so sterile that they felt removed from it because then the meaning would be lost, and it would become nothing more than a senseless killing of an innocent life. By making sure the family knew and cared for that lamb for four days, by giving them time to bond with it, the meaning of its sacrifice would hold more weight in their hearts. They would understand more clearly that the consequence of their sin was death in one form or another.
Much of that may not have been clear on the night of that first Passover, before the Law went into effect and the sacrifices were explained to the people as they wandered in the wilderness, but by the night of the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples would have understood. And while the disciples did not know it yet, when Jesus knelt at their feet, and when he gave them the command to love on another, Jesus certainly knew that he was the true Passover Lamb of God.
Jesus was the one who was perfect. He was without blemish, without sin, without flaw. He had been known and loved by many for his thirty-three years, and especially in the last three. The sins of the people could never be entirely washed away by the blood of an animal, no matter how perfect or how adorable they were. It would take the blood of Jesus himself to be able to do that for all people for all time.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was the ultimate act of service and love. It is this gift of grace, given though the blood of the perfect Lamb of God, that sets us free, not from slavery in Egypt, but from something worse – slavery to sin. We stand in awe of that gift, in awe of the grace that God pours out on us, as believers, through the death of his son, Jesus.
As we ponder this act of sacrificial service and love, once again we hear Jesus’ words to his disciples so long ago, “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” After knowing what Jesus did for us, how can we do anything less than this thing he asks? Let us then love one another because Jesus first loved us, and out of that love, let serve others as Jesus has served us through his death and resurrection. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we don’t take a Passover lamb into our homes to nurture for four days, instead, we take the perfect Passover Lamb into our hearts, and we are then loved and nurtured by you for the rest of our lives. You demonstrated your love to us by leaving your royal seat in heaven and coming to live among us, to serve us by giving yourself up for us. Thank you, Jesus, for being our Liberator and our Savior. Thank you for showing us how to love and how to serve one another. May we do both, Lord, so that by how we live, others may see we are your disciples, that they might see you reflected through us, and might come to know you also, for their benefit and for your glory, AMEN.
Pastor Donna's Sermon for Palm Sunday, April 2, 2023
April 2, 2023
Series: In Awe of Grace
Message: This Is the Day
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-29 (Matthew 21:1-11)
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
6 With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
12 They surrounded me like bees; they blazed[a] like a fire of thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.
29 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
On the Discipleship Ministries “Planning Worship” page for this week, Rev. Dr. Derek Weber writes that there are times, even seasons throughout the year, that seem more holy than others. Perhaps because in those times we let ourselves become more aware of God’s work in our lives, or because in those seasons we recognize the “moments that reverberate with the living presence of the living God, and our only proper response is to fall to our knees in awe of grace.”
The season of Lent is one of those times, and especially this week, Holy Week, the week that begins with Palm Sunday, moves through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and culminates with Resurrection Sunday. In this week we allow ourselves to take a closer look at Jesus and what he did for us by dying on that cross and bearing the weight of our sins, taking our place, our punishment.
This is the week where, as Rev. Weber writes, “the world is remade, a new creation, and we are blessed to be a part of it, blessed to receive a gift beyond words, which is nothing less than eternity itself.” And this is the day when it begins – Palm Sunday – the day of the triumphant entry and shouts of “Hosanna!” This is the day of celebration, the day of palm branches and parades.
This is the day. The first day of the final week of Jesus’ life on earth.
Jesus has been making his way to Jerusalem for the last several days; he knows his time is drawing near the end, and he has determined to go to Jerusalem even though danger lies ahead.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that as Jesus and his disciples are walking toward the city, Jesus sends two of the disciples ahead. “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.” And we wonder to ourselves, how can they just walk up to a colt and take it like that? But Jesus reassures them, “If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”
The disciples do as they are instructed, and they bring the colt to Jesus, and they throw their cloaks over its back and Jesus is lifted onto it. As he rides along, people begin to line the road and they throw their cloaks down in the road for the colt to walk over them. Other people are there who begin to cut branches from palm trees, and they waved them and laid them in the road.
Now, this is a parade! The people are celebrating, shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” The crowd is large, and the noise is at a high volume.
“Hosanna!” was the cry of the day, “Save us,” was what the people were saying. Today we use the word Hosanna to mean a cry of praise, but to the Jews in that day, the term was one that meant “Save us” and it was shouted at the king as he rode into town. “Save us,” the people cried. In these words that they cried they were trusting that this was the Messiah, the Savior they had been waiting for so long to come. Finally, they thought, here is the king who will set us free.
They were absolutely right, but they were also absolutely wrong. This is the One who had come to save them. This is the One who had come to set them free. But they were looking for the here and now, they were looking for freedom from Roman rule. Jesus had a better plan, one that wouldn’t last just a few years or even a few decades, but one that would free the people forever.
This is the day. This is finally his hour. All along, whenever Jesus has performed a miracle, he tells the people not to tell anyone. On the way down the mountain after the transfiguration, Jesus had told Peter, James, and John not to tell anyone yet what they had witnessed. When his mother had appealed to him to do something at the wedding in Cana, his first response had been that it was not yet his time. But the moment that Jesus had sent those two disciples to untie that colt, we know that this is the day.
Jesus is announcing to the people who he is. When have you, anywhere else in scripture, read of Jesus riding on any animal when he went anywhere? Everywhere he went, Jesus walked. But not this day. This is the day Jesus chose to ride into the city. On a donkey.
A donkey? Shouldn’t he have sent those disciples to find him a horse instead of a donkey? Donkeys are cute and all, but they aren’t exactly regal. Jesus is being hailed as a king, and a king should have an appropriate animal on which to ride. Ahh, but he does. Choosing to ride a donkey that day was no accident. What Jesus knew, and all the people who were there knew, is that only a king intent on war rode into town on a horse.
When a king rode into a town that he was fighting over, he rode a horse. When he went out to battle, he rode a horse. But when a king wanted to convey to the people that he came in peace, he rode a donkey. Jesus, by choosing to ride that donkey was making a statement to everyone who was there that day. He is a king, and he comes to bring peace.
But how does a king who is bringing peace work when the people are expecting a revolt? They were hailing him as a king, they surely understood the symbolism of the donkey, yet they still expected a revolutionary savior. How could they not have seen that the king who proclaimed peace could not have been the one who came to fight? Maybe they thought that Jesus’ message of peace was a foretaste of what was to come after he kicked the Romans to the gate. Maybe in the frenzy of the celebration they simply didn’t take time to analyze what was happening, they just joined the parade, waved their palm branches, and shouted Hosanna because that’s what everyone else was doing.
And so, in that moment, the celebration was great. The Hosannas were shouted, blessings to the one who comes in the name of the Lord were conveyed. There was joy and hopeful expectations in the air, stirred up by the waving of all those palm branches.
Sadly, as we know, the celebration would not last. In a few days, the crowds would be shouting once again, but this time, instead of “Hosanna,” there would be cries of “Crucify him!” Here’s a key point, though, Jesus knew that is what would happen.
Even as he rode into that city on that donkey, surrounded by adoring fans, being showered with praises, Jesus knew it would be short-lived. What did Jesus think about as he rode into the city, listening to the shouts of the crowd? Was he remembering the good times he had had? Was he already preparing for what was to come?
Pastor John Gullick sums up Jesus’ life like this, “He was born in dramatic circumstances surrounded by heavenly testimonies and worldly violence. He lived in a remote and often scorned village - grew up in anonymity as a carpenter’s son and apprentice. At thirty years of age, he struck out in dramatic and prophetic fashion – he walked and preached, and God worked miracles through him. He shook a nation, the world trembled, and the evil forces of the day rallied against him. Up to the point of Palm Sunday everyone had heard of him, and everyone had reacted – some in adoration and worship, and others in fear and tyranny. (And now,) Poised on the edge of the pool of suffering, Jesus takes a breath, and dives in knowing that life as he has known it will never be quite the same again.”
It must have been a lot to take in that day. Maybe, even as Jesus heard the people shouting all around him, he was also thinking of the words to the Psalm which is our scripture for today. It is a Psalm that was often recited by the Israelites during the Festival of Shelters when the people would live in tents instead of their houses to remind them of the time their ancestors had wandered in the wilderness after God rescued them from Egypt. This Psalm is called a song of victory because the Israelites were celebrating the victory – God’s victory on their behalf – over Pharoah and his people.
“O Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!” Jesus may have needed this reminder that no matter what he would endure this week, the love of his Father would carry him through. I can almost hear Jesus reciting the words under his breath, “Out of my distress, I called on the Lord; with the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?” He knew what mortals would do to him, that’s why he needed to know that the Father would help him get through it.
As he gazed out through the celebrating crowd, he found comfort in looking past Thursday and Friday in the song that said, “I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to put confidence in mortals.” There is no better place to seek solace and comfort than through God. Humans can let you down, they can turn from being loving and loyal on Sunday to bitter and hateful by Thursday, but not God; God is always the same.
The Psalm continues, “There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly; the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.”
Jesus didn’t write the words to this Psalm, but as a Jewish boy he would have learned them, he would have studied them, and he would have known their meaning, and now, he can bring them to mind, just as he did when he was fending off Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. Jesus knows God’s word and he uses it to strengthen his resolve to complete the work that he has agreed to do – to suffer and die for all people so they could have life, abundant life through him with God the Father.
Yes, Jesus knew what was ahead for him. This is the day of celebration, but one that would only last a moment. Adoration is fleeting when we don’t get what we thought we wanted. Those Hosanna-shouting people thought they wanted a conquering hero who would drive the enemy from their city. Later in the week, having been arrested and beaten, having stood trial in front of the religious leaders, Herod, and Pilate, they saw their hero in a new light – and they didn’t like it. “How could this man be the Messiah?” they asked, “How could we have been so wrong?”
And their adoration turned to anger, and their hearts turned away from the one who had truly come to save them. We are often so quick to judge that crowd, but we have the gift of history to show us what they could not see in their present. We know Jesus is the Messiah, we know he came to save and set free. And yet…
Are we really so different from those in the crowd that day? Can we say we have never felt our faith falter when our prayers aren’t answered just the way we wanted them to be? Don’t we stumble sometimes, on our discipleship journey when we realize the cost of following Jesus may be more than we are willing to pay, forgetting that it is worth it no matter how high the cost? Haven’t we, at some point or another, denied Jesus and his claim on our lives in a moment of weakness? We are more like that crowd than we want to admit.
And so, this is the day. It’s the beginning of the final week of Jesus’ life on earth. Jesus is headed to Jerusalem. He knows the hearts of the crowds. He knows how fickle they are, he knows what they think they know now and what they will be crying out for later in the week. And he goes through with it anyway. That is how great his love was for those people. That is how great his love is for us. Jesus knows our hearts, he knows that we can be fickle, he knows that what we want isn’t always what is best for us and when we don’t get our way we pout and cry out. But Jesus loves us anyway.
So, friends, as we enter into this Holy Week, as we remember what Jesus went through on Thursday and Friday, let us remember that he did it for that crowd who shouted their “Hosannas!”, and he did it for those who cried “crucify him,” and he did it for each and every one of us, too. And for that, we say, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Thank you, Jesus.” AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into this world, even though you knew how it would end even from the beginning. Today we shout praises, and we worship you for being the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Savior of us all. But help us remember the price you paid on that cross. Your life for ours was not a fair trade, but you laid down your life anyway out of love for all people. We can never thank you enough, but may we live our whole lives trying. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84139/jesus-by-john-gullick
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/in-awe-of-grace/palm-passion-sunday-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes
Series: In Awe of Grace
Message: This Is the Day
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-29 (Matthew 21:1-11)
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
6 With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
12 They surrounded me like bees; they blazed[a] like a fire of thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.
29 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
On the Discipleship Ministries “Planning Worship” page for this week, Rev. Dr. Derek Weber writes that there are times, even seasons throughout the year, that seem more holy than others. Perhaps because in those times we let ourselves become more aware of God’s work in our lives, or because in those seasons we recognize the “moments that reverberate with the living presence of the living God, and our only proper response is to fall to our knees in awe of grace.”
The season of Lent is one of those times, and especially this week, Holy Week, the week that begins with Palm Sunday, moves through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and culminates with Resurrection Sunday. In this week we allow ourselves to take a closer look at Jesus and what he did for us by dying on that cross and bearing the weight of our sins, taking our place, our punishment.
This is the week where, as Rev. Weber writes, “the world is remade, a new creation, and we are blessed to be a part of it, blessed to receive a gift beyond words, which is nothing less than eternity itself.” And this is the day when it begins – Palm Sunday – the day of the triumphant entry and shouts of “Hosanna!” This is the day of celebration, the day of palm branches and parades.
This is the day. The first day of the final week of Jesus’ life on earth.
Jesus has been making his way to Jerusalem for the last several days; he knows his time is drawing near the end, and he has determined to go to Jerusalem even though danger lies ahead.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that as Jesus and his disciples are walking toward the city, Jesus sends two of the disciples ahead. “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.” And we wonder to ourselves, how can they just walk up to a colt and take it like that? But Jesus reassures them, “If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”
The disciples do as they are instructed, and they bring the colt to Jesus, and they throw their cloaks over its back and Jesus is lifted onto it. As he rides along, people begin to line the road and they throw their cloaks down in the road for the colt to walk over them. Other people are there who begin to cut branches from palm trees, and they waved them and laid them in the road.
Now, this is a parade! The people are celebrating, shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” The crowd is large, and the noise is at a high volume.
“Hosanna!” was the cry of the day, “Save us,” was what the people were saying. Today we use the word Hosanna to mean a cry of praise, but to the Jews in that day, the term was one that meant “Save us” and it was shouted at the king as he rode into town. “Save us,” the people cried. In these words that they cried they were trusting that this was the Messiah, the Savior they had been waiting for so long to come. Finally, they thought, here is the king who will set us free.
They were absolutely right, but they were also absolutely wrong. This is the One who had come to save them. This is the One who had come to set them free. But they were looking for the here and now, they were looking for freedom from Roman rule. Jesus had a better plan, one that wouldn’t last just a few years or even a few decades, but one that would free the people forever.
This is the day. This is finally his hour. All along, whenever Jesus has performed a miracle, he tells the people not to tell anyone. On the way down the mountain after the transfiguration, Jesus had told Peter, James, and John not to tell anyone yet what they had witnessed. When his mother had appealed to him to do something at the wedding in Cana, his first response had been that it was not yet his time. But the moment that Jesus had sent those two disciples to untie that colt, we know that this is the day.
Jesus is announcing to the people who he is. When have you, anywhere else in scripture, read of Jesus riding on any animal when he went anywhere? Everywhere he went, Jesus walked. But not this day. This is the day Jesus chose to ride into the city. On a donkey.
A donkey? Shouldn’t he have sent those disciples to find him a horse instead of a donkey? Donkeys are cute and all, but they aren’t exactly regal. Jesus is being hailed as a king, and a king should have an appropriate animal on which to ride. Ahh, but he does. Choosing to ride a donkey that day was no accident. What Jesus knew, and all the people who were there knew, is that only a king intent on war rode into town on a horse.
When a king rode into a town that he was fighting over, he rode a horse. When he went out to battle, he rode a horse. But when a king wanted to convey to the people that he came in peace, he rode a donkey. Jesus, by choosing to ride that donkey was making a statement to everyone who was there that day. He is a king, and he comes to bring peace.
But how does a king who is bringing peace work when the people are expecting a revolt? They were hailing him as a king, they surely understood the symbolism of the donkey, yet they still expected a revolutionary savior. How could they not have seen that the king who proclaimed peace could not have been the one who came to fight? Maybe they thought that Jesus’ message of peace was a foretaste of what was to come after he kicked the Romans to the gate. Maybe in the frenzy of the celebration they simply didn’t take time to analyze what was happening, they just joined the parade, waved their palm branches, and shouted Hosanna because that’s what everyone else was doing.
And so, in that moment, the celebration was great. The Hosannas were shouted, blessings to the one who comes in the name of the Lord were conveyed. There was joy and hopeful expectations in the air, stirred up by the waving of all those palm branches.
Sadly, as we know, the celebration would not last. In a few days, the crowds would be shouting once again, but this time, instead of “Hosanna,” there would be cries of “Crucify him!” Here’s a key point, though, Jesus knew that is what would happen.
Even as he rode into that city on that donkey, surrounded by adoring fans, being showered with praises, Jesus knew it would be short-lived. What did Jesus think about as he rode into the city, listening to the shouts of the crowd? Was he remembering the good times he had had? Was he already preparing for what was to come?
Pastor John Gullick sums up Jesus’ life like this, “He was born in dramatic circumstances surrounded by heavenly testimonies and worldly violence. He lived in a remote and often scorned village - grew up in anonymity as a carpenter’s son and apprentice. At thirty years of age, he struck out in dramatic and prophetic fashion – he walked and preached, and God worked miracles through him. He shook a nation, the world trembled, and the evil forces of the day rallied against him. Up to the point of Palm Sunday everyone had heard of him, and everyone had reacted – some in adoration and worship, and others in fear and tyranny. (And now,) Poised on the edge of the pool of suffering, Jesus takes a breath, and dives in knowing that life as he has known it will never be quite the same again.”
It must have been a lot to take in that day. Maybe, even as Jesus heard the people shouting all around him, he was also thinking of the words to the Psalm which is our scripture for today. It is a Psalm that was often recited by the Israelites during the Festival of Shelters when the people would live in tents instead of their houses to remind them of the time their ancestors had wandered in the wilderness after God rescued them from Egypt. This Psalm is called a song of victory because the Israelites were celebrating the victory – God’s victory on their behalf – over Pharoah and his people.
“O Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!” Jesus may have needed this reminder that no matter what he would endure this week, the love of his Father would carry him through. I can almost hear Jesus reciting the words under his breath, “Out of my distress, I called on the Lord; with the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?” He knew what mortals would do to him, that’s why he needed to know that the Father would help him get through it.
As he gazed out through the celebrating crowd, he found comfort in looking past Thursday and Friday in the song that said, “I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to put confidence in mortals.” There is no better place to seek solace and comfort than through God. Humans can let you down, they can turn from being loving and loyal on Sunday to bitter and hateful by Thursday, but not God; God is always the same.
The Psalm continues, “There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly; the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.”
Jesus didn’t write the words to this Psalm, but as a Jewish boy he would have learned them, he would have studied them, and he would have known their meaning, and now, he can bring them to mind, just as he did when he was fending off Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. Jesus knows God’s word and he uses it to strengthen his resolve to complete the work that he has agreed to do – to suffer and die for all people so they could have life, abundant life through him with God the Father.
Yes, Jesus knew what was ahead for him. This is the day of celebration, but one that would only last a moment. Adoration is fleeting when we don’t get what we thought we wanted. Those Hosanna-shouting people thought they wanted a conquering hero who would drive the enemy from their city. Later in the week, having been arrested and beaten, having stood trial in front of the religious leaders, Herod, and Pilate, they saw their hero in a new light – and they didn’t like it. “How could this man be the Messiah?” they asked, “How could we have been so wrong?”
And their adoration turned to anger, and their hearts turned away from the one who had truly come to save them. We are often so quick to judge that crowd, but we have the gift of history to show us what they could not see in their present. We know Jesus is the Messiah, we know he came to save and set free. And yet…
Are we really so different from those in the crowd that day? Can we say we have never felt our faith falter when our prayers aren’t answered just the way we wanted them to be? Don’t we stumble sometimes, on our discipleship journey when we realize the cost of following Jesus may be more than we are willing to pay, forgetting that it is worth it no matter how high the cost? Haven’t we, at some point or another, denied Jesus and his claim on our lives in a moment of weakness? We are more like that crowd than we want to admit.
And so, this is the day. It’s the beginning of the final week of Jesus’ life on earth. Jesus is headed to Jerusalem. He knows the hearts of the crowds. He knows how fickle they are, he knows what they think they know now and what they will be crying out for later in the week. And he goes through with it anyway. That is how great his love was for those people. That is how great his love is for us. Jesus knows our hearts, he knows that we can be fickle, he knows that what we want isn’t always what is best for us and when we don’t get our way we pout and cry out. But Jesus loves us anyway.
So, friends, as we enter into this Holy Week, as we remember what Jesus went through on Thursday and Friday, let us remember that he did it for that crowd who shouted their “Hosannas!”, and he did it for those who cried “crucify him,” and he did it for each and every one of us, too. And for that, we say, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Thank you, Jesus.” AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into this world, even though you knew how it would end even from the beginning. Today we shout praises, and we worship you for being the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Savior of us all. But help us remember the price you paid on that cross. Your life for ours was not a fair trade, but you laid down your life anyway out of love for all people. We can never thank you enough, but may we live our whole lives trying. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84139/jesus-by-john-gullick
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/in-awe-of-grace/palm-passion-sunday-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON MARCH 26, 2023 "WHO COULD STAND?'
March 26, 2023
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: Who Could Stand?
Scripture: Psalm 130 (Eze 37:1-14; John 11:1-45)
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
There is a key question found in today’s Psalm, in verse three: “If you, O LORD, should mark uniquities, Lord, who could stand?” It’s a hard question, one which, if we ponder it for even a moment, kind of feels like a punch in the gut as the realization hits us that the answer is, “Not me.”
“Not me, Lord,” we would answer, “I know I couldn’t stand before you if you were to count against me all the sins in my life, all the times I have messed up. The weight of that judgement would knock me down, it would crush me, I would not be able to breathe, and I would die.” Just thinking about that almost makes us feel that weight, and when we read this verse of the psalm, we want to turn the page in despair, because if that were all there was, our hope would be snuffed out like a candle flame, and life would be bleak.
In the eleventh chapter of the gospel of John, we find the account of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. Jesus received a message from Martha and Mary that their brother was sick. Of course, they would send for Jesus in this case, they had seen him perform healing miracles for so many people, most of them strangers, surly he would heal their brother, one of Jesus’ best friends. I can feel the hope they had when they sent that message.
“It will be okay,” they reassured one another, “Jesus will come. Jesus will fix this. Lazarus will soon be well again.” But Jesus got the message, and he did not hurry to Bethany as the sisters assumed he would. In fact, Jesus stayed where he was for another two days before he decided to make the journey to visit his sick friend.
When Jesus and his disciples got to Bethany, they discovered that Lazarus had already died and had been in the tomb for four days. Even if Jesus had left as soon as Martha and Mary’s message got to him, it would have already been too late. Martha came out to meet Jesus when she heard he was there. Weighted down with grief for her brother, she said exactly what she was thinking, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Seeking to reassure her, Jesus said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” And Martha knew that. She affirmed that belief by saying, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection, in the last days.” Martha had been listening and learning even while she worked so hard to prepare just the right food and make her guests feel at home. She listened, she learned, and she believed in Jesus, but right now her heart was still broken, her grief was still raw. The comfort of knowing she would see her brother again in the resurrection was not enough in that moment to lessen her grief. Then she went back to the house and told Mary that Jesus had arrived.
As soon as Mary heard the news, she got up and went to meet Jesus, just as Martha had done. And just like her sister, Mary made the same statement, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Death put those sisters in deep grief but knowing that Jesus had to power to heal their brother, had he arrived on time, caused their grief to go even deeper. It’s so easy, isn’t it, to get stuck in the “what ifs?” If only this or if only that, then things would have been different. If only Jesus had healed Lazarus while there was still time, then they would be celebrating now instead of grieving his loss.
Jesus felt their grief, he knew their pain, and as compassion for their heartache rose within him, he began to weep. The humanity of Jesus allowed him to feel grief just as you and I feel it, just as Martha and Mary felt it, and tears came to him in that moment of mourning. “Where have you put him?” Jesus asked. The people standing around watching saw Jesus’ tears and some were moved by them, thinking of how much he had loved Lazarus. There were others, though who were not so moved, those who judged too quickly, too harshly, thinking that if this man could make the blind to see, surly he could have saved his friend.
They came to the tomb and Jesus ordered the stone be rolled away from the entrance, the stone that had covered the place where Lazarus had laid for four days now. Jesus looked up, prayed to the Father, and then said, in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
Stop for a moment, in that very second. Imagine what the bystanders were thinking as Jesus gave his command to a man who had been dead for four days. “Lazarus, come out! Are you kidding? What is he doing? Has he lost his mind? Four days, Jesus, four long days he’s been dead. He is not coming out.”
Many, many years before this, the prophet, Ezekiel, had an experience that he would never forget. He writes about it in the thirty seventh chapter of his book, saying, “The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.”
Ezekiel tells us that the Lord led him all through that valley filled with bones, bones that were very dry from having been without life for so long. And then the Lord asked Ezekiel a question, one that didn’t make any sense, “Mortal, can these bones live?”
What was Ezekiel to say as he looked around at all the bones, dry, brittle, broken, scattered bones? How could they possibly live again after all this time? Ezekiel answered the only way he could, “O Lord God, you know.” He was probably thinking, “You know the answer, even if I don’t see the possibility of life coming back into these old bones.” God then told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, God gave him the words to say, and Ezekiel obeyed.
I want to compare for a moment the story of Lazarus, Ezekiel’s dry bones, and the psalmist’s question. What do they all have in common? Despair, grief, lifelessness, hopelessness. The weight of our sins, the recent death of a beloved man, the valley of dried-up old bones of a faceless multitude all leaves us feeling sad, don’t they? And it is sad, but what would be worse is if those stories ended there.
But that is not the end. That is not how God works. When Ezekiel prophesied to those dry bones, there came a noise like had never been heard. Bones began to move; they began to rattle against other bones as they came together in the proper formation of a human body. Then, when Ezekiel looked closer, there were sinews connecting the bones and then muscle began to cover them, and after that, skin started forming over the flesh. What had been nothing but piles and piles of dry bones a few minutes ago was now an army of bodies standing shoulder to shoulder in the valley. Then God told Ezekiel to prophesy once again, and he did. He writes, “I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.” Where death had been, now there was life. Who would have thought those old dry bones could stand? How could they have? They were dry, lifeless, brittle old bones, but God brought them to life.
God’s message to Ezekiel in that day was for the nation of Israel. He gave Ezekiel a message of hope that Ezekiel was told to share with his people. Those dry bones represented Israel in her disobedience, her exile, her hopelessness, but the bodies that came to life were Israel when God would redeem her, bring her back together, and make her strong once again. Though the nation that had been more numerous than the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the shore was now only few in number, God would not leave them in their despair. God had a plan, and he gave them a promise which is, “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”
There is the breath the people of Israel needed to hear, there is a relief from some of the weight that has been holding them down and crushing them while they lived in a land far away from the one that flowed with milk and honey. This was the hope they needed so they could endure the dark days when all seemed lost. Yes, God was still with them, God still loved them, and God still had a plan, and a provision, for them. Praise God!
Years and years later, as Lazarus laid in that cave for four days after dying, who would have thought he could stand? Yet, when Jesus ordered Lazarus out of that cave, out he came, still wrapped in the strips of cloth they had bound him in when he died. Grief was turned into a celebration in Bethany that day. Martha and Mary had their brother back, alive! The people witnessed a miracle that gave them hope again. He who was once dead was now alive, this was an eyewitness account of what will happen in those last days Martha had been talking about.
The grave is not the end of life, it is simply the transition from this life to the next. Death is not the end; it is only the pathway that leads to a better life in the presence of God. So, God was glorified that day because when those people saw Lazarus stand and walk out of that grave, many people who witnessed this miracle came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. On that day, they too found life, eternal life with Jesus.
And the psalmist with whom we began this message passes out hope because he knows the promise of life given by God. Right after he asks the question that catches us off guard and takes our breath away, he gives us a hope that gives our breath back, a hope that lightens our hearts as it lifts our load once again. He says of God, “But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.” What joy, what relief rushes over us as we read those words. Our God is a God who forgives, who lifts the weight of guilt and sin off us and allows us to stand, to breathe, and to live.
Knowing that forgiveness is available to us, knowing that our God is quick to forgive us when we confess our sins and ask him to, we can say with the psalmist, “I wait for the Lord; my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.”
When we start feeling like those dry bones in that valley from long ago, the best thing we can do is to find our hope once again in God’s word. When we read God’s word, we see that it is full of hope. For every situation, there is hope for the faithful because that is the way God works. He pours out hope to help us get through the hard stuff so that we can endure to the end – the end of this life here, which is the beginning of life after death where we will live with him forever.
The last two verses of today’s Psalm speak to the nation of Israel, “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.” And he will. God always keeps his promises. He redeemed them from the Babylonian exile, he saved them in the time of the Holocaust, and he has brought them back into their homeland, but God is not done with Israel yet. And he is not done with us yet, either.
We can adapt the psalmist’s words for today by saying, “O Church, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem the Church from all its iniquities.” We know this is true because that is how God works.
When we read the psalmist’s question once again, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?” we can answer, “No one can stand on their own, but with God’s great power of grace, forgiveness, and love, we can. We can stand because we belong to the Lord, and he will raise us up that he might be glorified.” We are ready, Lord, to stand with you and for you. Take each of us by the hand and raise us up, for we cannot stand without you. AMEN.
PRAYER: Precious Lord, you could have chosen to leave us in our sin, but you did not. Out of your great love for us, your creation, you sent your son to die for our sins so that we might live. With you Lord, we can live and breathe, with you Lord, we have hope and life. Help us to share our gift with others, that they might join us in living for you as your disciples, as your children. AMEN.
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: Who Could Stand?
Scripture: Psalm 130 (Eze 37:1-14; John 11:1-45)
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
There is a key question found in today’s Psalm, in verse three: “If you, O LORD, should mark uniquities, Lord, who could stand?” It’s a hard question, one which, if we ponder it for even a moment, kind of feels like a punch in the gut as the realization hits us that the answer is, “Not me.”
“Not me, Lord,” we would answer, “I know I couldn’t stand before you if you were to count against me all the sins in my life, all the times I have messed up. The weight of that judgement would knock me down, it would crush me, I would not be able to breathe, and I would die.” Just thinking about that almost makes us feel that weight, and when we read this verse of the psalm, we want to turn the page in despair, because if that were all there was, our hope would be snuffed out like a candle flame, and life would be bleak.
In the eleventh chapter of the gospel of John, we find the account of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. Jesus received a message from Martha and Mary that their brother was sick. Of course, they would send for Jesus in this case, they had seen him perform healing miracles for so many people, most of them strangers, surly he would heal their brother, one of Jesus’ best friends. I can feel the hope they had when they sent that message.
“It will be okay,” they reassured one another, “Jesus will come. Jesus will fix this. Lazarus will soon be well again.” But Jesus got the message, and he did not hurry to Bethany as the sisters assumed he would. In fact, Jesus stayed where he was for another two days before he decided to make the journey to visit his sick friend.
When Jesus and his disciples got to Bethany, they discovered that Lazarus had already died and had been in the tomb for four days. Even if Jesus had left as soon as Martha and Mary’s message got to him, it would have already been too late. Martha came out to meet Jesus when she heard he was there. Weighted down with grief for her brother, she said exactly what she was thinking, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Seeking to reassure her, Jesus said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” And Martha knew that. She affirmed that belief by saying, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection, in the last days.” Martha had been listening and learning even while she worked so hard to prepare just the right food and make her guests feel at home. She listened, she learned, and she believed in Jesus, but right now her heart was still broken, her grief was still raw. The comfort of knowing she would see her brother again in the resurrection was not enough in that moment to lessen her grief. Then she went back to the house and told Mary that Jesus had arrived.
As soon as Mary heard the news, she got up and went to meet Jesus, just as Martha had done. And just like her sister, Mary made the same statement, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Death put those sisters in deep grief but knowing that Jesus had to power to heal their brother, had he arrived on time, caused their grief to go even deeper. It’s so easy, isn’t it, to get stuck in the “what ifs?” If only this or if only that, then things would have been different. If only Jesus had healed Lazarus while there was still time, then they would be celebrating now instead of grieving his loss.
Jesus felt their grief, he knew their pain, and as compassion for their heartache rose within him, he began to weep. The humanity of Jesus allowed him to feel grief just as you and I feel it, just as Martha and Mary felt it, and tears came to him in that moment of mourning. “Where have you put him?” Jesus asked. The people standing around watching saw Jesus’ tears and some were moved by them, thinking of how much he had loved Lazarus. There were others, though who were not so moved, those who judged too quickly, too harshly, thinking that if this man could make the blind to see, surly he could have saved his friend.
They came to the tomb and Jesus ordered the stone be rolled away from the entrance, the stone that had covered the place where Lazarus had laid for four days now. Jesus looked up, prayed to the Father, and then said, in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
Stop for a moment, in that very second. Imagine what the bystanders were thinking as Jesus gave his command to a man who had been dead for four days. “Lazarus, come out! Are you kidding? What is he doing? Has he lost his mind? Four days, Jesus, four long days he’s been dead. He is not coming out.”
Many, many years before this, the prophet, Ezekiel, had an experience that he would never forget. He writes about it in the thirty seventh chapter of his book, saying, “The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.”
Ezekiel tells us that the Lord led him all through that valley filled with bones, bones that were very dry from having been without life for so long. And then the Lord asked Ezekiel a question, one that didn’t make any sense, “Mortal, can these bones live?”
What was Ezekiel to say as he looked around at all the bones, dry, brittle, broken, scattered bones? How could they possibly live again after all this time? Ezekiel answered the only way he could, “O Lord God, you know.” He was probably thinking, “You know the answer, even if I don’t see the possibility of life coming back into these old bones.” God then told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, God gave him the words to say, and Ezekiel obeyed.
I want to compare for a moment the story of Lazarus, Ezekiel’s dry bones, and the psalmist’s question. What do they all have in common? Despair, grief, lifelessness, hopelessness. The weight of our sins, the recent death of a beloved man, the valley of dried-up old bones of a faceless multitude all leaves us feeling sad, don’t they? And it is sad, but what would be worse is if those stories ended there.
But that is not the end. That is not how God works. When Ezekiel prophesied to those dry bones, there came a noise like had never been heard. Bones began to move; they began to rattle against other bones as they came together in the proper formation of a human body. Then, when Ezekiel looked closer, there were sinews connecting the bones and then muscle began to cover them, and after that, skin started forming over the flesh. What had been nothing but piles and piles of dry bones a few minutes ago was now an army of bodies standing shoulder to shoulder in the valley. Then God told Ezekiel to prophesy once again, and he did. He writes, “I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.” Where death had been, now there was life. Who would have thought those old dry bones could stand? How could they have? They were dry, lifeless, brittle old bones, but God brought them to life.
God’s message to Ezekiel in that day was for the nation of Israel. He gave Ezekiel a message of hope that Ezekiel was told to share with his people. Those dry bones represented Israel in her disobedience, her exile, her hopelessness, but the bodies that came to life were Israel when God would redeem her, bring her back together, and make her strong once again. Though the nation that had been more numerous than the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the shore was now only few in number, God would not leave them in their despair. God had a plan, and he gave them a promise which is, “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”
There is the breath the people of Israel needed to hear, there is a relief from some of the weight that has been holding them down and crushing them while they lived in a land far away from the one that flowed with milk and honey. This was the hope they needed so they could endure the dark days when all seemed lost. Yes, God was still with them, God still loved them, and God still had a plan, and a provision, for them. Praise God!
Years and years later, as Lazarus laid in that cave for four days after dying, who would have thought he could stand? Yet, when Jesus ordered Lazarus out of that cave, out he came, still wrapped in the strips of cloth they had bound him in when he died. Grief was turned into a celebration in Bethany that day. Martha and Mary had their brother back, alive! The people witnessed a miracle that gave them hope again. He who was once dead was now alive, this was an eyewitness account of what will happen in those last days Martha had been talking about.
The grave is not the end of life, it is simply the transition from this life to the next. Death is not the end; it is only the pathway that leads to a better life in the presence of God. So, God was glorified that day because when those people saw Lazarus stand and walk out of that grave, many people who witnessed this miracle came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. On that day, they too found life, eternal life with Jesus.
And the psalmist with whom we began this message passes out hope because he knows the promise of life given by God. Right after he asks the question that catches us off guard and takes our breath away, he gives us a hope that gives our breath back, a hope that lightens our hearts as it lifts our load once again. He says of God, “But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.” What joy, what relief rushes over us as we read those words. Our God is a God who forgives, who lifts the weight of guilt and sin off us and allows us to stand, to breathe, and to live.
Knowing that forgiveness is available to us, knowing that our God is quick to forgive us when we confess our sins and ask him to, we can say with the psalmist, “I wait for the Lord; my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.”
When we start feeling like those dry bones in that valley from long ago, the best thing we can do is to find our hope once again in God’s word. When we read God’s word, we see that it is full of hope. For every situation, there is hope for the faithful because that is the way God works. He pours out hope to help us get through the hard stuff so that we can endure to the end – the end of this life here, which is the beginning of life after death where we will live with him forever.
The last two verses of today’s Psalm speak to the nation of Israel, “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.” And he will. God always keeps his promises. He redeemed them from the Babylonian exile, he saved them in the time of the Holocaust, and he has brought them back into their homeland, but God is not done with Israel yet. And he is not done with us yet, either.
We can adapt the psalmist’s words for today by saying, “O Church, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem the Church from all its iniquities.” We know this is true because that is how God works.
When we read the psalmist’s question once again, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?” we can answer, “No one can stand on their own, but with God’s great power of grace, forgiveness, and love, we can. We can stand because we belong to the Lord, and he will raise us up that he might be glorified.” We are ready, Lord, to stand with you and for you. Take each of us by the hand and raise us up, for we cannot stand without you. AMEN.
PRAYER: Precious Lord, you could have chosen to leave us in our sin, but you did not. Out of your great love for us, your creation, you sent your son to die for our sins so that we might live. With you Lord, we can live and breathe, with you Lord, we have hope and life. Help us to share our gift with others, that they might join us in living for you as your disciples, as your children. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON ON MARCH 19, 2023 CALLED "IN THE PRESENCE".
March 19, 2023
Rootstown
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: In the Presence
Scripture: Psalm 23 (1 Sam16:1-13; John 9:1-41)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;[a]
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths[c]
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy[f] shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
Once there was a prophet named Samuel, during the time when Saul was king over Israel. God had directed Samuel to tell King Saul to attack and destroy the Amalekites. The army of Israel was to utterly destroy all the people, all their possessions, and even all their livestock.
Saul’s army did attack, and they did destroy all the people – almost. They took the king of the Amalekites alive and brought him back with them. They did destroy the possessions and the livestock – except the things they wanted to keep for themselves and the animals that they wanted to keep, too.
God was angry, Samuel was angry, and Saul was confused. “What?” he asked when Samuel confronted him, “I did what God said, I destroyed all the people except this one guy, and we only kept the best of the sheep and cattle so we could sacrifice them to the Lord, and we only kept the really valuable stuff they had. Other than that, everything else is gone.”
Saul had not done what God had directed him to do – he did as he wanted to do, and because of that, God rejected Saul as king of Israel. You can find this account of Saul’s disobedience in 1 Samuel, chapter 15.
In the next chapter, God sends Saul to Bethlehem to the home of Jesse, to seek out the son of Jesse that God will appoint to be king in place of Saul. When Jesse brought forth his oldest son, Eliab, Samuel immediately thought, “Hmmm, I can see why God would choose this one as king.” Eliab was tall, strong, and handsome, surely all the best qualities for a king. But God told Samuel, “No. Not this one.” God told Samuel, “You are looking at what the eye can see – the outward appearance, but I look at the heart, the true indicator of kingly material.”
So, the next son, Abinidab, was brought out. Not this one, either. Next came Shammah, but he, too, was not the right one. It wasn’t the next one, or the one after, or the one after him, and then the answer was still “No” when the seventh son was presented to Samuel. “Wait a minute,” Jesse asked, “Are there any others?”
Ahh, yes, there was one more, the youngest son, out in the pasture with the sheep. So, this son was sent for, and he came in from the fields. When David arrived, the Lord said to Samuel, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” Interestingly enough, Samuel still describes David as “ruddy with beautiful eyes, and handsome.” We humans just can’t get past how people look, can we?
Samuel took the horn of oil, opened it, and anointed David right then, in the presence of his father and his brothers, and in the presence of God. In that moment, scripture says, “the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”
Saul, in his disobedience, may have never known another peaceful day in his life. David would have his share of troubles, but he would always feel the presence of God with him, no matter how difficult a situation he encountered.
This Psalm of David was likely written after David became king of Israel after Saul’s death. Remember, David had been a shepherd, so he understood the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. He had cared for his father’s sheep from the time he was a boy, living with them in the pastures, herding them into the sheepfold at night to keep them safe from nocturnal predators, finding for them the best, sweetest grass for feeding, the clearest, safest water for drinking. David even risked his own life to kill lions and bears that tried to steal from his flock.
The beginning of this psalm is almost like an introduction. David is talking to the reader and telling us who God is to him. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Doesn’t this sound like someone we would want to know?
The Lord is my shepherd, David says, he will do for me what a good shepherd does for his flock – guard them, protect them, provide for them, love them. The shepherd wants the best for his flock so they will be healthy and safe. Because the shepherd takes such good care of his flock, they have all they want, all they need. David is telling us that in the Lord, we, too, will have all we need so we can live and thrive and rest in peace – in his peace – because we are in his presence, because God is with us.
A shepherd cannot shepherd his sheep from afar. He can’t take care of his flock that is way out in the pasture yet stay at home all day himself. The shepherd must be present with his sheep. On the other hand, the sheep must also be in the presence of the shepherd to benefit from his care. You see, sheep tend to wander off. They see an enticing patch of grass a few steps away and they go there. Then there is another patch a few more paces away and they go there. Pretty soon, the sheep finds itself separated from the flock and in grave danger of being lost or attacked. It is only when the sheep stay in the presence of the shepherd that they can be under his protection.
That is why David likens himself to a sheep and the Lord to the Shepherd. David knows he might wander off and wander into danger if he doesn’t pay attention to God. In fact, that is exactly what did happen to David when he had his fling with Bathsheba and tried to cover it up by having her husband killed. He had wandered off into dark and dangerous territory, away from the protection of his shepherd, out of the presence of God.
God brought David back from the brink of destruction, though, just as a shepherd brings his sheep back into the flock where it can be looked after once more. God was with David; David was once again in God’s presence.
After the introduction, David turns from speaking to the reader of the psalm to speaking directly to God, and in his words, we see a man who has learned to trust, absolutely and completely trust his shepherd. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me.” This is a man who has endured a lot in his life. He was hunted by Saul and almost killed by him a few times, he lived as a fugitive for years, his first wife grew to hate him, he and Bathsheba lost their first child, and his son would later betray him and try to take the kingdom from him. David experienced some dark times, and we see some of that in his other psalms when he would cry out to God and plead for his enemies to be defeated, when he wondered how much longer he would have to endure the hardships, when he felt like he could almost die from it all, but even then, David knew God was with him and would ultimately save him.
Pastor James Howell describes the change in the psalm like this: “Instead of talking about God, the Psalmist begins to talk to God; instead of God in the head, God is a friend in the heart. A conversation happens, a relationship grows. This is faith, the only true comfort.”
David isn’t talking to us, the readers at this point, but he is allowing us to listen to his conversation with God and expecting us to learn from it. David had lived through enough battles in his life to know that the only way he had survived was by being in the presence of God. David didn’t make it through the tough stuff in his own strength, but by God’s strength and through God’s grace. David lived by faith and it gave him comfort, he counted on the relationship he had with his shepherd to get him through every day – good or bad.
Do we have that kind of faith? This is what we must ask ourselves. Do I have enough faith in God to trust him as my shepherd? Can I allow him to give me what I need, to provide rest when I am weary, to give me a safe dwelling place in his presence, to lead me on the safest path? Do I have enough faith to follow him wherever he will lead me, even if that journey passes through some deep valleys where the shadows are as dark as death and danger lurks on either side of me?
These are the hard questions, ones we don’t like to dwell on because we may be unsure of the answers. We might not want to commit, we might be afraid if we say we have this faith then the valleys will get deeper and darker before too long. We don’t want to follow our shepherd into unfamiliar territory, what if we don’t like it there?
My friends, hear this today: You have already walked through some deep, dark valleys. We all have. And God was with us! Right with us, step by step, every bit of the way, whether we realized it or not. And there will be deep dark valleys ahead, too, but God will be with us, step by step, every bit of the way, we can be sure of that, because our God is not only our shepherd, he is our Good Shepherd, never leaving us abandoned, always seeking to keep us in his presence. If we wander off, he will come looking for us, searching for us, wanting to rescue us and bring us back to the flock.
What a testimony to be able to say, as David did, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” What peace and comfort comes from this assurance that God is with us, that we are in his presence. Such peace that David could say, “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
Did you know that shepherds actually used oil on the heads of sheep? The moist membranes of the sheep’s eyes and ears attract insects that want to lay their eggs there. These insects are so troublesome to the sheep that the sheep can become obsessed with trying to keep the insects away, causing great distress. The shepherds would pour oil over the sheep’s head and use it as a soothing remedy to keep those pests away and keep their sheep comfortable and allow them to find rest.
When David says, “You anoint my head with oil,” he is acknowledging that the Good Shepherd is tending to him in a way that will allow him to find rest in that green pasture that was made for him to lie in, soothing his weary soul and strengthening his tired body. A place where his cup of blessings runs over from a pitcher that has poured out more goodness and love than his cup can hold.
Couldn’t we all use a bit of soothing and strengthening today? Don’t we all long for that place of peace and quiet rest? Don’t we all need to remember that our cup, too, runs over with blessings, because sometimes we forget that we are even holding a cup at all? We have become so busy that we cannot hear the call of our Lord who has prepared a place for us, just as he did for David.
God wants to have all of us find that place because he has prepared it out of love for us. God wanted Saul to find that place, too, but Saul chose to defy the Lord, and so he could never live in peace. David sinned, too, but the difference between David and Saul is that David acknowledged his sin and sought forgiveness, Saul did not.
If Samuel had been left to choose, Eliab would have been the next king of Israel, but God didn’t want a man who only looked good on the outside, he wanted a man who had a heart like David. A man who, even after all he had been through could still say, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
David lived on the inside with his heart for God, and he lived on the outside for all the rest of us to see his faith and follow his example. May we all say, with the same confidence as David, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” and mean it with all our hearts. AMEN.
PRAYER: Mighty God, you are our shepherd. You lead us into safe places, you protect us from our enemies, you provide for us all that we need. When we wander off, you seek us, find us, and bring us back to the flock. Thank you, Lord, for giving us rest when we are weary, strength to get through the days, and love that soothes, heals, and restores. May we desire nothing more than to dwell in your presence forever. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-psalm-23-23
Call to Worship:
L: When we are tired and weary,
P: Our shepherd offers us rest.
L: When troubles come.
P: Our shepherd provides comfort.
L: Jesus is our Good Shepherd,
P: Providing for our every need,
ALL: And inviting us into his presence forever. AMEN.
Hymn: 314 In the Garden
A
Rootstown
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: In the Presence
Scripture: Psalm 23 (1 Sam16:1-13; John 9:1-41)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;[a]
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths[c]
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy[f] shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
Once there was a prophet named Samuel, during the time when Saul was king over Israel. God had directed Samuel to tell King Saul to attack and destroy the Amalekites. The army of Israel was to utterly destroy all the people, all their possessions, and even all their livestock.
Saul’s army did attack, and they did destroy all the people – almost. They took the king of the Amalekites alive and brought him back with them. They did destroy the possessions and the livestock – except the things they wanted to keep for themselves and the animals that they wanted to keep, too.
God was angry, Samuel was angry, and Saul was confused. “What?” he asked when Samuel confronted him, “I did what God said, I destroyed all the people except this one guy, and we only kept the best of the sheep and cattle so we could sacrifice them to the Lord, and we only kept the really valuable stuff they had. Other than that, everything else is gone.”
Saul had not done what God had directed him to do – he did as he wanted to do, and because of that, God rejected Saul as king of Israel. You can find this account of Saul’s disobedience in 1 Samuel, chapter 15.
In the next chapter, God sends Saul to Bethlehem to the home of Jesse, to seek out the son of Jesse that God will appoint to be king in place of Saul. When Jesse brought forth his oldest son, Eliab, Samuel immediately thought, “Hmmm, I can see why God would choose this one as king.” Eliab was tall, strong, and handsome, surely all the best qualities for a king. But God told Samuel, “No. Not this one.” God told Samuel, “You are looking at what the eye can see – the outward appearance, but I look at the heart, the true indicator of kingly material.”
So, the next son, Abinidab, was brought out. Not this one, either. Next came Shammah, but he, too, was not the right one. It wasn’t the next one, or the one after, or the one after him, and then the answer was still “No” when the seventh son was presented to Samuel. “Wait a minute,” Jesse asked, “Are there any others?”
Ahh, yes, there was one more, the youngest son, out in the pasture with the sheep. So, this son was sent for, and he came in from the fields. When David arrived, the Lord said to Samuel, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” Interestingly enough, Samuel still describes David as “ruddy with beautiful eyes, and handsome.” We humans just can’t get past how people look, can we?
Samuel took the horn of oil, opened it, and anointed David right then, in the presence of his father and his brothers, and in the presence of God. In that moment, scripture says, “the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”
Saul, in his disobedience, may have never known another peaceful day in his life. David would have his share of troubles, but he would always feel the presence of God with him, no matter how difficult a situation he encountered.
This Psalm of David was likely written after David became king of Israel after Saul’s death. Remember, David had been a shepherd, so he understood the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. He had cared for his father’s sheep from the time he was a boy, living with them in the pastures, herding them into the sheepfold at night to keep them safe from nocturnal predators, finding for them the best, sweetest grass for feeding, the clearest, safest water for drinking. David even risked his own life to kill lions and bears that tried to steal from his flock.
The beginning of this psalm is almost like an introduction. David is talking to the reader and telling us who God is to him. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Doesn’t this sound like someone we would want to know?
The Lord is my shepherd, David says, he will do for me what a good shepherd does for his flock – guard them, protect them, provide for them, love them. The shepherd wants the best for his flock so they will be healthy and safe. Because the shepherd takes such good care of his flock, they have all they want, all they need. David is telling us that in the Lord, we, too, will have all we need so we can live and thrive and rest in peace – in his peace – because we are in his presence, because God is with us.
A shepherd cannot shepherd his sheep from afar. He can’t take care of his flock that is way out in the pasture yet stay at home all day himself. The shepherd must be present with his sheep. On the other hand, the sheep must also be in the presence of the shepherd to benefit from his care. You see, sheep tend to wander off. They see an enticing patch of grass a few steps away and they go there. Then there is another patch a few more paces away and they go there. Pretty soon, the sheep finds itself separated from the flock and in grave danger of being lost or attacked. It is only when the sheep stay in the presence of the shepherd that they can be under his protection.
That is why David likens himself to a sheep and the Lord to the Shepherd. David knows he might wander off and wander into danger if he doesn’t pay attention to God. In fact, that is exactly what did happen to David when he had his fling with Bathsheba and tried to cover it up by having her husband killed. He had wandered off into dark and dangerous territory, away from the protection of his shepherd, out of the presence of God.
God brought David back from the brink of destruction, though, just as a shepherd brings his sheep back into the flock where it can be looked after once more. God was with David; David was once again in God’s presence.
After the introduction, David turns from speaking to the reader of the psalm to speaking directly to God, and in his words, we see a man who has learned to trust, absolutely and completely trust his shepherd. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me.” This is a man who has endured a lot in his life. He was hunted by Saul and almost killed by him a few times, he lived as a fugitive for years, his first wife grew to hate him, he and Bathsheba lost their first child, and his son would later betray him and try to take the kingdom from him. David experienced some dark times, and we see some of that in his other psalms when he would cry out to God and plead for his enemies to be defeated, when he wondered how much longer he would have to endure the hardships, when he felt like he could almost die from it all, but even then, David knew God was with him and would ultimately save him.
Pastor James Howell describes the change in the psalm like this: “Instead of talking about God, the Psalmist begins to talk to God; instead of God in the head, God is a friend in the heart. A conversation happens, a relationship grows. This is faith, the only true comfort.”
David isn’t talking to us, the readers at this point, but he is allowing us to listen to his conversation with God and expecting us to learn from it. David had lived through enough battles in his life to know that the only way he had survived was by being in the presence of God. David didn’t make it through the tough stuff in his own strength, but by God’s strength and through God’s grace. David lived by faith and it gave him comfort, he counted on the relationship he had with his shepherd to get him through every day – good or bad.
Do we have that kind of faith? This is what we must ask ourselves. Do I have enough faith in God to trust him as my shepherd? Can I allow him to give me what I need, to provide rest when I am weary, to give me a safe dwelling place in his presence, to lead me on the safest path? Do I have enough faith to follow him wherever he will lead me, even if that journey passes through some deep valleys where the shadows are as dark as death and danger lurks on either side of me?
These are the hard questions, ones we don’t like to dwell on because we may be unsure of the answers. We might not want to commit, we might be afraid if we say we have this faith then the valleys will get deeper and darker before too long. We don’t want to follow our shepherd into unfamiliar territory, what if we don’t like it there?
My friends, hear this today: You have already walked through some deep, dark valleys. We all have. And God was with us! Right with us, step by step, every bit of the way, whether we realized it or not. And there will be deep dark valleys ahead, too, but God will be with us, step by step, every bit of the way, we can be sure of that, because our God is not only our shepherd, he is our Good Shepherd, never leaving us abandoned, always seeking to keep us in his presence. If we wander off, he will come looking for us, searching for us, wanting to rescue us and bring us back to the flock.
What a testimony to be able to say, as David did, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” What peace and comfort comes from this assurance that God is with us, that we are in his presence. Such peace that David could say, “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
Did you know that shepherds actually used oil on the heads of sheep? The moist membranes of the sheep’s eyes and ears attract insects that want to lay their eggs there. These insects are so troublesome to the sheep that the sheep can become obsessed with trying to keep the insects away, causing great distress. The shepherds would pour oil over the sheep’s head and use it as a soothing remedy to keep those pests away and keep their sheep comfortable and allow them to find rest.
When David says, “You anoint my head with oil,” he is acknowledging that the Good Shepherd is tending to him in a way that will allow him to find rest in that green pasture that was made for him to lie in, soothing his weary soul and strengthening his tired body. A place where his cup of blessings runs over from a pitcher that has poured out more goodness and love than his cup can hold.
Couldn’t we all use a bit of soothing and strengthening today? Don’t we all long for that place of peace and quiet rest? Don’t we all need to remember that our cup, too, runs over with blessings, because sometimes we forget that we are even holding a cup at all? We have become so busy that we cannot hear the call of our Lord who has prepared a place for us, just as he did for David.
God wants to have all of us find that place because he has prepared it out of love for us. God wanted Saul to find that place, too, but Saul chose to defy the Lord, and so he could never live in peace. David sinned, too, but the difference between David and Saul is that David acknowledged his sin and sought forgiveness, Saul did not.
If Samuel had been left to choose, Eliab would have been the next king of Israel, but God didn’t want a man who only looked good on the outside, he wanted a man who had a heart like David. A man who, even after all he had been through could still say, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
David lived on the inside with his heart for God, and he lived on the outside for all the rest of us to see his faith and follow his example. May we all say, with the same confidence as David, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” and mean it with all our hearts. AMEN.
PRAYER: Mighty God, you are our shepherd. You lead us into safe places, you protect us from our enemies, you provide for us all that we need. When we wander off, you seek us, find us, and bring us back to the flock. Thank you, Lord, for giving us rest when we are weary, strength to get through the days, and love that soothes, heals, and restores. May we desire nothing more than to dwell in your presence forever. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-psalm-23-23
Call to Worship:
L: When we are tired and weary,
P: Our shepherd offers us rest.
L: When troubles come.
P: Our shepherd provides comfort.
L: Jesus is our Good Shepherd,
P: Providing for our every need,
ALL: And inviting us into his presence forever. AMEN.
Hymn: 314 In the Garden
A
March 19, 2023
Rootstown
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: In the Presence
Scripture: Psalm 23 (1 Sam16:1-13; John 9:1-41)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;[a]
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths[c]
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy[f] shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
Once there was a prophet named Samuel, during the time when Saul was king over Israel. God had directed Samuel to tell King Saul to attack and destroy the Amalekites. The army of Israel was to utterly destroy all the people, all their possessions, and even all their livestock.
Saul’s army did attack, and they did destroy all the people – almost. They took the king of the Amalekites alive and brought him back with them. They did destroy the possessions and the livestock – except the things they wanted to keep for themselves and the animals that they wanted to keep, too.
God was angry, Samuel was angry, and Saul was confused. “What?” he asked when Samuel confronted him, “I did what God said, I destroyed all the people except this one guy, and we only kept the best of the sheep and cattle so we could sacrifice them to the Lord, and we only kept the really valuable stuff they had. Other than that, everything else is gone.”
Saul had not done what God had directed him to do – he did as he wanted to do, and because of that, God rejected Saul as king of Israel. You can find this account of Saul’s disobedience in 1 Samuel, chapter 15.
In the next chapter, God sends Saul to Bethlehem to the home of Jesse, to seek out the son of Jesse that God will appoint to be king in place of Saul. When Jesse brought forth his oldest son, Eliab, Samuel immediately thought, “Hmmm, I can see why God would choose this one as king.” Eliab was tall, strong, and handsome, surely all the best qualities for a king. But God told Samuel, “No. Not this one.” God told Samuel, “You are looking at what the eye can see – the outward appearance, but I look at the heart, the true indicator of kingly material.”
So, the next son, Abinidab, was brought out. Not this one, either. Next came Shammah, but he, too, was not the right one. It wasn’t the next one, or the one after, or the one after him, and then the answer was still “No” when the seventh son was presented to Samuel. “Wait a minute,” Jesse asked, “Are there any others?”
Ahh, yes, there was one more, the youngest son, out in the pasture with the sheep. So, this son was sent for, and he came in from the fields. When David arrived, the Lord said to Samuel, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” Interestingly enough, Samuel still describes David as “ruddy with beautiful eyes, and handsome.” We humans just can’t get past how people look, can we?
Samuel took the horn of oil, opened it, and anointed David right then, in the presence of his father and his brothers, and in the presence of God. In that moment, scripture says, “the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”
Saul, in his disobedience, may have never known another peaceful day in his life. David would have his share of troubles, but he would always feel the presence of God with him, no matter how difficult a situation he encountered.
This Psalm of David was likely written after David became king of Israel after Saul’s death. Remember, David had been a shepherd, so he understood the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. He had cared for his father’s sheep from the time he was a boy, living with them in the pastures, herding them into the sheepfold at night to keep them safe from nocturnal predators, finding for them the best, sweetest grass for feeding, the clearest, safest water for drinking. David even risked his own life to kill lions and bears that tried to steal from his flock.
The beginning of this psalm is almost like an introduction. David is talking to the reader and telling us who God is to him. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Doesn’t this sound like someone we would want to know?
The Lord is my shepherd, David says, he will do for me what a good shepherd does for his flock – guard them, protect them, provide for them, love them. The shepherd wants the best for his flock so they will be healthy and safe. Because the shepherd takes such good care of his flock, they have all they want, all they need. David is telling us that in the Lord, we, too, will have all we need so we can live and thrive and rest in peace – in his peace – because we are in his presence, because God is with us.
A shepherd cannot shepherd his sheep from afar. He can’t take care of his flock that is way out in the pasture yet stay at home all day himself. The shepherd must be present with his sheep. On the other hand, the sheep must also be in the presence of the shepherd to benefit from his care. You see, sheep tend to wander off. They see an enticing patch of grass a few steps away and they go there. Then there is another patch a few more paces away and they go there. Pretty soon, the sheep finds itself separated from the flock and in grave danger of being lost or attacked. It is only when the sheep stay in the presence of the shepherd that they can be under his protection.
That is why David likens himself to a sheep and the Lord to the Shepherd. David knows he might wander off and wander into danger if he doesn’t pay attention to God. In fact, that is exactly what did happen to David when he had his fling with Bathsheba and tried to cover it up by having her husband killed. He had wandered off into dark and dangerous territory, away from the protection of his shepherd, out of the presence of God.
God brought David back from the brink of destruction, though, just as a shepherd brings his sheep back into the flock where it can be looked after once more. God was with David; David was once again in God’s presence.
After the introduction, David turns from speaking to the reader of the psalm to speaking directly to God, and in his words, we see a man who has learned to trust, absolutely and completely trust his shepherd. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me.” This is a man who has endured a lot in his life. He was hunted by Saul and almost killed by him a few times, he lived as a fugitive for years, his first wife grew to hate him, he and Bathsheba lost their first child, and his son would later betray him and try to take the kingdom from him. David experienced some dark times, and we see some of that in his other psalms when he would cry out to God and plead for his enemies to be defeated, when he wondered how much longer he would have to endure the hardships, when he felt like he could almost die from it all, but even then, David knew God was with him and would ultimately save him.
Pastor James Howell describes the change in the psalm like this: “Instead of talking about God, the Psalmist begins to talk to God; instead of God in the head, God is a friend in the heart. A conversation happens, a relationship grows. This is faith, the only true comfort.”
David isn’t talking to us, the readers at this point, but he is allowing us to listen to his conversation with God and expecting us to learn from it. David had lived through enough battles in his life to know that the only way he had survived was by being in the presence of God. David didn’t make it through the tough stuff in his own strength, but by God’s strength and through God’s grace. David lived by faith and it gave him comfort, he counted on the relationship he had with his shepherd to get him through every day – good or bad.
Do we have that kind of faith? This is what we must ask ourselves. Do I have enough faith in God to trust him as my shepherd? Can I allow him to give me what I need, to provide rest when I am weary, to give me a safe dwelling place in his presence, to lead me on the safest path? Do I have enough faith to follow him wherever he will lead me, even if that journey passes through some deep valleys where the shadows are as dark as death and danger lurks on either side of me?
These are the hard questions, ones we don’t like to dwell on because we may be unsure of the answers. We might not want to commit, we might be afraid if we say we have this faith then the valleys will get deeper and darker before too long. We don’t want to follow our shepherd into unfamiliar territory, what if we don’t like it there?
My friends, hear this today: You have already walked through some deep, dark valleys. We all have. And God was with us! Right with us, step by step, every bit of the way, whether we realized it or not. And there will be deep dark valleys ahead, too, but God will be with us, step by step, every bit of the way, we can be sure of that, because our God is not only our shepherd, he is our Good Shepherd, never leaving us abandoned, always seeking to keep us in his presence. If we wander off, he will come looking for us, searching for us, wanting to rescue us and bring us back to the flock.
What a testimony to be able to say, as David did, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” What peace and comfort comes from this assurance that God is with us, that we are in his presence. Such peace that David could say, “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
Did you know that shepherds actually used oil on the heads of sheep? The moist membranes of the sheep’s eyes and ears attract insects that want to lay their eggs there. These insects are so troublesome to the sheep that the sheep can become obsessed with trying to keep the insects away, causing great distress. The shepherds would pour oil over the sheep’s head and use it as a soothing remedy to keep those pests away and keep their sheep comfortable and allow them to find rest.
When David says, “You anoint my head with oil,” he is acknowledging that the Good Shepherd is tending to him in a way that will allow him to find rest in that green pasture that was made for him to lie in, soothing his weary soul and strengthening his tired body. A place where his cup of blessings runs over from a pitcher that has poured out more goodness and love than his cup can hold.
Couldn’t we all use a bit of soothing and strengthening today? Don’t we all long for that place of peace and quiet rest? Don’t we all need to remember that our cup, too, runs over with blessings, because sometimes we forget that we are even holding a cup at all? We have become so busy that we cannot hear the call of our Lord who has prepared a place for us, just as he did for David.
God wants to have all of us find that place because he has prepared it out of love for us. God wanted Saul to find that place, too, but Saul chose to defy the Lord, and so he could never live in peace. David sinned, too, but the difference between David and Saul is that David acknowledged his sin and sought forgiveness, Saul did not.
If Samuel had been left to choose, Eliab would have been the next king of Israel, but God didn’t want a man who only looked good on the outside, he wanted a man who had a heart like David. A man who, even after all he had been through could still say, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
David lived on the inside with his heart for God, and he lived on the outside for all the rest of us to see his faith and follow his example. May we all say, with the same confidence as David, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” and mean it with all our hearts. AMEN.
PRAYER: Mighty God, you are our shepherd. You lead us into safe places, you protect us from our enemies, you provide for us all that we need. When we wander off, you seek us, find us, and bring us back to the flock. Thank you, Lord, for giving us rest when we are weary, strength to get through the days, and love that soothes, heals, and restores. May we desire nothing more than to dwell in your presence forever. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-psalm-23-23
Call to Worship:
L: When we are tired and weary,
P: Our shepherd offers us rest.
L: When troubles come.
P: Our shepherd provides comfort.
L: Jesus is our Good Shepherd,
P: Providing for our every need,
ALL: And inviting us into his presence forever. AMEN.
Hymn: 314 In the Garden
Rootstown
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: In the Presence
Scripture: Psalm 23 (1 Sam16:1-13; John 9:1-41)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;[a]
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths[c]
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy[f] shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
Once there was a prophet named Samuel, during the time when Saul was king over Israel. God had directed Samuel to tell King Saul to attack and destroy the Amalekites. The army of Israel was to utterly destroy all the people, all their possessions, and even all their livestock.
Saul’s army did attack, and they did destroy all the people – almost. They took the king of the Amalekites alive and brought him back with them. They did destroy the possessions and the livestock – except the things they wanted to keep for themselves and the animals that they wanted to keep, too.
God was angry, Samuel was angry, and Saul was confused. “What?” he asked when Samuel confronted him, “I did what God said, I destroyed all the people except this one guy, and we only kept the best of the sheep and cattle so we could sacrifice them to the Lord, and we only kept the really valuable stuff they had. Other than that, everything else is gone.”
Saul had not done what God had directed him to do – he did as he wanted to do, and because of that, God rejected Saul as king of Israel. You can find this account of Saul’s disobedience in 1 Samuel, chapter 15.
In the next chapter, God sends Saul to Bethlehem to the home of Jesse, to seek out the son of Jesse that God will appoint to be king in place of Saul. When Jesse brought forth his oldest son, Eliab, Samuel immediately thought, “Hmmm, I can see why God would choose this one as king.” Eliab was tall, strong, and handsome, surely all the best qualities for a king. But God told Samuel, “No. Not this one.” God told Samuel, “You are looking at what the eye can see – the outward appearance, but I look at the heart, the true indicator of kingly material.”
So, the next son, Abinidab, was brought out. Not this one, either. Next came Shammah, but he, too, was not the right one. It wasn’t the next one, or the one after, or the one after him, and then the answer was still “No” when the seventh son was presented to Samuel. “Wait a minute,” Jesse asked, “Are there any others?”
Ahh, yes, there was one more, the youngest son, out in the pasture with the sheep. So, this son was sent for, and he came in from the fields. When David arrived, the Lord said to Samuel, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” Interestingly enough, Samuel still describes David as “ruddy with beautiful eyes, and handsome.” We humans just can’t get past how people look, can we?
Samuel took the horn of oil, opened it, and anointed David right then, in the presence of his father and his brothers, and in the presence of God. In that moment, scripture says, “the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”
Saul, in his disobedience, may have never known another peaceful day in his life. David would have his share of troubles, but he would always feel the presence of God with him, no matter how difficult a situation he encountered.
This Psalm of David was likely written after David became king of Israel after Saul’s death. Remember, David had been a shepherd, so he understood the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. He had cared for his father’s sheep from the time he was a boy, living with them in the pastures, herding them into the sheepfold at night to keep them safe from nocturnal predators, finding for them the best, sweetest grass for feeding, the clearest, safest water for drinking. David even risked his own life to kill lions and bears that tried to steal from his flock.
The beginning of this psalm is almost like an introduction. David is talking to the reader and telling us who God is to him. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Doesn’t this sound like someone we would want to know?
The Lord is my shepherd, David says, he will do for me what a good shepherd does for his flock – guard them, protect them, provide for them, love them. The shepherd wants the best for his flock so they will be healthy and safe. Because the shepherd takes such good care of his flock, they have all they want, all they need. David is telling us that in the Lord, we, too, will have all we need so we can live and thrive and rest in peace – in his peace – because we are in his presence, because God is with us.
A shepherd cannot shepherd his sheep from afar. He can’t take care of his flock that is way out in the pasture yet stay at home all day himself. The shepherd must be present with his sheep. On the other hand, the sheep must also be in the presence of the shepherd to benefit from his care. You see, sheep tend to wander off. They see an enticing patch of grass a few steps away and they go there. Then there is another patch a few more paces away and they go there. Pretty soon, the sheep finds itself separated from the flock and in grave danger of being lost or attacked. It is only when the sheep stay in the presence of the shepherd that they can be under his protection.
That is why David likens himself to a sheep and the Lord to the Shepherd. David knows he might wander off and wander into danger if he doesn’t pay attention to God. In fact, that is exactly what did happen to David when he had his fling with Bathsheba and tried to cover it up by having her husband killed. He had wandered off into dark and dangerous territory, away from the protection of his shepherd, out of the presence of God.
God brought David back from the brink of destruction, though, just as a shepherd brings his sheep back into the flock where it can be looked after once more. God was with David; David was once again in God’s presence.
After the introduction, David turns from speaking to the reader of the psalm to speaking directly to God, and in his words, we see a man who has learned to trust, absolutely and completely trust his shepherd. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me.” This is a man who has endured a lot in his life. He was hunted by Saul and almost killed by him a few times, he lived as a fugitive for years, his first wife grew to hate him, he and Bathsheba lost their first child, and his son would later betray him and try to take the kingdom from him. David experienced some dark times, and we see some of that in his other psalms when he would cry out to God and plead for his enemies to be defeated, when he wondered how much longer he would have to endure the hardships, when he felt like he could almost die from it all, but even then, David knew God was with him and would ultimately save him.
Pastor James Howell describes the change in the psalm like this: “Instead of talking about God, the Psalmist begins to talk to God; instead of God in the head, God is a friend in the heart. A conversation happens, a relationship grows. This is faith, the only true comfort.”
David isn’t talking to us, the readers at this point, but he is allowing us to listen to his conversation with God and expecting us to learn from it. David had lived through enough battles in his life to know that the only way he had survived was by being in the presence of God. David didn’t make it through the tough stuff in his own strength, but by God’s strength and through God’s grace. David lived by faith and it gave him comfort, he counted on the relationship he had with his shepherd to get him through every day – good or bad.
Do we have that kind of faith? This is what we must ask ourselves. Do I have enough faith in God to trust him as my shepherd? Can I allow him to give me what I need, to provide rest when I am weary, to give me a safe dwelling place in his presence, to lead me on the safest path? Do I have enough faith to follow him wherever he will lead me, even if that journey passes through some deep valleys where the shadows are as dark as death and danger lurks on either side of me?
These are the hard questions, ones we don’t like to dwell on because we may be unsure of the answers. We might not want to commit, we might be afraid if we say we have this faith then the valleys will get deeper and darker before too long. We don’t want to follow our shepherd into unfamiliar territory, what if we don’t like it there?
My friends, hear this today: You have already walked through some deep, dark valleys. We all have. And God was with us! Right with us, step by step, every bit of the way, whether we realized it or not. And there will be deep dark valleys ahead, too, but God will be with us, step by step, every bit of the way, we can be sure of that, because our God is not only our shepherd, he is our Good Shepherd, never leaving us abandoned, always seeking to keep us in his presence. If we wander off, he will come looking for us, searching for us, wanting to rescue us and bring us back to the flock.
What a testimony to be able to say, as David did, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” What peace and comfort comes from this assurance that God is with us, that we are in his presence. Such peace that David could say, “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
Did you know that shepherds actually used oil on the heads of sheep? The moist membranes of the sheep’s eyes and ears attract insects that want to lay their eggs there. These insects are so troublesome to the sheep that the sheep can become obsessed with trying to keep the insects away, causing great distress. The shepherds would pour oil over the sheep’s head and use it as a soothing remedy to keep those pests away and keep their sheep comfortable and allow them to find rest.
When David says, “You anoint my head with oil,” he is acknowledging that the Good Shepherd is tending to him in a way that will allow him to find rest in that green pasture that was made for him to lie in, soothing his weary soul and strengthening his tired body. A place where his cup of blessings runs over from a pitcher that has poured out more goodness and love than his cup can hold.
Couldn’t we all use a bit of soothing and strengthening today? Don’t we all long for that place of peace and quiet rest? Don’t we all need to remember that our cup, too, runs over with blessings, because sometimes we forget that we are even holding a cup at all? We have become so busy that we cannot hear the call of our Lord who has prepared a place for us, just as he did for David.
God wants to have all of us find that place because he has prepared it out of love for us. God wanted Saul to find that place, too, but Saul chose to defy the Lord, and so he could never live in peace. David sinned, too, but the difference between David and Saul is that David acknowledged his sin and sought forgiveness, Saul did not.
If Samuel had been left to choose, Eliab would have been the next king of Israel, but God didn’t want a man who only looked good on the outside, he wanted a man who had a heart like David. A man who, even after all he had been through could still say, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
David lived on the inside with his heart for God, and he lived on the outside for all the rest of us to see his faith and follow his example. May we all say, with the same confidence as David, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” and mean it with all our hearts. AMEN.
PRAYER: Mighty God, you are our shepherd. You lead us into safe places, you protect us from our enemies, you provide for us all that we need. When we wander off, you seek us, find us, and bring us back to the flock. Thank you, Lord, for giving us rest when we are weary, strength to get through the days, and love that soothes, heals, and restores. May we desire nothing more than to dwell in your presence forever. AMEN.
References
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-psalm-23-23
Call to Worship:
L: When we are tired and weary,
P: Our shepherd offers us rest.
L: When troubles come.
P: Our shepherd provides comfort.
L: Jesus is our Good Shepherd,
P: Providing for our every need,
ALL: And inviting us into his presence forever. AMEN.
Hymn: 314 In the Garden
PASTOR dONNA'S SERMON FOR MARCH 12, 2023 "gIVE ME WATER".
March 12, 2023
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: Give Me Water
Scripture: Psalm 95
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors tested me
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.”
11 Therefore in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
Have you ever had a day that just went right? I mean, everything just fell into place – everyone was out the door on time with no fighting or hassles, everything that was needed for the day was in the place where it was supposed to be so it could be found the first time you looked. You didn’t have to stop for gas on the way to work because the tank was already full, the line at the coffee shop was empty, the best parking spot in the lot was open, and you didn’t have to rush to beat the timeclock for a change.
The whole day flew by smoothly, your ideas were praised, you had your favorite lunch, the afternoon work fell into place, and there was almost no traffic on the way home. The kids were already home, homework was done, dinner was started, the table was set. After a delicious meal, the kids cleaned up, your favorite show was on TV, and you fell into bed thinking this had been the most perfect day ever. Doesn’t that sound great?
Or have you ever had a prayer answered? A prayer that you have been praying for what seems like your whole life, one that you think will never come to pass, but you keep praying anyway, and then one day it finally happens? Isn’t that awesome?
What about the next day, though? When real life steps back in and the kids are fighting and almost miss the bus, work is long and contentious, and traffic is horrible, when dinner is too much work and the pizza place messes up your order, what do you do then? What happens when you start to realize that the answer to that prayer involves more than you had bargained for and now, you’re not even sure if it is what you really wanted so you ask if you can just give it back? We’ve all had those days, haven’t we?
Well, the Israelites were having one of those days – again. They seemed to have a lot of them as they wandered in that desert wilderness for forty years. They had prayed for years – generations even – for freedom from the Egyptians. They may have begun to believe that freedom would never come. But then, this Moses guy showed up, God sent ten plagues, and Pharoah had finally said, “Go!”
Those Hebrew didn’t waste any time. As soon as Pharaoh said to go, they went. They took everything they had and set off on their journey to freedom – heading to the Promised Land they had been praying for for the last four hundred years. Somehow, though, there was more to this answered prayer than they had bargained for. They had prayed to go, and they had dreamed about getting there, and it felt like the most perfect day ever when they had first set out, but they hadn’t really considered the journey.
We are going to catch up with them as their story unfolds in Exodus 17. The Israelites are wandering in the desert, and they are thirsty. The problem is, there is no water in sight, nothing to quench their thirst, nothing to soothe their dry throats. As their thirst increased, so too, did their fear. So, too, did their testiness. They began to complain amongst themselves, then they began to quarrel with Moses. They demanded water, but Moses had none. They cried out against Moses and lamented that they had been better off living in Egypt as slaves.
They are no longer grateful for answered prayer, they are no longer singing praises to God for rescuing them. Their thirst to satisfy their physical bodies has overcome their desire to worship. They are ready to stone Moses, laying the blame on him for their distress.
We know that Moses prayed to God and God made a way. He told Moses to take his staff and go to where God would be waiting for him. Moses was told to use his staff to strike the rock and when he did, out gushed streams of water – cool, sweet, life-giving water. Moses named that place Massah and Meribah because this was where the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, yet God had still provided for them. Even when they forgot that he was with them, guiding them and protecting them, God still provided for the Israelites. Even when they refused to worship him or forgot to praise him for answered prayer and rescue, God still provided for them. He gave them water – which is life.
Years later, Jesus would seat himself by a well outside a town in Samaria. A women would come to draw water from that well. It was the heat of the day, not the usual time for the task, but this woman was an outcast among her people. She braved the scorching heat of noonday because the respectable women gathered each morning to get their water while it was still cool, making the job easier. She wanted to avoid them, avoid their stares and their whispers about her.
She was surprised when she saw Jesus sitting by the well. She was shocked when he spoke to her and asked for a drink of water. Here was a man speaking to a woman, a Jew addressing a Samaritan. What was he thinking, she asked him. And Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Intrigued, she asked Jesus, “Where does this living water come from?” She wanted this water that would quench her thirst forever, but like the Israelites, she was talking about water that would satisfy her body. Jesus was talking about something that would satisfy her soul.
I’m not sure the Samaritan woman completely understood what Jesus was offering that day, but she understood enough to know who he was, and she went back to the village and began to tell everyone about him. John’s gospel tells us that “Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” This unnamed woman was the first evangelist, the first to tell people about Jesus, and many people became believers and asked Jesus to stay with them in that place. So, Jesus stayed with them for a couple more days and many more people came to believe in him as the Savior of the world. And Jesus gave them all the living water which is life.
We, too, have been given that living water. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we drank deeply from the cup of living water – the same living water he had offered to the Samaritan woman from long ago. And I know that when we accepted that cup and drank from it, we praised God for what he has done for us. At least for that day, maybe for that week, or month. I also know there have been days since then when we have been more like the Israelites in the desert, searching for what will satisfy our physical longings right now, complaining that this answered prayer is not exactly like we had pictured it would be, and arguing with God and others.
That’s why we need the reminder from the Psalmist today. Psalm 95 is titled, “A Call to Worship and Obedience,” because it begins with praise for all God has done while teaching us how to worship, and it goes on to remind us that we should not let ourselves become like the wandering Israelites who did not trust God – the same God who answered their prayer for rescue, who brought them through the Red Sea on dry ground and kept them safe from the Egyptians who were pursuing them, who gave them quail to eat and provided manna from heaven, and who traveled with them, right in front of them, as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. How could they complain when they had so much?
How can we? Yet we do. I had a pastor once who challenged us to go one week without complaining. I barely made it out the door before I messed up. “Oh, no, it’s raining!” were the first words I said when I left that day. What is rain? It is water, it is life, and yet it wasn’t what I wanted right then. How ungrateful I was – and honestly still am sometimes. Yes, I need the reminder the Psalmist has given us.
“O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” This! This is what I want to do. I want to make a joyful noise at all times, not just when the sun is shining warm upon the earth, not just when I score a great parking spot at Walmart, not just when things are going well, but ALL the time.
We can learn to praise God all the time, if we try, if we practice. It’s not that we will ignore the bad stuff in our lives – but that even when we are in the dark valleys, we will look up and see his light, his love, his provision for us, because it is always there – God is always there!
“For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.” Oh, my, those words speak to my heart.
When I read what the Psalmist wrote, I can picture the beauty of God’s creation – the fields for planting, the mountains rising like giants from the ground, the deserts with their dry sand and rocky places, and the seas with their waves that wash up on the beaches, retreating, and coming back again. That picture alone should give us cause to worship and praise our God – he made the earth, the land and the sea, the mountains, and the desert – and how beautiful is his creation. And bonus! he cares for us just as he did for the Israelites in the wilderness, as he did for the woman at the well.
But we need to be careful. We need to be aware that we are weak humans who, like those sheep, are easily distracted, often selfish, and lost when left on our own. God’s plea in today’s Psalm is still a plea for us, that we not harden our hearts against him like the people did at Meribah, that we not test him or taunt him with our wants that are merely to satisfy a temporary physical desire. Like the woman at the well, we should desire the living water that comes from Jesus, the living water that satisfies our soul which is eternal, not just our bodies which are temporary. God doesn’t want us to harden our hearts against him when he answers our prayers but not in the way we expected.
Hearts that grew too hard cost that generation of Israelites their entrance into the Promised Land, but Jesus has come that we all might live in the true Promised Land of heaven with him. That is promise enough to praise our God any given day – good or bad.
Let’s practice more praise and less complaining. Let’s learn from the lessons of the wandering Israelites and be more like the woman at the well after she encountered the Messiah. Let’s be grateful for answered prayers, even when the journey from what we asked for to what we want isn’t what we bargained for. And the next time we thirst for a cup of water, let’s remember the living water that we have already received and praise God for his goodness, his faithfulness, and his loving sacrifice of his own son for our sake. AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful God, when the Israelites got what they wanted, it wasn’t what they expected, and they complained. Help us to recognize that answered prayers are often accompanied by a journey of faith. When the woman at the well asked for this living water that Jesus was offering, she didn’t realize it was water that would refresh her soul and give her life. Help us to remember that you have also offered this living water to us. May we be more ready to praise than to complain, may we be more ready to worship than to worry, and may we honor you with all we do. AMEN.
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: Give Me Water
Scripture: Psalm 95
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors tested me
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.”
11 Therefore in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
Have you ever had a day that just went right? I mean, everything just fell into place – everyone was out the door on time with no fighting or hassles, everything that was needed for the day was in the place where it was supposed to be so it could be found the first time you looked. You didn’t have to stop for gas on the way to work because the tank was already full, the line at the coffee shop was empty, the best parking spot in the lot was open, and you didn’t have to rush to beat the timeclock for a change.
The whole day flew by smoothly, your ideas were praised, you had your favorite lunch, the afternoon work fell into place, and there was almost no traffic on the way home. The kids were already home, homework was done, dinner was started, the table was set. After a delicious meal, the kids cleaned up, your favorite show was on TV, and you fell into bed thinking this had been the most perfect day ever. Doesn’t that sound great?
Or have you ever had a prayer answered? A prayer that you have been praying for what seems like your whole life, one that you think will never come to pass, but you keep praying anyway, and then one day it finally happens? Isn’t that awesome?
What about the next day, though? When real life steps back in and the kids are fighting and almost miss the bus, work is long and contentious, and traffic is horrible, when dinner is too much work and the pizza place messes up your order, what do you do then? What happens when you start to realize that the answer to that prayer involves more than you had bargained for and now, you’re not even sure if it is what you really wanted so you ask if you can just give it back? We’ve all had those days, haven’t we?
Well, the Israelites were having one of those days – again. They seemed to have a lot of them as they wandered in that desert wilderness for forty years. They had prayed for years – generations even – for freedom from the Egyptians. They may have begun to believe that freedom would never come. But then, this Moses guy showed up, God sent ten plagues, and Pharoah had finally said, “Go!”
Those Hebrew didn’t waste any time. As soon as Pharaoh said to go, they went. They took everything they had and set off on their journey to freedom – heading to the Promised Land they had been praying for for the last four hundred years. Somehow, though, there was more to this answered prayer than they had bargained for. They had prayed to go, and they had dreamed about getting there, and it felt like the most perfect day ever when they had first set out, but they hadn’t really considered the journey.
We are going to catch up with them as their story unfolds in Exodus 17. The Israelites are wandering in the desert, and they are thirsty. The problem is, there is no water in sight, nothing to quench their thirst, nothing to soothe their dry throats. As their thirst increased, so too, did their fear. So, too, did their testiness. They began to complain amongst themselves, then they began to quarrel with Moses. They demanded water, but Moses had none. They cried out against Moses and lamented that they had been better off living in Egypt as slaves.
They are no longer grateful for answered prayer, they are no longer singing praises to God for rescuing them. Their thirst to satisfy their physical bodies has overcome their desire to worship. They are ready to stone Moses, laying the blame on him for their distress.
We know that Moses prayed to God and God made a way. He told Moses to take his staff and go to where God would be waiting for him. Moses was told to use his staff to strike the rock and when he did, out gushed streams of water – cool, sweet, life-giving water. Moses named that place Massah and Meribah because this was where the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, yet God had still provided for them. Even when they forgot that he was with them, guiding them and protecting them, God still provided for the Israelites. Even when they refused to worship him or forgot to praise him for answered prayer and rescue, God still provided for them. He gave them water – which is life.
Years later, Jesus would seat himself by a well outside a town in Samaria. A women would come to draw water from that well. It was the heat of the day, not the usual time for the task, but this woman was an outcast among her people. She braved the scorching heat of noonday because the respectable women gathered each morning to get their water while it was still cool, making the job easier. She wanted to avoid them, avoid their stares and their whispers about her.
She was surprised when she saw Jesus sitting by the well. She was shocked when he spoke to her and asked for a drink of water. Here was a man speaking to a woman, a Jew addressing a Samaritan. What was he thinking, she asked him. And Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Intrigued, she asked Jesus, “Where does this living water come from?” She wanted this water that would quench her thirst forever, but like the Israelites, she was talking about water that would satisfy her body. Jesus was talking about something that would satisfy her soul.
I’m not sure the Samaritan woman completely understood what Jesus was offering that day, but she understood enough to know who he was, and she went back to the village and began to tell everyone about him. John’s gospel tells us that “Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” This unnamed woman was the first evangelist, the first to tell people about Jesus, and many people became believers and asked Jesus to stay with them in that place. So, Jesus stayed with them for a couple more days and many more people came to believe in him as the Savior of the world. And Jesus gave them all the living water which is life.
We, too, have been given that living water. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we drank deeply from the cup of living water – the same living water he had offered to the Samaritan woman from long ago. And I know that when we accepted that cup and drank from it, we praised God for what he has done for us. At least for that day, maybe for that week, or month. I also know there have been days since then when we have been more like the Israelites in the desert, searching for what will satisfy our physical longings right now, complaining that this answered prayer is not exactly like we had pictured it would be, and arguing with God and others.
That’s why we need the reminder from the Psalmist today. Psalm 95 is titled, “A Call to Worship and Obedience,” because it begins with praise for all God has done while teaching us how to worship, and it goes on to remind us that we should not let ourselves become like the wandering Israelites who did not trust God – the same God who answered their prayer for rescue, who brought them through the Red Sea on dry ground and kept them safe from the Egyptians who were pursuing them, who gave them quail to eat and provided manna from heaven, and who traveled with them, right in front of them, as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. How could they complain when they had so much?
How can we? Yet we do. I had a pastor once who challenged us to go one week without complaining. I barely made it out the door before I messed up. “Oh, no, it’s raining!” were the first words I said when I left that day. What is rain? It is water, it is life, and yet it wasn’t what I wanted right then. How ungrateful I was – and honestly still am sometimes. Yes, I need the reminder the Psalmist has given us.
“O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” This! This is what I want to do. I want to make a joyful noise at all times, not just when the sun is shining warm upon the earth, not just when I score a great parking spot at Walmart, not just when things are going well, but ALL the time.
We can learn to praise God all the time, if we try, if we practice. It’s not that we will ignore the bad stuff in our lives – but that even when we are in the dark valleys, we will look up and see his light, his love, his provision for us, because it is always there – God is always there!
“For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.” Oh, my, those words speak to my heart.
When I read what the Psalmist wrote, I can picture the beauty of God’s creation – the fields for planting, the mountains rising like giants from the ground, the deserts with their dry sand and rocky places, and the seas with their waves that wash up on the beaches, retreating, and coming back again. That picture alone should give us cause to worship and praise our God – he made the earth, the land and the sea, the mountains, and the desert – and how beautiful is his creation. And bonus! he cares for us just as he did for the Israelites in the wilderness, as he did for the woman at the well.
But we need to be careful. We need to be aware that we are weak humans who, like those sheep, are easily distracted, often selfish, and lost when left on our own. God’s plea in today’s Psalm is still a plea for us, that we not harden our hearts against him like the people did at Meribah, that we not test him or taunt him with our wants that are merely to satisfy a temporary physical desire. Like the woman at the well, we should desire the living water that comes from Jesus, the living water that satisfies our soul which is eternal, not just our bodies which are temporary. God doesn’t want us to harden our hearts against him when he answers our prayers but not in the way we expected.
Hearts that grew too hard cost that generation of Israelites their entrance into the Promised Land, but Jesus has come that we all might live in the true Promised Land of heaven with him. That is promise enough to praise our God any given day – good or bad.
Let’s practice more praise and less complaining. Let’s learn from the lessons of the wandering Israelites and be more like the woman at the well after she encountered the Messiah. Let’s be grateful for answered prayers, even when the journey from what we asked for to what we want isn’t what we bargained for. And the next time we thirst for a cup of water, let’s remember the living water that we have already received and praise God for his goodness, his faithfulness, and his loving sacrifice of his own son for our sake. AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful God, when the Israelites got what they wanted, it wasn’t what they expected, and they complained. Help us to recognize that answered prayers are often accompanied by a journey of faith. When the woman at the well asked for this living water that Jesus was offering, she didn’t realize it was water that would refresh her soul and give her life. Help us to remember that you have also offered this living water to us. May we be more ready to praise than to complain, may we be more ready to worship than to worry, and may we honor you with all we do. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR MARCH 5, 2023 TITLED "gO fROM yOUR cOUNTRY"
March 5, 2023
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: Go from Your Country
Scripture: Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills--
from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.
We are learning in this series how to live from the inside out. What does that look like? How do we do it? We are going to look at two different men who were called to do just that – but in very different ways. One from the Old Testament, the other from the new, these were men who could not have been more different, yet they answered a calling and learned what it was God wanted from them, and how they might live for him.
In both instances, God’s call required a move – physical for one, spiritual for the other, but a move, nonetheless. We don’t always like to think about moving because that somehow implies change, and change is difficult, and scary, and uncertain. We’ve all experienced change in our lives, after all, we know the saying that the only thing constant in life is change, and that seems to be the truth.
Everything we know started with a change of some sort: In the beginning the earth was a formless void, but God changed that, there was only darkness until God made light, Adam and Eve lived in paradise until they fell into sin and were asked to leave. I could give you so many instances of change that we would never be done, but I will leave you with this change – once you were not – until something changed and now you are.
Abram was a man who knew about change. He was born when his father, Terah, lived in Ur, the land of the Chaldeans, but Terah later decided to move his family to Canaan. They packed up and left – Terah, Abram, Abram’s wife, Sarai, and Abram’s nephew, Lot, and they headed to Canaan. They didn’t make it that far. When they reached Haran, they stopped, and there they stayed.
Terah died in Haran, and sometime later, Abram would move once again. Genesis 12 begins with, “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” So, Abram went. This was a physical change – he packed up his family, his herds and flocks, and all his stuff, and he moved from Haran to, well, he didn’t know where he was going. God didn’t tell Abram to move to a certain place – he didn’t mention a country, and boundary, or anything – God just said, “Go to a land that I will show you.”
This would be like someone else programming your GPS, putting you in the car and saying, “Drive, you’ll get there.” “Get where?” we would ask. We might even argue and refuse to go unless or until we had more information. But not Abram. No argument, no stalling, no deal-making, he just went. At seventy-five years old, he went out from his home in search of the place where God would lead him, taking his family, his possessions, and his trust in God’s plan.
Years later, another man would find himself being called to a new place. This change, though, was not a physical movement. Nicodemus did not experience God calling him to pack up and move from one country to another. Rather, this move was one of spirituality, a change in how he thought, in how he knew God, in how he lived in his day and time. Some might say that Nicodemus’ journey was even harder than Abram’s.
One night, Nicodemus left the comfort of his home and sought out Jesus. He went under the cover of darkness to avoid being seen with this man who was causing such a ruckus among the leading religious leaders, of which Nicodemus was one. He was not only a Pharisee, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the governing body who ruled over the Jews at the time, second to the authority of the Roman government, of course.
An interesting conversation began between the two men, one that sounds a little puzzling. Nicodemus began, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” And then Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Huh?
Are there two different conversations going on here at once? Nicodemus greeted Jesus, and Jesus made a statement about being born from above. What does Jesus’ statement have to do with Nicodemus’ greeting? Perhaps, it sounds so disconnected because Nicodemus was making nice, making small talk, but Jesus knew what he was really there for and answered his real question before it could be asked.
Sometimes a move of the magnitude that Nicodemus needed to make was best jump-started by getting right to the heart. Unlike Abram, Nicodemus did have questions. He needed answers before he would commit to making a move. “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” This first sounds like a legitimate question, the second like a joke.
Jesus explains that this second birth is not physical, but spiritual, that one must be born of water and the Spirit, a Spirit that can be felt and known, even though he cannot be seen, just as we can know about and feel the wind but cannot see it as it blows. And then, Jesus utters some of the most beautiful words in all of scripture, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Nicodemus began speaking to Jesus by saying, “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.” Does he now begin to understand that that is what Jesus is trying to tell him? I believe so, because later, after Jesus has died, Nicodemus will join Joseph in preparing Jesus’ body for burial. They will anoint him with a hundred pounds of spices and wrap him in linen cloths. Would Nicodemus do this if he had not made the move from the Pharisee he was to the believer God called him to be?
Two men, each receiving a call within from God, each making the decision to live out that call in the open, both determining to live from the inside out.
My friends, God is calling people today. He is calling his people to move from one place to another – sometimes physically moving – sometimes spiritually. Most of the time we are more like Nicodemus than we are Abram. We don’t just get up and go, even when the journey is just from our head to our heart. We ask questions, we demand answers, we want to know the destination before we move even one foot, because change is hard. Change is scary. Change is uncertain. But look at how Abram and Nicodemus were both blessed because of their obedience to God’s call to change.
Abram became the father of the nation of Israel and Nicodemus became a follower of Christ. They could have said no, but they chose to go. We need to follow their example. We need to listen to where God is calling us and answer that call. In spite of the hardships, in spite of the difficulties, in spite of the uncertainty, we need to go.
But how do we find the strength and the assurances we need when we are on our way? What will make it easier for us to take the first step, make the leap? Abram had God speaking directly to him, and Nicodemus had Jesus. Who do we have? We have God’s word, our scriptures, and we can turn in them, turn to the Psalmist who, along with Abram and Nicodemus, shows us the way.
“I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?” we ask as we lift our foot, unsure whether to make the move. Even as we do, we already receive the answer, “My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
Following God always requires us to make a change – from our old selves into a new person in Christ, to start. But haven’t we already done that? Isn’t that why we are here today? And if you are here in person, or are watching on Facebook, and you have not made that first step yet, I pray today is the day you do so. It’s a great start – to a new life, eternal life. That’s the living on the inside part.
Telling others how they can do the same is the living on the outside part. Abram and Nicodemus lived from the inside – their faith in God – to the outside – moving and obeying God’s call for all the world to see.
As we begin to do the same, let’s keep the words from today’s Psalm on our minds and in our hearts so that we can confidently put one foot in front of the other, moving away from where we are to where God calls us to be:
“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” Thank you, Lord, for that promise, for that reassurance. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord, help us remember that when you call us, you do so with the desire to lead us. You never tell us to go and then abandon us to fend for ourselves. Thank you for the reminder through Abram that you are with us when we go from place to place. Thank you for the reminder through Nicodemus that you are with us when the move is a change of heart and mind. Thank you for the reminder through the Psalmist that you are our ever-present help in all we do and wherever we are.
Lord, if there are any with us today, who have not yet taken that first step, who have not yet made a move of faith by accepting your Son, Jesus as their Lord and Savior, will you help them do that right now? Will you touch their hearts and warm them with your love? Will you nudge them and help them say “yes” to you?
Lord, for those of us who have made this step and have been living in place for a while, will you help us take the next step you have planned for us, even if we don’t know where that step will lead? Let your holy word and all those who live for you be our example and our guide, that we might all live for you this day and forever more. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/learning-to-live-inside-out/second-sunday-in-lent-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes/second-sunday-in-lent-year-a-preaching-notes
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: Go from Your Country
Scripture: Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills--
from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.
We are learning in this series how to live from the inside out. What does that look like? How do we do it? We are going to look at two different men who were called to do just that – but in very different ways. One from the Old Testament, the other from the new, these were men who could not have been more different, yet they answered a calling and learned what it was God wanted from them, and how they might live for him.
In both instances, God’s call required a move – physical for one, spiritual for the other, but a move, nonetheless. We don’t always like to think about moving because that somehow implies change, and change is difficult, and scary, and uncertain. We’ve all experienced change in our lives, after all, we know the saying that the only thing constant in life is change, and that seems to be the truth.
Everything we know started with a change of some sort: In the beginning the earth was a formless void, but God changed that, there was only darkness until God made light, Adam and Eve lived in paradise until they fell into sin and were asked to leave. I could give you so many instances of change that we would never be done, but I will leave you with this change – once you were not – until something changed and now you are.
Abram was a man who knew about change. He was born when his father, Terah, lived in Ur, the land of the Chaldeans, but Terah later decided to move his family to Canaan. They packed up and left – Terah, Abram, Abram’s wife, Sarai, and Abram’s nephew, Lot, and they headed to Canaan. They didn’t make it that far. When they reached Haran, they stopped, and there they stayed.
Terah died in Haran, and sometime later, Abram would move once again. Genesis 12 begins with, “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” So, Abram went. This was a physical change – he packed up his family, his herds and flocks, and all his stuff, and he moved from Haran to, well, he didn’t know where he was going. God didn’t tell Abram to move to a certain place – he didn’t mention a country, and boundary, or anything – God just said, “Go to a land that I will show you.”
This would be like someone else programming your GPS, putting you in the car and saying, “Drive, you’ll get there.” “Get where?” we would ask. We might even argue and refuse to go unless or until we had more information. But not Abram. No argument, no stalling, no deal-making, he just went. At seventy-five years old, he went out from his home in search of the place where God would lead him, taking his family, his possessions, and his trust in God’s plan.
Years later, another man would find himself being called to a new place. This change, though, was not a physical movement. Nicodemus did not experience God calling him to pack up and move from one country to another. Rather, this move was one of spirituality, a change in how he thought, in how he knew God, in how he lived in his day and time. Some might say that Nicodemus’ journey was even harder than Abram’s.
One night, Nicodemus left the comfort of his home and sought out Jesus. He went under the cover of darkness to avoid being seen with this man who was causing such a ruckus among the leading religious leaders, of which Nicodemus was one. He was not only a Pharisee, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the governing body who ruled over the Jews at the time, second to the authority of the Roman government, of course.
An interesting conversation began between the two men, one that sounds a little puzzling. Nicodemus began, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” And then Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Huh?
Are there two different conversations going on here at once? Nicodemus greeted Jesus, and Jesus made a statement about being born from above. What does Jesus’ statement have to do with Nicodemus’ greeting? Perhaps, it sounds so disconnected because Nicodemus was making nice, making small talk, but Jesus knew what he was really there for and answered his real question before it could be asked.
Sometimes a move of the magnitude that Nicodemus needed to make was best jump-started by getting right to the heart. Unlike Abram, Nicodemus did have questions. He needed answers before he would commit to making a move. “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” This first sounds like a legitimate question, the second like a joke.
Jesus explains that this second birth is not physical, but spiritual, that one must be born of water and the Spirit, a Spirit that can be felt and known, even though he cannot be seen, just as we can know about and feel the wind but cannot see it as it blows. And then, Jesus utters some of the most beautiful words in all of scripture, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Nicodemus began speaking to Jesus by saying, “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.” Does he now begin to understand that that is what Jesus is trying to tell him? I believe so, because later, after Jesus has died, Nicodemus will join Joseph in preparing Jesus’ body for burial. They will anoint him with a hundred pounds of spices and wrap him in linen cloths. Would Nicodemus do this if he had not made the move from the Pharisee he was to the believer God called him to be?
Two men, each receiving a call within from God, each making the decision to live out that call in the open, both determining to live from the inside out.
My friends, God is calling people today. He is calling his people to move from one place to another – sometimes physically moving – sometimes spiritually. Most of the time we are more like Nicodemus than we are Abram. We don’t just get up and go, even when the journey is just from our head to our heart. We ask questions, we demand answers, we want to know the destination before we move even one foot, because change is hard. Change is scary. Change is uncertain. But look at how Abram and Nicodemus were both blessed because of their obedience to God’s call to change.
Abram became the father of the nation of Israel and Nicodemus became a follower of Christ. They could have said no, but they chose to go. We need to follow their example. We need to listen to where God is calling us and answer that call. In spite of the hardships, in spite of the difficulties, in spite of the uncertainty, we need to go.
But how do we find the strength and the assurances we need when we are on our way? What will make it easier for us to take the first step, make the leap? Abram had God speaking directly to him, and Nicodemus had Jesus. Who do we have? We have God’s word, our scriptures, and we can turn in them, turn to the Psalmist who, along with Abram and Nicodemus, shows us the way.
“I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?” we ask as we lift our foot, unsure whether to make the move. Even as we do, we already receive the answer, “My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
Following God always requires us to make a change – from our old selves into a new person in Christ, to start. But haven’t we already done that? Isn’t that why we are here today? And if you are here in person, or are watching on Facebook, and you have not made that first step yet, I pray today is the day you do so. It’s a great start – to a new life, eternal life. That’s the living on the inside part.
Telling others how they can do the same is the living on the outside part. Abram and Nicodemus lived from the inside – their faith in God – to the outside – moving and obeying God’s call for all the world to see.
As we begin to do the same, let’s keep the words from today’s Psalm on our minds and in our hearts so that we can confidently put one foot in front of the other, moving away from where we are to where God calls us to be:
“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” Thank you, Lord, for that promise, for that reassurance. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord, help us remember that when you call us, you do so with the desire to lead us. You never tell us to go and then abandon us to fend for ourselves. Thank you for the reminder through Abram that you are with us when we go from place to place. Thank you for the reminder through Nicodemus that you are with us when the move is a change of heart and mind. Thank you for the reminder through the Psalmist that you are our ever-present help in all we do and wherever we are.
Lord, if there are any with us today, who have not yet taken that first step, who have not yet made a move of faith by accepting your Son, Jesus as their Lord and Savior, will you help them do that right now? Will you touch their hearts and warm them with your love? Will you nudge them and help them say “yes” to you?
Lord, for those of us who have made this step and have been living in place for a while, will you help us take the next step you have planned for us, even if we don’t know where that step will lead? Let your holy word and all those who live for you be our example and our guide, that we might all live for you this day and forever more. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/learning-to-live-inside-out/second-sunday-in-lent-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes/second-sunday-in-lent-year-a-preaching-notes
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FROM FEBRUARY 26, 2023 "iF YOU FALL DOWN".
February 26, 2023
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: If You Fall Down
Scripture: Psalm 32 (Gen 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Mat 4:1-11)
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 While I kept silent, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
7 You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.
10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
I was reminded this week of the saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” and I thought how we tend to label the season of Lent as a “journey to the cross.” On the one hand, the steps that Jesus took to the cross were literal steps as his beaten, bloody body carried the cross upon which he would be hung, one slow, painful step at a time. One the other hand, Jesus’ steps to the cross began the moment he stepped out of heaven and came to earth to be born a baby – fully human and fully divine – with the knowledge that every day would bring him one step closer to the end of his human life.
The truth is, we are all on a journey, even multiple journeys at once. We are all moving step by step, day by day, through life here on earth with heaven as our final destination. We journey to other places for work or vacation, we journey through school with graduation as our goal. We journey through our career with the promise of retirement on the far horizon. And we are all on a journey of faith – both as individuals and as the body of Christ.
We want each journey we take to be a smooth path from the first step to the last, but alas! That almost never happens. Many times, we find ourselves taking a detour, changing direction for a time or altogether, and sometimes stumbling or even falling down completely. Yet, we get back up and we continue on, most assuredly by the grace of God and quite often through the help of others.
In life, the cause of our stumbling may be circumstances: the loss of a job, the necessity to move, illness, the death of a loved one. We didn’t cause the issue, but we deal with it and do the best we can moving forward. In our faith journey, we are often stumbling, even falling because of decisions we have made, temptations we have given into, sin we have fallen into.
If we think back to the very beginning when God first created Adam and Eve, we see a perfect life. They lived in the beautiful garden, were tasked with taking care of God’s beautiful creation. Everything they needed was provided for them and within easy reach, and they enjoyed regular, close, fellowship with God. But even they stumbled. In fact, they fell down, big time. What caused their fall? Was it the serpent? No, he was just the agent of Satan, the means of temptation. What caused Adam and Eve to fall was the decision they made to eat of the one fruit they were told not to eat. They made the decision themselves.
They sinned and they paid the price. They were expelled from the garden and from their life of ease. They were made to work the ground, but this ground was hard-packed dirt with thorn bushes and weeds that made growing crops a challenge. Pain in childbirth became the lot of women. Adam and Eve were living in the same world, still here on earth, yet it was a strange place compared to where they had been, and they were less protected outside of the garden; life was much harder for them.
Did you notice I said, “less protected?” I didn’t say that God threw them out and left them on their own. Even though they had sinned, even though they had tried to pass their blame on something other than their own decision making, God did not desert them. God is the one who sewed them their first wardrobe, God is the one who still protected them out in the harsh world, so different from the only one they had known until then. God still loved them more than anything else he had created.
We know that Adam and Eve’s sin made them fall, but now we realize that God still loved them, in spite of their sin, and that gives us the hope that we need to get back up when we ourselves fall. Because we know God still loved the first sinners, we can know that God loves us. Because we know how God picked them up when they fell, we know God will do the same for us.
Satan tempted Adam and Eve and they made the decision to give in to that temptation. Satan also tempted Jesus in the wilderness right after Jesus was baptized, but Jesus made the decision to resist that temptation, three times that we are told about.
The contrast between Adam and Eve and Jesus is stark. Where the first couple were in the garden of plenty, Jesus was in the wilderness of nothing. They had each other, Jesus was alone. They could eat anything they wanted, save from one tree, Jesus fasted for forty days. In each situation, though, Satan came calling, hoping to make his victims fall down, fall from the path that God had laid for them, fall into his trap of following him instead of God. It worked the first time. It didn’t the second time.
Jesus was stronger; he was perfect, he was God. Satan may not have understood that the fully human man he was tempting was still fully divine, but he was. In his humanness, Jesus had the free choice of whether to give in to Satan’s temptation, but he made the choice not to do so. He did not fall.
But we are only human, imperfect humans at that. We try to walk on the right path. We try to take our faith journey with integrity and determination, but Satan still comes calling when we least expect him. He whispers in our ear, making promises that sound so sweet but truly have a bitter end. And sometimes, we forget who we are, sometimes we forget whose we are. Sometimes the lie is too easily believed, and we fall – big time.
It's so discouraging when we do that. Once we realize what we have done, what’s next? We think, “I’ve messed up, how can I cover it up? How can I hide this from God? Surely, he won’t want anything to do with me now! Not after this!” These are the things we tell ourselves but here is what we need to know – these are more of Satan’s lies! Not only does Satan want us to fall, he wants to keep us down. But God wants to pick us right back up and set us back on the right path to continue our journey.
When we fall, God is just waiting for us to come to him and ask his forgiveness and he does it immediately. Don’t believe me? Think of it this way. A baby who is learning to walk falls down a lot. A lot a lot. As a parent, our first instinct is to pick them back up and stand them on their feet to let them try again, but after the first couple of times, we don’t rush to pick them up, we wait to see if they will figure it out on their own. Some will decide that crawling is still much faster for now and take the easy route, some will decide to stay right where they are for the moment, some will learn to pull themselves back up, and some will turn to us and ask for help. Of course, we help them when they need us to. We love them, why wouldn’t we?
The difference between our falling into sin and a baby falling on the living room floor, is that the baby can learn to stand back up on their own, but we cannot be forgiven on our own. That is when we need to turn to God, confess our sin, repent, and ask for forgiveness. And what a sweet relief we feel when we do.
That is what David was writing about in today’s Psalm. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!”
We know what it is like to live as one who has refused to confess our sin. David says that when he refused, his body was wasting away and he groaned all day long. Day and night he felt the hand of God’s discipline laying heavy upon him, and he was weighed down by guilt and shame. He felt weak, unable to move, his strength evaporated like a puddle of water in the heat of the summer sun.
At one time or another, we may have each of us felt just like this. We bore the burden of our guilt, we hid our shame, or tried to. We stayed away from God. We may have even avoided some of the people in our lives who we needed the most at that time.
“But finally,” David wrote, “I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.” And you know what happened then – God forgave him. God took David’s guilt and removed it completely, immediately, and permanently. David had fallen, and he laid on the ground for a while, but when he was ready, God was right there to pick him back up.
David remembered that God is willing to guide him along the best pathway for his life, watching over him and advising him along the way. God is willing to do the same for us, too. He is just waiting for us to remember that and turn back to him, not matter what it is we have done that has caused us to stumble and fall.
God promises that if we fall, he will pick us up and put us back on the right path so we can continue our journey, so we can continue to follow him and be led in his ways. That was the whole purpose of Jesus coming to earth and dying for us – so that no matter how many times we fall, there is always the path to forgiveness and wholeness available to us. If Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us, shouldn’t we be willing to live for him as best as we can?
We are not perfect. We can never be perfect, no matter how hard we try. But the next time we fall, let’s remember that we can call out to the Lord, and he will be ready for us, reaching out his hands to pick us back up.
David’s closing words in today’s Psalm are these: “Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. So, rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!”
So, the next time Satan comes whispering in our ear, making those sweet promises that are lies in disguise, maybe we will remember these words and do what Jesus did in that wilderness – give him some scripture and send him on his way. But if we forget, at least let’s remember that God is always with us and is always willing to pick us up if we fall. What joy we can have in knowing this. AMEN.
PRAYER: God, you are with us every minute and see all that we do. I don’t know why we think we can hide from you as Adam and Eve tried to do in the garden, but Lord, thank you for always seeking us out, for calling us out, and for picking us up. Help us to see you, seek you, and reach for you as we journey through this life, walking this path that leads to where you are waiting for us, moving ever closer, day by day and step by step with you in our heart and with heaven in our sights. AMEN.
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: If You Fall Down
Scripture: Psalm 32 (Gen 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Mat 4:1-11)
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 While I kept silent, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
7 You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.
10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
I was reminded this week of the saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” and I thought how we tend to label the season of Lent as a “journey to the cross.” On the one hand, the steps that Jesus took to the cross were literal steps as his beaten, bloody body carried the cross upon which he would be hung, one slow, painful step at a time. One the other hand, Jesus’ steps to the cross began the moment he stepped out of heaven and came to earth to be born a baby – fully human and fully divine – with the knowledge that every day would bring him one step closer to the end of his human life.
The truth is, we are all on a journey, even multiple journeys at once. We are all moving step by step, day by day, through life here on earth with heaven as our final destination. We journey to other places for work or vacation, we journey through school with graduation as our goal. We journey through our career with the promise of retirement on the far horizon. And we are all on a journey of faith – both as individuals and as the body of Christ.
We want each journey we take to be a smooth path from the first step to the last, but alas! That almost never happens. Many times, we find ourselves taking a detour, changing direction for a time or altogether, and sometimes stumbling or even falling down completely. Yet, we get back up and we continue on, most assuredly by the grace of God and quite often through the help of others.
In life, the cause of our stumbling may be circumstances: the loss of a job, the necessity to move, illness, the death of a loved one. We didn’t cause the issue, but we deal with it and do the best we can moving forward. In our faith journey, we are often stumbling, even falling because of decisions we have made, temptations we have given into, sin we have fallen into.
If we think back to the very beginning when God first created Adam and Eve, we see a perfect life. They lived in the beautiful garden, were tasked with taking care of God’s beautiful creation. Everything they needed was provided for them and within easy reach, and they enjoyed regular, close, fellowship with God. But even they stumbled. In fact, they fell down, big time. What caused their fall? Was it the serpent? No, he was just the agent of Satan, the means of temptation. What caused Adam and Eve to fall was the decision they made to eat of the one fruit they were told not to eat. They made the decision themselves.
They sinned and they paid the price. They were expelled from the garden and from their life of ease. They were made to work the ground, but this ground was hard-packed dirt with thorn bushes and weeds that made growing crops a challenge. Pain in childbirth became the lot of women. Adam and Eve were living in the same world, still here on earth, yet it was a strange place compared to where they had been, and they were less protected outside of the garden; life was much harder for them.
Did you notice I said, “less protected?” I didn’t say that God threw them out and left them on their own. Even though they had sinned, even though they had tried to pass their blame on something other than their own decision making, God did not desert them. God is the one who sewed them their first wardrobe, God is the one who still protected them out in the harsh world, so different from the only one they had known until then. God still loved them more than anything else he had created.
We know that Adam and Eve’s sin made them fall, but now we realize that God still loved them, in spite of their sin, and that gives us the hope that we need to get back up when we ourselves fall. Because we know God still loved the first sinners, we can know that God loves us. Because we know how God picked them up when they fell, we know God will do the same for us.
Satan tempted Adam and Eve and they made the decision to give in to that temptation. Satan also tempted Jesus in the wilderness right after Jesus was baptized, but Jesus made the decision to resist that temptation, three times that we are told about.
The contrast between Adam and Eve and Jesus is stark. Where the first couple were in the garden of plenty, Jesus was in the wilderness of nothing. They had each other, Jesus was alone. They could eat anything they wanted, save from one tree, Jesus fasted for forty days. In each situation, though, Satan came calling, hoping to make his victims fall down, fall from the path that God had laid for them, fall into his trap of following him instead of God. It worked the first time. It didn’t the second time.
Jesus was stronger; he was perfect, he was God. Satan may not have understood that the fully human man he was tempting was still fully divine, but he was. In his humanness, Jesus had the free choice of whether to give in to Satan’s temptation, but he made the choice not to do so. He did not fall.
But we are only human, imperfect humans at that. We try to walk on the right path. We try to take our faith journey with integrity and determination, but Satan still comes calling when we least expect him. He whispers in our ear, making promises that sound so sweet but truly have a bitter end. And sometimes, we forget who we are, sometimes we forget whose we are. Sometimes the lie is too easily believed, and we fall – big time.
It's so discouraging when we do that. Once we realize what we have done, what’s next? We think, “I’ve messed up, how can I cover it up? How can I hide this from God? Surely, he won’t want anything to do with me now! Not after this!” These are the things we tell ourselves but here is what we need to know – these are more of Satan’s lies! Not only does Satan want us to fall, he wants to keep us down. But God wants to pick us right back up and set us back on the right path to continue our journey.
When we fall, God is just waiting for us to come to him and ask his forgiveness and he does it immediately. Don’t believe me? Think of it this way. A baby who is learning to walk falls down a lot. A lot a lot. As a parent, our first instinct is to pick them back up and stand them on their feet to let them try again, but after the first couple of times, we don’t rush to pick them up, we wait to see if they will figure it out on their own. Some will decide that crawling is still much faster for now and take the easy route, some will decide to stay right where they are for the moment, some will learn to pull themselves back up, and some will turn to us and ask for help. Of course, we help them when they need us to. We love them, why wouldn’t we?
The difference between our falling into sin and a baby falling on the living room floor, is that the baby can learn to stand back up on their own, but we cannot be forgiven on our own. That is when we need to turn to God, confess our sin, repent, and ask for forgiveness. And what a sweet relief we feel when we do.
That is what David was writing about in today’s Psalm. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!”
We know what it is like to live as one who has refused to confess our sin. David says that when he refused, his body was wasting away and he groaned all day long. Day and night he felt the hand of God’s discipline laying heavy upon him, and he was weighed down by guilt and shame. He felt weak, unable to move, his strength evaporated like a puddle of water in the heat of the summer sun.
At one time or another, we may have each of us felt just like this. We bore the burden of our guilt, we hid our shame, or tried to. We stayed away from God. We may have even avoided some of the people in our lives who we needed the most at that time.
“But finally,” David wrote, “I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.” And you know what happened then – God forgave him. God took David’s guilt and removed it completely, immediately, and permanently. David had fallen, and he laid on the ground for a while, but when he was ready, God was right there to pick him back up.
David remembered that God is willing to guide him along the best pathway for his life, watching over him and advising him along the way. God is willing to do the same for us, too. He is just waiting for us to remember that and turn back to him, not matter what it is we have done that has caused us to stumble and fall.
God promises that if we fall, he will pick us up and put us back on the right path so we can continue our journey, so we can continue to follow him and be led in his ways. That was the whole purpose of Jesus coming to earth and dying for us – so that no matter how many times we fall, there is always the path to forgiveness and wholeness available to us. If Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us, shouldn’t we be willing to live for him as best as we can?
We are not perfect. We can never be perfect, no matter how hard we try. But the next time we fall, let’s remember that we can call out to the Lord, and he will be ready for us, reaching out his hands to pick us back up.
David’s closing words in today’s Psalm are these: “Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. So, rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!”
So, the next time Satan comes whispering in our ear, making those sweet promises that are lies in disguise, maybe we will remember these words and do what Jesus did in that wilderness – give him some scripture and send him on his way. But if we forget, at least let’s remember that God is always with us and is always willing to pick us up if we fall. What joy we can have in knowing this. AMEN.
PRAYER: God, you are with us every minute and see all that we do. I don’t know why we think we can hide from you as Adam and Eve tried to do in the garden, but Lord, thank you for always seeking us out, for calling us out, and for picking us up. Help us to see you, seek you, and reach for you as we journey through this life, walking this path that leads to where you are waiting for us, moving ever closer, day by day and step by step with you in our heart and with heaven in our sights. AMEN.
Pastor Donna's sermon from Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2023 "The fast we choose.
February , 2023
Rootstown
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: The Fast We Choose
Scripture: Psalm 51:1-17 (Isaiah 58)
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
2
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent, a forty-day period leading us to Resurrection
Sunday. A time when we focus more closely on Jesus’ journey to the cross. Many of us,
are accustomed to “giving up” something during this time as a way to imitate the
hardships Jesus endured and to use the time spent on whatever we gave up to be in
prayer.
Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, in French – Mardi Gras – a day of celebrations and parties
and parades to end a season of celebrations and parties and parades. In New Orleans,
home of the biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the US, Ash Wednesday is ushered in at
midnight when the police, mounted on horseback, begin to sweep through the streets,
sending the last remaining party-goers home after a week of revelry and feasting.
Great numbers of people all over the world have now put aside their masks and beads,
they have turned down the music, put away their party clothes, and woke up to begin a
season of repentance, an awareness that we are a sinful people who are in need of
saving, and acknowledging that Jesus Christ is that Savior.
Christianity.com teaches that Lent is a time when repentant sinners seek cleansing from
sin, and freedom from shame. “True repentance leads to a 180-degree change of
3
direction,” and this requires true brokenness that comes from “a regretful
acknowledgment of sin with commitment to change.”
So, what does this all mean for us? Why did we come here tonight? To say that we
went to church? To receive the ashes on our forehead so that others will know even if
we don’t tell them? To look religious to others? To score points with God?
Have we come tonight because we are like the old man who covered himself with ashes
to show his humility and made a seat for himself on the street corner for all to see?
When tourists would come along and ask to take his picture, he would rearrange himself
and his ashes to show his destitution and humility to its best advantage. His humility
was a false show for others to see and admire, it had nothing to do with his devotion to
God and nothing to do with repentance and acknowledgement of sin in his own life.
Our sermon series for Lent is titled, “Living from the Inside Out.” The Lenten season
offers us a time of inner reflection and prayer. It is in this quiet time that we can
acknowledge our sin, repent to God, ask him for forgiveness, and be cleansed and
clean once again. We are each a work in progress. Like the Israelites of long ago, we
do well for a time, then we slip up and get off track, once we realize what we have done,
we turn back to God and start over once again. Lent is often our “start over” place.
4
Oftentimes we “give up” something for Lent as a sign of sacrifice and to test our self-
discipline, remembering Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness when he gave up food and
water and was tested by Satan. Jesus fasted for forty days so we choose to “fast” from
whatever it is we are giving up.
Lent isn’t only about giving something up, though. It’s about what we can do to draw
nearer to God, which is the inward part, and then living how God wants us to live, that’s
the outward part. That is why, as followers of Christ, we should be living from the inside
out – not just during Lent – but every day. Let’s use this Lenten season to help us live
from the inside out for Jesus, simply because he lived and died for us and then let’s just
keep living that way always.
The Psalmist teaches us how to get started. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to
your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” This is the first
step. Acknowledging that we are sinners and asking for forgiveness. Recognizing that it
is God’s work in us that cleanses up and takes away those sins, and knowing that he
does it out of love for us.
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone,
have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your
sentence and blameless when you pass judgement.” It is not enough to simply say to
5
God that we are sorry for sinning, we need to name those sins before him. We have to
take responsibility for our actions that cause harm and create a barrier between us and
God. We must confess that if there is to be judgement against us for what we have
done, then it is what we deserve.
Only when we have honestly and earnestly done the hard work of confession and
repentance, can we then make our appeal as the Psalmist did, “Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your
presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your
salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” What a relief and what a joy to come to God
and come clean, to know that when we do, we will be forgiven and restored, that the
Spirit of God will live within us and we will know once again that salvation has come to
us from our God through Jesus Christ. This causes us to celebrate and rejoice, but as
the old-time commercials always said, “Wait, there’s more!”
When we honestly seek to live this way, this inside way where we examine ourselves
and open our hearts to God, we then become transformed by God for his glory. And if
we are transformed, then we will go from living inside to living outside – by serving
those in need as a way of expressing our love and appreciation to God and sharing with
others that what he has done for us he can do for them.
6
In Isaiah 58, we read of a time when the Israelites were making a show of living for God
but doing so in a manner that was just like the man sitting in ashes on the street corner.
Of course, God saw right through them, and he called them out on what they were
doing.
“Day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that
practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me
righteous judgements; they want God on their side.” The people were happy to seek
God and have him on their side when it was convenient, but they were quick to ignore
him and break his law when it suited them.
Then the people had the audacity to whine to God, “Look, we fasted and we humbled
ourselves but you didn’t even notice. Why, God?” Oh, God noticed. He saw what they
were doing, but he saw why they were doing it. There was no true love for God or
neighbor in their actions. They were fasting but at the same time they were oppressing
the poor. They treated their fasts like a “get out of jail free” card; they paid lip service to
God but bodily service to their own wants and desires.
God answered them, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to
undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it
not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
7
The fast that God chooses for us is not that we abstain from something as a show to
others how religious we are, but that we open our eyes and our hearts to the lost, the
least, and the lonely, and to minister to them in Jesus’ name. God chooses for us to see
the world and try to make it better, and Jesus reiterated this in Matthew 25:31-46 when
he speaks of the time that is coming when the people will be separated as sheep from
goats. Those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, visited the sick and
imprisoned, and clothed the naked will be invited into the Kingdom of God. Those who
have not will be cast into the fire of eternal punishment.
So, again, I ask, why did we come here tonight? I pray the answer is to worship our
God, to seek his presence, to center ourselves on him and the redemptive work of
Jesus Christ. I pray that we have come not for show but for a heart cleansing. I pray we
came here to connect with God and ask him to show us where he wants us to go, what
he wants us to do, and how he wants us to share him in our community.
I pray that as we ponder what we will “give up” for Lent, that our list will include things
like selfish motives, false personas, blind eyes, and closed hearts. As we receive the
ashes, may they remind us of what Jesus has done for us and spur us to go out into our
world and be the Church, be his disciples, be the hands and feet of Jesus, whose hands
and feet were pierced for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, as he took on
our sins and became sin, as he died for us so that we can live for him.
8
Whatever it is we choose to give up this Lenten season, may it be something that
makes us think of Jesus’ sacrifice in the wilderness, may it test our self-discipline as
Jesus was tested by Satan, may it help us remember to pray when we are missing what
we gave up, but mostly, I pray that we will give up everything that takes our eyes off
Jesus so that we can truly begin to live our lives from the inside out – for him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, your love for us is so deep that you went down into the bowels of
the earth for us, so high you hung up on a cross for us, and so wide that you spread out
your arms and allowed your hands to be pierced for us. Grant us, this Lenten season,
the desire to open our eyes and our hearts to see you more clearly and to see your
people in need. Inspire us to serve in ways that will show your light and your love to
others as we tend to their most pressing physical and spiritual needs. Cleanse us from
our selfishness, our false shows of religion, and create in us a new heart that beats only
for you. AMEN.
References
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/what-is-the-purpose-of-lent.html
9
Opening Prayer:
O God, maker of everything and judge of all that you have made,
From the dust of the earth, you have formed us, and from the dust of death, you
would raise us up.
By the redemptive power of the cross, create in us clean hearts, and put within us
a new spirit, that we may repent of our sins, and lead lives worthy of your calling;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Hymn:357 Just as I Am, Without One Plea
Rootstown
Series: Living from the Inside Out
Message: The Fast We Choose
Scripture: Psalm 51:1-17 (Isaiah 58)
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
2
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent, a forty-day period leading us to Resurrection
Sunday. A time when we focus more closely on Jesus’ journey to the cross. Many of us,
are accustomed to “giving up” something during this time as a way to imitate the
hardships Jesus endured and to use the time spent on whatever we gave up to be in
prayer.
Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, in French – Mardi Gras – a day of celebrations and parties
and parades to end a season of celebrations and parties and parades. In New Orleans,
home of the biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the US, Ash Wednesday is ushered in at
midnight when the police, mounted on horseback, begin to sweep through the streets,
sending the last remaining party-goers home after a week of revelry and feasting.
Great numbers of people all over the world have now put aside their masks and beads,
they have turned down the music, put away their party clothes, and woke up to begin a
season of repentance, an awareness that we are a sinful people who are in need of
saving, and acknowledging that Jesus Christ is that Savior.
Christianity.com teaches that Lent is a time when repentant sinners seek cleansing from
sin, and freedom from shame. “True repentance leads to a 180-degree change of
3
direction,” and this requires true brokenness that comes from “a regretful
acknowledgment of sin with commitment to change.”
So, what does this all mean for us? Why did we come here tonight? To say that we
went to church? To receive the ashes on our forehead so that others will know even if
we don’t tell them? To look religious to others? To score points with God?
Have we come tonight because we are like the old man who covered himself with ashes
to show his humility and made a seat for himself on the street corner for all to see?
When tourists would come along and ask to take his picture, he would rearrange himself
and his ashes to show his destitution and humility to its best advantage. His humility
was a false show for others to see and admire, it had nothing to do with his devotion to
God and nothing to do with repentance and acknowledgement of sin in his own life.
Our sermon series for Lent is titled, “Living from the Inside Out.” The Lenten season
offers us a time of inner reflection and prayer. It is in this quiet time that we can
acknowledge our sin, repent to God, ask him for forgiveness, and be cleansed and
clean once again. We are each a work in progress. Like the Israelites of long ago, we
do well for a time, then we slip up and get off track, once we realize what we have done,
we turn back to God and start over once again. Lent is often our “start over” place.
4
Oftentimes we “give up” something for Lent as a sign of sacrifice and to test our self-
discipline, remembering Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness when he gave up food and
water and was tested by Satan. Jesus fasted for forty days so we choose to “fast” from
whatever it is we are giving up.
Lent isn’t only about giving something up, though. It’s about what we can do to draw
nearer to God, which is the inward part, and then living how God wants us to live, that’s
the outward part. That is why, as followers of Christ, we should be living from the inside
out – not just during Lent – but every day. Let’s use this Lenten season to help us live
from the inside out for Jesus, simply because he lived and died for us and then let’s just
keep living that way always.
The Psalmist teaches us how to get started. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to
your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” This is the first
step. Acknowledging that we are sinners and asking for forgiveness. Recognizing that it
is God’s work in us that cleanses up and takes away those sins, and knowing that he
does it out of love for us.
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone,
have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your
sentence and blameless when you pass judgement.” It is not enough to simply say to
5
God that we are sorry for sinning, we need to name those sins before him. We have to
take responsibility for our actions that cause harm and create a barrier between us and
God. We must confess that if there is to be judgement against us for what we have
done, then it is what we deserve.
Only when we have honestly and earnestly done the hard work of confession and
repentance, can we then make our appeal as the Psalmist did, “Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your
presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your
salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” What a relief and what a joy to come to God
and come clean, to know that when we do, we will be forgiven and restored, that the
Spirit of God will live within us and we will know once again that salvation has come to
us from our God through Jesus Christ. This causes us to celebrate and rejoice, but as
the old-time commercials always said, “Wait, there’s more!”
When we honestly seek to live this way, this inside way where we examine ourselves
and open our hearts to God, we then become transformed by God for his glory. And if
we are transformed, then we will go from living inside to living outside – by serving
those in need as a way of expressing our love and appreciation to God and sharing with
others that what he has done for us he can do for them.
6
In Isaiah 58, we read of a time when the Israelites were making a show of living for God
but doing so in a manner that was just like the man sitting in ashes on the street corner.
Of course, God saw right through them, and he called them out on what they were
doing.
“Day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that
practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me
righteous judgements; they want God on their side.” The people were happy to seek
God and have him on their side when it was convenient, but they were quick to ignore
him and break his law when it suited them.
Then the people had the audacity to whine to God, “Look, we fasted and we humbled
ourselves but you didn’t even notice. Why, God?” Oh, God noticed. He saw what they
were doing, but he saw why they were doing it. There was no true love for God or
neighbor in their actions. They were fasting but at the same time they were oppressing
the poor. They treated their fasts like a “get out of jail free” card; they paid lip service to
God but bodily service to their own wants and desires.
God answered them, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to
undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it
not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
7
The fast that God chooses for us is not that we abstain from something as a show to
others how religious we are, but that we open our eyes and our hearts to the lost, the
least, and the lonely, and to minister to them in Jesus’ name. God chooses for us to see
the world and try to make it better, and Jesus reiterated this in Matthew 25:31-46 when
he speaks of the time that is coming when the people will be separated as sheep from
goats. Those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, visited the sick and
imprisoned, and clothed the naked will be invited into the Kingdom of God. Those who
have not will be cast into the fire of eternal punishment.
So, again, I ask, why did we come here tonight? I pray the answer is to worship our
God, to seek his presence, to center ourselves on him and the redemptive work of
Jesus Christ. I pray that we have come not for show but for a heart cleansing. I pray we
came here to connect with God and ask him to show us where he wants us to go, what
he wants us to do, and how he wants us to share him in our community.
I pray that as we ponder what we will “give up” for Lent, that our list will include things
like selfish motives, false personas, blind eyes, and closed hearts. As we receive the
ashes, may they remind us of what Jesus has done for us and spur us to go out into our
world and be the Church, be his disciples, be the hands and feet of Jesus, whose hands
and feet were pierced for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, as he took on
our sins and became sin, as he died for us so that we can live for him.
8
Whatever it is we choose to give up this Lenten season, may it be something that
makes us think of Jesus’ sacrifice in the wilderness, may it test our self-discipline as
Jesus was tested by Satan, may it help us remember to pray when we are missing what
we gave up, but mostly, I pray that we will give up everything that takes our eyes off
Jesus so that we can truly begin to live our lives from the inside out – for him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, your love for us is so deep that you went down into the bowels of
the earth for us, so high you hung up on a cross for us, and so wide that you spread out
your arms and allowed your hands to be pierced for us. Grant us, this Lenten season,
the desire to open our eyes and our hearts to see you more clearly and to see your
people in need. Inspire us to serve in ways that will show your light and your love to
others as we tend to their most pressing physical and spiritual needs. Cleanse us from
our selfishness, our false shows of religion, and create in us a new heart that beats only
for you. AMEN.
References
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/what-is-the-purpose-of-lent.html
9
Opening Prayer:
O God, maker of everything and judge of all that you have made,
From the dust of the earth, you have formed us, and from the dust of death, you
would raise us up.
By the redemptive power of the cross, create in us clean hearts, and put within us
a new spirit, that we may repent of our sins, and lead lives worthy of your calling;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Hymn:357 Just as I Am, Without One Plea
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON ON FEBRUARY 12, 2023 TITLED "BLESSED - EVEN IN TRYING TIMES" FROM HER NEW SERIES CALLED "BUT I Say" .
February 12, 2023
Rootstown
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: But I Say
Scripture: Matthew 5:21-26
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you; you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
I was listening to the radio the other day and I heard something that struck me and has stuck with me. The program was “Revive Our Hearts,” which is a ministry of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. She was telling of a prayer time recently when someone spoke up and said she wanted to pray for those who had been saved for ten, twenty, thirty years or more, those who knew the rules of religion but had forgotten the relationship we are called to as a person of faith.
What a prayer. What a wake-up reminder for some of us. If we have been saved for any length of time, it is likely that we do know the rules – we know what we are and are not supposed to do – and what others are supposed to do and not supposed to do – and we don’t mind telling them when we get the chance. Sometimes, however,, we get so caught up in the “rules” that we forget that when we became a Christian all those years ago, we did so, not because we wanted more rules in our life, but because we wanted a relationship with our God through Jesus Christ.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that rules are important. God himself gave us ten rules that we find difficult sometimes to follow and after that more rules were created and added to the list. Rules help us know the expectations, keep us safe, and give us guidelines to follow as we live in community, any community, including the community of believers in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes, though, the rules go too far and instead of doing what it is intended, a rule becomes a barrier to a worshipful relationship. I’m thinking of the Pharisees who condemned Jesus for healing of the Sabbath, or Martha who complained about her sister Mary not helping enough, or the Pharisees who carped to Jesus that his disciples plucked grain to eat on the Sabbath, or that they didn’t wash their hands in the proper fashion before eating.
There are rules that are for the good of the people, and then there are rules that are rules for rules’ sake. There are people who follow the rules so strictly that there is no room for relationships, and those who follow the letter of the law, but skate by on the bare minimum, taking advantage of every loophole they can find. These are ones who are also skirting the edge of relationships, not really connecting with others, or with Jesus as they pursue their own agenda, getting away with all they can while staying just within the boundary of the rules.
Living in either of these ways becomes a barrier to relationships because living in either of these ways makes life all about “me.” Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:5 when he says, “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” Being in a relati9onship means we see ourselves clearly enough to be helpful and loving to another.
As we continue today with more of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching how to deal with anger and how to take responsibility for our actions when we become angry. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.” We read that and think, “duh!” That is how it should be, right? That is a rule that is put in place for the benefit of everyone, a rule that definitely should be followed.
How shocked are , though when Jesus continues by saying, “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.” Uh-oh, I may be in a little bit of trouble now. I think it is safe to say that we have all been angry at some point in our lives, so does that mean we are in trouble?
I believe Jesus wants us to be aware of how we let our anger be expressed. Anger, in itself, is not a sin. Jesus was angry when he overturned the money changers’ tables and threw the scoundrels out of the Temple, but he did not let his anger spill over into sin.
Anger over unfair treatment and taxation from the king of England led the colonies to rebel, fight for their freedom and gave birth to the United States. Anger over segregation led to civil rights reforms. Anger over the way the UMC is not following its own rule book has led this church to separate itself and seek a new path. Anger can be good, but anger can also be very, very bad.
How many of us have experienced anger against another person and let that anger simmer in our minds and in our hearts? Because of that anger, we stew over our feelings and we plot in our minds how we might get even. We wish ill will on the person to whom our anger is directed, and secretly gloat if something bad does happen to them.
That is anger that is giving way to sin. That is what Jesus was talking about when he warned that being angry with a brother or a sister will lead to judgement, or worse, the fire of hell.
Unchecked anger is a slippery slope that creates a barrier between us and others, and between us and Jesus. When we let our anger take over, all we see is “us” and how we feel. All we think about is how we have been wronged and how we were in the right. Our focus is continually on our anger, even when we think we are doing other things.
We can still go to work, we can still interact with our family and our friends, we can even still come to church, but through it all, our anger still seethes underneath the façade we have created, behind the mask we wear so others won’t see how we really feel. That is dangerous, because that anger leads us further away from Jesus and into areas of darkness where sin lives and where sin and darkness begin to feed the anger even more, fanning its flames to burn bigger and brighter until we no longer remember who we really are, or whose we really are. Instead, we become consumed with our anger, and that is the sin that leads to the burning fire of hell that Jesus warns us of.
How do we stop that downward spiral? We do what Jesus tells us to do. We intentionally search our own hearts and look in the darkest corners to see where anger might be hiding. We bring it out into the light, and we acknowledge it, and we turn our focus away from our anger and turn toward Jesus. That is why the relationship is more important than the religion we practice. It is our relationship with Jesus that allows us to turn to him, be welcomed by him, be guided by him, to put aside our anger and learn to see our part in the problem.
Jesus tells us, “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” “stop what you’re doing, right then and there,” Jesus says, “and go and take care of the situation, try to resolve the issue, then come back and worship me with a clean heart and a clear conscious.” That is the way we are to worship Jesus, with a clean heart and a clear conscious.
I understand that there are times when our anger is not because we have caused an issue with another, but that they have sinned against us, through no fault of our own. That anger can still lead us to sin against others and that anger can still create the barrier that keeps us from a relationship with other sad with Jesus.
We still need to acknowledge that anger, too. We need to bring it to the light and ask God to help us overcome it so that it will not lead us into sin and darkness. We need to let our relationship with Jesus lead us to the place where we can forgive the one who sinned against us and caused the pain and the anger that we harbor against them.
In his book, “The Divine Conspiracy,” Dallas Willard writes that if we look, “We can trace wrongdoing back to its roots in the human heart. We find that in the overwhelming number of criminal cases it involves some form of anger.” That is what Jesus was warning us about in his sermon. Righteousness anger, used properly, can forge a better path for society, but anger can easily become a raging fire that burns up our good judgement, and the smoke from this fire blinds us to how our actions get in the way of good, healthy relationships – especially the one we have with Jesus.
Jesus advise us to “come to terms quickly” when we feel our anger flare against someone. The quicker we can resolve our issues, the less of an opportunity there is for that anger to lead to sin. It’s like when we are weeding the garden, if we pull the weeds out when they are small, they come out easily, but if we wait too long, its roots grow deeper and stronger, making it harder to yank out. The sooner we take care of our anger issue, the more easily it can be yanked out and we can once again see clearly that relationships are more important than our anger.
You know what else is more important than our anger? Just about everything. Love, family, friendships, faith, salvation. Oh, wait, all those things are about relationships. Isn’t it funny how that works? Relationships are the building blocks of our life. Anger is the wrecking ball that will destroy those relationships. But only if we let it. Let’s not let it. Let’s not let our anger wreck our relationships, let’s not let anger wreck our lives. Anger wants to get ahold of us, but I say, let Jesus get ahold of us instead. AMEN.
References
Rootstown
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: But I Say
Scripture: Matthew 5:21-26
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you; you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
I was listening to the radio the other day and I heard something that struck me and has stuck with me. The program was “Revive Our Hearts,” which is a ministry of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. She was telling of a prayer time recently when someone spoke up and said she wanted to pray for those who had been saved for ten, twenty, thirty years or more, those who knew the rules of religion but had forgotten the relationship we are called to as a person of faith.
What a prayer. What a wake-up reminder for some of us. If we have been saved for any length of time, it is likely that we do know the rules – we know what we are and are not supposed to do – and what others are supposed to do and not supposed to do – and we don’t mind telling them when we get the chance. Sometimes, however,, we get so caught up in the “rules” that we forget that when we became a Christian all those years ago, we did so, not because we wanted more rules in our life, but because we wanted a relationship with our God through Jesus Christ.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that rules are important. God himself gave us ten rules that we find difficult sometimes to follow and after that more rules were created and added to the list. Rules help us know the expectations, keep us safe, and give us guidelines to follow as we live in community, any community, including the community of believers in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes, though, the rules go too far and instead of doing what it is intended, a rule becomes a barrier to a worshipful relationship. I’m thinking of the Pharisees who condemned Jesus for healing of the Sabbath, or Martha who complained about her sister Mary not helping enough, or the Pharisees who carped to Jesus that his disciples plucked grain to eat on the Sabbath, or that they didn’t wash their hands in the proper fashion before eating.
There are rules that are for the good of the people, and then there are rules that are rules for rules’ sake. There are people who follow the rules so strictly that there is no room for relationships, and those who follow the letter of the law, but skate by on the bare minimum, taking advantage of every loophole they can find. These are ones who are also skirting the edge of relationships, not really connecting with others, or with Jesus as they pursue their own agenda, getting away with all they can while staying just within the boundary of the rules.
Living in either of these ways becomes a barrier to relationships because living in either of these ways makes life all about “me.” Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:5 when he says, “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” Being in a relati9onship means we see ourselves clearly enough to be helpful and loving to another.
As we continue today with more of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching how to deal with anger and how to take responsibility for our actions when we become angry. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.” We read that and think, “duh!” That is how it should be, right? That is a rule that is put in place for the benefit of everyone, a rule that definitely should be followed.
How shocked are , though when Jesus continues by saying, “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.” Uh-oh, I may be in a little bit of trouble now. I think it is safe to say that we have all been angry at some point in our lives, so does that mean we are in trouble?
I believe Jesus wants us to be aware of how we let our anger be expressed. Anger, in itself, is not a sin. Jesus was angry when he overturned the money changers’ tables and threw the scoundrels out of the Temple, but he did not let his anger spill over into sin.
Anger over unfair treatment and taxation from the king of England led the colonies to rebel, fight for their freedom and gave birth to the United States. Anger over segregation led to civil rights reforms. Anger over the way the UMC is not following its own rule book has led this church to separate itself and seek a new path. Anger can be good, but anger can also be very, very bad.
How many of us have experienced anger against another person and let that anger simmer in our minds and in our hearts? Because of that anger, we stew over our feelings and we plot in our minds how we might get even. We wish ill will on the person to whom our anger is directed, and secretly gloat if something bad does happen to them.
That is anger that is giving way to sin. That is what Jesus was talking about when he warned that being angry with a brother or a sister will lead to judgement, or worse, the fire of hell.
Unchecked anger is a slippery slope that creates a barrier between us and others, and between us and Jesus. When we let our anger take over, all we see is “us” and how we feel. All we think about is how we have been wronged and how we were in the right. Our focus is continually on our anger, even when we think we are doing other things.
We can still go to work, we can still interact with our family and our friends, we can even still come to church, but through it all, our anger still seethes underneath the façade we have created, behind the mask we wear so others won’t see how we really feel. That is dangerous, because that anger leads us further away from Jesus and into areas of darkness where sin lives and where sin and darkness begin to feed the anger even more, fanning its flames to burn bigger and brighter until we no longer remember who we really are, or whose we really are. Instead, we become consumed with our anger, and that is the sin that leads to the burning fire of hell that Jesus warns us of.
How do we stop that downward spiral? We do what Jesus tells us to do. We intentionally search our own hearts and look in the darkest corners to see where anger might be hiding. We bring it out into the light, and we acknowledge it, and we turn our focus away from our anger and turn toward Jesus. That is why the relationship is more important than the religion we practice. It is our relationship with Jesus that allows us to turn to him, be welcomed by him, be guided by him, to put aside our anger and learn to see our part in the problem.
Jesus tells us, “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” “stop what you’re doing, right then and there,” Jesus says, “and go and take care of the situation, try to resolve the issue, then come back and worship me with a clean heart and a clear conscious.” That is the way we are to worship Jesus, with a clean heart and a clear conscious.
I understand that there are times when our anger is not because we have caused an issue with another, but that they have sinned against us, through no fault of our own. That anger can still lead us to sin against others and that anger can still create the barrier that keeps us from a relationship with other sad with Jesus.
We still need to acknowledge that anger, too. We need to bring it to the light and ask God to help us overcome it so that it will not lead us into sin and darkness. We need to let our relationship with Jesus lead us to the place where we can forgive the one who sinned against us and caused the pain and the anger that we harbor against them.
In his book, “The Divine Conspiracy,” Dallas Willard writes that if we look, “We can trace wrongdoing back to its roots in the human heart. We find that in the overwhelming number of criminal cases it involves some form of anger.” That is what Jesus was warning us about in his sermon. Righteousness anger, used properly, can forge a better path for society, but anger can easily become a raging fire that burns up our good judgement, and the smoke from this fire blinds us to how our actions get in the way of good, healthy relationships – especially the one we have with Jesus.
Jesus advise us to “come to terms quickly” when we feel our anger flare against someone. The quicker we can resolve our issues, the less of an opportunity there is for that anger to lead to sin. It’s like when we are weeding the garden, if we pull the weeds out when they are small, they come out easily, but if we wait too long, its roots grow deeper and stronger, making it harder to yank out. The sooner we take care of our anger issue, the more easily it can be yanked out and we can once again see clearly that relationships are more important than our anger.
You know what else is more important than our anger? Just about everything. Love, family, friendships, faith, salvation. Oh, wait, all those things are about relationships. Isn’t it funny how that works? Relationships are the building blocks of our life. Anger is the wrecking ball that will destroy those relationships. But only if we let it. Let’s not let it. Let’s not let our anger wreck our relationships, let’s not let anger wreck our lives. Anger wants to get ahold of us, but I say, let Jesus get ahold of us instead. AMEN.
References
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON ON FEBRUARY 5, 2023 TITLED "BLESSED - EVEN IN TRYING TIMES" FROM HER NEW SERIES CALLED "ARE WE" .
February 5, 2023
Rootstown
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Are We?
Scripture: Matthew 5:13-20
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Today’s scripture continues Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. Last week we started with the beautiful words of the Beatitudes, and now Jesus tells those who are listening that “You are the salt of the earth, and you are the light of the world.”
Let’s start with salt. Really? Salt? If I had to be compared to a seasoning, I would want to pick something more exotic, maybe something not quite so common, something more valuable, like Saffron, which is the most expensive spice in the world.
Saffron is made from the stigma of the blue crocus and is harvested by hand. It takes 200-500 stigmas to make a single gram of saffron. Now that is valuable! I think I would like to be compared to saffron instead of salt.
But Jesus said we are salt, so salt we are. But what does that mean exactly? How can we be salt, and how can salt lose its flavor? I have salt in my cupboard that has been there for a really long time, and it’s still salty. How can salt not be salty?
Well, we’re used to salt that has been mined and put through a process to purify it. But in Jesus’s time, the mining methods used did not guarantee a pure product – in fact, just the opposite. Some salt was so impure that it didn’t have any salty flavor and would have to be thrown out. It could not perform the one function it was created for.
And salt was a valuable commodity back in those days, so much so that our word, “salary” comes from the Latin word “salarium”, whose root is in the word for salt. It meant the amount of money given as wages for the Roman soldiers to buy salt. So, I guess salt was the saffron of Jesus’s time. But what made it so essential?
In the days before refrigeration, salt was an essential element in keeping food preserved for later use. Not only does salt make your food taste better, it also makes food last longer. To show the value of salt, there is an old story about a king who had three daughters. He asked them all one day how much they loved him. Two of the daughters immediately spoke up and cried out, “We love you more than silver and gold.” The king was very pleased.
But the third daughter quietly claimed, “I love you more than salt.” The king was puzzled and a little hurt; her answer made no sense to him. The head cook, however, had overheard the girl’s answer and was pleased.
The next morning, the king sat down to a large breakfast as usual, but everything tasted bland. Unused to such tepid flavors, the king called for the cook to demand an explanation. The cook explained that he had not put salt in any of the dishes that morning so the king might experience the true depth of his third daughter’s love.
When Jesus says we are salt of the earth, he is affirming our value, but he is also reminding us that salt needs to be used in order to be effective. Left on its own, it sits in the shaker and does nothing, but when it is used, when it is sprinkled on our food, it does what it was intended to do – either to preserve or to flavor.
Jesus’ calling us the salt of the earth means he is calling us to be around the people who need to be influenced for Christ. We can’t just sit in the shaker, doing nothing, we need to be actively sharing the gospel, we need to be the salt that makes them thirst to know Jesus who is the one who preserves their life – their ETERNAL life.
We are called to be an influential flavor to others – at work, at school, in our families, everywhere we go. When I worked in retail, years ago, I became accustomed to hearing foul language as a regular part of conversation, but I didn’t participate by using it myself. It didn’t take long for coworkers to notice and begin to curb their language when I was around. I didn’t ask them to do so, I just chose not to engage in their way of speaking, and they cleaned up their language whenever I was around, or apologized when they slipped up. In this small way, I was the salt that these people needed to realize how they were speaking, even if it was only for the few minutes we were in the same room.
A Christian who does not allow their faith to affect others is like salt left in the shaker – ineffective for their created purpose. People do watch us. They want to see how we live out our faith. Some want to see us fail, but many are truly seeking to know God in their own lives and are unsure what that looks like, so they look to us to show them the way. We have to remember, too, that it is not about us, it’s about Jesus, and showing him to others. We are to be the salt that whets their appetites and makes them thirst for more – more God, more Jesus, more Bible. Are we doing that? Are we?
After telling the crowd to be the salt of the earth, Jesus then tells them that they are the light of the world. Being salt will flavor our lives and create a thirst for Jesus, but a light is a beacon, beckoning others to come, showing them the safest route.
Did you know that one of the first lighthouses in the world was the great lighthouse at Alexandria? One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, this lighthouse sat on the island of Pharos at the port of the great city of Alexandria.
At the top of the lighthouse was an open cupola where a fire would burn brightly every night so that sailors could find their way safely into port through the dangerous waters. What made this work so well and made it able to be seen from several miles away, was a large mirror, thought to be made from polished bronze, that the Egyptians used to direct the light from the fire into a beam that was sent out across the Mediterranean Sea. It was rumored that ships coming into the port of Alexandria at night could see the light of the fire from a hundred miles away.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hilltop cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.” Do you know why a lighthouse is so effective at guiding ships to safety? Because the beckoning light is at the top of the structure, not at the bottom. What good would it do to put the light on the lower level where the sailors would not be able to see it? No, the light goes up high, all the way to the top, so that it reflects for miles and can be seen by those who need to see it.
As a Christian, we cannot live our lives hidden in the shadows, afraid to speak up about our faith. What good are we to others if we keep our faith hidden, refusing to shine the light of Christ so that others can see it and be drawn to Jesus? We are not part of a secret society with a secret code and a secret handshake – we are an open invitation to come and learn how God loves everyone so much that he sent his only son to come and live among us and die for our sins so that we might one day live forever with him.
If we believe this – really believe it – then how can we possibly want to stay hidden under the cover of darkness? We should be eager to shine bright, reflecting the love and light of Jesus as brightly as that fire and bronze mirror reflected the light of safety to those Mediterranean sailors thousands of years ago. Are we being the light of the world? Are we?
In a Peanuts cartoon, Peppermint Patty complains to Charlie Brown that it was only the first day of school and already she had been sent to the principal’s office. “It’s your fault Chuck,” she says. Surprised and confused, Charlie Brown asks, “How is it my fault?”
Peppermint Patty replies, “You’re my friend, aren’t you Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me.”
While Peppermint Patty was really just trying to pass the blame for her actions on to someone else, it is a good reminder that we are to be a “better influence” on others for the sake of Jesus Christ. Many of us have heard it said, “You may be the only Bible your neighbor will ever see.” Are we being that? Are we?
Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth, living our lives as an example to others so that when they look at us, they see Jesus and begin to thirst so much for him that they HAVE to have him. We need to live in a way that makes their thirst unquenchable, so they eagerly come to drink from the Living Water, wanting to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Jesus also calls us to be the light of the world, beckoning others into the safety of eternal life found only through belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of the World.
Salt and light. They seem pretty basic, two things we are familiar with and often take for granted on a daily basis. But when the sun doesn’t shine, we lament the dark, and when there is no salt in our food, we lament the loss of flavor. Salt and light might be basic, but they are essential to life – maybe that is why Jesus calls us to be salt and light – because there is no life without them, just as there is no life without him.
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.” And “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” We are to be salt and light. Are we? I pray we are. AMEN.
PRAYER: May all that we do bring glory to you, God. Help us be salt in our world that we might make people thirsty for your word. Help us be light in our world that draws people to you. Help us remember that people are watching us, and without even knowing, we might be the only Bible they have ever seen. Help us point the way to you through all that we say and do. AMEN.
Call to Worship:
L: We are Called to be salt,
P: Because salt creates a thirst for the gospel.
L: We are called to be light,
P: Because light shines so a path can be seen.
L: Let us be salt; let us be light,
P: That through us, others will thirst for the Good News,
ALL: And they will find their way to Jesus. AMEN.
Hymn: We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations
Rootstown
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Are We?
Scripture: Matthew 5:13-20
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Today’s scripture continues Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. Last week we started with the beautiful words of the Beatitudes, and now Jesus tells those who are listening that “You are the salt of the earth, and you are the light of the world.”
Let’s start with salt. Really? Salt? If I had to be compared to a seasoning, I would want to pick something more exotic, maybe something not quite so common, something more valuable, like Saffron, which is the most expensive spice in the world.
Saffron is made from the stigma of the blue crocus and is harvested by hand. It takes 200-500 stigmas to make a single gram of saffron. Now that is valuable! I think I would like to be compared to saffron instead of salt.
But Jesus said we are salt, so salt we are. But what does that mean exactly? How can we be salt, and how can salt lose its flavor? I have salt in my cupboard that has been there for a really long time, and it’s still salty. How can salt not be salty?
Well, we’re used to salt that has been mined and put through a process to purify it. But in Jesus’s time, the mining methods used did not guarantee a pure product – in fact, just the opposite. Some salt was so impure that it didn’t have any salty flavor and would have to be thrown out. It could not perform the one function it was created for.
And salt was a valuable commodity back in those days, so much so that our word, “salary” comes from the Latin word “salarium”, whose root is in the word for salt. It meant the amount of money given as wages for the Roman soldiers to buy salt. So, I guess salt was the saffron of Jesus’s time. But what made it so essential?
In the days before refrigeration, salt was an essential element in keeping food preserved for later use. Not only does salt make your food taste better, it also makes food last longer. To show the value of salt, there is an old story about a king who had three daughters. He asked them all one day how much they loved him. Two of the daughters immediately spoke up and cried out, “We love you more than silver and gold.” The king was very pleased.
But the third daughter quietly claimed, “I love you more than salt.” The king was puzzled and a little hurt; her answer made no sense to him. The head cook, however, had overheard the girl’s answer and was pleased.
The next morning, the king sat down to a large breakfast as usual, but everything tasted bland. Unused to such tepid flavors, the king called for the cook to demand an explanation. The cook explained that he had not put salt in any of the dishes that morning so the king might experience the true depth of his third daughter’s love.
When Jesus says we are salt of the earth, he is affirming our value, but he is also reminding us that salt needs to be used in order to be effective. Left on its own, it sits in the shaker and does nothing, but when it is used, when it is sprinkled on our food, it does what it was intended to do – either to preserve or to flavor.
Jesus’ calling us the salt of the earth means he is calling us to be around the people who need to be influenced for Christ. We can’t just sit in the shaker, doing nothing, we need to be actively sharing the gospel, we need to be the salt that makes them thirst to know Jesus who is the one who preserves their life – their ETERNAL life.
We are called to be an influential flavor to others – at work, at school, in our families, everywhere we go. When I worked in retail, years ago, I became accustomed to hearing foul language as a regular part of conversation, but I didn’t participate by using it myself. It didn’t take long for coworkers to notice and begin to curb their language when I was around. I didn’t ask them to do so, I just chose not to engage in their way of speaking, and they cleaned up their language whenever I was around, or apologized when they slipped up. In this small way, I was the salt that these people needed to realize how they were speaking, even if it was only for the few minutes we were in the same room.
A Christian who does not allow their faith to affect others is like salt left in the shaker – ineffective for their created purpose. People do watch us. They want to see how we live out our faith. Some want to see us fail, but many are truly seeking to know God in their own lives and are unsure what that looks like, so they look to us to show them the way. We have to remember, too, that it is not about us, it’s about Jesus, and showing him to others. We are to be the salt that whets their appetites and makes them thirst for more – more God, more Jesus, more Bible. Are we doing that? Are we?
After telling the crowd to be the salt of the earth, Jesus then tells them that they are the light of the world. Being salt will flavor our lives and create a thirst for Jesus, but a light is a beacon, beckoning others to come, showing them the safest route.
Did you know that one of the first lighthouses in the world was the great lighthouse at Alexandria? One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, this lighthouse sat on the island of Pharos at the port of the great city of Alexandria.
At the top of the lighthouse was an open cupola where a fire would burn brightly every night so that sailors could find their way safely into port through the dangerous waters. What made this work so well and made it able to be seen from several miles away, was a large mirror, thought to be made from polished bronze, that the Egyptians used to direct the light from the fire into a beam that was sent out across the Mediterranean Sea. It was rumored that ships coming into the port of Alexandria at night could see the light of the fire from a hundred miles away.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hilltop cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.” Do you know why a lighthouse is so effective at guiding ships to safety? Because the beckoning light is at the top of the structure, not at the bottom. What good would it do to put the light on the lower level where the sailors would not be able to see it? No, the light goes up high, all the way to the top, so that it reflects for miles and can be seen by those who need to see it.
As a Christian, we cannot live our lives hidden in the shadows, afraid to speak up about our faith. What good are we to others if we keep our faith hidden, refusing to shine the light of Christ so that others can see it and be drawn to Jesus? We are not part of a secret society with a secret code and a secret handshake – we are an open invitation to come and learn how God loves everyone so much that he sent his only son to come and live among us and die for our sins so that we might one day live forever with him.
If we believe this – really believe it – then how can we possibly want to stay hidden under the cover of darkness? We should be eager to shine bright, reflecting the love and light of Jesus as brightly as that fire and bronze mirror reflected the light of safety to those Mediterranean sailors thousands of years ago. Are we being the light of the world? Are we?
In a Peanuts cartoon, Peppermint Patty complains to Charlie Brown that it was only the first day of school and already she had been sent to the principal’s office. “It’s your fault Chuck,” she says. Surprised and confused, Charlie Brown asks, “How is it my fault?”
Peppermint Patty replies, “You’re my friend, aren’t you Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me.”
While Peppermint Patty was really just trying to pass the blame for her actions on to someone else, it is a good reminder that we are to be a “better influence” on others for the sake of Jesus Christ. Many of us have heard it said, “You may be the only Bible your neighbor will ever see.” Are we being that? Are we?
Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth, living our lives as an example to others so that when they look at us, they see Jesus and begin to thirst so much for him that they HAVE to have him. We need to live in a way that makes their thirst unquenchable, so they eagerly come to drink from the Living Water, wanting to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Jesus also calls us to be the light of the world, beckoning others into the safety of eternal life found only through belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of the World.
Salt and light. They seem pretty basic, two things we are familiar with and often take for granted on a daily basis. But when the sun doesn’t shine, we lament the dark, and when there is no salt in our food, we lament the loss of flavor. Salt and light might be basic, but they are essential to life – maybe that is why Jesus calls us to be salt and light – because there is no life without them, just as there is no life without him.
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.” And “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” We are to be salt and light. Are we? I pray we are. AMEN.
PRAYER: May all that we do bring glory to you, God. Help us be salt in our world that we might make people thirsty for your word. Help us be light in our world that draws people to you. Help us remember that people are watching us, and without even knowing, we might be the only Bible they have ever seen. Help us point the way to you through all that we say and do. AMEN.
Call to Worship:
L: We are Called to be salt,
P: Because salt creates a thirst for the gospel.
L: We are called to be light,
P: Because light shines so a path can be seen.
L: Let us be salt; let us be light,
P: That through us, others will thirst for the Good News,
ALL: And they will find their way to Jesus. AMEN.
Hymn: We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON ON JANUARY 29, 2023 TITLED "Blessed - Even in Trying Times" FROM HER NEW SERIES CALLED "LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD" .
January 29, 2023
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Blessed – Even in Trying Times
Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The title of today’s sermon is “Blessed – Even in Trying Times.” That may sound like an oxymoron to some of us. How can we feel blessed when we are experiencing a season of difficulty, when we are struggling with whatever issues have cropped up in our lives? When we feel like we are living in the dark, how can we see the light?
Of course, we know that we don’t lose our blessings when trying times descend upon us. We know that we are always blessed in so many ways by our great God, but in those times we may struggle with recognizing the good in our lives. It is in those hard times when we have to intentionally look for the good. It is in those times when we especially need to remember Jesus’ promise to his disciples in John 16 as he was warning them that the time was coming when they would be scattered, leave Jesus all alone, and live in fear for their lives. He says, in verse 33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart because I have overcome the world.”
We know without a doubt that there are trials, troubles, and sorrows in this world, and yes, we do know that Jesus has overcome all that. We know that through Jesus we have been saved from our sins and saved to eternal life with him. We know all that, and it’s easy to remember it when life is easy, but what can we do to remember this when life isn’t easy, when we are being bombarded with those trials and troubles and sorrows that threaten to overwhelm us?
Prayer is the start. When we pray to the One who has already overcome the world, it helps us remember that all of the stuff we are enduring here is temporary, even when temporary feels like a long, long time. Prayer helps us focus on the One who is in control even when we feel like we are living in chaos.
Prayer takes our eyes off of us and our problems long enough to fix our eyes on the One who knows our pain, our sorrow, our trials, who is the One who has already endured them for us and is enduring them with us. Prayer is powerful because we pray to the One who is all powerful.
This week our scripture reading comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been baptized, tempted in the wilderness, called his first four disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and he has begun teaching in the synagogues, healing people, and preaching the good news that the Kingdom of God has come to the people.
Then Matthew tells us that on this day, Jesus saw a crowd had gathered, so he went up on the mountain and sat down. His disciples came to him, the people gathered around, and Jesus began to teach them, starting with the “Blessed are those” statements that we call the Beatitudes. Imagine how Jesus’ words affected their minds and spirits that day.
These were people who were living under Roman rule in their own land. They didn’t have a lot of rights, most of them were poor, many were in bad health. This was a crowd who longed for freedom, longed to rule themselves once more, longed to break free and live their lives as they wished, without fear. These were people who were longing for the promised Messiah to come and rescue them and save them.
Some may have been shocked to hear Jesus say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” How is a poor spirit and the act of mourning to be seen as a blessing? That didn’t make much sense.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” How do the meek inherit the earth? How can the meek win a battle and take possession of new territory? That is a job for the bold, the brave, the strong, not those who are meek.
Then, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
What is he talking about? How can anyone feel blessed when being persecuted? Who is going to rejoice when that happens? How is it a blessing to be falsely accused, to be reviled, to have people speak evil against and about you? This doesn’t make sense. Many may have given up and walked away that day. “This isn’t what we came to hear,” they grumbled as they walked away. “I thought they said this guy might be the Messiah, but he’s just another guy. Nothing to see here, let’s go.”
John MacArthur explains how people were looking for the Messiah, but not this version of him. He reminds us that in Jesus’ time, there were various groups of people who were waiting and watching for the Messiah to come, yet when he did he was not what they expected. They weren’t prepared for this humble, meek person they heard preaching. And Jesus lived as he preached. The concept of a meek, humble Messiah who could lead meek people didn’t fit their expectations for the Messiah at all.
The Jews understood power as military might. To some degree, they understood the power of compromise, although that was an unpopular idea. But they could not comprehend the power of meekness, and because of this, the people, by-and-large, rejected Jesus; he did not fit their projected Messianic figure. How could this man be the deliverer for whom they had been waiting?
In the past, always before, this is how deliverance was accomplished – by a military leader mustering military force – so why would they expect something, or someone, different this time? To say that many were disappointed when they heard Jesus preach would be an understatement. Yet, in spite of not understanding his ways, there were plenty of people who still chose to follow Jesus, many who kept coming to hear him preach. Granted, many were simply coming for the show – to see a healing or be healed, to listen to the debates between Jesus and the religious leaders – but still, they came, they listened, and they told their friends who then also came.
That’s where we are today. Jesus, sitting on the side of a mountain, surrounded by a great crowd of people, and he is preaching his way, his message. And we can’t fault the crowds who were there but didn’t understand because sometimes we don’t understand, either.
We really aren’t so different from that crowd. We think victory comes from the strongest, boldest, most prepared to fight. We question how mourning can be a blessing, we don’t want to live in a world where we are cancelled because of our beliefs and call that a good thing. We know we are blessed beyond measure but being blessed doesn’t keep us from facing trials and troubles.
So I ask again, as I did at the beginning, how do we, when facing tribulations in this life, do so and still intentionally remember our blessings? The answer remains: through the power of prayer. And these sayings of Jesus are a great way for us to do just that.
When we find ourselves in a difficult situation, we can stop and remember this passage from today and turn it into a prayer, one “Blessed be” at a time. I have adapted this idea from an unknown author, one who is much wiser than I will ever be, but someone from whom we can learn. Whether you use all the verses, or only one or two at a time, the Beatitudes give us a chance to really see that even in the trying times, we can feel God’s blessings on us.
Praying the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: Lord, may my attitude be one of humility, not being impressed with myself and what I have accomplished, but giving you the credit and the glory for what you have worked through me. Without you, Lord, I am lost in my prideful nature. Help me turn to you daily as I recognize my need for your Spirit to fill me and guide me.
Blessed are those who mourn: Lord, let my heart break for the things that break your heart. Let me not dwell in self-pity but let me receive your comfort and your peace, that receiving these gifts, I may in turn offer to others what you have given me. Let me remember that grief is a sign of love, love that you have given us and taught us to give, as we have been made in your image.
Blessed are the meek: As Jesus was meek, lowly, and gentle, let me be so too, recognizing this not as weakness but strength, because you are strong. Let me be infused with your strength that I might show gentleness in a cruel world, let me live in lowliness that I might not insist on my way, nor demand my rights to the exclusion of others, but that I would welcome all who truly believe into your family where I have already been made welcome through Jesus.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: Jesus, as you offered this water to the woman at the well, you were offering it to all. May I thirst not for the things the world has to offer, but for the things that draw me closer to you. Help me not become filled at the table set for those in the world, but let my soul be fully satisfied when I taste and see that you are good. May my heart long for the sustenance that can only be found in you.
Blessed are the merciful: Father of mercy, open my heart to see the needs of others. Use me to show those around me that mercy and grace are found in you. Help me to forgive others as you have forgiven me, extending grace in the measure of which I have received it from you through Jesus, your Son.
Blessed are the pure in heart: Lord, help me see that you will use my trials to strengthen my faith and purify my heart. I offer you my unclean heart, Lord, and beg you to use your refining ways to burn out the impurities. Cleanse me, and create in me a clean heart, free of the pollution of this world, free of the guilt of sin, leaving behind only the good that can be used to further your kingdom here on earth.
Blessed are the peacemakers: O Prince of Peace, dwell in my heart and direct my steps that I may renounce the seeds of jealousy that threaten to grow within me. Replace my jealous tendencies with your peace that I may be content with all that I have in you. Help me sow seeds of peace where discord wants to grow, and help me lead others to do the same, that we might live as one according to your truth that is written in your word.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: Lord God, when troubles come, do not let me give in to pettiness or self-pity. Help me stand firm for your sake and be an example for those who may be watching. I will pray for those who mistreat me, speak your name boldly as I witness of your goodness, and proclaim the Good News of the saving grace you have given us through Jesus Christ because I know you will be with me at all times and in all places. AMEN.
One prayer or several small prayers, may Jesus’ words to the crowd that day be a reminder to us all, that even in the worst of times, we are truly blessed simply because we are created in the image of a God who loves us beyond anything we could ever measure. And I am so grateful for Paul’s reminder of this in Romans 8:38-39 when he writes:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Yes, we do know we are blessed – even in trying times. So, we will thank God for his blessings, thank God for his love. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of power, as we pray, we know that all the power of prayer comes from you. In these verses today, we have been reminded that your power is strength in meekness, love in the face of trials, peace in the midst of chaos, and comfort during times of mourning. You have warned us that even when we follow you we will still live in a world where trial and troubles will bring us sorrow, but you have promised us that in the end we will endure because you have already overcome this world and are preparing a new place for us to be with you. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us abundantly and helping us to see that your love is steadfast and true, sustaining us even in our darkest hours. AMEN.
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Blessed – Even in Trying Times
Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The title of today’s sermon is “Blessed – Even in Trying Times.” That may sound like an oxymoron to some of us. How can we feel blessed when we are experiencing a season of difficulty, when we are struggling with whatever issues have cropped up in our lives? When we feel like we are living in the dark, how can we see the light?
Of course, we know that we don’t lose our blessings when trying times descend upon us. We know that we are always blessed in so many ways by our great God, but in those times we may struggle with recognizing the good in our lives. It is in those hard times when we have to intentionally look for the good. It is in those times when we especially need to remember Jesus’ promise to his disciples in John 16 as he was warning them that the time was coming when they would be scattered, leave Jesus all alone, and live in fear for their lives. He says, in verse 33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart because I have overcome the world.”
We know without a doubt that there are trials, troubles, and sorrows in this world, and yes, we do know that Jesus has overcome all that. We know that through Jesus we have been saved from our sins and saved to eternal life with him. We know all that, and it’s easy to remember it when life is easy, but what can we do to remember this when life isn’t easy, when we are being bombarded with those trials and troubles and sorrows that threaten to overwhelm us?
Prayer is the start. When we pray to the One who has already overcome the world, it helps us remember that all of the stuff we are enduring here is temporary, even when temporary feels like a long, long time. Prayer helps us focus on the One who is in control even when we feel like we are living in chaos.
Prayer takes our eyes off of us and our problems long enough to fix our eyes on the One who knows our pain, our sorrow, our trials, who is the One who has already endured them for us and is enduring them with us. Prayer is powerful because we pray to the One who is all powerful.
This week our scripture reading comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been baptized, tempted in the wilderness, called his first four disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and he has begun teaching in the synagogues, healing people, and preaching the good news that the Kingdom of God has come to the people.
Then Matthew tells us that on this day, Jesus saw a crowd had gathered, so he went up on the mountain and sat down. His disciples came to him, the people gathered around, and Jesus began to teach them, starting with the “Blessed are those” statements that we call the Beatitudes. Imagine how Jesus’ words affected their minds and spirits that day.
These were people who were living under Roman rule in their own land. They didn’t have a lot of rights, most of them were poor, many were in bad health. This was a crowd who longed for freedom, longed to rule themselves once more, longed to break free and live their lives as they wished, without fear. These were people who were longing for the promised Messiah to come and rescue them and save them.
Some may have been shocked to hear Jesus say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” How is a poor spirit and the act of mourning to be seen as a blessing? That didn’t make much sense.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” How do the meek inherit the earth? How can the meek win a battle and take possession of new territory? That is a job for the bold, the brave, the strong, not those who are meek.
Then, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
What is he talking about? How can anyone feel blessed when being persecuted? Who is going to rejoice when that happens? How is it a blessing to be falsely accused, to be reviled, to have people speak evil against and about you? This doesn’t make sense. Many may have given up and walked away that day. “This isn’t what we came to hear,” they grumbled as they walked away. “I thought they said this guy might be the Messiah, but he’s just another guy. Nothing to see here, let’s go.”
John MacArthur explains how people were looking for the Messiah, but not this version of him. He reminds us that in Jesus’ time, there were various groups of people who were waiting and watching for the Messiah to come, yet when he did he was not what they expected. They weren’t prepared for this humble, meek person they heard preaching. And Jesus lived as he preached. The concept of a meek, humble Messiah who could lead meek people didn’t fit their expectations for the Messiah at all.
The Jews understood power as military might. To some degree, they understood the power of compromise, although that was an unpopular idea. But they could not comprehend the power of meekness, and because of this, the people, by-and-large, rejected Jesus; he did not fit their projected Messianic figure. How could this man be the deliverer for whom they had been waiting?
In the past, always before, this is how deliverance was accomplished – by a military leader mustering military force – so why would they expect something, or someone, different this time? To say that many were disappointed when they heard Jesus preach would be an understatement. Yet, in spite of not understanding his ways, there were plenty of people who still chose to follow Jesus, many who kept coming to hear him preach. Granted, many were simply coming for the show – to see a healing or be healed, to listen to the debates between Jesus and the religious leaders – but still, they came, they listened, and they told their friends who then also came.
That’s where we are today. Jesus, sitting on the side of a mountain, surrounded by a great crowd of people, and he is preaching his way, his message. And we can’t fault the crowds who were there but didn’t understand because sometimes we don’t understand, either.
We really aren’t so different from that crowd. We think victory comes from the strongest, boldest, most prepared to fight. We question how mourning can be a blessing, we don’t want to live in a world where we are cancelled because of our beliefs and call that a good thing. We know we are blessed beyond measure but being blessed doesn’t keep us from facing trials and troubles.
So I ask again, as I did at the beginning, how do we, when facing tribulations in this life, do so and still intentionally remember our blessings? The answer remains: through the power of prayer. And these sayings of Jesus are a great way for us to do just that.
When we find ourselves in a difficult situation, we can stop and remember this passage from today and turn it into a prayer, one “Blessed be” at a time. I have adapted this idea from an unknown author, one who is much wiser than I will ever be, but someone from whom we can learn. Whether you use all the verses, or only one or two at a time, the Beatitudes give us a chance to really see that even in the trying times, we can feel God’s blessings on us.
Praying the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: Lord, may my attitude be one of humility, not being impressed with myself and what I have accomplished, but giving you the credit and the glory for what you have worked through me. Without you, Lord, I am lost in my prideful nature. Help me turn to you daily as I recognize my need for your Spirit to fill me and guide me.
Blessed are those who mourn: Lord, let my heart break for the things that break your heart. Let me not dwell in self-pity but let me receive your comfort and your peace, that receiving these gifts, I may in turn offer to others what you have given me. Let me remember that grief is a sign of love, love that you have given us and taught us to give, as we have been made in your image.
Blessed are the meek: As Jesus was meek, lowly, and gentle, let me be so too, recognizing this not as weakness but strength, because you are strong. Let me be infused with your strength that I might show gentleness in a cruel world, let me live in lowliness that I might not insist on my way, nor demand my rights to the exclusion of others, but that I would welcome all who truly believe into your family where I have already been made welcome through Jesus.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: Jesus, as you offered this water to the woman at the well, you were offering it to all. May I thirst not for the things the world has to offer, but for the things that draw me closer to you. Help me not become filled at the table set for those in the world, but let my soul be fully satisfied when I taste and see that you are good. May my heart long for the sustenance that can only be found in you.
Blessed are the merciful: Father of mercy, open my heart to see the needs of others. Use me to show those around me that mercy and grace are found in you. Help me to forgive others as you have forgiven me, extending grace in the measure of which I have received it from you through Jesus, your Son.
Blessed are the pure in heart: Lord, help me see that you will use my trials to strengthen my faith and purify my heart. I offer you my unclean heart, Lord, and beg you to use your refining ways to burn out the impurities. Cleanse me, and create in me a clean heart, free of the pollution of this world, free of the guilt of sin, leaving behind only the good that can be used to further your kingdom here on earth.
Blessed are the peacemakers: O Prince of Peace, dwell in my heart and direct my steps that I may renounce the seeds of jealousy that threaten to grow within me. Replace my jealous tendencies with your peace that I may be content with all that I have in you. Help me sow seeds of peace where discord wants to grow, and help me lead others to do the same, that we might live as one according to your truth that is written in your word.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: Lord God, when troubles come, do not let me give in to pettiness or self-pity. Help me stand firm for your sake and be an example for those who may be watching. I will pray for those who mistreat me, speak your name boldly as I witness of your goodness, and proclaim the Good News of the saving grace you have given us through Jesus Christ because I know you will be with me at all times and in all places. AMEN.
One prayer or several small prayers, may Jesus’ words to the crowd that day be a reminder to us all, that even in the worst of times, we are truly blessed simply because we are created in the image of a God who loves us beyond anything we could ever measure. And I am so grateful for Paul’s reminder of this in Romans 8:38-39 when he writes:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Yes, we do know we are blessed – even in trying times. So, we will thank God for his blessings, thank God for his love. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of power, as we pray, we know that all the power of prayer comes from you. In these verses today, we have been reminded that your power is strength in meekness, love in the face of trials, peace in the midst of chaos, and comfort during times of mourning. You have warned us that even when we follow you we will still live in a world where trial and troubles will bring us sorrow, but you have promised us that in the end we will endure because you have already overcome this world and are preparing a new place for us to be with you. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us abundantly and helping us to see that your love is steadfast and true, sustaining us even in our darkest hours. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON ON JANUARY 22, 2023 TITLED "Be in agreement" FROM HER NEW SERIES CALLED "LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD" .
January 22, 2023
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Be in Agreement
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Last week we learned from Paul that the Church, that is every local church in every community, already has what it needs to be the Church as long as its people are using their Spirit-given gifts. This week, Paul turns to teaching about relationships that exist within the Church, calling the body in the Corinthian church to be in agreement, with no divisions, having a like-minded attitude.
It's almost as though Paul was speaking directly to the Church in 2023, isn’t it? But we pause when we read this and we think, “yeah, right!” Be all in agreement on everything? Be of the same mind in everything? Everything is a lot, how is it even possible to have a group of people who make up the church always be in lock-step with one another in every decision that is made, every ministry that is done, every doctrine that is taught, every word that is preached? We might even shake our heads and heave a great sigh of defeat at just the thought of trying to make this happen.
We read this and we start to wonder what we have to give up just to get to an agreement. We have to decide whether being right on a matter is more important than being in agreement with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We wonder whose idea or statement we are required to agree with, and how do we reconcile that outward agreement with our inward thoughts and ideas?
Honestly, I don’t think Paul believed that every believer in every church would also be of one mind in all situations. Paul knew people well enough to know that, but he did have a specific purpose for appealing to this particular church to stop their disagreements.
Paul starts here by saying, “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.” Then we see why he is saying this in the next verse: “For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.”
Quarrels among the members of the church. It happens, unfortunately. I have heard stories of church splits over an argument as to what color carpet should be laid in the sanctuary. We know people have their own opinions, their own thoughts, their own ideas, their own way of wanting to do things. How can we be in agreement when we have so many differences?
Paul addresses exactly what is causing the divisions in this Corinthian church, though, and it didn’t have anything to do with the carpet color, the use of the kitchen, or where to stick the Sunday school kids who make too much noise and commotion on Sunday mornings.
The crux of the matter is that there are people in this church who are making claims to be better than others because of who they follow. We touched briefly on this last week. Some claim they are followers of Paul; others claim they are better because they follow Apollos. Still others claim superiority because they follow Cephas, that is Peter, and still others claim their lofty position of being better because they follow Christ.
The people are ranking their own positions in the church based on who they believe to be the most important person to follow, and each one thinks the person they have chosen to follow is more important than the others. A lesser man than Paul may have been flattered to be included in the list, but this isn’t a lesser man – this is Paul, one called to be an apostle of Christ by the grace of God, a man who recognizes that he is but a servant leader of these new Christians, and he would never try to elevate himself above the others simply to look more important.
Paul wants this bickering and comparing one to another to stop. He asks them, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? What good is it to claim that you follow Paul, or Apollos, or even Peter? They were not the ones who came to offer salvation, they were not the ones who were crucified for the sins of the world, it is not their names that are used when one is baptized.”
Paul wants them to understand that it is Christ Jesus, and him alone who these people should be following because Jesus is God who came to earth, it is Jesus who took upon himself all our sins and paid our price through death on the cross, it is Jesus in whose name they were baptized, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
It is in this, above all else, that Paul wants this church to be of like mind. There should be no divisions among the body of Christ as to who they follow, as to whom they belong. The church can start by getting on the same page on this foundational doctrine, because this is foundational to their Christian faith. If they cannot agree on this, nothing else matters.
When Paul called the Corinthian church to be in agreement, he never meant that they should automatically adopt an attitude of anything goes for the sake of harmony within the body. We know that there are times when division is necessary and that has gone back for centuries – all the way back to the first real church split which gave us the Eastern church and the Western church – the Orthodox and the Catholic churches. We know there was another major split when Martin Luther nailed his list of grievances to the door of the local church and began to preach that we are saved by grace through faith alone and the Protestant church was born.
Today we live in a world where we have multiple denominations and churches who exist because real differences in doctrine and theology have divided us, and that is sad, but sometimes necessary. But even in those divisions, as long as we can agree on what Paul taught to this Corinthian church, centuries ago - that Christ is the One whom we follow, that Christ is the One who is God who lived among us, that Christ is the One who took on our sins and paid the price for them so we did not have to, that it is through faith in Christ as the One who came to save us that we are given God’s grace and eternal life, then we are still, on the highest plane, in one accord on the most important doctrine that makes up the Christian church all over the world.
Paul’s appeal to the Church, then and now, is for unity in Christ which results in relationship with God and with one another. Relationship is vital to the existence of the Church, and to each part of the body of the Church.
We were made by our Creator to be in relationship with God and with our neighbor.
If we claim that our purpose as the body of Christ is to build up of the body, to encourage and support one another by using our Spirit-given gifts, then we need to approach differences and disagreements within the Church with a clear goal toward unity in Christ, knowing who he is and what he has done for us, because if we can’t come together on this – then nothing else matters.
I read of an African proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, then go together.” This was played out in 2012 in Columbus during a high school, Division III 3200-meter finals race. Runner Arden McMath was just twenty meters from the finish line when she collapsed on the track. When she realized her competitor had fallen, Megan Vogel rushed back to help her up and help her cross the finish line.
The girls ended the race in fourteenth and fifteenth place. Megan may have given up her chance for a first-place finish that day, but she showed true sportsmanship. When asked why she went back to help her fallen rival, Megan just said, “Any girl on the track would have done the same for me.”
Arden finished the race that day because she had Megan there to help her up and help her get going again. Our faith journey is not a race to see who gets to the finish line first, rather it is a long, slow walk of faith where people come alongside one another to offer a word, a hand, a shoulder. It is a journey we take together, helping one another become stronger and go further than any of us could ever hope to go on our own. It is a journey we help one another finish because no one can do it on our own.
I am grateful for those who have offered themselves to me, and I am grateful that I can offer myself to others when I see a need, but I am most grateful for our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we are called to be one with one another and one in him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are the One whom we follow, the One who saves us, the One who calls us. Thank you, Lord, for all who you are to us. Thank you, too, for our brothers and sisters who come alongside us and help us as we journey together on our walk of faith, encouraging one another, picking up the fallen, waiting for those who lag behind, never going too far ahead or too fast, so that we might all finish the race you have set before us. Lord, in you may we find agreement. In you may we find peace. AMEN.
References
https://globalnews.ca/news/1144378/athletes-helping-rival-athletes-5-examples-of-true-sportsmanship/
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Be in Agreement
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Last week we learned from Paul that the Church, that is every local church in every community, already has what it needs to be the Church as long as its people are using their Spirit-given gifts. This week, Paul turns to teaching about relationships that exist within the Church, calling the body in the Corinthian church to be in agreement, with no divisions, having a like-minded attitude.
It's almost as though Paul was speaking directly to the Church in 2023, isn’t it? But we pause when we read this and we think, “yeah, right!” Be all in agreement on everything? Be of the same mind in everything? Everything is a lot, how is it even possible to have a group of people who make up the church always be in lock-step with one another in every decision that is made, every ministry that is done, every doctrine that is taught, every word that is preached? We might even shake our heads and heave a great sigh of defeat at just the thought of trying to make this happen.
We read this and we start to wonder what we have to give up just to get to an agreement. We have to decide whether being right on a matter is more important than being in agreement with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We wonder whose idea or statement we are required to agree with, and how do we reconcile that outward agreement with our inward thoughts and ideas?
Honestly, I don’t think Paul believed that every believer in every church would also be of one mind in all situations. Paul knew people well enough to know that, but he did have a specific purpose for appealing to this particular church to stop their disagreements.
Paul starts here by saying, “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.” Then we see why he is saying this in the next verse: “For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.”
Quarrels among the members of the church. It happens, unfortunately. I have heard stories of church splits over an argument as to what color carpet should be laid in the sanctuary. We know people have their own opinions, their own thoughts, their own ideas, their own way of wanting to do things. How can we be in agreement when we have so many differences?
Paul addresses exactly what is causing the divisions in this Corinthian church, though, and it didn’t have anything to do with the carpet color, the use of the kitchen, or where to stick the Sunday school kids who make too much noise and commotion on Sunday mornings.
The crux of the matter is that there are people in this church who are making claims to be better than others because of who they follow. We touched briefly on this last week. Some claim they are followers of Paul; others claim they are better because they follow Apollos. Still others claim superiority because they follow Cephas, that is Peter, and still others claim their lofty position of being better because they follow Christ.
The people are ranking their own positions in the church based on who they believe to be the most important person to follow, and each one thinks the person they have chosen to follow is more important than the others. A lesser man than Paul may have been flattered to be included in the list, but this isn’t a lesser man – this is Paul, one called to be an apostle of Christ by the grace of God, a man who recognizes that he is but a servant leader of these new Christians, and he would never try to elevate himself above the others simply to look more important.
Paul wants this bickering and comparing one to another to stop. He asks them, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? What good is it to claim that you follow Paul, or Apollos, or even Peter? They were not the ones who came to offer salvation, they were not the ones who were crucified for the sins of the world, it is not their names that are used when one is baptized.”
Paul wants them to understand that it is Christ Jesus, and him alone who these people should be following because Jesus is God who came to earth, it is Jesus who took upon himself all our sins and paid our price through death on the cross, it is Jesus in whose name they were baptized, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
It is in this, above all else, that Paul wants this church to be of like mind. There should be no divisions among the body of Christ as to who they follow, as to whom they belong. The church can start by getting on the same page on this foundational doctrine, because this is foundational to their Christian faith. If they cannot agree on this, nothing else matters.
When Paul called the Corinthian church to be in agreement, he never meant that they should automatically adopt an attitude of anything goes for the sake of harmony within the body. We know that there are times when division is necessary and that has gone back for centuries – all the way back to the first real church split which gave us the Eastern church and the Western church – the Orthodox and the Catholic churches. We know there was another major split when Martin Luther nailed his list of grievances to the door of the local church and began to preach that we are saved by grace through faith alone and the Protestant church was born.
Today we live in a world where we have multiple denominations and churches who exist because real differences in doctrine and theology have divided us, and that is sad, but sometimes necessary. But even in those divisions, as long as we can agree on what Paul taught to this Corinthian church, centuries ago - that Christ is the One whom we follow, that Christ is the One who is God who lived among us, that Christ is the One who took on our sins and paid the price for them so we did not have to, that it is through faith in Christ as the One who came to save us that we are given God’s grace and eternal life, then we are still, on the highest plane, in one accord on the most important doctrine that makes up the Christian church all over the world.
Paul’s appeal to the Church, then and now, is for unity in Christ which results in relationship with God and with one another. Relationship is vital to the existence of the Church, and to each part of the body of the Church.
We were made by our Creator to be in relationship with God and with our neighbor.
If we claim that our purpose as the body of Christ is to build up of the body, to encourage and support one another by using our Spirit-given gifts, then we need to approach differences and disagreements within the Church with a clear goal toward unity in Christ, knowing who he is and what he has done for us, because if we can’t come together on this – then nothing else matters.
I read of an African proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, then go together.” This was played out in 2012 in Columbus during a high school, Division III 3200-meter finals race. Runner Arden McMath was just twenty meters from the finish line when she collapsed on the track. When she realized her competitor had fallen, Megan Vogel rushed back to help her up and help her cross the finish line.
The girls ended the race in fourteenth and fifteenth place. Megan may have given up her chance for a first-place finish that day, but she showed true sportsmanship. When asked why she went back to help her fallen rival, Megan just said, “Any girl on the track would have done the same for me.”
Arden finished the race that day because she had Megan there to help her up and help her get going again. Our faith journey is not a race to see who gets to the finish line first, rather it is a long, slow walk of faith where people come alongside one another to offer a word, a hand, a shoulder. It is a journey we take together, helping one another become stronger and go further than any of us could ever hope to go on our own. It is a journey we help one another finish because no one can do it on our own.
I am grateful for those who have offered themselves to me, and I am grateful that I can offer myself to others when I see a need, but I am most grateful for our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we are called to be one with one another and one in him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are the One whom we follow, the One who saves us, the One who calls us. Thank you, Lord, for all who you are to us. Thank you, too, for our brothers and sisters who come alongside us and help us as we journey together on our walk of faith, encouraging one another, picking up the fallen, waiting for those who lag behind, never going too far ahead or too fast, so that we might all finish the race you have set before us. Lord, in you may we find agreement. In you may we find peace. AMEN.
References
https://globalnews.ca/news/1144378/athletes-helping-rival-athletes-5-examples-of-true-sportsmanship/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON ON JANUARY 15, 2023 TITLED "Everything we need" FROM HER NEW SERIES CALLED "LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD" .
January 15, 2023
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Everything We Need
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
In this letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is writing to straighten out some of the issues they are experiencing. I know, it is shocking to think a church could be experiencing any issues among its members, right? But it happens. If we think about it, about how the church is made up of diverse people from different backgrounds, with different ideas, skills, desires, and personalities, we might start to wonder how the Church has survived for the last two thousand years.
The truth is, there have been divisions within the church from the very beginning, as Paul’s letters to the various churches prove. The Corinthian church is no different. Word has come to Paul that the people in Corinth are arguing over who is a better disciple. If we read a little further into his letter, Paul writes, “’What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.’” This is the playground equivalent of “My mom is better than yours.”
“Stop this!” Paul writes, “Who is the One who was crucified for you? Who is the One in whose name you are baptized?” Of course, the answer is Jesus, and as long as the church could agree on that key doctrine, Paul says, then they should put aside their petty comparisons and their game of one-up-manship and get to being about the business of the church in their community.
Paul is a pretty smart leader and communicator, though, and so he leads into all this by starting off his letter with an intentional introduction that reminds the readers of who he is and who has appointed him to the work he is doing. He is “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”
Paul didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to travel all over the place, endure hardships, and plant new churches for the fun of it. Remember, Paul was a zealous Pharisee who was persecuting Christians, he was laser-focused on finding anyone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus and having them arrested, even killed. Paul never sought to become anything other than he already was. It was God who called out to Paul one day as he was traveling to Damascus.
God stopped Paul in his tracks, blinded him for three days, and then set him on a new course with a new vision. Paul is traveling, teaching, preaching, and church planting under the authority given to him by God and no other. Paul is an apostle of Christ, but only through the grace and the will of God. He writes this to establish this authority in the minds of his readers because they will see in his words that he is not claiming to be a better disciple than the rest, he is simply laying out the facts of his case.
He moves from himself to the church – writing in a way that affirms their equality as disciples – calling the Corinthian believers to take their place as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” and going on to point out that they are “together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” Paul is putting a stop to their constant bickering as to who is better by showing them that they are all on a level playing field – with each other and with all Christians in every place, with all who have called on the name of Jesus and accepted him as their Lord and Savior.
Then, to further reiterate that each person is valuable, appreciated, needed and equal, he goes on to remind the church that they already have all they need to be the church in their Corinthian community. That may have shocked them. Everything? But what about Ephesus who has such and such that we don’t? What about Galatia who has such and such that we don’t? What about this church and that church?
And you know, I was thinking, don’t we do the same thing today? Don’t we look around at other churches and see them doing something successful in ministry and wonder why we aren’t or can’t do the same? Don’t most of us wish there was some magic formula that we could subscribe to and “shazam!” the church would grow so fast we wouldn’t know how to keep up? Don’t we all want to be known as the church that can do it all for all?
The compulsion to compare is ingrained in our human nature. Maybe we don’t go around claiming to be a better disciple than another because we were baptized by a different pastor or we follow more Christian leaders or have more followers on social media, but we still find a way to make comparisons. Paul wants us to know that it isn’t necessary, it isn’t right, and it needs to stop.
Verses 4-9 of today’s scripture may have been written to the Corinthian church, but it was also written for today’s church. Paul may have been angry with the way the church was acting, he may have been frustrated that they needed to be corrected, but he didn’t lash out here; he wrote with love and compassion.
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind - just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you - so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul thanks God for this church – as imperfect as it is, as rowdy and contentious as it is, because this is still a group of people to whom God has poured out his grace through the gift of Jesus Christ. And because of their acceptance of Christ as Savior, because they have accepted their calling to follow Jesus, Paul knows they have been given something special. They have been enriched and strengthened in mind, in speech, in knowledge because they testify to the community around them of Jesus Christ, and through their testimony, the church and the community are also enriched and strengthened.
In spite of their internal bickering, the church is still doing what it is called to do by reaching out to the people who are not yet saved to offer them the way to eternal life through Jesus. They are doing this with their words and their ministries. And they do this by using the special gifts that have been given to them by the Holy Spirit upon becoming a believer. They are using their spiritual gifts to strengthen, encourage, and support the church, which is the body of Christ.
The gifts they have for the ministries they have are perfectly paired. Their spiritual gifts work together – each one with his or her own gifts put into place and put into action – for the benefit of the church and the community. The reason the church down the street is doing ministry differently is because their people have different spiritual gifts. They are just as likely looking around comparing themselves to other churches in the same way and wondering if they measure up, because they, too, are forgetting that they have been given the spiritual gifts they need to do what they are called to do.
Listen, we can’t all do the same ministries because not all people have the same needs. If everyone had the same gift, what would we do about those who have a different need? If we all had the gift of teaching and fought over who would teach Sunday school, who would be the learners? If we all had the gift of cooking but no one had the gift of serving, we might have delicious food, but who would benefit from that gift as it sat in the kitchen waiting to be dished up? If we all had the gift of playing the piano, who would play the drums? Who would sing?
Each of us is given our own spiritual gift or gifts and they are to be used. Specifically, they are to be used to build up the church. Thankfully, most of us use our gifts without even thinking about them. We do what comes naturally and if someone points it out, we might even be surprised. I have often said, if you aren’t sure what your spiritual gift is, just ask your friends, they likely already know.
John MacArthur has said, “Godly, Biblical church growth results from every member of the body fully using his spiritual gift, in submission to the Holy Spirit and in cooperation with other believers.” I like that and I long for a time when this actually happens – when every single person in the church begins to use their Spirit-given gifts for the church in the Kingdom of God. Thankfully, some already do. Many here already use their gifts and do so regularly. What a blessing for this church and for this community.
There was a woman in a church who used her spiritual gifts of mercy and service at every opportunity. She simply saw a need and did what she could to help out, bringing glory to God in the process. It so happened that a woman with eight children got the phone call one night that her husband, a long-haul trucker, had been in an accident and died. Grief and panic overcame the woman. What was she to do with her children while she had to travel out of state to identify the body and make the necessary arrangements to bring him back for the funeral?
Before the widow had time to even begin to think about what to do, the church lady, Jodi, came knocking on her door. Jodi had made arrangements with church families that all eight children would be taken in and taken care of while mom was gone. Jodi drove the widow to the airport and helped her get to where she needed to go as she had never flown before, reassuring her that she would keep everything in order until she got back.
When the mom got back and walked into her house, she was surprised to see that the house had been cleaned, the laundry all washed, dried, and put away, and the children’s shoes all polished and lined up, ready to be worn to the funeral.
Two weeks after the funeral, the mom and her eight children showed up at church. Oh, did I forget to mention that this was not a churched family? But now, here they were on a Sunday morning. They came back week after week, and it wasn’t long before the mom and her children all accepted Christ.
A family was blessed and cared for in a time of tragedy simply because one woman used her gifts to show love by finding a way to serve them in their time of need. That is being the church, that is being a Christian who lives here in the Kingdom of God. That is what God calls each and every church to do, person by person.
When we take our membership vows, we promise to do just that. We pledge to support the church we are joining with our presence, our prayers, our gifts, our service, and our witness. As a congregation, we pledge to support and encourage new members to do just that, even as we are recommitting ourselves to the same pledge we have given.
That promise isn’t reserved only for members, though. That is a promise that every Christian makes when they accept the gift of grace through Jesus Christ. It is not a promise we make to get this gift, but one we make, having received and understood just how much we have been given. Our gratitude overflows and we joyfully want to give back.
When we use our Spirit-given gifts, we are doing just what God wants us to do – we are serving the church and building up the body. We are encouraging and supporting one another and finding ways to BE the church in our community. If we focus on that, then we won’t have time to compare ourselves to any other church or ministry, and we will no longer even want to, because we will know that we already have all we need to be the church that God wants us to be as we live here in the Kingdom of God on earth. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, through the gifts of your Holy Spirit, you have enabled us and equipped us to do your work right here where we are. Continue to stir our hearts in a way that helps us see the needs around us, open our eyes and our minds that we might discern how our gifts might be used to bless and serve others where they are, and help us to see that all we do, we do in your strength and for your glory. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76746/servanthood-by-ed-sasnett
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Everything We Need
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
In this letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is writing to straighten out some of the issues they are experiencing. I know, it is shocking to think a church could be experiencing any issues among its members, right? But it happens. If we think about it, about how the church is made up of diverse people from different backgrounds, with different ideas, skills, desires, and personalities, we might start to wonder how the Church has survived for the last two thousand years.
The truth is, there have been divisions within the church from the very beginning, as Paul’s letters to the various churches prove. The Corinthian church is no different. Word has come to Paul that the people in Corinth are arguing over who is a better disciple. If we read a little further into his letter, Paul writes, “’What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.’” This is the playground equivalent of “My mom is better than yours.”
“Stop this!” Paul writes, “Who is the One who was crucified for you? Who is the One in whose name you are baptized?” Of course, the answer is Jesus, and as long as the church could agree on that key doctrine, Paul says, then they should put aside their petty comparisons and their game of one-up-manship and get to being about the business of the church in their community.
Paul is a pretty smart leader and communicator, though, and so he leads into all this by starting off his letter with an intentional introduction that reminds the readers of who he is and who has appointed him to the work he is doing. He is “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”
Paul didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to travel all over the place, endure hardships, and plant new churches for the fun of it. Remember, Paul was a zealous Pharisee who was persecuting Christians, he was laser-focused on finding anyone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus and having them arrested, even killed. Paul never sought to become anything other than he already was. It was God who called out to Paul one day as he was traveling to Damascus.
God stopped Paul in his tracks, blinded him for three days, and then set him on a new course with a new vision. Paul is traveling, teaching, preaching, and church planting under the authority given to him by God and no other. Paul is an apostle of Christ, but only through the grace and the will of God. He writes this to establish this authority in the minds of his readers because they will see in his words that he is not claiming to be a better disciple than the rest, he is simply laying out the facts of his case.
He moves from himself to the church – writing in a way that affirms their equality as disciples – calling the Corinthian believers to take their place as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” and going on to point out that they are “together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” Paul is putting a stop to their constant bickering as to who is better by showing them that they are all on a level playing field – with each other and with all Christians in every place, with all who have called on the name of Jesus and accepted him as their Lord and Savior.
Then, to further reiterate that each person is valuable, appreciated, needed and equal, he goes on to remind the church that they already have all they need to be the church in their Corinthian community. That may have shocked them. Everything? But what about Ephesus who has such and such that we don’t? What about Galatia who has such and such that we don’t? What about this church and that church?
And you know, I was thinking, don’t we do the same thing today? Don’t we look around at other churches and see them doing something successful in ministry and wonder why we aren’t or can’t do the same? Don’t most of us wish there was some magic formula that we could subscribe to and “shazam!” the church would grow so fast we wouldn’t know how to keep up? Don’t we all want to be known as the church that can do it all for all?
The compulsion to compare is ingrained in our human nature. Maybe we don’t go around claiming to be a better disciple than another because we were baptized by a different pastor or we follow more Christian leaders or have more followers on social media, but we still find a way to make comparisons. Paul wants us to know that it isn’t necessary, it isn’t right, and it needs to stop.
Verses 4-9 of today’s scripture may have been written to the Corinthian church, but it was also written for today’s church. Paul may have been angry with the way the church was acting, he may have been frustrated that they needed to be corrected, but he didn’t lash out here; he wrote with love and compassion.
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind - just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you - so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul thanks God for this church – as imperfect as it is, as rowdy and contentious as it is, because this is still a group of people to whom God has poured out his grace through the gift of Jesus Christ. And because of their acceptance of Christ as Savior, because they have accepted their calling to follow Jesus, Paul knows they have been given something special. They have been enriched and strengthened in mind, in speech, in knowledge because they testify to the community around them of Jesus Christ, and through their testimony, the church and the community are also enriched and strengthened.
In spite of their internal bickering, the church is still doing what it is called to do by reaching out to the people who are not yet saved to offer them the way to eternal life through Jesus. They are doing this with their words and their ministries. And they do this by using the special gifts that have been given to them by the Holy Spirit upon becoming a believer. They are using their spiritual gifts to strengthen, encourage, and support the church, which is the body of Christ.
The gifts they have for the ministries they have are perfectly paired. Their spiritual gifts work together – each one with his or her own gifts put into place and put into action – for the benefit of the church and the community. The reason the church down the street is doing ministry differently is because their people have different spiritual gifts. They are just as likely looking around comparing themselves to other churches in the same way and wondering if they measure up, because they, too, are forgetting that they have been given the spiritual gifts they need to do what they are called to do.
Listen, we can’t all do the same ministries because not all people have the same needs. If everyone had the same gift, what would we do about those who have a different need? If we all had the gift of teaching and fought over who would teach Sunday school, who would be the learners? If we all had the gift of cooking but no one had the gift of serving, we might have delicious food, but who would benefit from that gift as it sat in the kitchen waiting to be dished up? If we all had the gift of playing the piano, who would play the drums? Who would sing?
Each of us is given our own spiritual gift or gifts and they are to be used. Specifically, they are to be used to build up the church. Thankfully, most of us use our gifts without even thinking about them. We do what comes naturally and if someone points it out, we might even be surprised. I have often said, if you aren’t sure what your spiritual gift is, just ask your friends, they likely already know.
John MacArthur has said, “Godly, Biblical church growth results from every member of the body fully using his spiritual gift, in submission to the Holy Spirit and in cooperation with other believers.” I like that and I long for a time when this actually happens – when every single person in the church begins to use their Spirit-given gifts for the church in the Kingdom of God. Thankfully, some already do. Many here already use their gifts and do so regularly. What a blessing for this church and for this community.
There was a woman in a church who used her spiritual gifts of mercy and service at every opportunity. She simply saw a need and did what she could to help out, bringing glory to God in the process. It so happened that a woman with eight children got the phone call one night that her husband, a long-haul trucker, had been in an accident and died. Grief and panic overcame the woman. What was she to do with her children while she had to travel out of state to identify the body and make the necessary arrangements to bring him back for the funeral?
Before the widow had time to even begin to think about what to do, the church lady, Jodi, came knocking on her door. Jodi had made arrangements with church families that all eight children would be taken in and taken care of while mom was gone. Jodi drove the widow to the airport and helped her get to where she needed to go as she had never flown before, reassuring her that she would keep everything in order until she got back.
When the mom got back and walked into her house, she was surprised to see that the house had been cleaned, the laundry all washed, dried, and put away, and the children’s shoes all polished and lined up, ready to be worn to the funeral.
Two weeks after the funeral, the mom and her eight children showed up at church. Oh, did I forget to mention that this was not a churched family? But now, here they were on a Sunday morning. They came back week after week, and it wasn’t long before the mom and her children all accepted Christ.
A family was blessed and cared for in a time of tragedy simply because one woman used her gifts to show love by finding a way to serve them in their time of need. That is being the church, that is being a Christian who lives here in the Kingdom of God. That is what God calls each and every church to do, person by person.
When we take our membership vows, we promise to do just that. We pledge to support the church we are joining with our presence, our prayers, our gifts, our service, and our witness. As a congregation, we pledge to support and encourage new members to do just that, even as we are recommitting ourselves to the same pledge we have given.
That promise isn’t reserved only for members, though. That is a promise that every Christian makes when they accept the gift of grace through Jesus Christ. It is not a promise we make to get this gift, but one we make, having received and understood just how much we have been given. Our gratitude overflows and we joyfully want to give back.
When we use our Spirit-given gifts, we are doing just what God wants us to do – we are serving the church and building up the body. We are encouraging and supporting one another and finding ways to BE the church in our community. If we focus on that, then we won’t have time to compare ourselves to any other church or ministry, and we will no longer even want to, because we will know that we already have all we need to be the church that God wants us to be as we live here in the Kingdom of God on earth. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, through the gifts of your Holy Spirit, you have enabled us and equipped us to do your work right here where we are. Continue to stir our hearts in a way that helps us see the needs around us, open our eyes and our minds that we might discern how our gifts might be used to bless and serve others where they are, and help us to see that all we do, we do in your strength and for your glory. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76746/servanthood-by-ed-sasnett
Pastor Donna's Sermon on January 8, 2023 titled "The Baptism of the Lord" from her new series called "Living in the Kingdom of God" .
January 8, 2023
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: The Baptism of the Lord
Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
This new series, “Living in the Kingdom of God,” will explore what it looks like to live as a Christian in the ordinary days, the days where we live by routine and schedules, where we pretty much know what to expect of our days, or maybe we are simply marking time to the next thing – the arrival of spring, the next holiday, the upcoming vacation. Some might call these days rather ho-hum, mundane, even boring. I guess I can see their point, to a degree, but really, isn’t each day what we really make of it?
Here is what I’ve been thinking about as I worked on this series. We have come through the seasons of Advent and Christmas, and even celebrated Epiphany. Those are times when we hear of and participate in celebrations. There are expectations, there are plans, there is a purpose in talking about Jesus; it is easier to say his name in those days, it is easier to share him through our traditions and celebrations. And that is all good.
We need that easy way. Sometimes we need the reason of the season to feel comfortable in sharing what we have to those who may not always be open to hearing or receiving what we have to say. It’s easy to talk about Jesus when we are preparing to celebrate his birthday – the real reason for the season in the first place. But what about now? What about when the decorations are put away and the dull, drab, gray skies of winter set in? Easter, our next “church season” is still a few months away, so how do we find a way to share Jesus with others in what we call “ordinary time?”
Sometimes, this ordinary time actually becomes an unexpected, extraordinary event. As most of you know, on January 2, there was a Monday Night Football game – the Bengals and the Bills. In that game a Bills player, Damar Hamlin, took a hit and collapsed on the field. Hamlin was doing his job, playing the game. The other team had the ball, a pass was thrown, it was caught, and Hamlin went in for the tackle, just like he had done countless times before. Only this time was different.
This twenty-four-year-old athlete, nine minutes into the game, doing what he ordinarily does, collapsed a few seconds after that tackle. His heart stopped; he was in cardiac arrest. Quick action from medical personnel doing CPR got his heart restarted and he was taken to the hospital. Thankfully, reports about Hamlin over the last few days show he is recovering.
But here is where the extraordinary happened. While the medical team was working on Hamlin on the field, what were others doing? One photo shows a picture of a player from both teams kneeling together in prayer. The stadium, filled with thousands of people, was virtually silent, many waiting respectfully, several praying together. The Bengals team collectively took a knee, Bills players huddled around, supporting one another, praying for their teammate.
It didn’t stop there in that stadium, though. Prayer requests flooded the mainstream and social media as the story was shared, requests from fans, family, other players, even from sports broadcasters and other media persons. ESPN analyst, Dan Orlovsky, even prayed during a live broadcast of “NFL Live.” When was the last time we saw so much prayer being asked for and offered, and in such a public way?
It was an ordinary Monday, during an ordinary football game, after an ordinary play, when the extraordinary happened. Through this extraordinary event, we saw and heard God’s name mentioned more than we have in years. I would guess even more so than in the seasons we have just celebrated. To me, it just shows how much we all need God. No matter who we are, no matter where we are, we have a constant need for God in our lives. In the celebratory seasons, and in the ordinary days. God has always known this. Some of us have learned this. Thousands more around the world may have realized this last Monday night for the first time ever, and even more in the days that followed.
It is because God knows how much we need him that he set into motion a plan. That plan was to come to this earth and live as a human, to become one of us, to be with us, to save us. He was born, he grew and when it was time to make himself known, he began his ministry by seeking out his cousin John and requesting to be baptized.
John had been preaching to all who would hear to “Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.” People were coming to him, confessing their sins, repenting, and being baptized. Then, one ordinary day, something extraordinary happened; Jesus showed up, asking to be baptized.
John knew who he was and so he was shocked; he tried to decline, “I am the one who should be baptized by you, and yet you ask this of me?” Jesus reassured him, “Yes, John, this is the way it should be so that righteousness will be fulfilled.”
I imagine the people standing around wondering who this guy is. John is usually so eager to baptize anyone who comes earnestly seeking repentance and forgiveness, anyone who desires to live a more holy life, but he tries to talk this one out of it? Who is he, anyway? When they left their homes that day to come to the Jordan, they had no idea what was in store for them.
John listened to Jesus and took him into the river and baptized him, and I don’t know what the term is for something that is more extraordinary that regular extraordinary, but whatever it is, that is what happened next.
To onlookers, what they were watching was an ordinary baptism by John, a baptism like he did every day, many times a day, but this one was different. As Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were suddenly opened up to him, and as he looked up, he saw the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove, and he heard a voice from heaven say, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Did the onlookers see what Jesus saw? Did they hear what Jesus heard? Matthew doesn’t say, so we don’t know for sure, but even if they didn’t see and hear, I believe they understood that something extraordinary was happening. Something they had never expected, probably didn’t understand, but somehow knew was God at work.
In the article that Dr. Dave Kistler wrote on the incident with Damar Hamlin, he said, “My dad used to say, ‘There are no atheists in foxholes.’ Evidently there are no atheists amid a stunningly frightening incident like the world witnessed last night in Cincinnati.”
There are moments in time when we know without a doubt that God exists, and we turn to him. Too often, it is only when tragedy strikes, like it did last Monday, like it did on 911, like it did the last time any of us experienced our own personal crisis. In that moment, we recognize our need for God and so, in desperation, we turn to him
It isn’t only in in the midst of crisis that this happens, though. Sometimes it happens when we witness the unexpected in a positive way, too. Perhaps, in the moment that the heavens were opened, when the Spirit of God descended, when God spoke, the people who were standing by the banks of the river turned to God, recognized anew their need for him, too. Not because of a tragedy, but because of the extraordinary event that was unfolding right before them. Perhaps it was in that moment that they realized that the longing they felt deep down in their heart was a longing for God. Perhaps, in that moment, they even realized that they were, even then, living in the kingdom of God.
Returning once again to Dr. Kistler’s article, he writes, “Damar Hamlin has done something amazingly consequential by becoming a successful NFL player, who reportedly has a heart for serving his community. But he has done something even more impactful as a result of last night’s globally-watched incident.
He has illustrated the fact that man DESPERATELY NEEDS the comfort of God found ONLY in the God of all comfort – Jesus Christ! Mankind needs a relationship with Jesus for life here on earth, but more importantly, for eternity.”
How true are those words. I’m reminded of Paul’s words as he wrote to the church in Roma, “For we know that all things work together for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” God used a heart-stopping moment in a football game to show the world they need him. Today, as we celebrate the baptism of Christ, we are reminded once again of our need for him – even in the ordinary days – as we live here in the kingdom of God.
As we end today, I invite everyone to come forward, to dip your hand in the water, to feel it, to experience it, and as you do, may you remember your baptism and be thankful. Be thankful that an ordinary football player has shown the world their need for God, be thankful that he is recovering. Be thankful for the celebratory seasons, and be thankful for the ordinary days, but especially, be thankful for the gift of forgiveness and life that come to us through Jesus Christ. AMEN.
PRAYER: Extraordinary God, you are also God in the ordinariness of our days, you are with us as we take each step, as we breathe each breath. Today, as we celebrate the day your Son was baptized, we remember our own baptism and we are thankful for his work on our behalf, for the forgiveness of our sins when we repent, for the gift of eternal life that begins the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior. May we recognize each day that we are already living in your kingdom and share with others the way they, too, might join us, as we await the return of your Son, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
Dr. Dave Kistler, President, HOPE Ministries International. Written January 3, 2023.
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: The Baptism of the Lord
Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
This new series, “Living in the Kingdom of God,” will explore what it looks like to live as a Christian in the ordinary days, the days where we live by routine and schedules, where we pretty much know what to expect of our days, or maybe we are simply marking time to the next thing – the arrival of spring, the next holiday, the upcoming vacation. Some might call these days rather ho-hum, mundane, even boring. I guess I can see their point, to a degree, but really, isn’t each day what we really make of it?
Here is what I’ve been thinking about as I worked on this series. We have come through the seasons of Advent and Christmas, and even celebrated Epiphany. Those are times when we hear of and participate in celebrations. There are expectations, there are plans, there is a purpose in talking about Jesus; it is easier to say his name in those days, it is easier to share him through our traditions and celebrations. And that is all good.
We need that easy way. Sometimes we need the reason of the season to feel comfortable in sharing what we have to those who may not always be open to hearing or receiving what we have to say. It’s easy to talk about Jesus when we are preparing to celebrate his birthday – the real reason for the season in the first place. But what about now? What about when the decorations are put away and the dull, drab, gray skies of winter set in? Easter, our next “church season” is still a few months away, so how do we find a way to share Jesus with others in what we call “ordinary time?”
Sometimes, this ordinary time actually becomes an unexpected, extraordinary event. As most of you know, on January 2, there was a Monday Night Football game – the Bengals and the Bills. In that game a Bills player, Damar Hamlin, took a hit and collapsed on the field. Hamlin was doing his job, playing the game. The other team had the ball, a pass was thrown, it was caught, and Hamlin went in for the tackle, just like he had done countless times before. Only this time was different.
This twenty-four-year-old athlete, nine minutes into the game, doing what he ordinarily does, collapsed a few seconds after that tackle. His heart stopped; he was in cardiac arrest. Quick action from medical personnel doing CPR got his heart restarted and he was taken to the hospital. Thankfully, reports about Hamlin over the last few days show he is recovering.
But here is where the extraordinary happened. While the medical team was working on Hamlin on the field, what were others doing? One photo shows a picture of a player from both teams kneeling together in prayer. The stadium, filled with thousands of people, was virtually silent, many waiting respectfully, several praying together. The Bengals team collectively took a knee, Bills players huddled around, supporting one another, praying for their teammate.
It didn’t stop there in that stadium, though. Prayer requests flooded the mainstream and social media as the story was shared, requests from fans, family, other players, even from sports broadcasters and other media persons. ESPN analyst, Dan Orlovsky, even prayed during a live broadcast of “NFL Live.” When was the last time we saw so much prayer being asked for and offered, and in such a public way?
It was an ordinary Monday, during an ordinary football game, after an ordinary play, when the extraordinary happened. Through this extraordinary event, we saw and heard God’s name mentioned more than we have in years. I would guess even more so than in the seasons we have just celebrated. To me, it just shows how much we all need God. No matter who we are, no matter where we are, we have a constant need for God in our lives. In the celebratory seasons, and in the ordinary days. God has always known this. Some of us have learned this. Thousands more around the world may have realized this last Monday night for the first time ever, and even more in the days that followed.
It is because God knows how much we need him that he set into motion a plan. That plan was to come to this earth and live as a human, to become one of us, to be with us, to save us. He was born, he grew and when it was time to make himself known, he began his ministry by seeking out his cousin John and requesting to be baptized.
John had been preaching to all who would hear to “Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.” People were coming to him, confessing their sins, repenting, and being baptized. Then, one ordinary day, something extraordinary happened; Jesus showed up, asking to be baptized.
John knew who he was and so he was shocked; he tried to decline, “I am the one who should be baptized by you, and yet you ask this of me?” Jesus reassured him, “Yes, John, this is the way it should be so that righteousness will be fulfilled.”
I imagine the people standing around wondering who this guy is. John is usually so eager to baptize anyone who comes earnestly seeking repentance and forgiveness, anyone who desires to live a more holy life, but he tries to talk this one out of it? Who is he, anyway? When they left their homes that day to come to the Jordan, they had no idea what was in store for them.
John listened to Jesus and took him into the river and baptized him, and I don’t know what the term is for something that is more extraordinary that regular extraordinary, but whatever it is, that is what happened next.
To onlookers, what they were watching was an ordinary baptism by John, a baptism like he did every day, many times a day, but this one was different. As Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were suddenly opened up to him, and as he looked up, he saw the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove, and he heard a voice from heaven say, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Did the onlookers see what Jesus saw? Did they hear what Jesus heard? Matthew doesn’t say, so we don’t know for sure, but even if they didn’t see and hear, I believe they understood that something extraordinary was happening. Something they had never expected, probably didn’t understand, but somehow knew was God at work.
In the article that Dr. Dave Kistler wrote on the incident with Damar Hamlin, he said, “My dad used to say, ‘There are no atheists in foxholes.’ Evidently there are no atheists amid a stunningly frightening incident like the world witnessed last night in Cincinnati.”
There are moments in time when we know without a doubt that God exists, and we turn to him. Too often, it is only when tragedy strikes, like it did last Monday, like it did on 911, like it did the last time any of us experienced our own personal crisis. In that moment, we recognize our need for God and so, in desperation, we turn to him
It isn’t only in in the midst of crisis that this happens, though. Sometimes it happens when we witness the unexpected in a positive way, too. Perhaps, in the moment that the heavens were opened, when the Spirit of God descended, when God spoke, the people who were standing by the banks of the river turned to God, recognized anew their need for him, too. Not because of a tragedy, but because of the extraordinary event that was unfolding right before them. Perhaps it was in that moment that they realized that the longing they felt deep down in their heart was a longing for God. Perhaps, in that moment, they even realized that they were, even then, living in the kingdom of God.
Returning once again to Dr. Kistler’s article, he writes, “Damar Hamlin has done something amazingly consequential by becoming a successful NFL player, who reportedly has a heart for serving his community. But he has done something even more impactful as a result of last night’s globally-watched incident.
He has illustrated the fact that man DESPERATELY NEEDS the comfort of God found ONLY in the God of all comfort – Jesus Christ! Mankind needs a relationship with Jesus for life here on earth, but more importantly, for eternity.”
How true are those words. I’m reminded of Paul’s words as he wrote to the church in Roma, “For we know that all things work together for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” God used a heart-stopping moment in a football game to show the world they need him. Today, as we celebrate the baptism of Christ, we are reminded once again of our need for him – even in the ordinary days – as we live here in the kingdom of God.
As we end today, I invite everyone to come forward, to dip your hand in the water, to feel it, to experience it, and as you do, may you remember your baptism and be thankful. Be thankful that an ordinary football player has shown the world their need for God, be thankful that he is recovering. Be thankful for the celebratory seasons, and be thankful for the ordinary days, but especially, be thankful for the gift of forgiveness and life that come to us through Jesus Christ. AMEN.
PRAYER: Extraordinary God, you are also God in the ordinariness of our days, you are with us as we take each step, as we breathe each breath. Today, as we celebrate the day your Son was baptized, we remember our own baptism and we are thankful for his work on our behalf, for the forgiveness of our sins when we repent, for the gift of eternal life that begins the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior. May we recognize each day that we are already living in your kingdom and share with others the way they, too, might join us, as we await the return of your Son, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
Dr. Dave Kistler, President, HOPE Ministries International. Written January 3, 2023.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR JANUARY 1, 2023 ENDS HER SERIES CALLED "gOD OF THE DARK AND THE LIGHT" AND WAS TITLED "WHAT WILL WE OFFER"
January 1, 2023
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: What Will We Offer
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people, Israel.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Today, we celebrate Epiphany Sunday. The actual date set by the Christian calendar for Epiphany is January 6th, but it is usually celebrated in the church on the Sunday before. Epiphany is the day that is recognized as when the Magi came to see Jesus and present their gifts to him. Sometimes we call them kings, sometimes we call them the wise men. We typically ascribe to the idea that there were three of them, but that is only because three gifts were mentioned. A little-known story about the wisemen says there were actually four, but the fourth one was sent back home when the others discovered that his gift was a fruitcake.
And of course, we all know what would have happened if those wise men had been wise women instead – They would have arrived on time, they would have helped in the delivery, they would have cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and given practical gifts like diapers and onsies.
There are so many things we do not know about the magi. As I said, we don’t really know how many there were, we don’t know exactly where they came from or how far they traveled. We do know they were men of faith. How else can it be that they would see a star in the sky, understand its significance, and travel an unknown distance to reach its resting place?
We know they traveled from the east, and they knew for whom they were looking. When they stopped by Herod’s to ask for directions, they said, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” That star that shone so brightly in the sky was the signal to them that a king was born, and not just any king, but the king of the Jews. They wanted to find this king and pay tribute to him; they wanted to worship him. That certainly took faith.
We have seen other instances of people whose faith led them to do what others may have called crazy. Abram left his homeland and his extended family to go to a place he did not know, called by a God who made promises that seems outlandish. But he went because he had faith.
Noah built an ark to make a safe place for his family and a sampling of all creation, following the instructions from a God who told him that a flood was coming to cover the earth. Noah didn’t even know what rain was, because until God shut Noah and his family and all the animals inside the completed ark, no rain had ever fallen. But Noah built that ark because he had faith.
Mary agreed, without question or argument to bear the child of God because God sent an angel to give her the news that she had found favor with God. A young woman, engaged but not married, suddenly is pregnant doesn’t sound to most people like someone who has found favor with God, but Mary agreed because she had faith.
The magi left their homes to go to a place they did not know, not knowing how long it would take to get there, not knowing when or if they would return to their homes and their families because God placed a star in the sky that beckoned them to follow. Those magi followed that star because they had faith.
God calls us to have faith in him even today. We confess our faith in Jesus, the one who was born of a virgin, the one who is God here on earth, both God and man, the one who was crucified, found dead, buried in the tomb and yet was alive three days later. The world tells us we are crazy, that this is a bunch of made-up stories, but we believe because we have faith.
We know that these men were determined to do what they set out to do. Some estimate their journey to be about 500 miles. 500 miles over the desert sand, riding on camels, enduring whatever weather conditions cropped up, making a long journey that likely took about two years or so.
I imagine that there were times when they grew tired of riding on those camels all day. Times when they felt too tired to keep going. Times when they may have even questioned themselves – did they read that star right, were they going in the right direction, was this really the way to find the new king, was he really a king? But they did not let their questions, their fatigue, their doubts keep them from pressing on. Step by camel step, they plodded through that sand, slept in tents, picked sand out of their food, their clothes, their beards. They just kept going, determined to reach their destination.
We have days, even seasons, when we become discouraged. We have times when we look around and question ourselves as to whether what we are doing is worth the effort. Times when the days are long, and the nights are longer. We deal with illness, financial troubles, job issues, family dynamics, and even a crisis of faith. But God calls us to be determined, too. He wants us to trust him when we feel like we are living in the dark, when we don’t know what the solution is or how long this part of our journey will last.
God is the God of the dark, just as he is the God of the light. He is with us at all times and in all places. The magi kept their faith even when they struggled with the details of the journey, and so can we. They had each other to support and encourage one another, and so do we. We are the body of Christ, called to use our gifts for the church – to encourage, to support, and to uplift our brothers and sisters in Christ just as they do the same for us when we are in need. The magi were determined to keep on going, and we can be determined to do the same.
We also know that these magi were wise. Wise enough to discern what the new star meant and to follow it, and wise enough to discern that Herod was deceiving them when he told them “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
They were wise enough to sense his jealousy, his deceit, and his fear on hearing them speak of the child they sought as the king of the Jews. They were wise enough to listen to the message that came to them in a dream, after having seen the child they were looking for, and to take another route home so they did not go back to Herod as he had asked.
They were wise enough to recognize that this child they found was the one for whom they had traveled a great distance to see. They were wise enough to bring him gifts – gifts that were fit for a king, not for an ordinary child.
God calls us to be wise, too. We need to be wise so that we can discern his truth, so we can follow him diligently and with determination to stay the course he has set out for us through his word – the Bible. We need to be wise enough to know that we need to read his word, study his word, gather together to discern his word, and hear his word when he speaks. Without this wisdom, we are in danger of being led astray, taught false truths, and knocked off the path that leads to the narrow gate of life.
Finally, we know the wisemen understood the need for sacrifice. They brought those gifts to give to the one they came to worship. Gold, a gift to signify his kingship, frankincense, burned as incense to signify his priesthood, and myrrh, used for embalming the dead to signify his impending death.
These were expensive gifts, not something they simply picked up at Walmart on the way or orders on Amazon to be delivered by the time they arrived. The magi deliberately chose these gifts and gave them as an act of sacrifice in their worship of this child-king. Gifts that came with a cost from their personal treasuries.
God calls us to also offer our sacrifice. He calls us to give of our time, our talents, and our tithes. When we volunteer, we put our special gifts to use for the good of the church and the community. When we use our talents to do that volunteering, we are freeing up others to use their own special talents to do the same. That is why there are so many different spiritual gifts – because there are so many different needs and opportunities.
God also calls us to sacrifice through our tithes – our gifts to the church that come in through our financial giving. When we stop to consider how much God has given us already, and that everything we have comes from him, how can we not want to show our gratitude by giving back to him in a way that will help grow his kingdom here on earth?
When we commit to giving God our sacrifice of time, talent, and tithe, we are showing him that we love him and trust him. It is though sacrificial giving, in all three categories, that we are truly worshiping God. It is by this sacrificial giving that we acknowledge the very real sacrifice God has given us through his son, Jesus, and it is our way of thanking him for that gift.
On this first day of the year, as we think about what our New Year’s resolutions might be for 2023, I encourage all of us to resolve to be like the wise men: faithful, determined, wise, and sacrificial. In this way, we will honor God, our God who is God of the dark and the light, our God who is with us at all times and in all places. Thanks be to God for who he is, all he is, and all he is to us. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, this day, as we look at the example set for us by the magi, may we follow their lead to be faithful to you, determined to follow you, wise in your ways, and sacrificial in our giving in all the ways you call us. Let this be the day of a new beginning, a day of new resolve for us as disciples of your son, Jesus, the gift you have given to the world that we might know you through him. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-folly-of-not-following-the-wise-men-jim-mccutchen-sermon-on-faith-152913?page=3&wc=800
Call to Worship:
L: Christmas Day has come and gone,
P: The gifts have been opened; the messes cleaned up.
L: The cookies are eaten; the carols have been sung.
P: Christmas is over; a new year has begun.
L: But what of these three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh?
P: A reminder to us that we can daily offer gifts to our King.
All: On this day of new beginnings, we resolve to follow our star, Jesus,
And offer our lives anew to his service in this world. AMEN
Hymn: 254 We Three Kings
Since today we are going to be talking about the magi – sometimes called the wise men, I thought I’d share with you a little bit of wisdom from people of a younger age. Sometimes we can learn a good lesson, even from children:
Patrick, age 10, said, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
Michael, 14, said, “When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don’t answer him.”
Josh, age 9, said, “Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.”
Naomi, 15 said, “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.”
Lauren, age 9 said, “Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.”
Joel, 10 years old, said, “Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.” an
Eileen, age 8 said, “Never try to baptize a cat.”
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: What Will We Offer
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people, Israel.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Today, we celebrate Epiphany Sunday. The actual date set by the Christian calendar for Epiphany is January 6th, but it is usually celebrated in the church on the Sunday before. Epiphany is the day that is recognized as when the Magi came to see Jesus and present their gifts to him. Sometimes we call them kings, sometimes we call them the wise men. We typically ascribe to the idea that there were three of them, but that is only because three gifts were mentioned. A little-known story about the wisemen says there were actually four, but the fourth one was sent back home when the others discovered that his gift was a fruitcake.
And of course, we all know what would have happened if those wise men had been wise women instead – They would have arrived on time, they would have helped in the delivery, they would have cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and given practical gifts like diapers and onsies.
There are so many things we do not know about the magi. As I said, we don’t really know how many there were, we don’t know exactly where they came from or how far they traveled. We do know they were men of faith. How else can it be that they would see a star in the sky, understand its significance, and travel an unknown distance to reach its resting place?
We know they traveled from the east, and they knew for whom they were looking. When they stopped by Herod’s to ask for directions, they said, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” That star that shone so brightly in the sky was the signal to them that a king was born, and not just any king, but the king of the Jews. They wanted to find this king and pay tribute to him; they wanted to worship him. That certainly took faith.
We have seen other instances of people whose faith led them to do what others may have called crazy. Abram left his homeland and his extended family to go to a place he did not know, called by a God who made promises that seems outlandish. But he went because he had faith.
Noah built an ark to make a safe place for his family and a sampling of all creation, following the instructions from a God who told him that a flood was coming to cover the earth. Noah didn’t even know what rain was, because until God shut Noah and his family and all the animals inside the completed ark, no rain had ever fallen. But Noah built that ark because he had faith.
Mary agreed, without question or argument to bear the child of God because God sent an angel to give her the news that she had found favor with God. A young woman, engaged but not married, suddenly is pregnant doesn’t sound to most people like someone who has found favor with God, but Mary agreed because she had faith.
The magi left their homes to go to a place they did not know, not knowing how long it would take to get there, not knowing when or if they would return to their homes and their families because God placed a star in the sky that beckoned them to follow. Those magi followed that star because they had faith.
God calls us to have faith in him even today. We confess our faith in Jesus, the one who was born of a virgin, the one who is God here on earth, both God and man, the one who was crucified, found dead, buried in the tomb and yet was alive three days later. The world tells us we are crazy, that this is a bunch of made-up stories, but we believe because we have faith.
We know that these men were determined to do what they set out to do. Some estimate their journey to be about 500 miles. 500 miles over the desert sand, riding on camels, enduring whatever weather conditions cropped up, making a long journey that likely took about two years or so.
I imagine that there were times when they grew tired of riding on those camels all day. Times when they felt too tired to keep going. Times when they may have even questioned themselves – did they read that star right, were they going in the right direction, was this really the way to find the new king, was he really a king? But they did not let their questions, their fatigue, their doubts keep them from pressing on. Step by camel step, they plodded through that sand, slept in tents, picked sand out of their food, their clothes, their beards. They just kept going, determined to reach their destination.
We have days, even seasons, when we become discouraged. We have times when we look around and question ourselves as to whether what we are doing is worth the effort. Times when the days are long, and the nights are longer. We deal with illness, financial troubles, job issues, family dynamics, and even a crisis of faith. But God calls us to be determined, too. He wants us to trust him when we feel like we are living in the dark, when we don’t know what the solution is or how long this part of our journey will last.
God is the God of the dark, just as he is the God of the light. He is with us at all times and in all places. The magi kept their faith even when they struggled with the details of the journey, and so can we. They had each other to support and encourage one another, and so do we. We are the body of Christ, called to use our gifts for the church – to encourage, to support, and to uplift our brothers and sisters in Christ just as they do the same for us when we are in need. The magi were determined to keep on going, and we can be determined to do the same.
We also know that these magi were wise. Wise enough to discern what the new star meant and to follow it, and wise enough to discern that Herod was deceiving them when he told them “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
They were wise enough to sense his jealousy, his deceit, and his fear on hearing them speak of the child they sought as the king of the Jews. They were wise enough to listen to the message that came to them in a dream, after having seen the child they were looking for, and to take another route home so they did not go back to Herod as he had asked.
They were wise enough to recognize that this child they found was the one for whom they had traveled a great distance to see. They were wise enough to bring him gifts – gifts that were fit for a king, not for an ordinary child.
God calls us to be wise, too. We need to be wise so that we can discern his truth, so we can follow him diligently and with determination to stay the course he has set out for us through his word – the Bible. We need to be wise enough to know that we need to read his word, study his word, gather together to discern his word, and hear his word when he speaks. Without this wisdom, we are in danger of being led astray, taught false truths, and knocked off the path that leads to the narrow gate of life.
Finally, we know the wisemen understood the need for sacrifice. They brought those gifts to give to the one they came to worship. Gold, a gift to signify his kingship, frankincense, burned as incense to signify his priesthood, and myrrh, used for embalming the dead to signify his impending death.
These were expensive gifts, not something they simply picked up at Walmart on the way or orders on Amazon to be delivered by the time they arrived. The magi deliberately chose these gifts and gave them as an act of sacrifice in their worship of this child-king. Gifts that came with a cost from their personal treasuries.
God calls us to also offer our sacrifice. He calls us to give of our time, our talents, and our tithes. When we volunteer, we put our special gifts to use for the good of the church and the community. When we use our talents to do that volunteering, we are freeing up others to use their own special talents to do the same. That is why there are so many different spiritual gifts – because there are so many different needs and opportunities.
God also calls us to sacrifice through our tithes – our gifts to the church that come in through our financial giving. When we stop to consider how much God has given us already, and that everything we have comes from him, how can we not want to show our gratitude by giving back to him in a way that will help grow his kingdom here on earth?
When we commit to giving God our sacrifice of time, talent, and tithe, we are showing him that we love him and trust him. It is though sacrificial giving, in all three categories, that we are truly worshiping God. It is by this sacrificial giving that we acknowledge the very real sacrifice God has given us through his son, Jesus, and it is our way of thanking him for that gift.
On this first day of the year, as we think about what our New Year’s resolutions might be for 2023, I encourage all of us to resolve to be like the wise men: faithful, determined, wise, and sacrificial. In this way, we will honor God, our God who is God of the dark and the light, our God who is with us at all times and in all places. Thanks be to God for who he is, all he is, and all he is to us. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, this day, as we look at the example set for us by the magi, may we follow their lead to be faithful to you, determined to follow you, wise in your ways, and sacrificial in our giving in all the ways you call us. Let this be the day of a new beginning, a day of new resolve for us as disciples of your son, Jesus, the gift you have given to the world that we might know you through him. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-folly-of-not-following-the-wise-men-jim-mccutchen-sermon-on-faith-152913?page=3&wc=800
Call to Worship:
L: Christmas Day has come and gone,
P: The gifts have been opened; the messes cleaned up.
L: The cookies are eaten; the carols have been sung.
P: Christmas is over; a new year has begun.
L: But what of these three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh?
P: A reminder to us that we can daily offer gifts to our King.
All: On this day of new beginnings, we resolve to follow our star, Jesus,
And offer our lives anew to his service in this world. AMEN
Hymn: 254 We Three Kings
Since today we are going to be talking about the magi – sometimes called the wise men, I thought I’d share with you a little bit of wisdom from people of a younger age. Sometimes we can learn a good lesson, even from children:
Patrick, age 10, said, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
Michael, 14, said, “When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don’t answer him.”
Josh, age 9, said, “Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.”
Naomi, 15 said, “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.”
Lauren, age 9 said, “Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.”
Joel, 10 years old, said, “Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.” an
Eileen, age 8 said, “Never try to baptize a cat.”
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR CHRISTMAS DAY, DECEMBER 25, 2022 FROM THE SERIES "GOD OF THE DARK AND THE LIGHT" TITLED "THE REFLECTION OF GOD'S GLORY"!
December 25, 2022
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: The Reflection of God’s Glory
Scripture: Hebrews 1:1-12
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son; today I have begotten you”?
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds
and his servants flames of fire.”
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
10 And, “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing;
12 like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same, and your years will never end.”
References
Call to Worship:
L: Come and see!
P: The Light of the World has been born.
L: Come and follow!
P: Jesus desires for all to know him and be saved.
L: Go and tell!
P: Share the Good News that Messiah has come,
ALL: And tell everyone that he will come again. AMEN.
Hymn: 251 Go Tell It on the Mountain
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: The Reflection of God’s Glory
Scripture: Hebrews 1:1-12
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son; today I have begotten you”?
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds
and his servants flames of fire.”
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
10 And, “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing;
12 like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same, and your years will never end.”
References
Call to Worship:
L: Come and see!
P: The Light of the World has been born.
L: Come and follow!
P: Jesus desires for all to know him and be saved.
L: Go and tell!
P: Share the Good News that Messiah has come,
ALL: And tell everyone that he will come again. AMEN.
Hymn: 251 Go Tell It on the Mountain
Pastor donna's sermon for Christmas Eve, December 24, 2022 from the series "God of the dark and the light" titled "The Light is Born"!
December 24, 2022
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: The Light is Born
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed [a]wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a [d]manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
References
Call to Worship:
L: Advent, the season of waiting is over. The time has come,
P: A child is born for us—a son has been given!
L: He is our restoration of hope, our signal of peace,
P: He is our source of joy and our sign of love.
L: Tonight, we celebrate the birth of our Savior,
P: We shall call him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God!
ALL: And we will join the angels in proclaiming peace on earth
and goodwill to all. AMEN.
Hymn:
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: The Light is Born
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed [a]wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a [d]manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
References
Call to Worship:
L: Advent, the season of waiting is over. The time has come,
P: A child is born for us—a son has been given!
L: He is our restoration of hope, our signal of peace,
P: He is our source of joy and our sign of love.
L: Tonight, we celebrate the birth of our Savior,
P: We shall call him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God!
ALL: And we will join the angels in proclaiming peace on earth
and goodwill to all. AMEN.
Hymn:
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON DECEMBER 18, 2022. lAST SERMON IN THE SERIES TITLED "wHO IS jESUS?" CALLED "oUR SIGN OF lOVE"
December 18, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Advent: Who is Jesus?
Message: Our Sign of Love
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25, Isaiah 7:10-16
Matthew:
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
Isaiah:
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel, 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
Helen’s Devotional:
In Louisa May Alcott’s book, “Little Women,” Jo March is quoted as saying, “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” Perhaps you remember the story about young lovers’ Christmas gifts. He sold his gold watch to buy her combs for her long hair and she cut off and sold her hair to buy him a gold watch chain. Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, in her book, “Simple Abundance,” Christmas has always been about gifts.”
Let’s examine the role of gifts in the original Christmas story. Those gifts are wrapped in miracles, which is probably why we can’t find them in malls or online.
The first gift was of the Holy Spirit…unconditional love to mankind. Then gifts from a Jewish teenager named Mary. Her Christmas gift was selflessness and obedience…the complete surrender of ego and will needed to bring Heaven down to earth. It must have been love!
The gifts of Joseph, her fiancé, were trust and faith. He trusted that Mary wasn’t pregnant with another man’s child, He believed in God’s divine plan. It must have been love!
The angels’ gifts were tidings of comfort, joy, and peace with reassurance from fear. It must have been love!
The wisemen traveled many difficult and dusty miles following a bright star in search of a royal birth. Their real gifts were wonder, acceptance, and courage, surrendering logic, reason, and common sense. Accepting the impossible, they helped the young family escape Herod to a safe haven in Egypt. It must have been love!
The tiny child brought with him forgiveness, wholeness, joy, hope, second chances, compassion to us all. And ultimately, Jesus lived God’s plan for man’s salvation. He suffered injustice, shame, indignity, excruciating pain on the cross for our sins.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Now, that was love!
Several years ago, Redbook Magazine asked students in Protestant seminaries about their view on the virgin birth of Jesus. They reported that 56% of the students in Protestant seminaries studying for the ministry rejected the idea of the virgin birth!
Another poll, done by The Survey Research Center of the University of California at Berkeley, surveyed various denominations to get their view on the virgin birth, and found that 69% of the American Baptists believed in the virgin birth, 66% of the Lutherans believed in the virgin birth, 57% of the United Presbyterians, 39% of the Episcopalians, 34% of the Methodists, and 21% of the Congregationalists believed in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
This is astounding to me! I want to ask how a person can claim to be a Christian and not believe in the virgin birth. The virgin birth of Jesus is foundational to the Christian faith. Without the virgin birth, we have to question all other tenets of our faith. As Dr. Larry Petton writes on this subject, “To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Word of God. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the deity of Jesus Christ. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Gospel. To deny the virgin birth is to be lost in sin and headed to Hell.”
I believe to deny the virgin birth is to even deny the very existence of love, the very love we celebrate on this last Sunday of Advent. Love is a word that we, well, love to use and we use it in many different ways and with varying levels of depth as to its meaning. I’ve used the analogy before but let me share with you once again, I love pizza, I love the beach, I love my family, but the love I express for these three things is not equal.
There is a love that is so pure, so deep, so wide, so high, that we cannot even begin to comprehend it in our human minds. That love is the love that God has for us and for all of his creation. It is because of this true love that God has, that we see glimpses of it in our world.
Helen read about love given through the gifts given by some of the key players in our Christmas story. God, through the Holy Spirt, gave us the gift of a Savior. Mary, in her acceptance of God’s plan, showed a love that was beyond her years, the wisemen brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, along with being the first Gentiles to show the world who Jesus really is. And Joseph? What of Joseph’s role in all of this?
The word love is not used in scripture when joseph is mentioned, but joseph showed his love in quiet, determined ways. Joseph is a man who is betrothed to a young woman, Mary. Betrothment was a legally binding contract, in the eyes of the law, Mary was already his wife, and they were preparing for the day when they would officially become one and live together as a couple. The future looked good for Joseph.
Then, one day, Mary came to him and gave him the news – she was pregnant. She confessed her condition, but adamantly swore there was no other man. She had told him of a visit from Gabriel, the angel and repeated the message Gabriel had given her. She explained to Joseph that the baby was God’s Son, the one who was intended to sit on David’s throne forever, the One who would reign over Israel forever and whose kingdom would have no end.
What was Joseph to do? This story seemed outrageous. How could it possibly be true? What would people think of Mary, of him?
Joseph had options to consider, actions that were available to him under the law of Moses. He could publicly disgrace Mary and expose her unfaithfulness. He could even have her stoned for her indiscretion and shame. But Joseph doesn’t do either of these things. Matthew’s gospel tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, a man who followed the law, but also put the welfare of others before himself.
This is how we know that Joseph loved Mary; he couldn’t bring himself to disgrace and humiliate her, so he opted to quietly divorce her and move on. That was his plan, anyway. But God had another plan for Joseph.
God sent an angel to Joseph who appeared to him in a dream. “’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”
When joseph woke up, he did as God requested, he didn’t divorce Mary, instead, when he was required to leave his home to go to Bethlehem for the census, he took Mary with him, as his wife.
Joseph must have pondered what life would be like when people found out Mary was pregnant; he must have wondered how he would face them, how they would face them as a couple, but he let love overshadow his doubts and fears. He trusted that God’s love would see them through, somehow, even if he didn’t understand it all right then.
Joseph likely leaned into what he knew from scripture about the promised Messiah that all of Israel had been waiting for. He remembered the angel’s directive that the baby be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. He remembered Isaiah’s prophecy from long ago when he said to King Ahaz, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.”
Immanuel, God with us. That is certainly a sign of love. God with us. Why would God bother to come and live among us if not for love? When sin entered the world in the Garden, God could have turned his back and left us on our own, he could have destroyed his creation and started over, or given up completely. God didn’t do that. Instead, he put a plan of salvation into place that came to fruition through the gifts given by the Holy Spirit, a teenage virgin, and loving husband. Now that is love.
I read this week that signs do not create reality; they merely show its truth. The example was given that if you see a highway sign that reads, “Chicago: 160 miles,” and you change the sign to read “Chicago: 60 miles,” you haven’t changed the fact that Chicago is still 160 miles away because truth doesn’t change.
Jesus is our sign of God’s love. Jesus is God who lived among us. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, the child born of a virgin. Just because some choose not to believe in the virgin birth doesn’t change the fact that the virgin birth happened. We don’t have to understand how it happened, we just know that with God, all things are possible, Why? Because he loves us. In fact, he loves us so much that he came to earth, was born of a virgin, lived and died, and rose again to save us from our sins so we might have eternal life with him. That is the kind of love that has no end. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/an-advent-song-of-ascents/first-sunday-of-advent-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101747/mary-by-dr-larry-petton
Call to Worship:
L: And so, it continues, this season of Advent,
P: The season of waiting, the season of love.
L: Jesus is the One who came,
P: And the One who will come again.
L: This season, may we search for who Jesus is,
P: Discovering he is our sign of love in a busy world.
ALL: Come Lord Jesus, come once again. AMEN.
Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Rootstown
Series: Advent: Who is Jesus?
Message: Our Sign of Love
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25, Isaiah 7:10-16
Matthew:
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
Isaiah:
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel, 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
Helen’s Devotional:
In Louisa May Alcott’s book, “Little Women,” Jo March is quoted as saying, “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” Perhaps you remember the story about young lovers’ Christmas gifts. He sold his gold watch to buy her combs for her long hair and she cut off and sold her hair to buy him a gold watch chain. Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, in her book, “Simple Abundance,” Christmas has always been about gifts.”
Let’s examine the role of gifts in the original Christmas story. Those gifts are wrapped in miracles, which is probably why we can’t find them in malls or online.
The first gift was of the Holy Spirit…unconditional love to mankind. Then gifts from a Jewish teenager named Mary. Her Christmas gift was selflessness and obedience…the complete surrender of ego and will needed to bring Heaven down to earth. It must have been love!
The gifts of Joseph, her fiancé, were trust and faith. He trusted that Mary wasn’t pregnant with another man’s child, He believed in God’s divine plan. It must have been love!
The angels’ gifts were tidings of comfort, joy, and peace with reassurance from fear. It must have been love!
The wisemen traveled many difficult and dusty miles following a bright star in search of a royal birth. Their real gifts were wonder, acceptance, and courage, surrendering logic, reason, and common sense. Accepting the impossible, they helped the young family escape Herod to a safe haven in Egypt. It must have been love!
The tiny child brought with him forgiveness, wholeness, joy, hope, second chances, compassion to us all. And ultimately, Jesus lived God’s plan for man’s salvation. He suffered injustice, shame, indignity, excruciating pain on the cross for our sins.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Now, that was love!
Several years ago, Redbook Magazine asked students in Protestant seminaries about their view on the virgin birth of Jesus. They reported that 56% of the students in Protestant seminaries studying for the ministry rejected the idea of the virgin birth!
Another poll, done by The Survey Research Center of the University of California at Berkeley, surveyed various denominations to get their view on the virgin birth, and found that 69% of the American Baptists believed in the virgin birth, 66% of the Lutherans believed in the virgin birth, 57% of the United Presbyterians, 39% of the Episcopalians, 34% of the Methodists, and 21% of the Congregationalists believed in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
This is astounding to me! I want to ask how a person can claim to be a Christian and not believe in the virgin birth. The virgin birth of Jesus is foundational to the Christian faith. Without the virgin birth, we have to question all other tenets of our faith. As Dr. Larry Petton writes on this subject, “To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Word of God. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the deity of Jesus Christ. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Gospel. To deny the virgin birth is to be lost in sin and headed to Hell.”
I believe to deny the virgin birth is to even deny the very existence of love, the very love we celebrate on this last Sunday of Advent. Love is a word that we, well, love to use and we use it in many different ways and with varying levels of depth as to its meaning. I’ve used the analogy before but let me share with you once again, I love pizza, I love the beach, I love my family, but the love I express for these three things is not equal.
There is a love that is so pure, so deep, so wide, so high, that we cannot even begin to comprehend it in our human minds. That love is the love that God has for us and for all of his creation. It is because of this true love that God has, that we see glimpses of it in our world.
Helen read about love given through the gifts given by some of the key players in our Christmas story. God, through the Holy Spirt, gave us the gift of a Savior. Mary, in her acceptance of God’s plan, showed a love that was beyond her years, the wisemen brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, along with being the first Gentiles to show the world who Jesus really is. And Joseph? What of Joseph’s role in all of this?
The word love is not used in scripture when joseph is mentioned, but joseph showed his love in quiet, determined ways. Joseph is a man who is betrothed to a young woman, Mary. Betrothment was a legally binding contract, in the eyes of the law, Mary was already his wife, and they were preparing for the day when they would officially become one and live together as a couple. The future looked good for Joseph.
Then, one day, Mary came to him and gave him the news – she was pregnant. She confessed her condition, but adamantly swore there was no other man. She had told him of a visit from Gabriel, the angel and repeated the message Gabriel had given her. She explained to Joseph that the baby was God’s Son, the one who was intended to sit on David’s throne forever, the One who would reign over Israel forever and whose kingdom would have no end.
What was Joseph to do? This story seemed outrageous. How could it possibly be true? What would people think of Mary, of him?
Joseph had options to consider, actions that were available to him under the law of Moses. He could publicly disgrace Mary and expose her unfaithfulness. He could even have her stoned for her indiscretion and shame. But Joseph doesn’t do either of these things. Matthew’s gospel tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, a man who followed the law, but also put the welfare of others before himself.
This is how we know that Joseph loved Mary; he couldn’t bring himself to disgrace and humiliate her, so he opted to quietly divorce her and move on. That was his plan, anyway. But God had another plan for Joseph.
God sent an angel to Joseph who appeared to him in a dream. “’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”
When joseph woke up, he did as God requested, he didn’t divorce Mary, instead, when he was required to leave his home to go to Bethlehem for the census, he took Mary with him, as his wife.
Joseph must have pondered what life would be like when people found out Mary was pregnant; he must have wondered how he would face them, how they would face them as a couple, but he let love overshadow his doubts and fears. He trusted that God’s love would see them through, somehow, even if he didn’t understand it all right then.
Joseph likely leaned into what he knew from scripture about the promised Messiah that all of Israel had been waiting for. He remembered the angel’s directive that the baby be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. He remembered Isaiah’s prophecy from long ago when he said to King Ahaz, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.”
Immanuel, God with us. That is certainly a sign of love. God with us. Why would God bother to come and live among us if not for love? When sin entered the world in the Garden, God could have turned his back and left us on our own, he could have destroyed his creation and started over, or given up completely. God didn’t do that. Instead, he put a plan of salvation into place that came to fruition through the gifts given by the Holy Spirit, a teenage virgin, and loving husband. Now that is love.
I read this week that signs do not create reality; they merely show its truth. The example was given that if you see a highway sign that reads, “Chicago: 160 miles,” and you change the sign to read “Chicago: 60 miles,” you haven’t changed the fact that Chicago is still 160 miles away because truth doesn’t change.
Jesus is our sign of God’s love. Jesus is God who lived among us. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, the child born of a virgin. Just because some choose not to believe in the virgin birth doesn’t change the fact that the virgin birth happened. We don’t have to understand how it happened, we just know that with God, all things are possible, Why? Because he loves us. In fact, he loves us so much that he came to earth, was born of a virgin, lived and died, and rose again to save us from our sins so we might have eternal life with him. That is the kind of love that has no end. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/an-advent-song-of-ascents/first-sunday-of-advent-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101747/mary-by-dr-larry-petton
Call to Worship:
L: And so, it continues, this season of Advent,
P: The season of waiting, the season of love.
L: Jesus is the One who came,
P: And the One who will come again.
L: This season, may we search for who Jesus is,
P: Discovering he is our sign of love in a busy world.
ALL: Come Lord Jesus, come once again. AMEN.
Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2022 TITLED "jESUS: OUR RESTORATION OF HOPE.
November 27, 2022
Series: Advent: Who is Jesus?
Message: Jesus: Our Restoration of Hope
Scripture: Psalm 122, Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm:
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together.
4 To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
Isaiah:
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
We begin this advent season, as we usually do, with the theme of HOPE. In this sermon series, we will be asking “Who is Jesus?” and we will see who he is and how he is connected to the weekly advent themes we are already familiar with. To help you make a connection with who Jesus is, we will be handing out an Advent devotional booklet to everyone as you leave. Each day’s devotion will be about one of the names of Jesus.
I encourage you to take a few minutes each day this Advent season and think on who Jesus is, what he has done for us, and the promises about him that we are still waiting to be fulfilled. Let’s begin.
How many of you like to watch home improvement type shows on TV? I love them. My favorite is “Good Bones” and all the iterations of Mina and Karen and their home improvement and restoration projects in the Indianapolis area. They have gotten themselves into some pretty disgusting messes as they seek the worst house on the block and set out to bring it back to life as they strive to improve neighborhoods.
There is something so satisfying about seeing a burned out, decrepit-looking, decades-old house turned into something bright and beautiful, warm and welcoming. What was once an eyesore that no one would or could live in is now the best-looking house on the block – and usually in a one-hour episode.
Houses are not the only thing that needs to be restored from time to time. I came across a story this week about a beautiful church, the Mountain Valley Cathedral, that sits in a remote Swiss village. This church had become known for its beautiful pipe organ – the most beautiful pipe organ in the entire region. Not only did this pipe organ look beautiful, but it also sounded beautiful, too. People would come from all over to hear it played.
As time went by, though, the day came when the notes that came from the organ were out of tune. Experts were called in from all over the world, but not a single person was able to restore this organ to its former glory – so it remained out of tune. This pipe organ was so unique in the way it had been created and customized, that it was beyond the capabilities of all who tried. Finally, everyone gave up and the organ simply sat in place, silent and broken.
One day, a long time later, an old man came by the church and wondered aloud as to why the organ was not being used. When he was told that it would not play, he asked if he might take a look at it himself. With no hope of a positive outcome, he was given permission.
The old man worked in near silence for two days while the church staff nervously went about their business, wondering why the man had not given up already like all the others before him. But then, about noon on the third day, the staff suddenly began hearing music – pipe organ music – beautiful pipe organ music. The old man had done it! He had restored their organ.
The villagers heard the music, and they began to come to the church to see for themselves that their beloved organ, silenced no more, had finally been restored. Amazed, they asked the old man how it was that he had been able to do what so many others could not. He told them, “I am the one who built this pipe organ all those years ago. I created it and now I have restored it.”
I thought of this story as I watched “Good Bones” Friday night with my mom, and it struck me that we are like those old houses and that old organ. We humans are full of junk; we are often old and decrepit; we are in need of restoration, and our only hope for that restoration is found in the one who created us.
This week, as we ask, “Who is Jesus?” our answer is, “Jesus is our hope of restoration.” That is why we can say, along with the Psalmist this week, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” Coming to worship should inspire gladness in our hearts because we are gathering together as a faith community to worship the one who created us, who is also the one who sent his son to restore us to relationship with him because of the great love he has for us.
This is advent, a time of worship filled with anticipation of both what was and what is to come. We celebrate the hope of restoration that came in the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, even as we celebrate the promise that this restoration of all creation will be completed when he returns.
God gave Isaiah a vision that offered the hope of restoration to his people. But in the days of Isaiah, God’s people lived, not in a time or a place of peace and prosperity, but in a time of war, hardship, and fear and in a place where there seemed to be no hope that the days to come would bring any relief.
It doesn’t feel like much has changed. When have we ever lived in a time when war was not a reality somewhere in the world? When have we ever lived when every person had enough to eat, a place to live, the means by which to prosper? Even today, after all this time, Isaiah’s promise to the people of Israel is a promise we cling to for ourselves as children of God. The only difference between us and them is that we live in a time when part of the promise has already been fulfilled – our Savior has come – now we wait for him to come again.
In the days to come, the days of which Isaiah speaks, Jesus has already come and already returned. The mountain of the Lord will be the focal point, not just of Jerusalem, but of the world. In those days, people from all nations will stream to Zion, moving like a river of water, undeterred from their purpose, to go and learn the ways of God that they might better walk in the path that he has established for them.
The Hope of Restoration, in those days, will teach the ways of peace, not war. There will no longer be any need for swords or weapons of destruction so they will be repurposed into tools that will work for the good of everyone – plows to work the ground and pruning hooks for the vines – tools of agriculture for the feeding of everyone.
In those days, there will be no need to restore houses, organs, or people, because all of creation will be restored by its creator. There will be no more war, no more hunger, no more poverty, no more disease, no more death.
Verse five today gives us a beautiful invitation: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” This isn’t the light we get when we turn on a lamp, it is the light of life, the light that shines to show us the way we are to walk so that we might not fall off the straight path that leads us to the narrow gate because this light is the light of our salvation, the light that came from a star so long ago that announced the birth of our Hope of Restoration and brought the magi to Bethlehem to worship the King of all kings. This light is the Light of the world and one day all will see this light for who he is – Jesus Christ.
Yes, we should say today, as the Psalmist proclaimed so long ago, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” We should enter his house ready to worship with singing and praise in our hearts and on our lips because of this hope we have been given, and this hope for which we still wait – the Hope of Restoration that comes from Jesus Christ, who fills us with such hope that we proclaim, “For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”
It is because of Jesus, our Hope of Restoration, that we are able to say, as King David proclaimed, that the day will come when “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” What beautiful hope we have in Christ Jesus this day, this season, and forever. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of Hope, in this season of anticipation, we remember the birth of your son, so long ago and we make preparations to celebrate that night once again. But we are also celebrating and anticipating the fulfillment of the promise of his coming again, and of the time when we will no longer live in a world where war, famine, disease, and poverty, exist. We eagerly await the time when there will be no more darkness because the Light of our hope shines so brightly that all shadows flee, making clear the path which you have laid for us, the path that leads us directly to you. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, along with the rest of the world. AMEN.
Series: Advent: Who is Jesus?
Message: Jesus: Our Restoration of Hope
Scripture: Psalm 122, Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm:
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together.
4 To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
Isaiah:
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
We begin this advent season, as we usually do, with the theme of HOPE. In this sermon series, we will be asking “Who is Jesus?” and we will see who he is and how he is connected to the weekly advent themes we are already familiar with. To help you make a connection with who Jesus is, we will be handing out an Advent devotional booklet to everyone as you leave. Each day’s devotion will be about one of the names of Jesus.
I encourage you to take a few minutes each day this Advent season and think on who Jesus is, what he has done for us, and the promises about him that we are still waiting to be fulfilled. Let’s begin.
How many of you like to watch home improvement type shows on TV? I love them. My favorite is “Good Bones” and all the iterations of Mina and Karen and their home improvement and restoration projects in the Indianapolis area. They have gotten themselves into some pretty disgusting messes as they seek the worst house on the block and set out to bring it back to life as they strive to improve neighborhoods.
There is something so satisfying about seeing a burned out, decrepit-looking, decades-old house turned into something bright and beautiful, warm and welcoming. What was once an eyesore that no one would or could live in is now the best-looking house on the block – and usually in a one-hour episode.
Houses are not the only thing that needs to be restored from time to time. I came across a story this week about a beautiful church, the Mountain Valley Cathedral, that sits in a remote Swiss village. This church had become known for its beautiful pipe organ – the most beautiful pipe organ in the entire region. Not only did this pipe organ look beautiful, but it also sounded beautiful, too. People would come from all over to hear it played.
As time went by, though, the day came when the notes that came from the organ were out of tune. Experts were called in from all over the world, but not a single person was able to restore this organ to its former glory – so it remained out of tune. This pipe organ was so unique in the way it had been created and customized, that it was beyond the capabilities of all who tried. Finally, everyone gave up and the organ simply sat in place, silent and broken.
One day, a long time later, an old man came by the church and wondered aloud as to why the organ was not being used. When he was told that it would not play, he asked if he might take a look at it himself. With no hope of a positive outcome, he was given permission.
The old man worked in near silence for two days while the church staff nervously went about their business, wondering why the man had not given up already like all the others before him. But then, about noon on the third day, the staff suddenly began hearing music – pipe organ music – beautiful pipe organ music. The old man had done it! He had restored their organ.
The villagers heard the music, and they began to come to the church to see for themselves that their beloved organ, silenced no more, had finally been restored. Amazed, they asked the old man how it was that he had been able to do what so many others could not. He told them, “I am the one who built this pipe organ all those years ago. I created it and now I have restored it.”
I thought of this story as I watched “Good Bones” Friday night with my mom, and it struck me that we are like those old houses and that old organ. We humans are full of junk; we are often old and decrepit; we are in need of restoration, and our only hope for that restoration is found in the one who created us.
This week, as we ask, “Who is Jesus?” our answer is, “Jesus is our hope of restoration.” That is why we can say, along with the Psalmist this week, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” Coming to worship should inspire gladness in our hearts because we are gathering together as a faith community to worship the one who created us, who is also the one who sent his son to restore us to relationship with him because of the great love he has for us.
This is advent, a time of worship filled with anticipation of both what was and what is to come. We celebrate the hope of restoration that came in the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, even as we celebrate the promise that this restoration of all creation will be completed when he returns.
God gave Isaiah a vision that offered the hope of restoration to his people. But in the days of Isaiah, God’s people lived, not in a time or a place of peace and prosperity, but in a time of war, hardship, and fear and in a place where there seemed to be no hope that the days to come would bring any relief.
It doesn’t feel like much has changed. When have we ever lived in a time when war was not a reality somewhere in the world? When have we ever lived when every person had enough to eat, a place to live, the means by which to prosper? Even today, after all this time, Isaiah’s promise to the people of Israel is a promise we cling to for ourselves as children of God. The only difference between us and them is that we live in a time when part of the promise has already been fulfilled – our Savior has come – now we wait for him to come again.
In the days to come, the days of which Isaiah speaks, Jesus has already come and already returned. The mountain of the Lord will be the focal point, not just of Jerusalem, but of the world. In those days, people from all nations will stream to Zion, moving like a river of water, undeterred from their purpose, to go and learn the ways of God that they might better walk in the path that he has established for them.
The Hope of Restoration, in those days, will teach the ways of peace, not war. There will no longer be any need for swords or weapons of destruction so they will be repurposed into tools that will work for the good of everyone – plows to work the ground and pruning hooks for the vines – tools of agriculture for the feeding of everyone.
In those days, there will be no need to restore houses, organs, or people, because all of creation will be restored by its creator. There will be no more war, no more hunger, no more poverty, no more disease, no more death.
Verse five today gives us a beautiful invitation: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” This isn’t the light we get when we turn on a lamp, it is the light of life, the light that shines to show us the way we are to walk so that we might not fall off the straight path that leads us to the narrow gate because this light is the light of our salvation, the light that came from a star so long ago that announced the birth of our Hope of Restoration and brought the magi to Bethlehem to worship the King of all kings. This light is the Light of the world and one day all will see this light for who he is – Jesus Christ.
Yes, we should say today, as the Psalmist proclaimed so long ago, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” We should enter his house ready to worship with singing and praise in our hearts and on our lips because of this hope we have been given, and this hope for which we still wait – the Hope of Restoration that comes from Jesus Christ, who fills us with such hope that we proclaim, “For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”
It is because of Jesus, our Hope of Restoration, that we are able to say, as King David proclaimed, that the day will come when “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” What beautiful hope we have in Christ Jesus this day, this season, and forever. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of Hope, in this season of anticipation, we remember the birth of your son, so long ago and we make preparations to celebrate that night once again. But we are also celebrating and anticipating the fulfillment of the promise of his coming again, and of the time when we will no longer live in a world where war, famine, disease, and poverty, exist. We eagerly await the time when there will be no more darkness because the Light of our hope shines so brightly that all shadows flee, making clear the path which you have laid for us, the path that leads us directly to you. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, along with the rest of the world. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON sUNDAY, nOVEMBER 20, 2022 "sCOFFERS ON A hILL"
November 20, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Scoffers on a Hill
Scripture: Luke 23:33-43
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The dictionary defines a scoffer as one who laughs at and/or speaks about a person in a manner that shows they think the person is stupid or silly. In today’s scripture, we see scoffers all around the cross as Jesus hung there dying.
This scripture seems out of place this week, doesn’t it? If you research this passage, you will find lots of sermons and stories more fitting for the Lenten season rather than one of Thanksgiving. We are used to reading about Jesus and the cross during Holy Week, not on Christ the King Sunday. But as often happens, if we look closely enough, we will see much to be thankful for in Luke’s story, and we will see the Kingship of our Lord, even as he hung, bloodied, beaten, and barely breathing on that cross so long ago.
So, who are these scoffers? Luke tells us that “the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’” The leaders – the religious leaders who had brought Jesus to trial, had followed along as the Roman soldiers had taken him first to Pilot, then to Herod, then back to Pilot for final sentencing.
These religious leaders were the ones who stirred up the crowd to call out for Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus, the ones who began the chant, “Crucify him,” to which the crowd then added their own voices. These are the ones who opposed Jesus and his ministry because he continually pointed out the difference between their legalistic rituals and real, heartfelt worship.
“He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” they call out into the crowd as they stand near the cross, close enough to make sure Jesus heard their mocking of him, far enough away to appear “presentable” in their own eyes. Scoffing because in their minds, only by Jesus coming down off that cross would they even begin to maybe believe he was the Messiah he claimed to be - the Messiah they denied with every breath.
“Let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God,” was said with all the sarcasm they could muster, once again trying to elevate themselves to the position of ultimate authority over God’s people.
Luke tells us that there were other scoffers that day, too. He writes, “The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”’ These soldiers were Roman soldiers, of course, and we don’t know how much they knew of Jesus and how much they had just picked up about him during his trials, his beatings, and his journey to Calvary to hang on that rugged cross.
The words of the soldiers closely mimicked the words of the religious leaders, scoffing at the notion that this man thought he was any kind of king, taunting him to save himself just as the others were doing. These soldiers were probably used to hearing all kinds of claims of innocence from the criminals they crucified, to the point where they never really listened to, or even really looked at anyone anymore as they drove the nails through their hands, hoisted the crossbar into position on the upright, crossed their feet and drove the final nail that held them in place to slowly suffocate, suffer, and die.
The religious leaders scoffed at Jesus to make a point to the crowd, the soldiers scoffed at Jesus to make fun of him, but why would the criminals on either side of Jesus scoff at him, too? Maybe, as we say today, “because they could?” Perhaps, more accurately, because they didn’t know any better.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that, “The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way,” but Luke writes that “One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’” Now, perhaps, of all those who taunted and scoffed at Jesus that day, we can identify with these two the most.
“If you are this Messiah they say you say you are, then save yourself, and while you’re at it, save us, too!” This makes sense. They have come to the end of the line; they have no hope left of getting out of this nightmare in which they find themselves. There is no going back once one is nailed to a cross, the only way down comes after death. They are throwing taunts at Jesus, yes, but they do so with desperation in their voices.
They don’t really believe this guy can save anyone, but if he can, he might as well take them with him. It’s certainly worth a try. While the religious leaders mocked Jesus to make a point to the crowd and the soldiers scoffed at Jesus to make fun of him, the criminals on either side of Jesus taunted him as a desperate cry of self-preservation, the cry of the condemned who have no hope of reprieve.
Somewhere along the line, though, a change takes place, a miracle occurs. It isn’t in the religious leaders; they are still scoffing, ranting, and waiting for Jesus to die. It isn’t in the soldiers, though there is one later who experiences a revelation and comes to faith in Jesus. At this point in time, the soldiers are still taunting, mocking, passing time while they wait for the three men to die.
The miracle that happened was that one of the criminals had a change of heart; he gained a new understanding. This one man, hanging on a cross, this one who began by taunting Jesus, began to recognize who Jesus might be. As this realization breaks over him, he stops scoffing at Jesus, he quits asking for Jesus to come off the cross and take him with him, and he rebukes the one who is still jeering, saying “’Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’”
What changed his mind? We do not know. What happened that his eyes were opened? We are not told. How did his heart open in this way? The gospel writers do not say. All we know is that this one man, this criminal in the last hours of his life, realized he was a sinner in need of saving and that he was looking at the only one who could save him.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” was all he asked now. His rebellious spirit was gone, his taunts were silenced, his heart was repentant. He had confessed his belief and asked for forgiveness, and Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
We hear these words and know that Jesus is truly the Christ the King whom we honor this day. He is the only one who can speak to this criminal and who has the authority to give him this promise. While we love the words and have our own notions of paradise, the words that Jesus spoke to that man had a deeper meaning than we know, but one the man would have readily understood.
The word paradise comes from a Persian word that means beautiful garden, and that is probably close to what most of us imagine, on some scale or another, when we think of paradise, but there is more to it. It specifically refers to a king’s garden, not just any random pretty place where plants and trees grow.
In those days, kings had beautiful gardens and often kept exotic animals there, animals that came from far-off places, places where most people would never travel to see them in their natural habitat. These gardens would feature moving water, lush plantings, and tall trees all coming together to create a welcoming, peaceful, inviting environment. But, because this paradise belonged to the king, not many would ever get to see its beauty or feel its peace.
Sometimes, though, if someone had performed some heroic act, or done something that particularly pleased the king, they would be invited to come visit the king’s garden. It was a special treat, reserved for only a few privileged people to enjoy.
When Jesus tells the criminal that he will be with him this very day in paradise, the criminal understands that he has just been given an invitation to the King’s Garden, an invitation that has been given by the King himself. Now we see how well this lesson points us to the one and only King on this Christ the King Sunday.
Jesus is the King of heaven, he has invited the criminal, a vile sinner, to join him there in paradise. But he has also issued that invitation to all of us! We, too, are vile sinners, we too, deserve to die, but we, too, if we have realized our sinfulness, repented, and confessed our faith in Jesus Christ as the only one who can save us, we, too, have received a personal invitation from our King to join him in paradise – in his Kingly Garden.
I would say that gives us much to be thankful for on this Sunday before Thanksgiving, or any ordinary day of the week. I heard someone on the radio this week say that instead of Thanksgiving Day, we should celebrate thanksliving – we should live each day as if we have something to be thankful for, because we do!
I know we get so excited about Christmas that many of us often go right from Halloween decorations to Christmas preparations, but I don’t. I love Thanksgiving almost as much as I love Christmas. I love the reminder that every day should be thanksliving day, but I also love having one specific day to remind me of that in case I forget.
Jesus, our Heavenly King, came to earth, became one of us, died for us, and upon his death issued an open invitation that for all who would believe in him to be with him in paradise. Criminals, soldiers, religious leaders, and ordinary people, we have all received the invitation, but it is up to us to accept it.
Our gratitude flows from knowing that Jesus has done this for us, and spills over into other areas of our lives. We begin to see how thankful we are when we begin to notice all the other blessings we have received, too. Blessings like family, food, shelter, friendship, jobs, cars, and more, too many more to even list. But I do want to share with you one blessing I have found this week – the blessing that is the Butterball turkey hotline – in case you have any pressing questions this week as you prepare your Thanksgiving bird.
Others may be thankful for them, too, as here are a few of the calls Butterball has taken of the years:
1. A woman in her seventies, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, called for help because her mother said it was time she learned how to prepare the Thanksgiving meal.
2. A proud gentleman called to tell the staff how he wrapped his turkey in a towel, laid it in the floor and stomped on it breaking the bones so it would fit in his pan.
3. Another gentleman called to tell the operator he cut his turkey in half with a chain saw and wanted to know if the oil from the chain would adversely affect the turkey.
4. A disappointed woman called wondering why her turkey had no breast meat. After a conversation with a Talk-Line operator, it became apparent that the woman’s turkey was lying upside down.
5. One mom called in and told the Help Line operator about how her little girl had asked if they could slow-roast the turkey for three or four days because she liked how it made the house smell. The experts at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line told her that the turkey should only stay in the oven for a few hours and that it wasn’t a good idea to leave it cooking four days!
6. After discovering a turkey from 1969 in his dad’s freezer, a man called the Talk-Line at Butterball to ask about the best way to cook the 30+ year-old bird. Although the Talk-Line staffer recommended the open roasting pan method to cook most turkeys, this time she suggested that the first step was to purchase a fresher fowl!
7. When a Talk-Line staffer asked a caller: “What state is your turkey in” (meaning how thawed was it) the caller responded with, “Florida.”
And that, my friends, reminds me of one more blessing, the gift of laughter, especially when shared with loved ones. May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving week, giving thanks first to God for the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, our King, the one who invites us to come and live with him in paradise. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of blessings, we give you thanks this day for the gift of your son, Jesus. Thank you for his willingness to die for our sins so we don’t have to. Thank you for the invitation to come and be with him in paradise one day, a day that will last for all of eternity. May we be extra mindful of all the reasons we have to be thankful this week, and may we find ways to bless and serve others in your name, for their benefit, and for your glory, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83956/heaven-by-tim-smith
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83887/thanksgiving-by-roy-fowler
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Scoffers on a Hill
Scripture: Luke 23:33-43
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The dictionary defines a scoffer as one who laughs at and/or speaks about a person in a manner that shows they think the person is stupid or silly. In today’s scripture, we see scoffers all around the cross as Jesus hung there dying.
This scripture seems out of place this week, doesn’t it? If you research this passage, you will find lots of sermons and stories more fitting for the Lenten season rather than one of Thanksgiving. We are used to reading about Jesus and the cross during Holy Week, not on Christ the King Sunday. But as often happens, if we look closely enough, we will see much to be thankful for in Luke’s story, and we will see the Kingship of our Lord, even as he hung, bloodied, beaten, and barely breathing on that cross so long ago.
So, who are these scoffers? Luke tells us that “the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’” The leaders – the religious leaders who had brought Jesus to trial, had followed along as the Roman soldiers had taken him first to Pilot, then to Herod, then back to Pilot for final sentencing.
These religious leaders were the ones who stirred up the crowd to call out for Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus, the ones who began the chant, “Crucify him,” to which the crowd then added their own voices. These are the ones who opposed Jesus and his ministry because he continually pointed out the difference between their legalistic rituals and real, heartfelt worship.
“He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” they call out into the crowd as they stand near the cross, close enough to make sure Jesus heard their mocking of him, far enough away to appear “presentable” in their own eyes. Scoffing because in their minds, only by Jesus coming down off that cross would they even begin to maybe believe he was the Messiah he claimed to be - the Messiah they denied with every breath.
“Let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God,” was said with all the sarcasm they could muster, once again trying to elevate themselves to the position of ultimate authority over God’s people.
Luke tells us that there were other scoffers that day, too. He writes, “The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”’ These soldiers were Roman soldiers, of course, and we don’t know how much they knew of Jesus and how much they had just picked up about him during his trials, his beatings, and his journey to Calvary to hang on that rugged cross.
The words of the soldiers closely mimicked the words of the religious leaders, scoffing at the notion that this man thought he was any kind of king, taunting him to save himself just as the others were doing. These soldiers were probably used to hearing all kinds of claims of innocence from the criminals they crucified, to the point where they never really listened to, or even really looked at anyone anymore as they drove the nails through their hands, hoisted the crossbar into position on the upright, crossed their feet and drove the final nail that held them in place to slowly suffocate, suffer, and die.
The religious leaders scoffed at Jesus to make a point to the crowd, the soldiers scoffed at Jesus to make fun of him, but why would the criminals on either side of Jesus scoff at him, too? Maybe, as we say today, “because they could?” Perhaps, more accurately, because they didn’t know any better.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that, “The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way,” but Luke writes that “One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’” Now, perhaps, of all those who taunted and scoffed at Jesus that day, we can identify with these two the most.
“If you are this Messiah they say you say you are, then save yourself, and while you’re at it, save us, too!” This makes sense. They have come to the end of the line; they have no hope left of getting out of this nightmare in which they find themselves. There is no going back once one is nailed to a cross, the only way down comes after death. They are throwing taunts at Jesus, yes, but they do so with desperation in their voices.
They don’t really believe this guy can save anyone, but if he can, he might as well take them with him. It’s certainly worth a try. While the religious leaders mocked Jesus to make a point to the crowd and the soldiers scoffed at Jesus to make fun of him, the criminals on either side of Jesus taunted him as a desperate cry of self-preservation, the cry of the condemned who have no hope of reprieve.
Somewhere along the line, though, a change takes place, a miracle occurs. It isn’t in the religious leaders; they are still scoffing, ranting, and waiting for Jesus to die. It isn’t in the soldiers, though there is one later who experiences a revelation and comes to faith in Jesus. At this point in time, the soldiers are still taunting, mocking, passing time while they wait for the three men to die.
The miracle that happened was that one of the criminals had a change of heart; he gained a new understanding. This one man, hanging on a cross, this one who began by taunting Jesus, began to recognize who Jesus might be. As this realization breaks over him, he stops scoffing at Jesus, he quits asking for Jesus to come off the cross and take him with him, and he rebukes the one who is still jeering, saying “’Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’”
What changed his mind? We do not know. What happened that his eyes were opened? We are not told. How did his heart open in this way? The gospel writers do not say. All we know is that this one man, this criminal in the last hours of his life, realized he was a sinner in need of saving and that he was looking at the only one who could save him.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” was all he asked now. His rebellious spirit was gone, his taunts were silenced, his heart was repentant. He had confessed his belief and asked for forgiveness, and Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
We hear these words and know that Jesus is truly the Christ the King whom we honor this day. He is the only one who can speak to this criminal and who has the authority to give him this promise. While we love the words and have our own notions of paradise, the words that Jesus spoke to that man had a deeper meaning than we know, but one the man would have readily understood.
The word paradise comes from a Persian word that means beautiful garden, and that is probably close to what most of us imagine, on some scale or another, when we think of paradise, but there is more to it. It specifically refers to a king’s garden, not just any random pretty place where plants and trees grow.
In those days, kings had beautiful gardens and often kept exotic animals there, animals that came from far-off places, places where most people would never travel to see them in their natural habitat. These gardens would feature moving water, lush plantings, and tall trees all coming together to create a welcoming, peaceful, inviting environment. But, because this paradise belonged to the king, not many would ever get to see its beauty or feel its peace.
Sometimes, though, if someone had performed some heroic act, or done something that particularly pleased the king, they would be invited to come visit the king’s garden. It was a special treat, reserved for only a few privileged people to enjoy.
When Jesus tells the criminal that he will be with him this very day in paradise, the criminal understands that he has just been given an invitation to the King’s Garden, an invitation that has been given by the King himself. Now we see how well this lesson points us to the one and only King on this Christ the King Sunday.
Jesus is the King of heaven, he has invited the criminal, a vile sinner, to join him there in paradise. But he has also issued that invitation to all of us! We, too, are vile sinners, we too, deserve to die, but we, too, if we have realized our sinfulness, repented, and confessed our faith in Jesus Christ as the only one who can save us, we, too, have received a personal invitation from our King to join him in paradise – in his Kingly Garden.
I would say that gives us much to be thankful for on this Sunday before Thanksgiving, or any ordinary day of the week. I heard someone on the radio this week say that instead of Thanksgiving Day, we should celebrate thanksliving – we should live each day as if we have something to be thankful for, because we do!
I know we get so excited about Christmas that many of us often go right from Halloween decorations to Christmas preparations, but I don’t. I love Thanksgiving almost as much as I love Christmas. I love the reminder that every day should be thanksliving day, but I also love having one specific day to remind me of that in case I forget.
Jesus, our Heavenly King, came to earth, became one of us, died for us, and upon his death issued an open invitation that for all who would believe in him to be with him in paradise. Criminals, soldiers, religious leaders, and ordinary people, we have all received the invitation, but it is up to us to accept it.
Our gratitude flows from knowing that Jesus has done this for us, and spills over into other areas of our lives. We begin to see how thankful we are when we begin to notice all the other blessings we have received, too. Blessings like family, food, shelter, friendship, jobs, cars, and more, too many more to even list. But I do want to share with you one blessing I have found this week – the blessing that is the Butterball turkey hotline – in case you have any pressing questions this week as you prepare your Thanksgiving bird.
Others may be thankful for them, too, as here are a few of the calls Butterball has taken of the years:
1. A woman in her seventies, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, called for help because her mother said it was time she learned how to prepare the Thanksgiving meal.
2. A proud gentleman called to tell the staff how he wrapped his turkey in a towel, laid it in the floor and stomped on it breaking the bones so it would fit in his pan.
3. Another gentleman called to tell the operator he cut his turkey in half with a chain saw and wanted to know if the oil from the chain would adversely affect the turkey.
4. A disappointed woman called wondering why her turkey had no breast meat. After a conversation with a Talk-Line operator, it became apparent that the woman’s turkey was lying upside down.
5. One mom called in and told the Help Line operator about how her little girl had asked if they could slow-roast the turkey for three or four days because she liked how it made the house smell. The experts at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line told her that the turkey should only stay in the oven for a few hours and that it wasn’t a good idea to leave it cooking four days!
6. After discovering a turkey from 1969 in his dad’s freezer, a man called the Talk-Line at Butterball to ask about the best way to cook the 30+ year-old bird. Although the Talk-Line staffer recommended the open roasting pan method to cook most turkeys, this time she suggested that the first step was to purchase a fresher fowl!
7. When a Talk-Line staffer asked a caller: “What state is your turkey in” (meaning how thawed was it) the caller responded with, “Florida.”
And that, my friends, reminds me of one more blessing, the gift of laughter, especially when shared with loved ones. May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving week, giving thanks first to God for the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, our King, the one who invites us to come and live with him in paradise. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of blessings, we give you thanks this day for the gift of your son, Jesus. Thank you for his willingness to die for our sins so we don’t have to. Thank you for the invitation to come and be with him in paradise one day, a day that will last for all of eternity. May we be extra mindful of all the reasons we have to be thankful this week, and may we find ways to bless and serve others in your name, for their benefit, and for your glory, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83956/heaven-by-tim-smith
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83887/thanksgiving-by-roy-fowler
Pastor Donna's Sermon Sunday, November 18, 2022 "Open-mouthed tourists"
November 13, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Open-Mouthed Tourists
Scripture: Luke 21:5-19
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
One ordinary August day in 2007, a bridge over the Mississippi River in Minnesota suddenly collapsed during rush hour. Some of you may remember this. This bridge was the second busiest bridge in the entire state of Minnesota, with 140,000 vehicles crossing it every day. Imagine how many were on that bridge when it gave way.
One hundred eleven vehicles fell with the bridge, going down 115 feet to the water and the riverbank below. Thirteen people were killed; one hundred forty-five were injured. The rest of the world sat glued to our television sets, wondering just how something like this could have happened.
The answer was simple: oxidation. Over the years, the iron in the soil and in parts of the bridge reacted with the oxygen in the air producing a red-colored, bridge-eating element called rust. The bridge had collapsed because rust had weakened the structure until it collapsed under all the stress of the weight it carried.
Rust is an insidious stalker that must be constantly battled. There was a time when it almost destroyed the Statue of Liberty due to its corrosive nature. Great amounts of money have been given to research in how to combat rust, hence the creation of stainless steel and rust-resistant paints. And much diligence is given to fight off its advancement by those who maintain structures like pipelines, bridges, statues, and even our Navy ships.
Those persons in charge of maintenance must keep a constant watch, checking carefully and constantly for the visible signs of rust creeping in, on, and over what they are carefully guarding, because no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we have spent, and no matter how much research has been done, we still do not know how to stop rust from forming.
In our scripture today, Jesus isn’t talking about rust, but he is talking about the same effect that rust has, when as a Christian, we do not keep diligently about our business of following him because we have let the wonders of the world steal our focus and capture our attention too completely.
Our scripture begins with, “When some were speaking about the temple, and how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’”
Jesus is with the disciples, and some of them are commenting on how beautiful the temple was. And believe me, it was beautiful. Huge stones set precisely one on top of the other created the walls. White granite and marble that shone so bright when the sun hit it that it dazzled the eyes, and gold accents everywhere. This was a wonderous, solid structure built to worship God, how could someone not be entranced by the sight of it?
Perhaps, that day, the disciples felt a little like tourists coming to see this ancient wonder. Standing at the foot of it, looking up the height of the wall, looking down the length of it, touching the stones for themselves in awe of the sheer size.
Think about a time when you have been a tourist somewhere and something caught your eye. Where were you? The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, your first trip to the ocean, the mountains, the desert? What did it feel like to see something for the first time in person, something that was so awe-inspiring that you just stood and stared, jaw hanging open, taking in the sight, maybe even forgetting at first to take a picture?
I’ve been there. I have been to a few places where I just wanted to drink in the scenery, imprinting it on my mind and my heart so I would never forget it. I have taken in the sight of something that seems like it has been around forever and will last forever, too.
That’s just how people felt when they saw the temple and that’s how the disciples felt as they looked at it that day, pondering the size and the strength of the building. They would never have thought that in a few short years it would be gone. But Jesus knew, and he warned them, “Look at it now, boys, because the day will come when not one stone will be left on top of another.” That must have blown their minds! It certainly threw them into a state of confusion.
They asked Jesus, “When will this happen? What should we look for as a sign to know that it is about to happen?” Their joy and wonder were suddenly forgotten in the heart-breaking sadness of a loss that had not yet happened and they wanted to be prepared. Notice, they did not ask how Jesus knew the temple would be destroyed. They didn’t need to ask. They have been with him and learning from him enough to know by now that Jesus just knew things. They didn’t even ask how the temple would be destroyed, either, because that didn’t matter. Jesus said it so they accepted it as fact. They had put their trust in him, and it wasn’t wavering now.
Jesus was good with holding their trust, but he wanted to make sure they knew that just because they could trust him, that didn’t mean they could trust everybody – or everything.
Do not put your trust in things, no matter how big or strong they seem – like bridges and buildings – they will not last forever. Do not put your trust in others, even if they claim to come in Jesus’ name, until you know they are trustworthy; they may be trying to lead you astray. The Holy Spirit was sent, in part, to help Christians have discernment over who to trust and who not to.
Jesus goes on to warn the disciples that bad times are coming. We have heard these words often, “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” There will be wars and uprisings to come, but they are not the end, yet. There will be earthquakes, famines, and plagues, dreadful signals of coming calamities, and even signs from heaven. When we see all these things, then we know the end is near.
Then, as if all of that isn’t bad enough, Jesus drops some more on them, “Before any of these things happen though, you will face persecution. Some will be arrested and handed over to the authorities and brought to trial to defend your faith.” Decide now,” he says, “whether you will choose to continue to follow me. If you do, though, know this – you do not have to have a ready-made speech to give on that day, for I will give you the words at just the time you need them.”
There’s some comfort. In times of trouble, when everything seems hopeless, when we are called on to defend ourselves and our faith, Jesus himself will come to our rescue by giving us the wisdom to speak and the words to say that will leave all others dumfounded. They will not be able to refute us or contradict us. I can only imagine how relieved the disciples were to hear that bit of good news. I know how relieved I am to hear it.
It's also good news because in these trials, there will be people, sometimes high-up, important people, who will hear the testimony of those on trial and through them, they will hear the gospel. Perhaps these people would never have heard it any other way, perhaps they have heard it before and ignored it but now they will hear it again and it will take root. Being arrested and put on trial doesn’t sound like anything good, but in these cases, God will use their trials and their testimony to reach the lost in new ways.
Yes, there will be hard times, and terrible circumstances will confine us when we least expect it, and no one wants that, but thank you, Jesus, for speaking through us on our behalf. It will look like we are speaking, it will sound like us talking, but the words will be Jesus’ words, not our own. I don’t know about you, but in those kinds of circumstances, I wouldn’t know what to say on my own, and if I did come up with something, it would probably just get me into more trouble than when I started. Jesus’ words are the only words that will save us in those times. Again, I say, “Thank you, Jesus.”
This past Friday was Veterans Day, and I want to thank all of our Veterans who have and are serving to keep our country safe. I believe that the United States of America is the best country ever and I thank God that I was born here. We have it so easy here compared to other countries. We have freedoms that people in other countries can only dream of achieving one day.
This country is strong and independent, the most powerful nation there is. But I have a word of caution based upon Jesus’ lesson today. Do not put all your trust in this country – as great as it is – because there is no guarantee that it will last forever. Look at the history of the world; Rome may have been the biggest and greatest empire in the world, especially in Jesus’ time, but the Roman empire only lasted for about a thousand years.
Now, a thousand years is a long time, but it isn’t forever. Rome fell, others took its place, time moved on. Our country is almost two hundred fifty years old. That’s a long time, nothing near one thousand years yet, but still, pretty good. But our country isn’t infallible. Jesus is. Our country may not last forever; Jesus is eternal. He was present at creation, he is present with us today, and he will be present with us as we live out our eternal lives with him in heaven. Jesus can be counted on. Jesus can be trusted, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Jesus didn’t want the disciples to put all their faith and trust in something or someone that wouldn’t last, he didn’t want them to be so awed by beautiful buildings and pretty words that they would blindly follow like open-mouthed tourists on holiday following a tour guide. Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples saw him, trusted him, had absolute faith in him, because in Jesus they would find light and life and love.
Friends, Jesus wants the same of us, and for us, today. Big, beautiful buildings can be admired. Natural wonders can be gazed at and appreciated. We can marvel at bridges that span great spaces, bringing us from one piece of land to the next. All of that is good, but just remember, rust is always lurking just out of sight, eating away at the things we see, destroying even what looks like it should last forever.
Only Jesus will last forever. In him we put our faith, in him we find the wisdom to speak in ways that defend our faith. In him we are given life. Thank you, Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for being the one in whom we can put our trust, thank you for teaching us that if we keep our focus on you, we will not easily be led astray from the path you have laid out for us. Thank you for the comfort you give us by your reassurance that when we witness to others about the gospel, the words are yours, given through us, that others might see you and come to know you. May we be ever faithful to the one who alone is eternal and worthy of our trust. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Open-Mouthed Tourists
Scripture: Luke 21:5-19
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
One ordinary August day in 2007, a bridge over the Mississippi River in Minnesota suddenly collapsed during rush hour. Some of you may remember this. This bridge was the second busiest bridge in the entire state of Minnesota, with 140,000 vehicles crossing it every day. Imagine how many were on that bridge when it gave way.
One hundred eleven vehicles fell with the bridge, going down 115 feet to the water and the riverbank below. Thirteen people were killed; one hundred forty-five were injured. The rest of the world sat glued to our television sets, wondering just how something like this could have happened.
The answer was simple: oxidation. Over the years, the iron in the soil and in parts of the bridge reacted with the oxygen in the air producing a red-colored, bridge-eating element called rust. The bridge had collapsed because rust had weakened the structure until it collapsed under all the stress of the weight it carried.
Rust is an insidious stalker that must be constantly battled. There was a time when it almost destroyed the Statue of Liberty due to its corrosive nature. Great amounts of money have been given to research in how to combat rust, hence the creation of stainless steel and rust-resistant paints. And much diligence is given to fight off its advancement by those who maintain structures like pipelines, bridges, statues, and even our Navy ships.
Those persons in charge of maintenance must keep a constant watch, checking carefully and constantly for the visible signs of rust creeping in, on, and over what they are carefully guarding, because no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we have spent, and no matter how much research has been done, we still do not know how to stop rust from forming.
In our scripture today, Jesus isn’t talking about rust, but he is talking about the same effect that rust has, when as a Christian, we do not keep diligently about our business of following him because we have let the wonders of the world steal our focus and capture our attention too completely.
Our scripture begins with, “When some were speaking about the temple, and how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’”
Jesus is with the disciples, and some of them are commenting on how beautiful the temple was. And believe me, it was beautiful. Huge stones set precisely one on top of the other created the walls. White granite and marble that shone so bright when the sun hit it that it dazzled the eyes, and gold accents everywhere. This was a wonderous, solid structure built to worship God, how could someone not be entranced by the sight of it?
Perhaps, that day, the disciples felt a little like tourists coming to see this ancient wonder. Standing at the foot of it, looking up the height of the wall, looking down the length of it, touching the stones for themselves in awe of the sheer size.
Think about a time when you have been a tourist somewhere and something caught your eye. Where were you? The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, your first trip to the ocean, the mountains, the desert? What did it feel like to see something for the first time in person, something that was so awe-inspiring that you just stood and stared, jaw hanging open, taking in the sight, maybe even forgetting at first to take a picture?
I’ve been there. I have been to a few places where I just wanted to drink in the scenery, imprinting it on my mind and my heart so I would never forget it. I have taken in the sight of something that seems like it has been around forever and will last forever, too.
That’s just how people felt when they saw the temple and that’s how the disciples felt as they looked at it that day, pondering the size and the strength of the building. They would never have thought that in a few short years it would be gone. But Jesus knew, and he warned them, “Look at it now, boys, because the day will come when not one stone will be left on top of another.” That must have blown their minds! It certainly threw them into a state of confusion.
They asked Jesus, “When will this happen? What should we look for as a sign to know that it is about to happen?” Their joy and wonder were suddenly forgotten in the heart-breaking sadness of a loss that had not yet happened and they wanted to be prepared. Notice, they did not ask how Jesus knew the temple would be destroyed. They didn’t need to ask. They have been with him and learning from him enough to know by now that Jesus just knew things. They didn’t even ask how the temple would be destroyed, either, because that didn’t matter. Jesus said it so they accepted it as fact. They had put their trust in him, and it wasn’t wavering now.
Jesus was good with holding their trust, but he wanted to make sure they knew that just because they could trust him, that didn’t mean they could trust everybody – or everything.
Do not put your trust in things, no matter how big or strong they seem – like bridges and buildings – they will not last forever. Do not put your trust in others, even if they claim to come in Jesus’ name, until you know they are trustworthy; they may be trying to lead you astray. The Holy Spirit was sent, in part, to help Christians have discernment over who to trust and who not to.
Jesus goes on to warn the disciples that bad times are coming. We have heard these words often, “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” There will be wars and uprisings to come, but they are not the end, yet. There will be earthquakes, famines, and plagues, dreadful signals of coming calamities, and even signs from heaven. When we see all these things, then we know the end is near.
Then, as if all of that isn’t bad enough, Jesus drops some more on them, “Before any of these things happen though, you will face persecution. Some will be arrested and handed over to the authorities and brought to trial to defend your faith.” Decide now,” he says, “whether you will choose to continue to follow me. If you do, though, know this – you do not have to have a ready-made speech to give on that day, for I will give you the words at just the time you need them.”
There’s some comfort. In times of trouble, when everything seems hopeless, when we are called on to defend ourselves and our faith, Jesus himself will come to our rescue by giving us the wisdom to speak and the words to say that will leave all others dumfounded. They will not be able to refute us or contradict us. I can only imagine how relieved the disciples were to hear that bit of good news. I know how relieved I am to hear it.
It's also good news because in these trials, there will be people, sometimes high-up, important people, who will hear the testimony of those on trial and through them, they will hear the gospel. Perhaps these people would never have heard it any other way, perhaps they have heard it before and ignored it but now they will hear it again and it will take root. Being arrested and put on trial doesn’t sound like anything good, but in these cases, God will use their trials and their testimony to reach the lost in new ways.
Yes, there will be hard times, and terrible circumstances will confine us when we least expect it, and no one wants that, but thank you, Jesus, for speaking through us on our behalf. It will look like we are speaking, it will sound like us talking, but the words will be Jesus’ words, not our own. I don’t know about you, but in those kinds of circumstances, I wouldn’t know what to say on my own, and if I did come up with something, it would probably just get me into more trouble than when I started. Jesus’ words are the only words that will save us in those times. Again, I say, “Thank you, Jesus.”
This past Friday was Veterans Day, and I want to thank all of our Veterans who have and are serving to keep our country safe. I believe that the United States of America is the best country ever and I thank God that I was born here. We have it so easy here compared to other countries. We have freedoms that people in other countries can only dream of achieving one day.
This country is strong and independent, the most powerful nation there is. But I have a word of caution based upon Jesus’ lesson today. Do not put all your trust in this country – as great as it is – because there is no guarantee that it will last forever. Look at the history of the world; Rome may have been the biggest and greatest empire in the world, especially in Jesus’ time, but the Roman empire only lasted for about a thousand years.
Now, a thousand years is a long time, but it isn’t forever. Rome fell, others took its place, time moved on. Our country is almost two hundred fifty years old. That’s a long time, nothing near one thousand years yet, but still, pretty good. But our country isn’t infallible. Jesus is. Our country may not last forever; Jesus is eternal. He was present at creation, he is present with us today, and he will be present with us as we live out our eternal lives with him in heaven. Jesus can be counted on. Jesus can be trusted, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Jesus didn’t want the disciples to put all their faith and trust in something or someone that wouldn’t last, he didn’t want them to be so awed by beautiful buildings and pretty words that they would blindly follow like open-mouthed tourists on holiday following a tour guide. Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples saw him, trusted him, had absolute faith in him, because in Jesus they would find light and life and love.
Friends, Jesus wants the same of us, and for us, today. Big, beautiful buildings can be admired. Natural wonders can be gazed at and appreciated. We can marvel at bridges that span great spaces, bringing us from one piece of land to the next. All of that is good, but just remember, rust is always lurking just out of sight, eating away at the things we see, destroying even what looks like it should last forever.
Only Jesus will last forever. In him we put our faith, in him we find the wisdom to speak in ways that defend our faith. In him we are given life. Thank you, Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for being the one in whom we can put our trust, thank you for teaching us that if we keep our focus on you, we will not easily be led astray from the path you have laid out for us. Thank you for the comfort you give us by your reassurance that when we witness to others about the gospel, the words are yours, given through us, that others might see you and come to know you. May we be ever faithful to the one who alone is eternal and worthy of our trust. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON NOVEMBER 6, 2022 TITLED "MAN OUT ON A LIMB"
November 6, 2022, All Saints Sunday
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Man Out on a Limb
Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
It seems a little funny to be hearing about Zacchaeus, a man who was feared and disliked by his own people, on the day we are honoring the saints who have been good examples of the Christian faith, but here we are, so let’s see what happens when Zacchaeus has his own face to face encounter with Jesus. Perhaps we can learn something from even this little man.
Jesus is in Jericho. He is passing through the town and a man named Zacchaeus, who must have heard about Jesus from someone, decided he wanted to see Jesus for himself. Luke tells us that this Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and he was very rich. We can assume that it was his occupation that had made him rich, a job that made him also feared and disliked by the people – his own people, the Jews.
Working for the enemy, the Roman government, was bad enough, but being a tax collector, especially the chief tax collector, put Zacchaeus at a low level socially. His only friends may have been the other tax collectors; we don’t know if he had a relationship with his family, we don’t know about his religious life. It seems pretty likely he would not have been invited to sit with the more respectable people in the local synagogue, perhaps he would not have even been welcomed there at all.
Perhaps Zacchaeus has become so accustomed to being an outcast in his own hometown that he doesn’t even notice anymore when he is snubbed by a neighbor. But today, Zacchaeus is full of excitement and anticipation. He’s been hearing good things about this man, Jesus, and he wants to see him for himself. Zacchaeus doesn’t seem to want anything more than to just get a glimpse of the man who has been causing quite a stir all over the land, but even that is asking too much.
Wherever Jesus goes, he draws a great crowd of people who follow him and crowd around him, wanting to touch him, talk to him, be noticed by him, maybe even be healed by him. Alas, Zacchaeus is too short to see over the crowd; what is he to do? “I know,” he thinks to himself, “Jesus will pass right by that tall tree over there. If I go climb up in its branches, I will be able to get a good view.” So, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree.
Now, Zacchaeus may not have been well-liked or even considered a respectable person in the community, but for him to run and climb a tree is going too far – even for him. Grown men did not run. Running indicated hurry and gave the wrong impression. Running made a person look undignified and that just wouldn’t do. Climbing a tree was fine for young boys but grown men definitely did not climb trees – how shocking! One would think that even a lowly tax collector would know better than to act like that.
Zacchaeus was beyond caring about how he looked to others. He had no real social standing, no one to impress, let them be shocked, all he wanted was to see Jesus and he didn’t care what he had to do or how others saw him in the process. They already made fun of him for being short, he might as well act like a child this day if that is what it would take to do what he wanted, and he just wanted t see this Jesus guy.
So, Zacchaeus climbed up that tree and waited for Jesus to walk by. We don’t know how long he waited. We don’t know how well covered he may have been in those sheltering branches. We do know that Jesus, walking by, suddenly stopped, looked up into the tree, and called out, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
Can you imagine Zacchaeus’ surprise in that moment? Here he is, face to face with Jesus, a man he had never met before, a man who somehow knew his name, a man who was telling him to come down quick so they could go to his house! It’s a wonder that Zacchaeus didn’t fall right out of that tree in complete shock.
Oh, and can you imagine the surprise of the townspeople when they heard Jesus call out and realized who he was talking to, who he was calling to and who he was planning to go home with? They were not happy about this turn of events at all. They began to grumble amongst themselves. They wondered who should tell Jesus just who he was about to eat a meal with, a vile sinner. Maybe he didn’t realize; someone should speak up and stop this nonsense.
Zacchaeus came down from the tree. I can picture the crowd parting a bit, realizing who he is and not wanting to be near him enough to touch him – they didn’t want his cooties rubbing off on them, after all. Zacchaeus walks up to Jesus and makes a surprising announcement: “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
What? What brought that on? Jesus didn’t mention Zacchaeus’ occupation. Nothing had been said about stealing money or participating in fraud. Jesus didn’t have to. Zacchaeus, in that encounter, standing face to face with Jesus on that street in Jericho, was instantly transformed.
That’s the way it is when we encounter Jesus, when we meet him face to face. We are transformed. There is a difference between knowing who Jesus is and knowing Jesus. It is not in the knowing who, but in the knowing him that we, too are transformed.
We may not look any different on the outside, sure. We may still look in the mirror and see the same face we have always seen, but if we look close enough, if we have truly had a personal encounter with Jesus, then we can look in the mirror and see a reflection of him when we see ourselves. And so can other people, too, even if we aren’t aware they can.
There was a church who adopted for themselves the theme “Forty Days of Love” for that year’s Lenten season. Each week, members of the congregation were encouraged to show their love and appreciation of others in different ways. The first week, they were asked to write a note or a letter to someone in the congregation who had made a positive impact in their lives.
At the end of that Sunday’s service, a man from the congregation asked to speak to the pastor. This man, a former football player, a hunter and fisherman, a strong, independent, man’s man, told his pastor, "I love you and I love this church, but I'm not going to participate in this Forty Days of Love stuff.”
He went on to say, “It's OK for some folks," he said, "but it's a little too sentimental and syrupy for me."
The next Sunday, the man once again asked to speak to the pastor after church. "I want to apologize for what I said last Sunday," he told him, "about the Forty Days of Love. I realized on Wednesday that I was wrong."
“What happened on Wednesday?” the pastor asked. “I got one of those letters in the mail. It was a total surprise, and it came from someone I would never expect to hear from like this.”
This man was so touched by this letter that he put it in his wallet so he could carry it with him wherever he goes. The letter detailed how this man had been a positive influence on the writer’s life and he thanked him for being such a good example of faith. The letter, explaining how this man had affected the life of another, affected him and transformed his outlook on sharing love with others.
As a result of his transformation, this man then sat down and wrote out ten letters himself and sent them to people that he wanted to know had been a positive influence on him. This man had encountered Jesus, not sitting in a tree, but through a letter that came in his mailbox, a letter that came from a loving heart and that encounter changed his own heart and helped him reflect Jesus even more that he had before.
However he chooses to do it, God breaks into our lives, and we are changed through our encounter. Zacchaeus discovered that truth when he encountered Jesus. After Zacchaeus showed he had been transformed by announcing he would pay back all he had gotten through fraud and fear, Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
We don’t know how many lives were affected by Zacchaeus’ transformed heart, just as we don’t always know what will happen when we share our faith with another. We may never even see the results of sharing our faith. We may never know what an influence we have been for someone else, unless, like that former football player, we receive a letter of thanks, but listen to one such instance of when faith was shared, a seed was planted, and God grew it abundantly.
Max Lucado, in his book, “The Angels Were Silent,” connects the dots for us beginning in the 1800s when a Sunday school teacher named Kimball happened to share the gospel with a shoe salesman in Boston. A seed was planted and sprouted, and that shoe salesman, Dwight L. Moody, went on to become a world-renowned evangelist.
Moody became a major influence on a preacher named Frederick B. Meyer and Meyer began to preach on college campuses, thus converting to the faith a man named J, Wilbur Chapman. Chapman went on to become involved with the ministry of the YMCA, and he invited the famous former baseball player turned evangelist, Billy Sunday, to come and preach at a revival in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sunday’s preaching lit a fire in some of the town’s leaders and they ended up planning another revival, this time inviting Mordecai Hamm to come and preach.
That revival was attended by a young man who made the decision to give his life to Christ right then and there – that man was Billy Graham, who would go on to fill stadiums with thousands of people who would come to hear the word of God and accept Jesus as their Savior. All because one day a Sunday school teacher shared the gospel with a shoe salesman.
On this day, when we remember anew that we, as followers of Christ, follow in the footsteps of the saints who have gone before us. We can stand tall and strong in our faith because of how they have led by example. Now, it is our turn to remember that there are others who are watching us, learning from us. Will we be a positive influence on them? Will we be an example of what it looks like to live as a Christian in all circumstances, in the good times and in the hard times, through all of life’s highs and lows?
We may never know for sure who is watching and learning from us, we may never get to see that our lives impacted another and they came to be a believer because of something we said or did, and that is okay. It’s good to know, yes, but it’s not necessary. That shoe salesman had no way of knowing that one day, thousands of people would flock to stadiums and come to know Christ because he shared the gospel with just one person. But it’s okay of we don’t know the results of our seed planting because God knows. It is God who makes the seeds grow; it is God who is reflected back into the world through us when we have our own face to face encounter with him through his son Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Oh, Lord, we give you thanks for the saints we remember today, that through them, we are here to worship you. And we give you thanks, too that you see us, even when we try to hide in a tree, you seek us out and call us to come to you, letting us know that you must be with us this day. Lord, help us to honor you, and honor those who have gone before us, by being your agent in this world, by being a positive influence on others, by sharing the gospel that brings life and love to all who accept it. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-sermon-for-all-saints-day-revd-martin-dale-sermon-on-all-saints-day-204852
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Man Out on a Limb
Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
It seems a little funny to be hearing about Zacchaeus, a man who was feared and disliked by his own people, on the day we are honoring the saints who have been good examples of the Christian faith, but here we are, so let’s see what happens when Zacchaeus has his own face to face encounter with Jesus. Perhaps we can learn something from even this little man.
Jesus is in Jericho. He is passing through the town and a man named Zacchaeus, who must have heard about Jesus from someone, decided he wanted to see Jesus for himself. Luke tells us that this Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and he was very rich. We can assume that it was his occupation that had made him rich, a job that made him also feared and disliked by the people – his own people, the Jews.
Working for the enemy, the Roman government, was bad enough, but being a tax collector, especially the chief tax collector, put Zacchaeus at a low level socially. His only friends may have been the other tax collectors; we don’t know if he had a relationship with his family, we don’t know about his religious life. It seems pretty likely he would not have been invited to sit with the more respectable people in the local synagogue, perhaps he would not have even been welcomed there at all.
Perhaps Zacchaeus has become so accustomed to being an outcast in his own hometown that he doesn’t even notice anymore when he is snubbed by a neighbor. But today, Zacchaeus is full of excitement and anticipation. He’s been hearing good things about this man, Jesus, and he wants to see him for himself. Zacchaeus doesn’t seem to want anything more than to just get a glimpse of the man who has been causing quite a stir all over the land, but even that is asking too much.
Wherever Jesus goes, he draws a great crowd of people who follow him and crowd around him, wanting to touch him, talk to him, be noticed by him, maybe even be healed by him. Alas, Zacchaeus is too short to see over the crowd; what is he to do? “I know,” he thinks to himself, “Jesus will pass right by that tall tree over there. If I go climb up in its branches, I will be able to get a good view.” So, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree.
Now, Zacchaeus may not have been well-liked or even considered a respectable person in the community, but for him to run and climb a tree is going too far – even for him. Grown men did not run. Running indicated hurry and gave the wrong impression. Running made a person look undignified and that just wouldn’t do. Climbing a tree was fine for young boys but grown men definitely did not climb trees – how shocking! One would think that even a lowly tax collector would know better than to act like that.
Zacchaeus was beyond caring about how he looked to others. He had no real social standing, no one to impress, let them be shocked, all he wanted was to see Jesus and he didn’t care what he had to do or how others saw him in the process. They already made fun of him for being short, he might as well act like a child this day if that is what it would take to do what he wanted, and he just wanted t see this Jesus guy.
So, Zacchaeus climbed up that tree and waited for Jesus to walk by. We don’t know how long he waited. We don’t know how well covered he may have been in those sheltering branches. We do know that Jesus, walking by, suddenly stopped, looked up into the tree, and called out, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
Can you imagine Zacchaeus’ surprise in that moment? Here he is, face to face with Jesus, a man he had never met before, a man who somehow knew his name, a man who was telling him to come down quick so they could go to his house! It’s a wonder that Zacchaeus didn’t fall right out of that tree in complete shock.
Oh, and can you imagine the surprise of the townspeople when they heard Jesus call out and realized who he was talking to, who he was calling to and who he was planning to go home with? They were not happy about this turn of events at all. They began to grumble amongst themselves. They wondered who should tell Jesus just who he was about to eat a meal with, a vile sinner. Maybe he didn’t realize; someone should speak up and stop this nonsense.
Zacchaeus came down from the tree. I can picture the crowd parting a bit, realizing who he is and not wanting to be near him enough to touch him – they didn’t want his cooties rubbing off on them, after all. Zacchaeus walks up to Jesus and makes a surprising announcement: “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
What? What brought that on? Jesus didn’t mention Zacchaeus’ occupation. Nothing had been said about stealing money or participating in fraud. Jesus didn’t have to. Zacchaeus, in that encounter, standing face to face with Jesus on that street in Jericho, was instantly transformed.
That’s the way it is when we encounter Jesus, when we meet him face to face. We are transformed. There is a difference between knowing who Jesus is and knowing Jesus. It is not in the knowing who, but in the knowing him that we, too are transformed.
We may not look any different on the outside, sure. We may still look in the mirror and see the same face we have always seen, but if we look close enough, if we have truly had a personal encounter with Jesus, then we can look in the mirror and see a reflection of him when we see ourselves. And so can other people, too, even if we aren’t aware they can.
There was a church who adopted for themselves the theme “Forty Days of Love” for that year’s Lenten season. Each week, members of the congregation were encouraged to show their love and appreciation of others in different ways. The first week, they were asked to write a note or a letter to someone in the congregation who had made a positive impact in their lives.
At the end of that Sunday’s service, a man from the congregation asked to speak to the pastor. This man, a former football player, a hunter and fisherman, a strong, independent, man’s man, told his pastor, "I love you and I love this church, but I'm not going to participate in this Forty Days of Love stuff.”
He went on to say, “It's OK for some folks," he said, "but it's a little too sentimental and syrupy for me."
The next Sunday, the man once again asked to speak to the pastor after church. "I want to apologize for what I said last Sunday," he told him, "about the Forty Days of Love. I realized on Wednesday that I was wrong."
“What happened on Wednesday?” the pastor asked. “I got one of those letters in the mail. It was a total surprise, and it came from someone I would never expect to hear from like this.”
This man was so touched by this letter that he put it in his wallet so he could carry it with him wherever he goes. The letter detailed how this man had been a positive influence on the writer’s life and he thanked him for being such a good example of faith. The letter, explaining how this man had affected the life of another, affected him and transformed his outlook on sharing love with others.
As a result of his transformation, this man then sat down and wrote out ten letters himself and sent them to people that he wanted to know had been a positive influence on him. This man had encountered Jesus, not sitting in a tree, but through a letter that came in his mailbox, a letter that came from a loving heart and that encounter changed his own heart and helped him reflect Jesus even more that he had before.
However he chooses to do it, God breaks into our lives, and we are changed through our encounter. Zacchaeus discovered that truth when he encountered Jesus. After Zacchaeus showed he had been transformed by announcing he would pay back all he had gotten through fraud and fear, Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
We don’t know how many lives were affected by Zacchaeus’ transformed heart, just as we don’t always know what will happen when we share our faith with another. We may never even see the results of sharing our faith. We may never know what an influence we have been for someone else, unless, like that former football player, we receive a letter of thanks, but listen to one such instance of when faith was shared, a seed was planted, and God grew it abundantly.
Max Lucado, in his book, “The Angels Were Silent,” connects the dots for us beginning in the 1800s when a Sunday school teacher named Kimball happened to share the gospel with a shoe salesman in Boston. A seed was planted and sprouted, and that shoe salesman, Dwight L. Moody, went on to become a world-renowned evangelist.
Moody became a major influence on a preacher named Frederick B. Meyer and Meyer began to preach on college campuses, thus converting to the faith a man named J, Wilbur Chapman. Chapman went on to become involved with the ministry of the YMCA, and he invited the famous former baseball player turned evangelist, Billy Sunday, to come and preach at a revival in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sunday’s preaching lit a fire in some of the town’s leaders and they ended up planning another revival, this time inviting Mordecai Hamm to come and preach.
That revival was attended by a young man who made the decision to give his life to Christ right then and there – that man was Billy Graham, who would go on to fill stadiums with thousands of people who would come to hear the word of God and accept Jesus as their Savior. All because one day a Sunday school teacher shared the gospel with a shoe salesman.
On this day, when we remember anew that we, as followers of Christ, follow in the footsteps of the saints who have gone before us. We can stand tall and strong in our faith because of how they have led by example. Now, it is our turn to remember that there are others who are watching us, learning from us. Will we be a positive influence on them? Will we be an example of what it looks like to live as a Christian in all circumstances, in the good times and in the hard times, through all of life’s highs and lows?
We may never know for sure who is watching and learning from us, we may never get to see that our lives impacted another and they came to be a believer because of something we said or did, and that is okay. It’s good to know, yes, but it’s not necessary. That shoe salesman had no way of knowing that one day, thousands of people would flock to stadiums and come to know Christ because he shared the gospel with just one person. But it’s okay of we don’t know the results of our seed planting because God knows. It is God who makes the seeds grow; it is God who is reflected back into the world through us when we have our own face to face encounter with him through his son Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Oh, Lord, we give you thanks for the saints we remember today, that through them, we are here to worship you. And we give you thanks, too that you see us, even when we try to hide in a tree, you seek us out and call us to come to you, letting us know that you must be with us this day. Lord, help us to honor you, and honor those who have gone before us, by being your agent in this world, by being a positive influence on others, by sharing the gospel that brings life and love to all who accept it. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-sermon-for-all-saints-day-revd-martin-dale-sermon-on-all-saints-day-204852
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON oCTOBER 30, 2022 "BAND OF PUZZLERS"
October 30, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Band of Puzzlers
Scripture: Luke 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”
Do you like riddles? I do. I remember my grandpa as a fun-loving guy who loved to stump us with silly riddle-like questions. One I remember is “Do you carry your lunch, or do you walk to work?” Now that never made sense to me a the time. I was a child who liked logic and concrete answers. One could answer either of the parts of this riddle, but the riddle as a whole made no sense because the two had nothing to do with each other. You can carry your lunch and you can walk to work – there was no way to answer with simply yes or no.
I have come to appreciate that the humor in this riddle for my grandfather was in watching us kids argue with him over the illogical question that he had posed. I have also come to appreciate riddles more as I have gotten older, so I want to share one with you this morning.
“You’re driving a bus for Sunday school. At your first stop you pick up 7 kids. At the next stop you pick up 4 kids and at the next stop 6 kids. You drop them all off and go out for more. The next three stops you get 5 kids each and the last stop 2, and actually drop off 3. How old is the driver?”
If you figure it out, don’t say anything yet. If you haven’t yet, don’t worry, I will give you the answer before we leave here today.
Riddles are nothing new, In Judges 14:14 we even find Samson using a riddle to try to win a bet from the men in his wedding party: “Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.” Now, for the answer to that one, I’ll let you go look it up later. Riddles today are meant to be fun, though. We puzzle them out and think on them. Some are really good at “getting it” and some of us take longer – or we never get there until someone takes pity on us and gives us the answer.
In today’s scripture passage, the band of puzzlers who came to Jesus with their riddle did not come for a fun time but to make fun of Jesus and his teachings. Let me give you a little background on these fellows so you can understand who they were.
The Sadducees were the ultra-conservative religious leaders of the day. They only held that the Torah – the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – were the authoritative word of God. They didn’t read or ascribe to any of the teachings of the books of the prophets and they revered Moses because it was in these books that the Law of Moses was given and instituted. They were very strict, and legalistic, in their beliefs and in the way they lived.
This is why they opposed Jesus so soundly – they rejected most of his teachings as heretical – love you enemies and pay the tax to Caesar that Caesar requires were ideas that countered their teachings from the Torah. And don’t get them started about how he let his disciples eat without washing their hands first, how Jesus ate with sinners, and, ow he broke the law of the Sabbath by working! We call it healing and loving, but they did not see it that way at all.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They were content with what they had in the here and now. They were the wealthy leaders, the ones who today would drive the big fancy cars and whose wives would shop at only the exclusive department stores. They had everything they needed and wanted, so the idea of anything better after death was foreign to them. They had a vague notion of eternity, but it was an eternity through the legacy of family. Their name would live on through generations of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and on and on. The idea that one would live again after death went against everything they believed in.
So, when they came to Jesus and posed their riddle to him, they were not coming to learn, they were not coming to join the party, they were coming to make an attempt to ridicule Jesus in front of others, to show him up with their superior knowledge, to trip him up with a question they knew had no answer.
Do you ever, when you read yet another passage where someone is trying to make Jesus appear to be foolish, do you ever just shake your head and sigh? Do you ever wonder how Jesus could have responded to them in the ways that he did? He never gets angry or turns them away. We might be tempted to brush them off and walk away, but Jesus never does. Of course, he knows their intentions, but he takes them at face-value and answers their question as if they were seeking a true answer.
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; then the second, and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
Now, let’s be honest, we read this, and we think, “Ugh! That poor woman.” It seems odd that she is passed form one brother to the next as each one dies. And it is odd when we look at it from our twenty-first century perspective. We need to remember, though that this wasn’t the twenty-first century. In those days, a woman was dependent on her family for support. She was not typically allowed to own property and was not allowed to inherit from her husband when he died. This edict from Moses was a means of ensuring that a woman who became a widow with no male children would be taken care of and protected. It also was a way of ensuring that the family name would be carried out and the family legacy live on through potential children with the subsequent brothers of her husband.
In trying to make their point to Jesus, the Sadducees use a bit of hyperbole – this woman wasn’t married to just two brothers but seven brothers in all. In their minds, this sorting out of whose wife she was in eternity – an eternity they did not believe existed, would be a fiasco. They asked their question and then sat back in eager anticipation of seeing Jesus squirm at trying to answer this one. But Jesus does answer it. He answers it seriously, as though they were asking him a serious question instead of a foolish riddle.
“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage,” Jesus says. This age, those who live in this world, but not in eternity. There is a difference in the here and now and the then and there. Things work differently, needs are different.
In this age marriage is necessary. Through marriage, the marriage of a man and a woman, family is created, children are born, legacies are created or continued. In the next age, none of that matters. In eternity, there is no marriage, everyone there is a child of God, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. No children will be born, no one will die, family is every single person in relation to one another through Jesus Christ.
When we take marriage vows, we say, “Until death we do part,” because in heaven we will know our spouse, we will love our spouse, but we will love them not as our husband or our wife, but as our brother or our sister. We will be in the presence and the protection of God forever and ever and that is all we will need. The truth of this is in Jesus’ own words, “those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”
We won’t be like angels in that we will have wings and halos and sit around on clouds playing a harp all day. Truth be told, that isn’t really an accurate description of angels anyway, just what we usually picture based upon years of paintings and pictures we have seen. We will be like angels in two ways, though – we will not marry, and we will not die. We will be children of God and children of the resurrection.
Then Jesus uses what the Sadducees know – Moses’ words – to show them how wrong they are in their disbelief of the resurrection. He isn’t snarky about it, he is still answering them as though they want to learn something important because he hopes they do. He says to them, “And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
By the time of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for many years, yet God speaks of them as though they are still living because they are. God is not the God of these faithful men who were, but who are. And Jesus finishes with, “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.” How can this be if there is no resurrection of the dead? Yet Jesus has just shown them that their own hero of the faith would disagree with their belief. That is a puzzle for this band of puzzlers to decipher.
In his words to the Sadducees, Jesus is teaching that from the very beginning of scripture, we see the God’s message that he is the God of the living, and this message continues through to the final AMEN at the end of Revelation. Yes, in this world we will all die – but as a follower of Jesus, the moment our mortal body dies, we are raised to life with God in heaven, redeemed by his grace and granted the gift of eternal life to worship and serve our God who gives life, even in death.
Perhaps that is our puzzle to figure out – why would he do that for us? How could he love us that much? Or perhaps we aren’t meant to figure it out at all; we are simply mean to believe, receive, and live for him in this age and with him in the age to come.
Oh, and before I forget – did anyone have the answer to the riddle from the beginning? Just how old was that bus driver, anyway?
As we have a little fun with that, let us remember that this is the day that the Lord has made, and he made it for our pleasure and his glory so let us rejoice in this gift and give him thanks. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this day, a day that brought us here together to worship and rejoice in your gift of grace and love through your son, Jesus. We celebrate this gift that you gave so freely that we might one day be with you, in your heavenly kingdom, forever. That was your plan from the very beginning, and though we are puzzled as to why you love us so, we are so happy you do. Help us live into the calling you have put on our lives with joy, that others might see you through us, and come to know you for themselves. AMEN.
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Band of Puzzlers
Scripture: Luke 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”
Do you like riddles? I do. I remember my grandpa as a fun-loving guy who loved to stump us with silly riddle-like questions. One I remember is “Do you carry your lunch, or do you walk to work?” Now that never made sense to me a the time. I was a child who liked logic and concrete answers. One could answer either of the parts of this riddle, but the riddle as a whole made no sense because the two had nothing to do with each other. You can carry your lunch and you can walk to work – there was no way to answer with simply yes or no.
I have come to appreciate that the humor in this riddle for my grandfather was in watching us kids argue with him over the illogical question that he had posed. I have also come to appreciate riddles more as I have gotten older, so I want to share one with you this morning.
“You’re driving a bus for Sunday school. At your first stop you pick up 7 kids. At the next stop you pick up 4 kids and at the next stop 6 kids. You drop them all off and go out for more. The next three stops you get 5 kids each and the last stop 2, and actually drop off 3. How old is the driver?”
If you figure it out, don’t say anything yet. If you haven’t yet, don’t worry, I will give you the answer before we leave here today.
Riddles are nothing new, In Judges 14:14 we even find Samson using a riddle to try to win a bet from the men in his wedding party: “Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.” Now, for the answer to that one, I’ll let you go look it up later. Riddles today are meant to be fun, though. We puzzle them out and think on them. Some are really good at “getting it” and some of us take longer – or we never get there until someone takes pity on us and gives us the answer.
In today’s scripture passage, the band of puzzlers who came to Jesus with their riddle did not come for a fun time but to make fun of Jesus and his teachings. Let me give you a little background on these fellows so you can understand who they were.
The Sadducees were the ultra-conservative religious leaders of the day. They only held that the Torah – the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – were the authoritative word of God. They didn’t read or ascribe to any of the teachings of the books of the prophets and they revered Moses because it was in these books that the Law of Moses was given and instituted. They were very strict, and legalistic, in their beliefs and in the way they lived.
This is why they opposed Jesus so soundly – they rejected most of his teachings as heretical – love you enemies and pay the tax to Caesar that Caesar requires were ideas that countered their teachings from the Torah. And don’t get them started about how he let his disciples eat without washing their hands first, how Jesus ate with sinners, and, ow he broke the law of the Sabbath by working! We call it healing and loving, but they did not see it that way at all.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They were content with what they had in the here and now. They were the wealthy leaders, the ones who today would drive the big fancy cars and whose wives would shop at only the exclusive department stores. They had everything they needed and wanted, so the idea of anything better after death was foreign to them. They had a vague notion of eternity, but it was an eternity through the legacy of family. Their name would live on through generations of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and on and on. The idea that one would live again after death went against everything they believed in.
So, when they came to Jesus and posed their riddle to him, they were not coming to learn, they were not coming to join the party, they were coming to make an attempt to ridicule Jesus in front of others, to show him up with their superior knowledge, to trip him up with a question they knew had no answer.
Do you ever, when you read yet another passage where someone is trying to make Jesus appear to be foolish, do you ever just shake your head and sigh? Do you ever wonder how Jesus could have responded to them in the ways that he did? He never gets angry or turns them away. We might be tempted to brush them off and walk away, but Jesus never does. Of course, he knows their intentions, but he takes them at face-value and answers their question as if they were seeking a true answer.
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; then the second, and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
Now, let’s be honest, we read this, and we think, “Ugh! That poor woman.” It seems odd that she is passed form one brother to the next as each one dies. And it is odd when we look at it from our twenty-first century perspective. We need to remember, though that this wasn’t the twenty-first century. In those days, a woman was dependent on her family for support. She was not typically allowed to own property and was not allowed to inherit from her husband when he died. This edict from Moses was a means of ensuring that a woman who became a widow with no male children would be taken care of and protected. It also was a way of ensuring that the family name would be carried out and the family legacy live on through potential children with the subsequent brothers of her husband.
In trying to make their point to Jesus, the Sadducees use a bit of hyperbole – this woman wasn’t married to just two brothers but seven brothers in all. In their minds, this sorting out of whose wife she was in eternity – an eternity they did not believe existed, would be a fiasco. They asked their question and then sat back in eager anticipation of seeing Jesus squirm at trying to answer this one. But Jesus does answer it. He answers it seriously, as though they were asking him a serious question instead of a foolish riddle.
“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage,” Jesus says. This age, those who live in this world, but not in eternity. There is a difference in the here and now and the then and there. Things work differently, needs are different.
In this age marriage is necessary. Through marriage, the marriage of a man and a woman, family is created, children are born, legacies are created or continued. In the next age, none of that matters. In eternity, there is no marriage, everyone there is a child of God, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. No children will be born, no one will die, family is every single person in relation to one another through Jesus Christ.
When we take marriage vows, we say, “Until death we do part,” because in heaven we will know our spouse, we will love our spouse, but we will love them not as our husband or our wife, but as our brother or our sister. We will be in the presence and the protection of God forever and ever and that is all we will need. The truth of this is in Jesus’ own words, “those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”
We won’t be like angels in that we will have wings and halos and sit around on clouds playing a harp all day. Truth be told, that isn’t really an accurate description of angels anyway, just what we usually picture based upon years of paintings and pictures we have seen. We will be like angels in two ways, though – we will not marry, and we will not die. We will be children of God and children of the resurrection.
Then Jesus uses what the Sadducees know – Moses’ words – to show them how wrong they are in their disbelief of the resurrection. He isn’t snarky about it, he is still answering them as though they want to learn something important because he hopes they do. He says to them, “And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
By the time of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for many years, yet God speaks of them as though they are still living because they are. God is not the God of these faithful men who were, but who are. And Jesus finishes with, “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.” How can this be if there is no resurrection of the dead? Yet Jesus has just shown them that their own hero of the faith would disagree with their belief. That is a puzzle for this band of puzzlers to decipher.
In his words to the Sadducees, Jesus is teaching that from the very beginning of scripture, we see the God’s message that he is the God of the living, and this message continues through to the final AMEN at the end of Revelation. Yes, in this world we will all die – but as a follower of Jesus, the moment our mortal body dies, we are raised to life with God in heaven, redeemed by his grace and granted the gift of eternal life to worship and serve our God who gives life, even in death.
Perhaps that is our puzzle to figure out – why would he do that for us? How could he love us that much? Or perhaps we aren’t meant to figure it out at all; we are simply mean to believe, receive, and live for him in this age and with him in the age to come.
Oh, and before I forget – did anyone have the answer to the riddle from the beginning? Just how old was that bus driver, anyway?
As we have a little fun with that, let us remember that this is the day that the Lord has made, and he made it for our pleasure and his glory so let us rejoice in this gift and give him thanks. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this day, a day that brought us here together to worship and rejoice in your gift of grace and love through your son, Jesus. We celebrate this gift that you gave so freely that we might one day be with you, in your heavenly kingdom, forever. That was your plan from the very beginning, and though we are puzzled as to why you love us so, we are so happy you do. Help us live into the calling you have put on our lives with joy, that others might see you through us, and come to know you for themselves. AMEN.
Pastor Donna's Sermon Sunday, October 23, 2022 "Poured Out"
October 23, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Poured Out
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
16 At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Have you ever set out to do something, maybe something big or important, but before you get to the end you get so tired and worn out or discouraged that you just can’t go on? That is what happened to Florence Chadwick in 1952.
Florence was a swimmer, and that year she decided to attempt to swim from the California coastline to Catalina Island, a twenty-six-mile swim. These are dangerous waters, so she was accompanied by a team that would watch out for sharks and watch Florence for signs of cramps, injury, or fatigue. About fifteen hours into her swim, fog began to roll into the area, obscuring Florence’s vision, sapping her confidence. She communicated to her team that she didn’t think she was going to be able to make it.
In spite of her doubts, Florence kept swimming for another hour, but finally, she just couldn’t go on. She called it quits and was hauled out of the water and into one of the boats. Imagine her surprise, and her disappointment, when she realized she had stopped swimming only one mile short of reaching Cataline Island. The fog had clouded her vision and allowed doubt to creep into her heart.
How many of you have seen the movie, “Facing the Giants?” It’s a great movie about a down-and-out high school football team and there is one scene that stands out to me. It is football practice for a team that hasn’t won a game in forever and isn’t likely to win anytime soon. As you can imagine, morale is low. Brock, one of the leaders of the team, sets the tone for the others by making a comment about not expecting to win and Coach Grant sees an opportunity to show Brock, and the rests of the boys, the importance attitude plays in a game.
He calls Brock up and tells him he is going to do the death crawl. If you don’t know what that is, it is when the player gets down on his hand and feet and crawls across the field with another player on his back – his knees cannot touch the ground. Brock says he can make it to the twenty-yard line, Coach challenges him to go all the way to the fifty. Then he blindfolds Brock, Jeremy climbs on his back and the crawl begins.
Coach walks alongside Brock, encouraging him to keep going. When Brock’s muscles begin to burn, he cries out that he can’t go on. Coach tells him not to stop. When Brock asks if he has at least crossed the twenty-yard line yet, Coach tells him not to worry about where he is, just keep going.
As Brock really begins to struggle, muscles burning and becoming weak, Coach is right down on the ground encouraging him, saying “It’s all heart now, it’s all heart. Keep going.” Brock wants to quit, Coach says no; he tells Brock he can’t quit, “just thirty more steps, keep going. Come on, twenty more steps, you can do it. Don’t stop, ten more to go. Keep going, just five more. One more, you can do it, just one more.”
Brock keeps going in spite of running out of energy, in spite of weak and shaky muscles, until finally, Coach says stop. When Coach takes the blindfold off, Brock sees he is in the endzone on the opposite side of the field from where he had started. He didn’t think he could make it to the fifty-yard line, but with Coach’s encouragement, he made it all the way.
As Brock is laying in the end-zone grass, Coach tells him, “God’s gifted you with the ability of leadership. Don’t waste it.”
Brock would never have made that death crawl all the way down the field except for one thing – the encouragement of Coach telling him he could do it. I wonder if the people in the boats with Florence would have encouraged her, would she have made it? I believe she would have.
The Apostle Paul had been though a lot. We’ve talked about it these past few weeks, how he has suffered much for the sake of the gospel and is now sitting confined in prison for continuing to preach God’s word. He knows his end is near. If this were any of us, we might be asking ourselves about now, “Was it worth it?”
Paul isn’t asking if it was worth it, he knows it was. He knows what is up ahead and he writes to Timothy, “As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come.” A libation is a drink offering poured out to God. There were grain offerings, bread offerings, oil offerings, bulls, sheep, and goat offerings, and liquid offerings that were given to God in those days. But there is more to it than simply pouring out a cup of wine and calling it an offering.
The word libation that Paul uses here is from a Greek word that means “to have one’s life’s blood poured out.” It means to give your all, holding nothing back. Paul has given his whole self to sharing the gospel – he has poured himself out completely, he has nothing left to give. He has offered himself to God through his blood, sweat, and tears – quite literally, and quite willingly.
Paul goes on to say next, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” Can we fight a good fight? Aren’t “good” and “fight” kind of opposites? Hear this explanation from Professor Stephen Fowl of Loyola University, “Most immediately, Paul is claiming that he has fought well. That is, he has demonstrated the courage, determination, and effort characteristic of all good soldiers. In addition, Paul can also be claiming that he has fought in good struggles. That is, he has fought well for things well worth fighting for.”
Fighting for what is right isn’t a bad thing. Fighting for the right to life, the rights of the underprivileged, the right to free speech, these are some things worth fighting for. Paul has fought the good fight of doing what Christ called him to do after meeting him on the road to Damascus – to tell others of Jesus and how they can come to know him and follow him, how they can accept him and live in eternity with him.
By doing this, Paul has finished the race set before him. He was given a task and he followed through, he was given a job and he got it done. He isn’t saying there isn’t more work to do, he is acknowledging that he has done his part with integrity and with his whole heart. And Paul did this, in spite of the hardships it has brought him, by keeping the faith. Not keeping it to himself, but by guarding, preserving, protecting God’s truth without shame and sharing it in all the places he could with all the people he could. He remained faithful in his mission.
How could Paul have done all this? How could he have endured so much and stayed strong in his faith when giving up would have been so much easier? Because Paul knew what was waiting for him and he knew he didn’t make the journey alone. Paul knew that God was with him every step of the way, through the good times when people listened to the gospel, repented, believes, and started a new church, and through the bad times when he was being run out of town, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, bitten by a viper, arrested, and put in chains in prison.
That knowledge of God’s constant presence was Paul’s version of Coach down on the ground encouraging Grant to never give up. Without that, Paul may have thrown in the towel and then realized how close he was to the finish line a little too late.
But Paul didn’t give up; he kept on going because he knew that when his race was finished, Jesus would be ready and waiting to crown him with the crown of righteousness – “And guess what?” Paul says, “There’s one for everyone who does the same” This is Paul’s way of coaching Timothy to keep on crawling down the field even when he gets tired and feels like he can’t go on. Paul won’t be able to crawl along with him, so he does what he can through this letter he is writing. “Come on, Timothy, you can do this. Keep on going, just a little bit more. Don’t worry about how much further, just take the next step, and then the next, and then another. Don’t quit, never quit, it’s all heart now, it’s all heart.”
We need to hear that message ourselves. We, too, have been called by God to share his gospel in a harsh world that is unwilling to listen most days. But we don’t do what we do alone. Even if we are the only one we can see, we know that God is with us through his Holy Spirit. Paul found himself in exactly that position, “At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the gentiles might hear it.”
If God calls us to do something, he is certainly not going to abandon us to fend for ourselves in the doing. He will be right with us, through the good times and bad, through the easy days and the hard days, giving us his strength when we have none left of our own, so that his message can be proclaimed to a world in need. I don’t know about you, but my strength wears out pretty fast and I have to rely on God – a lot.
Two months after Florence came up one mile short of her goal of swimming from the California coast to the Island of Catalina, she tried again. Once again, before she could finish, a thick fog rolled in. This time, though, Florence fixed in her mind a mental image of her shoreline goal and she used that as her focus to keep going when she thought she couldn’t make it. It worked; Florence made it all the way to the island this time because this time she kept her goal in mind.
Brock’s goal was the fifty-yard line and with the encouragement of Coach, he thought he had made it, only to discover he has surpassed it – all the way to the end zone. Paul’s goal was to stand before Christ having done all he could for the kingdom of God here on earth and receive his reward from the Lord himself. None of them could have made it on their own, but with God’s strength, encouragement, and constant presence, they could, and they did.
We can too. We can set our goal, focus on our mission, draw strength from God, and encourage one another to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all the people we can in all the places we can. We can run a good race, we can fight the good fight, and we can do it all while keeping the faith for the glory of God forever and ever.
In the words of Coach Grant, “God’s gifted you with the ability of leadership. Don’t waste it.” Never waste it, it’s all heart from here. AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful God, Paul sure endured a lot, but by sharing his story and his faith with us through your word, we can learn to endure what life throws at us. We thought we had to do it alone, but now we know that we are never alone; you are always with us, encouraging us to never quit, strengthening us when we weaken, filling us when we are empty. Thank you, Lord, for helping us to swim the ocean waters and crawl across a football field with our buddy on our back, and by that we mean thank you for helping us to do whatever it is you ask of us, for your sake and your glory, today and always. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://medium.com/emphasis/youre-closer-than-you-think-a-story-about-long-distance-swimmer-florence-chadwick-99f9cf360b9f
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-30-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-46-8-16-18-5
Call to Worship:
L: We are all called by God for a purpose,
P: One day we will have completed our mission.
L: We will look back and see the hard days,
P: We will remember the easy ones, too.
L: We will see that the Lord stood with us at all times,
P: Giving us the strength to go on, protecting us, celebrating with us.
ALL: We give glory to God for his faithfulness and his love. AMEN.
Hymn: 526 What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Poured Out
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
16 At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Have you ever set out to do something, maybe something big or important, but before you get to the end you get so tired and worn out or discouraged that you just can’t go on? That is what happened to Florence Chadwick in 1952.
Florence was a swimmer, and that year she decided to attempt to swim from the California coastline to Catalina Island, a twenty-six-mile swim. These are dangerous waters, so she was accompanied by a team that would watch out for sharks and watch Florence for signs of cramps, injury, or fatigue. About fifteen hours into her swim, fog began to roll into the area, obscuring Florence’s vision, sapping her confidence. She communicated to her team that she didn’t think she was going to be able to make it.
In spite of her doubts, Florence kept swimming for another hour, but finally, she just couldn’t go on. She called it quits and was hauled out of the water and into one of the boats. Imagine her surprise, and her disappointment, when she realized she had stopped swimming only one mile short of reaching Cataline Island. The fog had clouded her vision and allowed doubt to creep into her heart.
How many of you have seen the movie, “Facing the Giants?” It’s a great movie about a down-and-out high school football team and there is one scene that stands out to me. It is football practice for a team that hasn’t won a game in forever and isn’t likely to win anytime soon. As you can imagine, morale is low. Brock, one of the leaders of the team, sets the tone for the others by making a comment about not expecting to win and Coach Grant sees an opportunity to show Brock, and the rests of the boys, the importance attitude plays in a game.
He calls Brock up and tells him he is going to do the death crawl. If you don’t know what that is, it is when the player gets down on his hand and feet and crawls across the field with another player on his back – his knees cannot touch the ground. Brock says he can make it to the twenty-yard line, Coach challenges him to go all the way to the fifty. Then he blindfolds Brock, Jeremy climbs on his back and the crawl begins.
Coach walks alongside Brock, encouraging him to keep going. When Brock’s muscles begin to burn, he cries out that he can’t go on. Coach tells him not to stop. When Brock asks if he has at least crossed the twenty-yard line yet, Coach tells him not to worry about where he is, just keep going.
As Brock really begins to struggle, muscles burning and becoming weak, Coach is right down on the ground encouraging him, saying “It’s all heart now, it’s all heart. Keep going.” Brock wants to quit, Coach says no; he tells Brock he can’t quit, “just thirty more steps, keep going. Come on, twenty more steps, you can do it. Don’t stop, ten more to go. Keep going, just five more. One more, you can do it, just one more.”
Brock keeps going in spite of running out of energy, in spite of weak and shaky muscles, until finally, Coach says stop. When Coach takes the blindfold off, Brock sees he is in the endzone on the opposite side of the field from where he had started. He didn’t think he could make it to the fifty-yard line, but with Coach’s encouragement, he made it all the way.
As Brock is laying in the end-zone grass, Coach tells him, “God’s gifted you with the ability of leadership. Don’t waste it.”
Brock would never have made that death crawl all the way down the field except for one thing – the encouragement of Coach telling him he could do it. I wonder if the people in the boats with Florence would have encouraged her, would she have made it? I believe she would have.
The Apostle Paul had been though a lot. We’ve talked about it these past few weeks, how he has suffered much for the sake of the gospel and is now sitting confined in prison for continuing to preach God’s word. He knows his end is near. If this were any of us, we might be asking ourselves about now, “Was it worth it?”
Paul isn’t asking if it was worth it, he knows it was. He knows what is up ahead and he writes to Timothy, “As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come.” A libation is a drink offering poured out to God. There were grain offerings, bread offerings, oil offerings, bulls, sheep, and goat offerings, and liquid offerings that were given to God in those days. But there is more to it than simply pouring out a cup of wine and calling it an offering.
The word libation that Paul uses here is from a Greek word that means “to have one’s life’s blood poured out.” It means to give your all, holding nothing back. Paul has given his whole self to sharing the gospel – he has poured himself out completely, he has nothing left to give. He has offered himself to God through his blood, sweat, and tears – quite literally, and quite willingly.
Paul goes on to say next, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” Can we fight a good fight? Aren’t “good” and “fight” kind of opposites? Hear this explanation from Professor Stephen Fowl of Loyola University, “Most immediately, Paul is claiming that he has fought well. That is, he has demonstrated the courage, determination, and effort characteristic of all good soldiers. In addition, Paul can also be claiming that he has fought in good struggles. That is, he has fought well for things well worth fighting for.”
Fighting for what is right isn’t a bad thing. Fighting for the right to life, the rights of the underprivileged, the right to free speech, these are some things worth fighting for. Paul has fought the good fight of doing what Christ called him to do after meeting him on the road to Damascus – to tell others of Jesus and how they can come to know him and follow him, how they can accept him and live in eternity with him.
By doing this, Paul has finished the race set before him. He was given a task and he followed through, he was given a job and he got it done. He isn’t saying there isn’t more work to do, he is acknowledging that he has done his part with integrity and with his whole heart. And Paul did this, in spite of the hardships it has brought him, by keeping the faith. Not keeping it to himself, but by guarding, preserving, protecting God’s truth without shame and sharing it in all the places he could with all the people he could. He remained faithful in his mission.
How could Paul have done all this? How could he have endured so much and stayed strong in his faith when giving up would have been so much easier? Because Paul knew what was waiting for him and he knew he didn’t make the journey alone. Paul knew that God was with him every step of the way, through the good times when people listened to the gospel, repented, believes, and started a new church, and through the bad times when he was being run out of town, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, bitten by a viper, arrested, and put in chains in prison.
That knowledge of God’s constant presence was Paul’s version of Coach down on the ground encouraging Grant to never give up. Without that, Paul may have thrown in the towel and then realized how close he was to the finish line a little too late.
But Paul didn’t give up; he kept on going because he knew that when his race was finished, Jesus would be ready and waiting to crown him with the crown of righteousness – “And guess what?” Paul says, “There’s one for everyone who does the same” This is Paul’s way of coaching Timothy to keep on crawling down the field even when he gets tired and feels like he can’t go on. Paul won’t be able to crawl along with him, so he does what he can through this letter he is writing. “Come on, Timothy, you can do this. Keep on going, just a little bit more. Don’t worry about how much further, just take the next step, and then the next, and then another. Don’t quit, never quit, it’s all heart now, it’s all heart.”
We need to hear that message ourselves. We, too, have been called by God to share his gospel in a harsh world that is unwilling to listen most days. But we don’t do what we do alone. Even if we are the only one we can see, we know that God is with us through his Holy Spirit. Paul found himself in exactly that position, “At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the gentiles might hear it.”
If God calls us to do something, he is certainly not going to abandon us to fend for ourselves in the doing. He will be right with us, through the good times and bad, through the easy days and the hard days, giving us his strength when we have none left of our own, so that his message can be proclaimed to a world in need. I don’t know about you, but my strength wears out pretty fast and I have to rely on God – a lot.
Two months after Florence came up one mile short of her goal of swimming from the California coast to the Island of Catalina, she tried again. Once again, before she could finish, a thick fog rolled in. This time, though, Florence fixed in her mind a mental image of her shoreline goal and she used that as her focus to keep going when she thought she couldn’t make it. It worked; Florence made it all the way to the island this time because this time she kept her goal in mind.
Brock’s goal was the fifty-yard line and with the encouragement of Coach, he thought he had made it, only to discover he has surpassed it – all the way to the end zone. Paul’s goal was to stand before Christ having done all he could for the kingdom of God here on earth and receive his reward from the Lord himself. None of them could have made it on their own, but with God’s strength, encouragement, and constant presence, they could, and they did.
We can too. We can set our goal, focus on our mission, draw strength from God, and encourage one another to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all the people we can in all the places we can. We can run a good race, we can fight the good fight, and we can do it all while keeping the faith for the glory of God forever and ever.
In the words of Coach Grant, “God’s gifted you with the ability of leadership. Don’t waste it.” Never waste it, it’s all heart from here. AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful God, Paul sure endured a lot, but by sharing his story and his faith with us through your word, we can learn to endure what life throws at us. We thought we had to do it alone, but now we know that we are never alone; you are always with us, encouraging us to never quit, strengthening us when we weaken, filling us when we are empty. Thank you, Lord, for helping us to swim the ocean waters and crawl across a football field with our buddy on our back, and by that we mean thank you for helping us to do whatever it is you ask of us, for your sake and your glory, today and always. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://medium.com/emphasis/youre-closer-than-you-think-a-story-about-long-distance-swimmer-florence-chadwick-99f9cf360b9f
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-30-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-46-8-16-18-5
Call to Worship:
L: We are all called by God for a purpose,
P: One day we will have completed our mission.
L: We will look back and see the hard days,
P: We will remember the easy ones, too.
L: We will see that the Lord stood with us at all times,
P: Giving us the strength to go on, protecting us, celebrating with us.
ALL: We give glory to God for his faithfulness and his love. AMEN.
Hymn: 526 What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Pastor Donna's Sermon Sunday October 16, 2022 "Itching Ears"
October 16, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Itching Ears
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
Most, if not all of us have heard the term “virtual reality.” It usually conjures up images of wearing a device that covers the eyes and blocks out the world around us so that we can feel like we are actually part of whatever world is being conveyed through the digital image displayed by the device.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can help us imagine we are standing in places and seeing sights where we cannot physically go. I’ve never used one of these things, but I think of what it would be like to put one on and feel like I am standing in all the places in the world to which I dream of traveling. I could feel like I am right there, seeing the Tower of London, the Acropolis, the Roman Coliseum, the Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Seeing all these places without having to leave the comfort of our own home.
No airport security to go through, no long lines to stand in, no language barrier to overcome. Put on my special device and pretend I am far away and enjoy the “trip.” The reality, though, is that it isn’t real. We wouldn’t really be standing at all those amazing places, we wouldn’t be able to reach out and touch the stones, feel the texture, smell the smells, experience the thrill. Eventually, we would have to take off the device and realize we never left home. We would remember that we were simply looking through a filter, not living real life.
Speaking of filters, how many here have ever used a filter to enhance a photograph? I know SnapChat has lots of filters that we can play around with and have fun with. Again, there is nothing wrong with doing so, but I know there are people who have become so used to using a filter for every photograph they post to their social media that they are barely recognizable when we meet them in person. Filters are the new “airbrushing” that the advertising industry has done for years. Both techniques are used to make something look better than it actually is.
Some might call this “augmented reality.” We take what is, and add to it or take from it, to enhance or augment it, making it better that it is on its own. I am reminded here of Solomon’s words, though, when he writes, in Ecclesiastes 1:9: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.”
What? You mean Solomon had virtual reality devices and SnapChat filters? Of course not. But SnapChat didn’t invent filters, they just gave us a new way to use them. We all use filters in our lives – even in our real lives. Think about this – what we believe and how we live are predicated on what we know. Let me give you an example.
Playing peek-a-boo with a baby is fun. But a baby, or a young child who covers their own face to hide thinks that no one can see them. We know that isn’t the reality, but they don’t. They know that if they close or cover their eyes, they can’t see, so they filter what they believe through what they know – if they can’t see others, then no one else can see them. As they grow and learn, that filter dissolves and they begin to understand differently.
As Christians, we are called to view our world through the filter of the Bible. We use the term “Biblical world view.” What we experience, what we do, how we live, should be affected by what we know of how God wants us to be.
I like how Pastor Monty Newton describes this. He writes, “God’s Word, i.e., the bible, augments the way we see and experience the realities of life. The Word of God serves to enlighten and guide and inspire and encourage and comfort and instruct us in ways that help us experience life in ways that would not otherwise be possible. When we experience life through the lens of Scripture/God’s Word, we see life as God would have us see and experience it.”
Paul is trying to make sure Timothy keeps his Christian worldview filter firmly in place. Once again, he reminds Timothy to think back to those who have taught him what he knows to be true. Remember a few chapters ago, Paul reminded Timothy that he had learned his faith from his mother and grandmother, and he should hold onto that. He wants Timothy to know that what he learned as a child is right and true, that God’s truth never changes. God give us, through his word, the Bible, all we need to know about the way of salvation, and about Jesus Christ, who is the way to it, the truth of it, and the life through it.
The Bible is the filter through which Timothy, and we as Christians even today, should see the world and live our lives. Paul writes, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
Who is this person of God that is equipped for every good work? Timothy, for sure. Pastors and teachers, yes, but also everyone else. Friends, it is not just the pastor’s command to go and make disciples, it is given to each and every Christian – go and make disciples – and we do this best by letting God’s word enhance our own understanding of our world.
This is serious stuff, ya’ll. If we live as a Christian, one of the filters we need to have in place is that ALL Christians are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not everyone is called into formal ministry, true, but everyone is called to share the Good News, and that sharing is a ministry of the gospel.
Here’s the thing, though, how many of us have said before “I am waiting for the right time to tell _______ about Jesus? We think we have to wait for the perfect moment, but that isn’t true at all. Paul teaches us that we should be ready to tell someone about Jesus whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. Be persistent, he says, because some people will need to hear the message several times before it breaks down the worldly filter they live in so they can begin to hear, believe, and live with the filter of God’s truth.
There is an urgency to Paul’s message here to Timothy. He warns him not to delay because there is a time that is coming when people will no longer listen to sound teaching, they won’t be willing to exchange their worldly filter for a heavenly one. The day will come when they will refuse to listen to anything they don’t like and instead will search for someone who teaches what they want to hear.
Friends, I am sad to say that those days are here. Even within our churches, there are many who only hear what makes them feel good, what they believe to be right without any verification of its truth in scripture.
The time has come when even the pulpits are being filled with those who care more about appearances, about growing their church for the sake of numbers, about preaching what the people want to hear so they will keep coming back, instead of standing on God’s word and preaching the truth they need to hear.
I get it, I really do. Wouldn’t it be great if our church pews were full to overflowing every week? Wouldn’t it be great if the only message that we had to preach and hear every week was love, love, love? Wouldn’t it be great if we could just be good and know that was okay enough? Wouldn’t it be great if we never had to talk about sin and its consequences? Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to think about Jesus, beaten and bloodied, hanging on that cross and know that we put him there?
Oh, yeah, that would be great. But it wouldn’t be the truth, and people would be lost because of it. Remember Paul’s lesson from last week – we wouldn’t want for even one person to be lost forever because of something we said or did – or didn’t say or do.
Let me give you this from a little different perspective that I learned this week. Again, this comes from Pastor Monty Newton, and I love the way he put it. “Imagine picking your car up from the shop after a routine tune-up, and the technician says, "This car is in great shape. Clearly you have an automotive genius to take great care of your car." Later that day, your brakes don't work. You find out you were out of brake fluid. You could have died.
You go back to the shop, and you say, "Why didn't you tell me?" The technician replies, "Well, I didn't want you to feel bad. Plus, to be honest, I was afraid you might get upset with me. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted." You'd be furious! You'd say, "I didn't come here for a little fantasy-based ego boost! When it comes to my car, I want the truth."
Here is one more example: “Imagine going to the doctor's office for a check-up. The doctor says to you, "You are a magnificent physical specimen. You have the body of an Olympian. You are to be congratulated." Later that day while climbing the stairs, your heart gives out. You find out later your arteries were so clogged that you were, like, one cream cheese filled pastry away from going to see Jesus.
You go back to the doctor and say, "Why didn't you tell me?" The doctor says, "Well, I knew your body is in worse shape than the Pillsbury doughboy, but if I tell people stuff like that, they get offended. It's bad for business. They don't come back. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted." You'd be furious! You'd say to the doctor, "When it comes to my body, I want the truth!"
You see, there are times when the truth is vitally important. There are times when the truth is a matter of life and death. Talking to people about Jesus is one of those times. Jesus is the most important truth ever told. When we hang back and wait to tell someone about Jesus, we are taking the chance that they may never hear about him, they may never get the chance to learn about Jesus, never come to believe in him, never receive the gift of salvation through him.
Yes, I want these church pews to be filled to overflowing every week. I want them so full that we have to add additional services to accommodate everyone. But I want that because I know it means that people are coming to Christ, not because I have simply told everyone what they wanted to hear to make them feel good. I don’t want a full church for me, or for you – I want a full church for God.
I do preach about love a lot. The love of God, the love of Christ, the love of the Holy Spirit. Love is the foundation of all of creation, so yes, we get to hear a lot about love – and I like that. But we know that love doesn’t mean full acceptance of anything goes. Sin is still rampant in our world and when we sin, we still need to repent and ask for forgiveness. The problem is that those who are looking to hear only what they want to hear don’t want to recognize the sin in their life. They are looking for someone to validate them based on what they want to be true. We need to make sure that our love messages include the way to be transformed through God’s truth, in the way God wants us to be.
For that, once again, we can turn to scripture. In the Bible we can find the answers to the questions on how a Christian should live, what filters through which we should view the world, how we should live and interact with others, how we should worship, and what to do when we mess up. In the Bible we find truth, sometimes messy and sometimes not what we want to hear, but we don’t need a sugar-coated gospel. We need the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Paul’s final word to Timothy today is straight-forward and to the point: “As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.” Those are words we need to hear, too. Being a Christian is a privilege because we know it is a gift given to us, when we didn’t deserve it, by a God who loves us beyond measure. Being a Christian is also a responsibility, because just as we were taught by someone about Jesus, we are then called to teach others about him, too.
“Be sober in everything,” doesn’t mean there is no joy in what we do for Christ, it means take the responsibility seriously, do the best you can. “Endure suffering,” seems pretty foreign to us here in the States, but we know that there are Christians around the globe who are absolutely enduring suffering in Jesus’ name.
“Do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully” means share the good news whenever and wherever you can, and do so to the best of your ability, drawing on the strength of Christ and the truth of God’s word. Friends, we can do this. We can do this together, and we can do this with God’s help and his guidance. Let’s do this. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great and glorious God, we thank you that you have created us, that you love us, that you want us to be with you for all of eternity. We recognize that we don’t deserve it, but we are so very grateful for all you have done for us. Thank you for your truth found in your word, thank you for your son, Jesus, who is our way to salvation, and thank you for the Holy Spirit, who guides us each day as we do our best to carry out your command to share the gospel with others who might then come to know you and live. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
Call to Worship:
L: All scripture is inspired by God,
P: In it we will find words of teaching, correcting, and training,
L: That we might learn how to live a righteous life,
P: That we will be equipped to do good works,
L: That we might proclaim the good news,
P: Not allowing our ears to be tickled with sweet nothings,
ALL: But boldly standing for God’s truth with love for all. AMEN.
Hymn: 530 Are Ye Able
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Itching Ears
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
Most, if not all of us have heard the term “virtual reality.” It usually conjures up images of wearing a device that covers the eyes and blocks out the world around us so that we can feel like we are actually part of whatever world is being conveyed through the digital image displayed by the device.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can help us imagine we are standing in places and seeing sights where we cannot physically go. I’ve never used one of these things, but I think of what it would be like to put one on and feel like I am standing in all the places in the world to which I dream of traveling. I could feel like I am right there, seeing the Tower of London, the Acropolis, the Roman Coliseum, the Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Seeing all these places without having to leave the comfort of our own home.
No airport security to go through, no long lines to stand in, no language barrier to overcome. Put on my special device and pretend I am far away and enjoy the “trip.” The reality, though, is that it isn’t real. We wouldn’t really be standing at all those amazing places, we wouldn’t be able to reach out and touch the stones, feel the texture, smell the smells, experience the thrill. Eventually, we would have to take off the device and realize we never left home. We would remember that we were simply looking through a filter, not living real life.
Speaking of filters, how many here have ever used a filter to enhance a photograph? I know SnapChat has lots of filters that we can play around with and have fun with. Again, there is nothing wrong with doing so, but I know there are people who have become so used to using a filter for every photograph they post to their social media that they are barely recognizable when we meet them in person. Filters are the new “airbrushing” that the advertising industry has done for years. Both techniques are used to make something look better than it actually is.
Some might call this “augmented reality.” We take what is, and add to it or take from it, to enhance or augment it, making it better that it is on its own. I am reminded here of Solomon’s words, though, when he writes, in Ecclesiastes 1:9: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.”
What? You mean Solomon had virtual reality devices and SnapChat filters? Of course not. But SnapChat didn’t invent filters, they just gave us a new way to use them. We all use filters in our lives – even in our real lives. Think about this – what we believe and how we live are predicated on what we know. Let me give you an example.
Playing peek-a-boo with a baby is fun. But a baby, or a young child who covers their own face to hide thinks that no one can see them. We know that isn’t the reality, but they don’t. They know that if they close or cover their eyes, they can’t see, so they filter what they believe through what they know – if they can’t see others, then no one else can see them. As they grow and learn, that filter dissolves and they begin to understand differently.
As Christians, we are called to view our world through the filter of the Bible. We use the term “Biblical world view.” What we experience, what we do, how we live, should be affected by what we know of how God wants us to be.
I like how Pastor Monty Newton describes this. He writes, “God’s Word, i.e., the bible, augments the way we see and experience the realities of life. The Word of God serves to enlighten and guide and inspire and encourage and comfort and instruct us in ways that help us experience life in ways that would not otherwise be possible. When we experience life through the lens of Scripture/God’s Word, we see life as God would have us see and experience it.”
Paul is trying to make sure Timothy keeps his Christian worldview filter firmly in place. Once again, he reminds Timothy to think back to those who have taught him what he knows to be true. Remember a few chapters ago, Paul reminded Timothy that he had learned his faith from his mother and grandmother, and he should hold onto that. He wants Timothy to know that what he learned as a child is right and true, that God’s truth never changes. God give us, through his word, the Bible, all we need to know about the way of salvation, and about Jesus Christ, who is the way to it, the truth of it, and the life through it.
The Bible is the filter through which Timothy, and we as Christians even today, should see the world and live our lives. Paul writes, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
Who is this person of God that is equipped for every good work? Timothy, for sure. Pastors and teachers, yes, but also everyone else. Friends, it is not just the pastor’s command to go and make disciples, it is given to each and every Christian – go and make disciples – and we do this best by letting God’s word enhance our own understanding of our world.
This is serious stuff, ya’ll. If we live as a Christian, one of the filters we need to have in place is that ALL Christians are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not everyone is called into formal ministry, true, but everyone is called to share the Good News, and that sharing is a ministry of the gospel.
Here’s the thing, though, how many of us have said before “I am waiting for the right time to tell _______ about Jesus? We think we have to wait for the perfect moment, but that isn’t true at all. Paul teaches us that we should be ready to tell someone about Jesus whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. Be persistent, he says, because some people will need to hear the message several times before it breaks down the worldly filter they live in so they can begin to hear, believe, and live with the filter of God’s truth.
There is an urgency to Paul’s message here to Timothy. He warns him not to delay because there is a time that is coming when people will no longer listen to sound teaching, they won’t be willing to exchange their worldly filter for a heavenly one. The day will come when they will refuse to listen to anything they don’t like and instead will search for someone who teaches what they want to hear.
Friends, I am sad to say that those days are here. Even within our churches, there are many who only hear what makes them feel good, what they believe to be right without any verification of its truth in scripture.
The time has come when even the pulpits are being filled with those who care more about appearances, about growing their church for the sake of numbers, about preaching what the people want to hear so they will keep coming back, instead of standing on God’s word and preaching the truth they need to hear.
I get it, I really do. Wouldn’t it be great if our church pews were full to overflowing every week? Wouldn’t it be great if the only message that we had to preach and hear every week was love, love, love? Wouldn’t it be great if we could just be good and know that was okay enough? Wouldn’t it be great if we never had to talk about sin and its consequences? Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to think about Jesus, beaten and bloodied, hanging on that cross and know that we put him there?
Oh, yeah, that would be great. But it wouldn’t be the truth, and people would be lost because of it. Remember Paul’s lesson from last week – we wouldn’t want for even one person to be lost forever because of something we said or did – or didn’t say or do.
Let me give you this from a little different perspective that I learned this week. Again, this comes from Pastor Monty Newton, and I love the way he put it. “Imagine picking your car up from the shop after a routine tune-up, and the technician says, "This car is in great shape. Clearly you have an automotive genius to take great care of your car." Later that day, your brakes don't work. You find out you were out of brake fluid. You could have died.
You go back to the shop, and you say, "Why didn't you tell me?" The technician replies, "Well, I didn't want you to feel bad. Plus, to be honest, I was afraid you might get upset with me. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted." You'd be furious! You'd say, "I didn't come here for a little fantasy-based ego boost! When it comes to my car, I want the truth."
Here is one more example: “Imagine going to the doctor's office for a check-up. The doctor says to you, "You are a magnificent physical specimen. You have the body of an Olympian. You are to be congratulated." Later that day while climbing the stairs, your heart gives out. You find out later your arteries were so clogged that you were, like, one cream cheese filled pastry away from going to see Jesus.
You go back to the doctor and say, "Why didn't you tell me?" The doctor says, "Well, I knew your body is in worse shape than the Pillsbury doughboy, but if I tell people stuff like that, they get offended. It's bad for business. They don't come back. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted." You'd be furious! You'd say to the doctor, "When it comes to my body, I want the truth!"
You see, there are times when the truth is vitally important. There are times when the truth is a matter of life and death. Talking to people about Jesus is one of those times. Jesus is the most important truth ever told. When we hang back and wait to tell someone about Jesus, we are taking the chance that they may never hear about him, they may never get the chance to learn about Jesus, never come to believe in him, never receive the gift of salvation through him.
Yes, I want these church pews to be filled to overflowing every week. I want them so full that we have to add additional services to accommodate everyone. But I want that because I know it means that people are coming to Christ, not because I have simply told everyone what they wanted to hear to make them feel good. I don’t want a full church for me, or for you – I want a full church for God.
I do preach about love a lot. The love of God, the love of Christ, the love of the Holy Spirit. Love is the foundation of all of creation, so yes, we get to hear a lot about love – and I like that. But we know that love doesn’t mean full acceptance of anything goes. Sin is still rampant in our world and when we sin, we still need to repent and ask for forgiveness. The problem is that those who are looking to hear only what they want to hear don’t want to recognize the sin in their life. They are looking for someone to validate them based on what they want to be true. We need to make sure that our love messages include the way to be transformed through God’s truth, in the way God wants us to be.
For that, once again, we can turn to scripture. In the Bible we can find the answers to the questions on how a Christian should live, what filters through which we should view the world, how we should live and interact with others, how we should worship, and what to do when we mess up. In the Bible we find truth, sometimes messy and sometimes not what we want to hear, but we don’t need a sugar-coated gospel. We need the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Paul’s final word to Timothy today is straight-forward and to the point: “As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.” Those are words we need to hear, too. Being a Christian is a privilege because we know it is a gift given to us, when we didn’t deserve it, by a God who loves us beyond measure. Being a Christian is also a responsibility, because just as we were taught by someone about Jesus, we are then called to teach others about him, too.
“Be sober in everything,” doesn’t mean there is no joy in what we do for Christ, it means take the responsibility seriously, do the best you can. “Endure suffering,” seems pretty foreign to us here in the States, but we know that there are Christians around the globe who are absolutely enduring suffering in Jesus’ name.
“Do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully” means share the good news whenever and wherever you can, and do so to the best of your ability, drawing on the strength of Christ and the truth of God’s word. Friends, we can do this. We can do this together, and we can do this with God’s help and his guidance. Let’s do this. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great and glorious God, we thank you that you have created us, that you love us, that you want us to be with you for all of eternity. We recognize that we don’t deserve it, but we are so very grateful for all you have done for us. Thank you for your truth found in your word, thank you for your son, Jesus, who is our way to salvation, and thank you for the Holy Spirit, who guides us each day as we do our best to carry out your command to share the gospel with others who might then come to know you and live. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
Call to Worship:
L: All scripture is inspired by God,
P: In it we will find words of teaching, correcting, and training,
L: That we might learn how to live a righteous life,
P: That we will be equipped to do good works,
L: That we might proclaim the good news,
P: Not allowing our ears to be tickled with sweet nothings,
ALL: But boldly standing for God’s truth with love for all. AMEN.
Hymn: 530 Are Ye Able
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON sUNDAY oCTOBER 9, 2022, "nOT ASHAMED".
October 9, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Present Yourself to the Lord
Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:8-15
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful--
he cannot deny himself.
14 Remind them of this and warn them before the Lord that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
You know, I really like it when the week’s scripture reading is on the lighter side, one where I can find a cute little story to share with you all that makes us laugh a bit, wakes us up, and prepares us to receive God’s message. This week was not one of those weeks.
I know that we know that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter to Timothy, but I think we forget just how precarious life was for a Christian in those days. We have it pretty easy here, especially in the U. S. We can freely worship our God, we can speak the name of Jesus without repercussions – or at least without fear of being arrested and put to death.
That wasn’t the case in Paul’s time. It took great courage for the earliest church leaders to do what they did. I think of all the times Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and run out of town for speaking boldly to others about God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ. And he never gave up. He never let others dictate what he would say or do. He was never ashamed to keep on going – no matter what.
We see that boldness in Paul’s words here, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.” Chained like a criminal? What was his offense? Preaching the good news – the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You see, the Romans didn’t care, really what god you worshiped, as long as you also worshiped Caesar. If you could bow down to Caesar, worship him, offer incense to him, then you were pretty much free to go about your business with any and all other gods you wanted. But these Christians – now that was a whole different story. The Christians believe in only worshiping one God, and that sure wasn’t Caesar. This was the reason Christianity was a crime – because they would not worship Caesar. This was why Paul was labeled a criminal and put in prison – soon to be executed – because he promoted the idea the God was the one, true God and no other god or person should be worshiped.
But here is the secret that Paul wanted to make sure Timothy knew – people could be arrested and chained in prison, but the word of God could not, and can not ever be chained and silenced. Even though many, including Paul, were being imprisoned and killed for their faith, Christianity kept growing! The more the Roman government tried to squelch the movement, the bigger it got. The more they persecuted these Christians, the more they threatened, tortured, and killed people for being a Christian, the more people started following Christ. The word of God cannot, absolutely cannot be chained, contained, or confined. Remember, even if the people grow silent, the rocks will cry out the gospel.
It is because Paul knows that God is greater than the Romans that he can keep doing what he was called by God to do, to share the gospel with anyone and everyone he can. But Paul also knows that he carries a mountain of responsibility because of his faith and because of his calling.
Paul knows that if he were to give in and give up, to renounce his faith for the sake of his life, not only would he ultimately lose his eternal life, so would countless others. “Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
Paul knows others are counting on him. They will follow his lead; if he weakens, they will be lost. So, he is even more determined to stay strong, to endure all that comes his way, so that no one will lose out on knowing Jesus because of him. As the infomercials say, though, wait – there’s more!
Paul also knows that enduring all that has happened, and even what is to come, will ultimately be worth it. We can usually endure more hardships in our lives when we know there is a reward at the end. Paul knows the reward, it is eternal life in the presence of the Lord, and knowing that gives him the strength keep on going, keep on preaching, keep on sharing the love of Christ.
It is vitally important that Timothy knows this because he has also been called by God to preach the gospel and that puts him in danger, too. So Paul reminds Timothy of these five things:
If we have died with him, Jesus, we will live with him.
If we endure all things here on earth for Jesus’ sake, we will one day reign with him.
If we deny Jesus, he will deny us.
If we are faithless, Jesus remains faithful.
Jesus cannot deny himself.
“Remember this, Timothy,” Paul is writing, “so that you can take it to heart, so you can draw on this when times are rough, and the danger is high. Teach it, too. Teach these truths to others so they, too can take them to heart and be strong in the Lord, for this is how the gospel will move from one to another, from generation to generation. This is how the gospel, which cannot be chained as we humans can, will live, and move, and gather people to Jesus.”
Then Paul writes, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.” There is the key word to our series – do not be ashamed for telling the truth of the gospel.
No matter what the world tells us, we should never be ashamed to say the name of Jesus. We should never be ashamed to share the gospel. We should never be ashamed of who we are in Christ Jesus. And in all that we do, we should strive to do our best to please God.
We are called to present ourselves to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed of the work we have done if it is the work God has called us to do, no matter what our world, our society, our culture, our social media tells us. Stand on the truth of God; stand on his word, the unchained, unashamed, word of God which offers all we need for our salvation through Jesus Christ.
How do we do this? Timothy had Paul who taught him directly about Jesus, and now he is writing him encouraging letters, continuing to give him the instruction and the reminders he needs to endure his own trials and to carry on sharing the gospel. What do we have that will help us? I am glad you asked.
We still have God’s word – the Bible. We have it available to us in more ways, shapes, and forms than the people in Paul’s day could have even dreamed of. They had letters, they had the ancient writings on scrolls in the synagogues, they had the stories told them by their parents and grandparents. We have God’s word bound in a book that we can carry around. We have it on apps for our phones and our tablets. We have it practically whenever and wherever we want to read it and learn from it.
Guess what? There are more people in this world today, there are more opportunities for all those people to read God’s word, there is freedom for Christians to read the Bible like the people in Paul’s time would have dreamed of, but few people are doing it.
A survey by Lifeway in 2019, found that only 32% of Protestant Christians actually read the Bible every day, and about 25% claim they read it a few times a week. 12% of those who were asked, admitted they rarely, if ever, read the Bible. Let me ask you, how are we supposed to know God’s plan for our life, how are we supposed to gain knowledge and strength through God’s word, how are we supposed to share the truth of God’s word so we can present ourselves to God as one approved by him – if we don’t even read God’s word?
How can you even know if what you hear from the pulpit is God’s truth if you aren’t opening the Bible and verifying for yourself? The Bible is God’s letter to us and it is vital to the Christian life to read this life-giving letter.
Pastor Larry Petton writes this about the Bible:
"THIS BOOK contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.
Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.
It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character.
Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand object, our good is its design and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.
It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever.”
Friends, God loves us so much that he has given us his very word. We call it our Bible, the inspired word of God, written by many different men over thousands of years, because God knew from the beginning that we would endure trials and temptations here on earth in this life. God wanted us to have the means to endure, and to overcome those hardships that the world throws at us. The Bible is his way of being with us in a tangible way, a way we can see, touch, read, and take to heart.
May we all stand strong in our faith, may we us God’s word as our encouragement and our instruction manual, helping us to endure the hardships of life, knowing that in the end, we will receive the ultimate reward if we remain unashamed.
That is my prayer for us today. I want us, all of us, all Christians everywhere, to be able to stand before God one day and hear the approval in his voice as he says those words we all long to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Welcome home.” And we will know, in that moment, that everything we have endured was worth it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, when we read Paul’s letters, we often forget all that he had to go through to share your gospel with the world. We know that our troubles pale in comparison to his, but Lord, you don’t ask us to compare. You simply ask us to endure, to remain faithful, to do our best in all we do, and to share your love with others. Thank you for giving us your word that teaches us and strengthens us, help us to be better stewards of your word, help us to dig deep into your holy scripture and hear your voice, feel your presence, know your way and your truth. Help us Lord to boldly share you with others, refusing to be ashamed to say your name so others might come to know you through us. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100870/bible-by-dr-larry-petton
https://research.lifeway.com/2019/07/02/few-protestant-churchgoers-read-the-bible-daily/#:~:text=Regular%20Bible%20reading,once%20a%20month%20(5%25).
Call to Worship:
L: The word of God is not chained,
P: Nor is it mere words to hear and forget.
L: The word of God brings us salvation,
P: Through the living Word – Jesus Christ.
L: The word of God calls us to present ourselves to him,
P: As workers for his kingdom, without fear or shame,
ALL: Standing for God’s truth, sharing God’s word. AMEN.
Hymn: 377 It is Well with My Soul
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Present Yourself to the Lord
Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:8-15
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful--
he cannot deny himself.
14 Remind them of this and warn them before the Lord that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
You know, I really like it when the week’s scripture reading is on the lighter side, one where I can find a cute little story to share with you all that makes us laugh a bit, wakes us up, and prepares us to receive God’s message. This week was not one of those weeks.
I know that we know that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter to Timothy, but I think we forget just how precarious life was for a Christian in those days. We have it pretty easy here, especially in the U. S. We can freely worship our God, we can speak the name of Jesus without repercussions – or at least without fear of being arrested and put to death.
That wasn’t the case in Paul’s time. It took great courage for the earliest church leaders to do what they did. I think of all the times Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and run out of town for speaking boldly to others about God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ. And he never gave up. He never let others dictate what he would say or do. He was never ashamed to keep on going – no matter what.
We see that boldness in Paul’s words here, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.” Chained like a criminal? What was his offense? Preaching the good news – the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You see, the Romans didn’t care, really what god you worshiped, as long as you also worshiped Caesar. If you could bow down to Caesar, worship him, offer incense to him, then you were pretty much free to go about your business with any and all other gods you wanted. But these Christians – now that was a whole different story. The Christians believe in only worshiping one God, and that sure wasn’t Caesar. This was the reason Christianity was a crime – because they would not worship Caesar. This was why Paul was labeled a criminal and put in prison – soon to be executed – because he promoted the idea the God was the one, true God and no other god or person should be worshiped.
But here is the secret that Paul wanted to make sure Timothy knew – people could be arrested and chained in prison, but the word of God could not, and can not ever be chained and silenced. Even though many, including Paul, were being imprisoned and killed for their faith, Christianity kept growing! The more the Roman government tried to squelch the movement, the bigger it got. The more they persecuted these Christians, the more they threatened, tortured, and killed people for being a Christian, the more people started following Christ. The word of God cannot, absolutely cannot be chained, contained, or confined. Remember, even if the people grow silent, the rocks will cry out the gospel.
It is because Paul knows that God is greater than the Romans that he can keep doing what he was called by God to do, to share the gospel with anyone and everyone he can. But Paul also knows that he carries a mountain of responsibility because of his faith and because of his calling.
Paul knows that if he were to give in and give up, to renounce his faith for the sake of his life, not only would he ultimately lose his eternal life, so would countless others. “Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
Paul knows others are counting on him. They will follow his lead; if he weakens, they will be lost. So, he is even more determined to stay strong, to endure all that comes his way, so that no one will lose out on knowing Jesus because of him. As the infomercials say, though, wait – there’s more!
Paul also knows that enduring all that has happened, and even what is to come, will ultimately be worth it. We can usually endure more hardships in our lives when we know there is a reward at the end. Paul knows the reward, it is eternal life in the presence of the Lord, and knowing that gives him the strength keep on going, keep on preaching, keep on sharing the love of Christ.
It is vitally important that Timothy knows this because he has also been called by God to preach the gospel and that puts him in danger, too. So Paul reminds Timothy of these five things:
If we have died with him, Jesus, we will live with him.
If we endure all things here on earth for Jesus’ sake, we will one day reign with him.
If we deny Jesus, he will deny us.
If we are faithless, Jesus remains faithful.
Jesus cannot deny himself.
“Remember this, Timothy,” Paul is writing, “so that you can take it to heart, so you can draw on this when times are rough, and the danger is high. Teach it, too. Teach these truths to others so they, too can take them to heart and be strong in the Lord, for this is how the gospel will move from one to another, from generation to generation. This is how the gospel, which cannot be chained as we humans can, will live, and move, and gather people to Jesus.”
Then Paul writes, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.” There is the key word to our series – do not be ashamed for telling the truth of the gospel.
No matter what the world tells us, we should never be ashamed to say the name of Jesus. We should never be ashamed to share the gospel. We should never be ashamed of who we are in Christ Jesus. And in all that we do, we should strive to do our best to please God.
We are called to present ourselves to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed of the work we have done if it is the work God has called us to do, no matter what our world, our society, our culture, our social media tells us. Stand on the truth of God; stand on his word, the unchained, unashamed, word of God which offers all we need for our salvation through Jesus Christ.
How do we do this? Timothy had Paul who taught him directly about Jesus, and now he is writing him encouraging letters, continuing to give him the instruction and the reminders he needs to endure his own trials and to carry on sharing the gospel. What do we have that will help us? I am glad you asked.
We still have God’s word – the Bible. We have it available to us in more ways, shapes, and forms than the people in Paul’s day could have even dreamed of. They had letters, they had the ancient writings on scrolls in the synagogues, they had the stories told them by their parents and grandparents. We have God’s word bound in a book that we can carry around. We have it on apps for our phones and our tablets. We have it practically whenever and wherever we want to read it and learn from it.
Guess what? There are more people in this world today, there are more opportunities for all those people to read God’s word, there is freedom for Christians to read the Bible like the people in Paul’s time would have dreamed of, but few people are doing it.
A survey by Lifeway in 2019, found that only 32% of Protestant Christians actually read the Bible every day, and about 25% claim they read it a few times a week. 12% of those who were asked, admitted they rarely, if ever, read the Bible. Let me ask you, how are we supposed to know God’s plan for our life, how are we supposed to gain knowledge and strength through God’s word, how are we supposed to share the truth of God’s word so we can present ourselves to God as one approved by him – if we don’t even read God’s word?
How can you even know if what you hear from the pulpit is God’s truth if you aren’t opening the Bible and verifying for yourself? The Bible is God’s letter to us and it is vital to the Christian life to read this life-giving letter.
Pastor Larry Petton writes this about the Bible:
"THIS BOOK contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.
Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.
It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character.
Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand object, our good is its design and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.
It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever.”
Friends, God loves us so much that he has given us his very word. We call it our Bible, the inspired word of God, written by many different men over thousands of years, because God knew from the beginning that we would endure trials and temptations here on earth in this life. God wanted us to have the means to endure, and to overcome those hardships that the world throws at us. The Bible is his way of being with us in a tangible way, a way we can see, touch, read, and take to heart.
May we all stand strong in our faith, may we us God’s word as our encouragement and our instruction manual, helping us to endure the hardships of life, knowing that in the end, we will receive the ultimate reward if we remain unashamed.
That is my prayer for us today. I want us, all of us, all Christians everywhere, to be able to stand before God one day and hear the approval in his voice as he says those words we all long to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Welcome home.” And we will know, in that moment, that everything we have endured was worth it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, when we read Paul’s letters, we often forget all that he had to go through to share your gospel with the world. We know that our troubles pale in comparison to his, but Lord, you don’t ask us to compare. You simply ask us to endure, to remain faithful, to do our best in all we do, and to share your love with others. Thank you for giving us your word that teaches us and strengthens us, help us to be better stewards of your word, help us to dig deep into your holy scripture and hear your voice, feel your presence, know your way and your truth. Help us Lord to boldly share you with others, refusing to be ashamed to say your name so others might come to know you through us. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100870/bible-by-dr-larry-petton
https://research.lifeway.com/2019/07/02/few-protestant-churchgoers-read-the-bible-daily/#:~:text=Regular%20Bible%20reading,once%20a%20month%20(5%25).
Call to Worship:
L: The word of God is not chained,
P: Nor is it mere words to hear and forget.
L: The word of God brings us salvation,
P: Through the living Word – Jesus Christ.
L: The word of God calls us to present ourselves to him,
P: As workers for his kingdom, without fear or shame,
ALL: Standing for God’s truth, sharing God’s word. AMEN.
Hymn: 377 It is Well with My Soul
PASTOR dONNA'S sERMON oCTOBER 2, 2022 "rEKINDLE THE gIFT"
October 2, 2022
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Rekindle the Gift
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
8 Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, in the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12 and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him. 13 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
This week we begin a new series called “Not Ashamed,” taken from Paul’s words to Timothy as he wrote, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me.” This might sound a little odd to us as we read or hear them, we don’t understand why Timothy would be ashamed of Paul, and we certainly don’t see any reason that he would be ashamed of the Lord.
To understand some of what Paul is getting at, we need to know the setting. Paul is writing this letter to Timothy from a Roman prison. He begins his letter with a beautiful greeting, acknowledging that he, Paul, is an apostle of the Lord Jesus through the grace and calling of God. He calls Timothy his “beloved child,” his adopted, spiritual son whom he has traveled with and mentored over the years, and he adds a blessing of “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Even though Paul is writing from prison, he opens this letter with such uplifting and positive words that we might forget what he is actually enduring, and what is about to come for him – death at the hands of the Romans.
Paul moves next into words of thanksgiving – he is grateful to God whom he worships just as his ancestors did, and he reminds Timothy that he also has been guided in his faith by both his mother and his grandmother. Most of us have come to faith through the encouragement and example of another Christian, some through family, some through friends, neighbors, or coworkers. Someone, at some time, in some place, has told us about Jesus, and somehow, we believed them and came to a saving faith in him for ourselves. Aren’t we also grateful for the witness of those folks, and don’t we give thanks to God for putting them in our lives and using them to bring us to himself?
By Paul reminding Timothy about the faith and the example of his mother and his grandmother, he is also reminding him that he is not alone on his faith journey. We don’t know if Lois and Eunice are still living at the time of this letter, but even if they are not, Timothy still has other believers who are his family, his support system, his brothers and sisters in Christ.
I confess that is one thing I love about being a Christian – knowing that I am connected through Jesus Christ with all other believers. That was a strong emphasis, too, of John Wesley for his people called Methodists, the connection we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ through the church that seeks to honor and serve him by showing his love to those who need it the most. We are a community of believers – those of us here in this church – and all of us who belong to the Church universal. We are a support system for one another, and I love that.
Sometimes we see the connections that make up our support system clearly, like Paul knowing he has learned to love and worship God through his ancestors, and Timothy, learning his faith through his mother and grandmother. Through our faith, we are always connected one to another.
After Paul pours out his thanksgiving for Timothy, for his ancestors, and for Timothy’s family, he begins to encourage Timothy in his own ministry. He starts where we started today – “Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, and don’t be ashamed of me.”
Let’s start with Paul, the prisoner. How many of us know someone personally who have been in prison? How did that make us feel? Were we ashamed of them for what they had done to be put away, separated from society? That is our first instinct usually, our gut reaction. We may feel embarrassed that people will think less of us because of our association to the one in jail. We may feel a desire to distance ourselves from that person. See how easily we make it all about us – how we feel, how we appear to others, the shame we feel for what others have done and how that might affect us?
Paul knows this is how people feel and he didn’t want Timothy, or anyone else, really, to associate his imprisonment negatively with sharing the gospel. Paul wants Timothy, and us, to realize that the gospel did not put Paul in prison – people did, people who were products of this broken world in which we live, people who felt threatened by the good news that Paul was trying to give them. Paul was in prison, yes – but he hadn’t done anything wrong – he hadn’t done anything for which he was ashamed, nor anything for someone else to be ashamed of him.
Professor Sunggu Yang, from George Fox University’s School of Theology, teaches that that Paul considers pain and suffering to be the true mark of a faithful, grace-filled life lived in Christ, not an unfortunate result of some unattractive, forced, or illegitimate religious life. In other words, Paul wants us to regard suffering as a natural part of faithful living. That seems like a lot to ask, doesn’t it?
Hey, good news! If you are a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, you will encounter pain and suffering in your life – doesn’t that sound great? Ya’ll want to get signed up for this? But look at the other side of this – people who are not followers of Jesus also have pain and suffering in their life; no one is exempt. So, hear the good news, and yes, there is good news in this - since Christ has already overcome pain and suffering on every level, so can we, with his help!
Therefore, there is no shame in this way of living as a faithful disciple. Yes, Paul is in prison. Yes, prison is a terrible place where no one ever wants to be. No, there is no reason to be ashamed of Paul. He is in prison because he was doing exactly what God had called him to do – share the gospel wherever he went.
That brings us to the other point Paul is making that Timothy should not be ashamed of his witness to the world for Christ Jesus. What if the person who first told you about Jesus had never done so? What if we were to all become quiet about our faith so we didn’t offend someone. What if we never said Jesus’ name because we were ashamed of him and how he lived and died all those years ago? Where would we be? Where would any of us be? Would Christianity just die off, fade away? No.
Remember on Palm Sunday as Jesus rode into Jerusalem with the crowds shouting their Hosannahs? The religious leaders admonished Jesus to tell his followers to be quiet, and what was Jesus’ response? Hear the words from Luke 19:39-40: “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”
Friends, I am telling you now, if we were to become so ashamed of the name of Jesus that we kept quiet, the stones on the ground would have to do the work that was meant for us to do – to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. One way or another, God’s will will be done – with us or without us, through us or through rocks. It is our choice. Paul knew this, now Timothy must know it, too. So should we.
I’ve heard it said that Christianity is always one generation away from becoming extinct. Sounds crazy, right? But if we don’t share the gospel with the next generation, how will they know about Jesus and all he has done for them? Through talking rocks? If we don’t teach them, then we are robbing them of the opportunity to share the gospel themselves. Just as we were unashamedly witnessed to by the ones who came before us, we are called to unashamedly be a witness to yet others after us, of the saving grace of our God through Jesus Christ.
Paul’s confidence in Christ is what makes him boldly share his faith, we see that confidence when he writes, “for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him.” When we put our trust in the one who has set us free from eternal death due to our sinful nature, the one who took on death for our sake, the one who never deserved to die at all yet did so willingly, we can banish any shame that the world wants to heap upon us for being Christian and we can boldly share our witness with that broken, hurting world.
Jesus warned his followers that they would not have an easy life. We talked about this a few weeks ago. Mark 9:23-26 says, “Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
I don’t want to gain the world; I just want Jesus. How about you? I don’t want Jesus to be ashamed of me, even though he has many good reasons to be, and I don’t want anyone to think I am ashamed of Jesus, my Lord and Savior.
Paul told Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you,” and he reminded Timothy that “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” God gave us the gift of himself, and there is no better gift that anyone could hope to receive.
Paul is speaking the same message to us today. As a believer, we are gifted with the presence of God within us – the Holy Spirit. Being reminded of this, lest we had forgotten, let today be the day we rekindle that gift of the Holy Spirit. Let today be the day that we begin to boldly share the gospel with everyone we know. Let today be the day we declare that we are not ashamed of the Gospel and take a stand for Christ Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Powerful, loving, giving God, make us bold for your sake. When we would remain silent, move us to speak up for you. When we are uncomfortable speaking of our faith, give us words that honor you and point others in your direction. Thank you for the gift that you have given us – the gift of yourself through Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. Never let us turn our job over to the rocks, help us to share you with the next generation and they with the next one after, a never-ending cycle until the promised return of your son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-11-14-5
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Rekindle the Gift
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
8 Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, in the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12 and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him. 13 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
This week we begin a new series called “Not Ashamed,” taken from Paul’s words to Timothy as he wrote, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me.” This might sound a little odd to us as we read or hear them, we don’t understand why Timothy would be ashamed of Paul, and we certainly don’t see any reason that he would be ashamed of the Lord.
To understand some of what Paul is getting at, we need to know the setting. Paul is writing this letter to Timothy from a Roman prison. He begins his letter with a beautiful greeting, acknowledging that he, Paul, is an apostle of the Lord Jesus through the grace and calling of God. He calls Timothy his “beloved child,” his adopted, spiritual son whom he has traveled with and mentored over the years, and he adds a blessing of “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Even though Paul is writing from prison, he opens this letter with such uplifting and positive words that we might forget what he is actually enduring, and what is about to come for him – death at the hands of the Romans.
Paul moves next into words of thanksgiving – he is grateful to God whom he worships just as his ancestors did, and he reminds Timothy that he also has been guided in his faith by both his mother and his grandmother. Most of us have come to faith through the encouragement and example of another Christian, some through family, some through friends, neighbors, or coworkers. Someone, at some time, in some place, has told us about Jesus, and somehow, we believed them and came to a saving faith in him for ourselves. Aren’t we also grateful for the witness of those folks, and don’t we give thanks to God for putting them in our lives and using them to bring us to himself?
By Paul reminding Timothy about the faith and the example of his mother and his grandmother, he is also reminding him that he is not alone on his faith journey. We don’t know if Lois and Eunice are still living at the time of this letter, but even if they are not, Timothy still has other believers who are his family, his support system, his brothers and sisters in Christ.
I confess that is one thing I love about being a Christian – knowing that I am connected through Jesus Christ with all other believers. That was a strong emphasis, too, of John Wesley for his people called Methodists, the connection we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ through the church that seeks to honor and serve him by showing his love to those who need it the most. We are a community of believers – those of us here in this church – and all of us who belong to the Church universal. We are a support system for one another, and I love that.
Sometimes we see the connections that make up our support system clearly, like Paul knowing he has learned to love and worship God through his ancestors, and Timothy, learning his faith through his mother and grandmother. Through our faith, we are always connected one to another.
After Paul pours out his thanksgiving for Timothy, for his ancestors, and for Timothy’s family, he begins to encourage Timothy in his own ministry. He starts where we started today – “Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, and don’t be ashamed of me.”
Let’s start with Paul, the prisoner. How many of us know someone personally who have been in prison? How did that make us feel? Were we ashamed of them for what they had done to be put away, separated from society? That is our first instinct usually, our gut reaction. We may feel embarrassed that people will think less of us because of our association to the one in jail. We may feel a desire to distance ourselves from that person. See how easily we make it all about us – how we feel, how we appear to others, the shame we feel for what others have done and how that might affect us?
Paul knows this is how people feel and he didn’t want Timothy, or anyone else, really, to associate his imprisonment negatively with sharing the gospel. Paul wants Timothy, and us, to realize that the gospel did not put Paul in prison – people did, people who were products of this broken world in which we live, people who felt threatened by the good news that Paul was trying to give them. Paul was in prison, yes – but he hadn’t done anything wrong – he hadn’t done anything for which he was ashamed, nor anything for someone else to be ashamed of him.
Professor Sunggu Yang, from George Fox University’s School of Theology, teaches that that Paul considers pain and suffering to be the true mark of a faithful, grace-filled life lived in Christ, not an unfortunate result of some unattractive, forced, or illegitimate religious life. In other words, Paul wants us to regard suffering as a natural part of faithful living. That seems like a lot to ask, doesn’t it?
Hey, good news! If you are a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, you will encounter pain and suffering in your life – doesn’t that sound great? Ya’ll want to get signed up for this? But look at the other side of this – people who are not followers of Jesus also have pain and suffering in their life; no one is exempt. So, hear the good news, and yes, there is good news in this - since Christ has already overcome pain and suffering on every level, so can we, with his help!
Therefore, there is no shame in this way of living as a faithful disciple. Yes, Paul is in prison. Yes, prison is a terrible place where no one ever wants to be. No, there is no reason to be ashamed of Paul. He is in prison because he was doing exactly what God had called him to do – share the gospel wherever he went.
That brings us to the other point Paul is making that Timothy should not be ashamed of his witness to the world for Christ Jesus. What if the person who first told you about Jesus had never done so? What if we were to all become quiet about our faith so we didn’t offend someone. What if we never said Jesus’ name because we were ashamed of him and how he lived and died all those years ago? Where would we be? Where would any of us be? Would Christianity just die off, fade away? No.
Remember on Palm Sunday as Jesus rode into Jerusalem with the crowds shouting their Hosannahs? The religious leaders admonished Jesus to tell his followers to be quiet, and what was Jesus’ response? Hear the words from Luke 19:39-40: “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”
Friends, I am telling you now, if we were to become so ashamed of the name of Jesus that we kept quiet, the stones on the ground would have to do the work that was meant for us to do – to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. One way or another, God’s will will be done – with us or without us, through us or through rocks. It is our choice. Paul knew this, now Timothy must know it, too. So should we.
I’ve heard it said that Christianity is always one generation away from becoming extinct. Sounds crazy, right? But if we don’t share the gospel with the next generation, how will they know about Jesus and all he has done for them? Through talking rocks? If we don’t teach them, then we are robbing them of the opportunity to share the gospel themselves. Just as we were unashamedly witnessed to by the ones who came before us, we are called to unashamedly be a witness to yet others after us, of the saving grace of our God through Jesus Christ.
Paul’s confidence in Christ is what makes him boldly share his faith, we see that confidence when he writes, “for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him.” When we put our trust in the one who has set us free from eternal death due to our sinful nature, the one who took on death for our sake, the one who never deserved to die at all yet did so willingly, we can banish any shame that the world wants to heap upon us for being Christian and we can boldly share our witness with that broken, hurting world.
Jesus warned his followers that they would not have an easy life. We talked about this a few weeks ago. Mark 9:23-26 says, “Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
I don’t want to gain the world; I just want Jesus. How about you? I don’t want Jesus to be ashamed of me, even though he has many good reasons to be, and I don’t want anyone to think I am ashamed of Jesus, my Lord and Savior.
Paul told Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you,” and he reminded Timothy that “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” God gave us the gift of himself, and there is no better gift that anyone could hope to receive.
Paul is speaking the same message to us today. As a believer, we are gifted with the presence of God within us – the Holy Spirit. Being reminded of this, lest we had forgotten, let today be the day we rekindle that gift of the Holy Spirit. Let today be the day that we begin to boldly share the gospel with everyone we know. Let today be the day we declare that we are not ashamed of the Gospel and take a stand for Christ Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Powerful, loving, giving God, make us bold for your sake. When we would remain silent, move us to speak up for you. When we are uncomfortable speaking of our faith, give us words that honor you and point others in your direction. Thank you for the gift that you have given us – the gift of yourself through Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. Never let us turn our job over to the rocks, help us to share you with the next generation and they with the next one after, a never-ending cycle until the promised return of your son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-11-14-5
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2022 "fINDING THE lOST"
September 11, 2022
Series: Having Words with Jesus
Message: Finding the Lost
Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Two quick weeks of hearing Jesus’ words – last week and this week. We heard him tell us last week to count the cost before we make a commitment to follow him because he wants us to be wholly ready and willing to give ourselves to him. He warned us that if we become his follower, we will need to pick up our cross daily because our lives will be difficult at times, maybe even in danger at times, and we must be prepared for those hard times that we might withstand the onslaught and come out the other side still a believer.
This week we get to talk about a lost sheep and a lost coin. We like these verses. They make us feel kind of warm and fuzzy – and not just from the sheep’s wool. We like knowing that we are sought after when we go astray, that God sees us and comes after us to bring us back into his fold. We like being reminded of the love that God has for us that he does that for even one, for every one of us.
How often, though, have we stopped to think about just how radical these stories are? We usually take them at face value, we see the shepherd looking for one lost sheep, finding it, and bringing it back to the others. We watch the woman methodically move her furniture, sweep every corner, every nook and cranny looking for that lost coin until she finally finds it. When the shepherd and the woman find what was lost, they celebrate, and we celebrate with them. “Yeah, good job! WooHoo!”
The reality is, though, that any shepherd worth his crook would never leave the flock of ninety-nine to go looking for one sheep who wandered off. The shepherd’s job is to protect the sheep, to help them find the best grass to eat and the freshest, safest water to drink. If the shepherd wanders off, the flock is in danger. They might scatter, they might see a tender tuft of grass on the edge of the cliff and fall off trying to reach it, they might see a rushing river of water and be carried away by the current trying to get a drink.
Then there is the possibility that a predator might attack while the sheep are left unprotected. A wolf, a bear, or a lion could come charging into the flock and carry off some of the best sheep – a loss that would be greater than that one silly sheep who wandered off and caused all this chaos and confusion.
No, the people who were listening to Jesus’ parable about the lost sheep would have wondered about a shepherd who left the ninety-nine to go find the one. Hearing this story, they might have wondered if Jesus even knew what he was talking about. The Pharisees were already miffed and grumbling about Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, now he has given them reason to question his intelligence – at least about shepherding.
But Jesus goes on; he tells another parable about a woman who has lost a coin. She had ten, but one is lost and now she only has nine. She searches everywhere to find it. She checked her wallet, her kitchen table, her pockets, but no coin. So, she lights a lamp to bring brighter light into the house and sets to work on a thorough search for this coin. She gets out her broom and moving each piece of furniture out of the way, taking the lamp with her room-to-room, she begins to deep clean her house looking for the coin. Likely this was done after a long day of hard work, a time in which she would usually be sleeping, but this lost coin is too valuable to put off looking for until she has more time. It must be found right now – this very night.
Now, we might wonder, why all the fuss for one coin? She still has nine other coins, why is she so worried about one that she spends hours of her time and most of her energy looking for this one?
Let’s look at this from a slightly different perspective:
I read about a girl named Christina, who lived in a small village in Brazil. Christina dreamed of and longed for the excitement of the big city. She wanted to go to Rio, but her mother knew that she was not ready yet to live by herself so far from home, she knew the dangers that lurked in the city, so she begged her daughter not to go.
One morning, though, her mother woke up to see that Christina's room was empty; she was gone. Maria, her mother, immediately gathered all the money she had and went to the bus station to buy a ticket to Rio. On the way to the bus station, Maria stopped at a photo booth and got a bunch of pictures of herself. She used the time during the long bus ride to write on the back of every single picture.
When Maria got to Rio, she searched everywhere for Christina, but could not find her. As she went up and down the streets, she put those pictures of herself wherever she could, hoping that Christina would see them and know that her mother was looking for her.
Some time went by, Christina was staying at a hotel in the city of her dreams, but the excitement and the dreams that had brought her to the city were now long gone, destroyed by the reality of life in the city. She was exhausted and she wanted to go home, but she thought there was no way she could do that. She had run away, abandoned her family, and she was ashamed of what she had done to survive here, so far from home.
As she came to the lobby of the hotel, though, she suddenly saw a picture of her mother. Surprised, her eyes began to fill with tears. She pulled the picture down from the wall and, turning it over, Christina saw what her mother had written. "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become -- it does not matter. Please come home!"
That was all that Christina needed. She left Rio that day to go home to her family. I imagine they greeted her and celebrated her return in much the same way the shepherd rejoiced at finding the lost sheep and the woman at finding her lost coin.
We don’t know if Maria had other children but imagine if she did, imagine if she had ten children, including Christina. We wouldn’t question Maria leaving the other nine children to go find one child. Her love for Christina does not end simply because Christina left and there are still nine remaining. Of course, Maria would do whatever she had to do to find her daughter. Hearing this, we would nod our heads and think to ourselves, “We would do the same.”
Friends, Jesus’ parables today aren’t really about a lost sheep or a lost coin. They are about lost people. A shepherd wouldn’t really leave his whole flock to come find one lost sheep, but our Good Shepherd does that all the time. Every single person, all of whom are created in the image of God and loved by God, are also called by God to come to him. Some come willingly; some need to be pursued. Sadly, some do not want to be found. But it isn’t God who gives up – it is the one who is lost who continues to run from God, continues to hide from God, continues to harden his or her heart against God.
When a lost sheep is found, when the lost coin is found, what happened next? There was a party where everyone was invited to come and celebrate the good news.
Jesus heard the grumblings of the Pharisees and the scribes. He knew what they were saying against him, so he began his parables by asking, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep, would not leave the ninety-nine to go find one that was lost?” Jesus knew the answer. He knew that none of them would do that. Jesus also knew that they were grumbling about how he ministered to the least, the lost, and the lonely, about how he ate with sinners and tax collectors. That these “lost sheep” were coming to know God through Jesus didn’t make the Pharisees want to celebrate, it made them angry.
The very next parable in Luke’s gospel is the story of the prodigal son. I think we can figure out who the Pharisees were in that story, but the story of the prodigal son, and the two that we have heard today, are warnings for us, too. We can easily become the older brother or the grumpy Pharisees, when we compare ourselves to others who come to Jesus.
We are good at welcoming people into our midst, but how often do we go searching for the lost? We are good at encouraging those whom we know and love, but when do we encourage the stranger? We are good at coming to church, but we must remember to BE the church. That is the message Jesus is conveying here, these are the words he wants us to hear from him. That is how we love our neighbor, no matter when they finally become found or how lost they may have been before – it is up to us to welcome them, love them, and celebrate their foundness with them.
On this day, the 21st anniversary of 9/11, I think it is fitting to end with a story of searching for the lost on that particularly fateful day.
We remember that when the World Trade Center crumbled to the ground on that dreadful day, more than 3000 people lost their lives. But there were a few who were buried beneath the rubble who miraculously survived. Two of these were Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, a pair of Port Authority employees. Will and John had responded to the attack and were on the bottom floor as the south tower fell. They were trapped in the rubble, breathing smoke filled air, and they knew they had little hope for survival.
While Will and John lay trapped under the tower of debris, David Karnes, an accountant, and a Marine veteran who served 23 years in active duty, was in Connecticut, watching the news footage on TV, like most of the rest of us did that day. But David decided to do something about it.
He went to his boss and told him he was leaving and wouldn’t be back for a while. He went home and put on his fatigues and then drove as quickly as he could to New York City. He reached ground zero by late afternoon. When he arrived, rescue workers were being called off the site, but Dave was able to stay, his uniform giving him the credentials he needed. He met another Marine, and the two decided to join forces, walking the pile of debris together, searching and seeking to save a life.
After an hour of searching, they heard a faint sound. It was someone tapping on metal pipes. It was Will and John, the two port authority men who had been trapped, by this time, for nine hours.
Just hours before, this former Marine had been wearing a suit, sitting at a desk, crunching numbers on a spreadsheet, but now he began to dig through the rocks, the dirt, the concrete, and the steel, working to free these two men whom he did not know.
There were twenty people who were eventually pulled out of the rubble to safety that day; Will and John were numbers 18 and 19. And it was all because Dave took off his suit, put on his rescue fatigues, (rolled up his sleeves) and stepped into the despair and darkness of Ground Zero. Imagine the celebration that Will’s and John’s families had when they were finally found after being lost for all those long, dark, dangerous hours.
Many might say Dave was crazy for risking his own life that day. He was safely in Connecticut, miles away from danger, yet he was compelled by his love for others to leave his home and go and do what he could to help.
It was a crazy plan that had Jesus leaving the comfort of heaven to come to earth and live as a human in a cold, dark world. It was an even crazier plan when it included him dying on a cross. We were like Will and John, buried with no hope of escape – only we were buried in sin instead of a tall tower. We had no way out, but God had a plan.
We once were lost, but now, having accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are found, and when we got found, there was a party in heaven. Friends, if there was a party for us, shouldn’t we be partying and celebrating for the others who come after us? Shouldn’t we celebrate whenever another lost soul is found and surrenders to the love of God through Christ Jesus? Let’s be the party-goers, not the big brother, let’s be a part of the celebration, not the grumpy Pharisees.
Let’s be seekers who invite in the lost so they can be found, and the celebration can continue without end until Jesus comes back again. And may we be cheering as loudly as we can. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for seeking the lost. We are all, at one time or another, the one who strayed from the ninety-nine, and through your goodness and your love, you have come after us to bring us back to you. Help us to stay put, stay by your side, even as we in turn seek others to bring to you, to invite into your fold, to become one of your flock, that they, too, might become one of the found. And Lord, when that happens, help us to celebrate the goodness of your love as we strive to love others as you have taught us to do. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/having-words-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84217/evangelism-by-tim-smith
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/81728/forgiveness-for-others-by-ken-henson
Series: Having Words with Jesus
Message: Finding the Lost
Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Two quick weeks of hearing Jesus’ words – last week and this week. We heard him tell us last week to count the cost before we make a commitment to follow him because he wants us to be wholly ready and willing to give ourselves to him. He warned us that if we become his follower, we will need to pick up our cross daily because our lives will be difficult at times, maybe even in danger at times, and we must be prepared for those hard times that we might withstand the onslaught and come out the other side still a believer.
This week we get to talk about a lost sheep and a lost coin. We like these verses. They make us feel kind of warm and fuzzy – and not just from the sheep’s wool. We like knowing that we are sought after when we go astray, that God sees us and comes after us to bring us back into his fold. We like being reminded of the love that God has for us that he does that for even one, for every one of us.
How often, though, have we stopped to think about just how radical these stories are? We usually take them at face value, we see the shepherd looking for one lost sheep, finding it, and bringing it back to the others. We watch the woman methodically move her furniture, sweep every corner, every nook and cranny looking for that lost coin until she finally finds it. When the shepherd and the woman find what was lost, they celebrate, and we celebrate with them. “Yeah, good job! WooHoo!”
The reality is, though, that any shepherd worth his crook would never leave the flock of ninety-nine to go looking for one sheep who wandered off. The shepherd’s job is to protect the sheep, to help them find the best grass to eat and the freshest, safest water to drink. If the shepherd wanders off, the flock is in danger. They might scatter, they might see a tender tuft of grass on the edge of the cliff and fall off trying to reach it, they might see a rushing river of water and be carried away by the current trying to get a drink.
Then there is the possibility that a predator might attack while the sheep are left unprotected. A wolf, a bear, or a lion could come charging into the flock and carry off some of the best sheep – a loss that would be greater than that one silly sheep who wandered off and caused all this chaos and confusion.
No, the people who were listening to Jesus’ parable about the lost sheep would have wondered about a shepherd who left the ninety-nine to go find the one. Hearing this story, they might have wondered if Jesus even knew what he was talking about. The Pharisees were already miffed and grumbling about Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, now he has given them reason to question his intelligence – at least about shepherding.
But Jesus goes on; he tells another parable about a woman who has lost a coin. She had ten, but one is lost and now she only has nine. She searches everywhere to find it. She checked her wallet, her kitchen table, her pockets, but no coin. So, she lights a lamp to bring brighter light into the house and sets to work on a thorough search for this coin. She gets out her broom and moving each piece of furniture out of the way, taking the lamp with her room-to-room, she begins to deep clean her house looking for the coin. Likely this was done after a long day of hard work, a time in which she would usually be sleeping, but this lost coin is too valuable to put off looking for until she has more time. It must be found right now – this very night.
Now, we might wonder, why all the fuss for one coin? She still has nine other coins, why is she so worried about one that she spends hours of her time and most of her energy looking for this one?
Let’s look at this from a slightly different perspective:
I read about a girl named Christina, who lived in a small village in Brazil. Christina dreamed of and longed for the excitement of the big city. She wanted to go to Rio, but her mother knew that she was not ready yet to live by herself so far from home, she knew the dangers that lurked in the city, so she begged her daughter not to go.
One morning, though, her mother woke up to see that Christina's room was empty; she was gone. Maria, her mother, immediately gathered all the money she had and went to the bus station to buy a ticket to Rio. On the way to the bus station, Maria stopped at a photo booth and got a bunch of pictures of herself. She used the time during the long bus ride to write on the back of every single picture.
When Maria got to Rio, she searched everywhere for Christina, but could not find her. As she went up and down the streets, she put those pictures of herself wherever she could, hoping that Christina would see them and know that her mother was looking for her.
Some time went by, Christina was staying at a hotel in the city of her dreams, but the excitement and the dreams that had brought her to the city were now long gone, destroyed by the reality of life in the city. She was exhausted and she wanted to go home, but she thought there was no way she could do that. She had run away, abandoned her family, and she was ashamed of what she had done to survive here, so far from home.
As she came to the lobby of the hotel, though, she suddenly saw a picture of her mother. Surprised, her eyes began to fill with tears. She pulled the picture down from the wall and, turning it over, Christina saw what her mother had written. "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become -- it does not matter. Please come home!"
That was all that Christina needed. She left Rio that day to go home to her family. I imagine they greeted her and celebrated her return in much the same way the shepherd rejoiced at finding the lost sheep and the woman at finding her lost coin.
We don’t know if Maria had other children but imagine if she did, imagine if she had ten children, including Christina. We wouldn’t question Maria leaving the other nine children to go find one child. Her love for Christina does not end simply because Christina left and there are still nine remaining. Of course, Maria would do whatever she had to do to find her daughter. Hearing this, we would nod our heads and think to ourselves, “We would do the same.”
Friends, Jesus’ parables today aren’t really about a lost sheep or a lost coin. They are about lost people. A shepherd wouldn’t really leave his whole flock to come find one lost sheep, but our Good Shepherd does that all the time. Every single person, all of whom are created in the image of God and loved by God, are also called by God to come to him. Some come willingly; some need to be pursued. Sadly, some do not want to be found. But it isn’t God who gives up – it is the one who is lost who continues to run from God, continues to hide from God, continues to harden his or her heart against God.
When a lost sheep is found, when the lost coin is found, what happened next? There was a party where everyone was invited to come and celebrate the good news.
Jesus heard the grumblings of the Pharisees and the scribes. He knew what they were saying against him, so he began his parables by asking, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep, would not leave the ninety-nine to go find one that was lost?” Jesus knew the answer. He knew that none of them would do that. Jesus also knew that they were grumbling about how he ministered to the least, the lost, and the lonely, about how he ate with sinners and tax collectors. That these “lost sheep” were coming to know God through Jesus didn’t make the Pharisees want to celebrate, it made them angry.
The very next parable in Luke’s gospel is the story of the prodigal son. I think we can figure out who the Pharisees were in that story, but the story of the prodigal son, and the two that we have heard today, are warnings for us, too. We can easily become the older brother or the grumpy Pharisees, when we compare ourselves to others who come to Jesus.
We are good at welcoming people into our midst, but how often do we go searching for the lost? We are good at encouraging those whom we know and love, but when do we encourage the stranger? We are good at coming to church, but we must remember to BE the church. That is the message Jesus is conveying here, these are the words he wants us to hear from him. That is how we love our neighbor, no matter when they finally become found or how lost they may have been before – it is up to us to welcome them, love them, and celebrate their foundness with them.
On this day, the 21st anniversary of 9/11, I think it is fitting to end with a story of searching for the lost on that particularly fateful day.
We remember that when the World Trade Center crumbled to the ground on that dreadful day, more than 3000 people lost their lives. But there were a few who were buried beneath the rubble who miraculously survived. Two of these were Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, a pair of Port Authority employees. Will and John had responded to the attack and were on the bottom floor as the south tower fell. They were trapped in the rubble, breathing smoke filled air, and they knew they had little hope for survival.
While Will and John lay trapped under the tower of debris, David Karnes, an accountant, and a Marine veteran who served 23 years in active duty, was in Connecticut, watching the news footage on TV, like most of the rest of us did that day. But David decided to do something about it.
He went to his boss and told him he was leaving and wouldn’t be back for a while. He went home and put on his fatigues and then drove as quickly as he could to New York City. He reached ground zero by late afternoon. When he arrived, rescue workers were being called off the site, but Dave was able to stay, his uniform giving him the credentials he needed. He met another Marine, and the two decided to join forces, walking the pile of debris together, searching and seeking to save a life.
After an hour of searching, they heard a faint sound. It was someone tapping on metal pipes. It was Will and John, the two port authority men who had been trapped, by this time, for nine hours.
Just hours before, this former Marine had been wearing a suit, sitting at a desk, crunching numbers on a spreadsheet, but now he began to dig through the rocks, the dirt, the concrete, and the steel, working to free these two men whom he did not know.
There were twenty people who were eventually pulled out of the rubble to safety that day; Will and John were numbers 18 and 19. And it was all because Dave took off his suit, put on his rescue fatigues, (rolled up his sleeves) and stepped into the despair and darkness of Ground Zero. Imagine the celebration that Will’s and John’s families had when they were finally found after being lost for all those long, dark, dangerous hours.
Many might say Dave was crazy for risking his own life that day. He was safely in Connecticut, miles away from danger, yet he was compelled by his love for others to leave his home and go and do what he could to help.
It was a crazy plan that had Jesus leaving the comfort of heaven to come to earth and live as a human in a cold, dark world. It was an even crazier plan when it included him dying on a cross. We were like Will and John, buried with no hope of escape – only we were buried in sin instead of a tall tower. We had no way out, but God had a plan.
We once were lost, but now, having accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are found, and when we got found, there was a party in heaven. Friends, if there was a party for us, shouldn’t we be partying and celebrating for the others who come after us? Shouldn’t we celebrate whenever another lost soul is found and surrenders to the love of God through Christ Jesus? Let’s be the party-goers, not the big brother, let’s be a part of the celebration, not the grumpy Pharisees.
Let’s be seekers who invite in the lost so they can be found, and the celebration can continue without end until Jesus comes back again. And may we be cheering as loudly as we can. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for seeking the lost. We are all, at one time or another, the one who strayed from the ninety-nine, and through your goodness and your love, you have come after us to bring us back to you. Help us to stay put, stay by your side, even as we in turn seek others to bring to you, to invite into your fold, to become one of your flock, that they, too, might become one of the found. And Lord, when that happens, help us to celebrate the goodness of your love as we strive to love others as you have taught us to do. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/having-words-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84217/evangelism-by-tim-smith
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/81728/forgiveness-for-others-by-ken-henson
September 4, 2022 PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON "cOUNTING THE cOST"
September 4, 2022
Series: Having Words with Jesus
Message: Counting the Cost
Scripture: Luke 14:25-33
Now large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
Have you ever built a house? Or taken on a major remodeling project? Or planned a dream vacation? Or made the decision to change careers or decided to go back to school? What is one of the deciding factors in making these kinds of decisions, as well as a myriad of others? Probably one of the first things we think about, worry about, ask ourselves, is “Can I afford this? Can WE afford this?”
This week and next, our Sermon Series is titled, “Having Words with Jesus,” but what we are really doing is listening and learning from Jesus. Today’s scripture is probably not one that many of us like to hear. Jesus is being followed by a large crowd of people and suddenly he turns to them and says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
These words don’t sound like the Jesus we know. Where is the love we usually associate with Jesus and his teachings? What happened to “Love the Lord your God, love your neighbor, love yourself, and love your enemies? Now he wants us to hate? That’s an awfully strong word. That’s a word we teach our children not to say, but here is Jesus telling us that if we want to be a disciple, be one of his followers, we have to hate our family, even hate our life?
Our first instinct is to stop right there and close the book. “I’m out,” we say, “I can’t do that. That is just asking too much.” But wait, maybe we shouldn’t be too hasty. Let’s open the book back up and look at the words Jesus says once more. Is Jesus really telling us to hate others? Really?
No, of course not. But let’s look at the scene. Jesus is being followed by great crowds of people wherever he goes. Why do they follow him? What do they want? They have seen, or at least heard of, Jesus’ healing ministry. He has healed a leper, a paralytic, a man’s withered hand, a Centurion’s slave, a demoniac, a twelve-year-old girl, a demon-possessed boy, a bleeding woman, a bent-over woman, and a man who suffered from swelling. He has raised a widow’s son from the dead and fed a crowd of over five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
Who wouldn’t want to follow this man? For someone to have performed even one of these miracles would be astounding, but this man, this Jesus, has done ALL OF THIS! The people see him, see what he has done, and decide to follow him. But Jesus knows there is more to being a disciple than the miracles. And Jesus knows that when the hard times come, many will decide to “nope right out.”
To be a follower of Jesus, a real disciple, requires a commitment, not just a curiosity. A disciple isn’t someone who comes along for the good times only, but who also knows there will be hard times, even dangerous times ahead. Jesus’ call for his followers to hate their family and their lives isn’t a call to hate at all – but it is a call to love him more than anything, and anyone, else, because only a love that puts Jesus first, a love that centers a life around Jesus himself, is a love that will stand life’s tests.
We often talk about “what this world is coming to,” and it often feels like we are speeding downhill towards utter disaster, but that has pretty much been the feeling of every generation from the time Adam and Eve left the garden. Jesus knew what was to come. He knew that some would die proclaiming his name, some of those who were present with him in that moment, and many, many more to come over the years, decades, centuries.
Jesus is telling the people, “Don’t follow me for only the good times, but realize there will be troubling times, too. Are you prepared for those times as well? Will you be willing to follow me daily, willing to pick up your cross, your burdens, your issues, even when others tell you to drop them and run? That is what it takes to be a disciple.”
Then, to make himself clear, Jesus uses an analogy they can all understand. He asks them, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’”
I asked at the beginning, “Have you ever built a house? Or taken on a major remodeling project? Or planned a dream vacation? Or made the decision to change careers or go back to school?” These are the kinds of things for which we count the cost before beginning. What good would it do to sit down with a builder and present him the plans for a new home, but have no money to build it? Why would we show up at the airport to get on an airplane, ready to fly to a tropical destination, without first knowing how much it would cost for the ticket, the hotel, and for food?
“Know what you are getting into before you make the commitment,” Jesus is warning the crowds. “There is a battle looming on the horizon, a kingdom that needs built. Are you in or out? It won’t be easy, it’s not a stroll on the beach. This is a battle for your soul, for yours and everyone else’s. This is a commitment to living a transformed life so others can see me through you. This battle will mean you are giving me your all, one hundred percent of yourself, your very own blood, sweat, and tears. Can you do it? Will you do it?”
Many will be quick to agree. Some will make a good beginning. Few will weather the hardships because they didn’t count the cost. They didn’t take the time to think about what they were getting into. They didn’t expect the going to get so tough so fast, to stumble and fall more often than not, or for tragedy to strike so close to home.
Jesus wants to be upfront about what he is asking of us. “Give up everything for me, every single thing that might hold you back, every single person you think you love so much, even your own life, give it up for my sake, because in the end, you are really giving it all up for your own sake.”
“What does he mean by that?” we ask. When we are followers of Jesus, when we are willing to give him everything, and I mean everything, without holding anything or anyone back, we have taken off the chains that keep us from experiencing the purest, truest form of love – the love of Jesus himself. And when we have experienced his love, then we can start to learn how to love others in the way Jesus calls us to love them. Not selfishly, not sporadically, not conditionally, but fully, completely, and whole-heartedly, just as Jesus loves us.
In “The Imitation of Christ,” Thomas a Kempis writes, “Jesus has many who love His Kingdom in Heaven, but few who bear His Cross (Luke 14:27). He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the Breaking of Bread, but few to the drinking of the Cup of His Passion. Many admire His miracles, but few follow Him in the humiliation of His Cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them. Many praise and bless Him, as long as they are receiving comfort from Him. But if Jesus withdraw Himself, they fall to complaining and utter dejection.”
“Count the cost,” Jesus says, “Pick up your cross and follow me. Make me your priority, give me your whole self.” Jesus could ask this because he knew he was on his way to giving his whole self for everyone to whom he was speaking that day. He had counted the cost long ago, long before he ever agreed to step across the stars, leave his heavenly dwelling place, and come to earth as a baby who would be the Savior of the world. It was a message that he meant for all of us, too, not just for those long-ago crowds.
Jesus’ invitation still stands today. He invites us to pick up our own cross, to weigh the pros and the cons, to make a decision, and to put him in the center of our lives, make him priority number one, but he does so because he wants us to know what real love is like. My friends, it is only by accepting his invitation that we can really know what it is like to really love ourselves, love our neighbor, love our enemies, and love our God. The road we take to follow Jesus may be hard, but when we count the cost, we will find that in the end, it is worth it at any price. Won’t you accept his invitation today?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, like the crowds in today’s scripture, we find ourselves drawn to you because of the good things, the miracles, the good deeds that you have done. Lord, we confess that we often forget the cost associated with being your disciple. We want the good times, the easy times, but we try to hide from the hard times, the stormy times. Help us, Lord, to see that without you, the hard times are harder to bear, help us to make a whole-hearted commitment to follow you wherever you lead us, and to help others to do the same. Help us to give up all that we have in exchange for you, that we might know your love, and that you might teach us to love others as you would have us love them.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being willing to go to the cross for us, for saving us, for loving us beyond any capacity we can measure or understand. May we bring you honor as we strive to glorify your name in the way we live and in the way we follow you, each and every day. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/having-words-with-jesus
Series: Having Words with Jesus
Message: Counting the Cost
Scripture: Luke 14:25-33
Now large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
Have you ever built a house? Or taken on a major remodeling project? Or planned a dream vacation? Or made the decision to change careers or decided to go back to school? What is one of the deciding factors in making these kinds of decisions, as well as a myriad of others? Probably one of the first things we think about, worry about, ask ourselves, is “Can I afford this? Can WE afford this?”
This week and next, our Sermon Series is titled, “Having Words with Jesus,” but what we are really doing is listening and learning from Jesus. Today’s scripture is probably not one that many of us like to hear. Jesus is being followed by a large crowd of people and suddenly he turns to them and says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
These words don’t sound like the Jesus we know. Where is the love we usually associate with Jesus and his teachings? What happened to “Love the Lord your God, love your neighbor, love yourself, and love your enemies? Now he wants us to hate? That’s an awfully strong word. That’s a word we teach our children not to say, but here is Jesus telling us that if we want to be a disciple, be one of his followers, we have to hate our family, even hate our life?
Our first instinct is to stop right there and close the book. “I’m out,” we say, “I can’t do that. That is just asking too much.” But wait, maybe we shouldn’t be too hasty. Let’s open the book back up and look at the words Jesus says once more. Is Jesus really telling us to hate others? Really?
No, of course not. But let’s look at the scene. Jesus is being followed by great crowds of people wherever he goes. Why do they follow him? What do they want? They have seen, or at least heard of, Jesus’ healing ministry. He has healed a leper, a paralytic, a man’s withered hand, a Centurion’s slave, a demoniac, a twelve-year-old girl, a demon-possessed boy, a bleeding woman, a bent-over woman, and a man who suffered from swelling. He has raised a widow’s son from the dead and fed a crowd of over five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
Who wouldn’t want to follow this man? For someone to have performed even one of these miracles would be astounding, but this man, this Jesus, has done ALL OF THIS! The people see him, see what he has done, and decide to follow him. But Jesus knows there is more to being a disciple than the miracles. And Jesus knows that when the hard times come, many will decide to “nope right out.”
To be a follower of Jesus, a real disciple, requires a commitment, not just a curiosity. A disciple isn’t someone who comes along for the good times only, but who also knows there will be hard times, even dangerous times ahead. Jesus’ call for his followers to hate their family and their lives isn’t a call to hate at all – but it is a call to love him more than anything, and anyone, else, because only a love that puts Jesus first, a love that centers a life around Jesus himself, is a love that will stand life’s tests.
We often talk about “what this world is coming to,” and it often feels like we are speeding downhill towards utter disaster, but that has pretty much been the feeling of every generation from the time Adam and Eve left the garden. Jesus knew what was to come. He knew that some would die proclaiming his name, some of those who were present with him in that moment, and many, many more to come over the years, decades, centuries.
Jesus is telling the people, “Don’t follow me for only the good times, but realize there will be troubling times, too. Are you prepared for those times as well? Will you be willing to follow me daily, willing to pick up your cross, your burdens, your issues, even when others tell you to drop them and run? That is what it takes to be a disciple.”
Then, to make himself clear, Jesus uses an analogy they can all understand. He asks them, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’”
I asked at the beginning, “Have you ever built a house? Or taken on a major remodeling project? Or planned a dream vacation? Or made the decision to change careers or go back to school?” These are the kinds of things for which we count the cost before beginning. What good would it do to sit down with a builder and present him the plans for a new home, but have no money to build it? Why would we show up at the airport to get on an airplane, ready to fly to a tropical destination, without first knowing how much it would cost for the ticket, the hotel, and for food?
“Know what you are getting into before you make the commitment,” Jesus is warning the crowds. “There is a battle looming on the horizon, a kingdom that needs built. Are you in or out? It won’t be easy, it’s not a stroll on the beach. This is a battle for your soul, for yours and everyone else’s. This is a commitment to living a transformed life so others can see me through you. This battle will mean you are giving me your all, one hundred percent of yourself, your very own blood, sweat, and tears. Can you do it? Will you do it?”
Many will be quick to agree. Some will make a good beginning. Few will weather the hardships because they didn’t count the cost. They didn’t take the time to think about what they were getting into. They didn’t expect the going to get so tough so fast, to stumble and fall more often than not, or for tragedy to strike so close to home.
Jesus wants to be upfront about what he is asking of us. “Give up everything for me, every single thing that might hold you back, every single person you think you love so much, even your own life, give it up for my sake, because in the end, you are really giving it all up for your own sake.”
“What does he mean by that?” we ask. When we are followers of Jesus, when we are willing to give him everything, and I mean everything, without holding anything or anyone back, we have taken off the chains that keep us from experiencing the purest, truest form of love – the love of Jesus himself. And when we have experienced his love, then we can start to learn how to love others in the way Jesus calls us to love them. Not selfishly, not sporadically, not conditionally, but fully, completely, and whole-heartedly, just as Jesus loves us.
In “The Imitation of Christ,” Thomas a Kempis writes, “Jesus has many who love His Kingdom in Heaven, but few who bear His Cross (Luke 14:27). He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the Breaking of Bread, but few to the drinking of the Cup of His Passion. Many admire His miracles, but few follow Him in the humiliation of His Cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them. Many praise and bless Him, as long as they are receiving comfort from Him. But if Jesus withdraw Himself, they fall to complaining and utter dejection.”
“Count the cost,” Jesus says, “Pick up your cross and follow me. Make me your priority, give me your whole self.” Jesus could ask this because he knew he was on his way to giving his whole self for everyone to whom he was speaking that day. He had counted the cost long ago, long before he ever agreed to step across the stars, leave his heavenly dwelling place, and come to earth as a baby who would be the Savior of the world. It was a message that he meant for all of us, too, not just for those long-ago crowds.
Jesus’ invitation still stands today. He invites us to pick up our own cross, to weigh the pros and the cons, to make a decision, and to put him in the center of our lives, make him priority number one, but he does so because he wants us to know what real love is like. My friends, it is only by accepting his invitation that we can really know what it is like to really love ourselves, love our neighbor, love our enemies, and love our God. The road we take to follow Jesus may be hard, but when we count the cost, we will find that in the end, it is worth it at any price. Won’t you accept his invitation today?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, like the crowds in today’s scripture, we find ourselves drawn to you because of the good things, the miracles, the good deeds that you have done. Lord, we confess that we often forget the cost associated with being your disciple. We want the good times, the easy times, but we try to hide from the hard times, the stormy times. Help us, Lord, to see that without you, the hard times are harder to bear, help us to make a whole-hearted commitment to follow you wherever you lead us, and to help others to do the same. Help us to give up all that we have in exchange for you, that we might know your love, and that you might teach us to love others as you would have us love them.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being willing to go to the cross for us, for saving us, for loving us beyond any capacity we can measure or understand. May we bring you honor as we strive to glorify your name in the way we live and in the way we follow you, each and every day. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/having-words-with-jesus
AUGUST 28, 2022 PASTOR dONNA'S SERMON "CRACKED CISTERNS".
August 28, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Cracked Cisterns
Scripture: Jeremiah 2:4-13
Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord,
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,
where no one lives?”
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit.
9 Therefore once more I accuse you,
says the Lord,
and I accuse your children’s children.
10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look;
send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has ever been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for something that does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked; be utterly desolate,
says the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.
One day a man was driving down the road with his little boy in his car seat in the back. As the father glanced in his rearview mirror, he saw his son had unbuckled himself and was standing up on the seat. Sternly, his father warned him to sit back down and buckle up or he would be in a heap of trouble. The son obeyed, but after refastening his seat belt, he said to his dad, “My body is sitting now, but in my head, I am still standing.”
As a parent, I can relate to that story. The child was following orders on the outside, but he was still rebelling on the inside. That is the story of the Israelites in today’s scripture.
This is our last week of visiting with the old prophets – at least for a while. Summer is coming to a close and our visits are coming to an end. Next week we will do some time traveling as we move several hundred years forward and hear some words from Jesus.
Last week, we witnessed Jeremiah’s call to the ministry of being a prophet. We heard God tell Jeremiah that he was known before he was formed, he was consecrated before he was born, and he was appointed by God to be a prophet to God’s people. Now Jeremiah has accepted God’s call and is giving his first message to the people of Jerusalem.
The second chapter begins with God telling the people he remembers how it used to be, saying, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.”
As we hear these words, we remember how God called his people out of Egyptian slavery and led them through the desert. In all their time of wandering, they depended on God to provide for their every need. They never had to worry about their clothes or their sandals wearing out, they were fed quail for meat and manna from heaven, and they were given water which gushed forth from a solid rock when there was no other source of water to be found. For forty years, these people followed God, depended on God, worshiped God. If only they had remained in that wilderness, perhaps they would have remained faithful.
Eventually, they crossed the Jordan River and took possession of the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where crops were already planted and the harvest was easy, a land where new crops would grow abundantly, where vineyards and olive trees gave wine and oil, a land where hunting was plentiful, and food was easily acquired. And when life got easy, the people began to forget who brought them to the place where they were and who had provided for them and protected them along the way.
There were periods when times got tough, and the people would remember who God was and what he meant to them, and they would turn back, but when the crises had passed, and a new generation came along, they would once again fall away and turn their backs on God. Oh, they might still follow the Law – at least on the outside – at least some parts of it – but in their hearts and in their minds, they were effectively standing up on the back seat as their car went down the road.
Here is the difference, though, between the Israelites and that defiant little boy – the dad would not have known that the child was still “standing up in his mind” if the child hadn’t admitted it, but God knew exactly what the Israelites were thinking. He knew that any outward show of devotion for most of them was just that – an outward show that did not involve the heart because they were not truly devoted.
So, God asks, “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?” “What did I do,” God asks, “to make these people turn away from me?” We know the answer is “nothing.”
God did nothing wrong, of course. It is the people who have chosen to worship worthless, false gods instead of the Living God, and in doing so, they have become worthless and false themselves. They had become so enamored of these lifeless stone and wood idols that they didn’t even think to ask themselves, “Where is the Lord, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?”
It never occurred to them to ask, “Where is this God who has given us everything, who has loved us when we were not lovable, who has provided for us, grew us, strengthened us, protected us, guided us, and fought for us?” Instead, they chopped down a tree and used its wood to build a bench, to start a fire, and with what was left, to carve an idol and worship it as a god.
They turned away from their true source of life and love and turned toward nothing. Who does that? Who gives up something beautiful for something ugly, something valuable for something worthless? Hear the lament of God, “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked; be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”
We are used to having water whenever we want it. Clean water, good for drinking and cooking is ours with the turn of a faucet. Do we really ever think about where it comes from? For many people, water comes from a well that was dug when their house was built. A deep hole in the ground which reached a reliable, potable water source. Then pipe is laid, and a pump is installed, and water comes into the house.
I remember one house where we lived when I was younger, though where we had a cistern instead of a well. For those who may not know, a cistern is a receptacle for holding water, especially in a place where a well cannot be dug or if the water that is in the ground is not viable for consumption. Cisterns are different from wells in that water must be put into them – either through a system of catching rainwater, or by being hauled in by a water truck and filled up as needed.
Because the water is held in the cistern until it is ready to be used, the cistern must be waterproofed in some way so that the water doesn’t leak out and be wasted, and so that contaminates don’t leak in and ruin the water.
God says the Israelites have turned their noses up on the gift of living water and instead have chosen to dig for themselves a cistern to use as their spiritual water source – and a cracked one at that, one that will not hold water, or anything else they might keep keep filling it with.
“Who in their right mind would do that?” we ask. And yet, do we not do the same thing today? When life is easy and times are good, do we not go about our business as though we are in control and have brought about such times by our own doing? Then, when life hits us in the gut and takes all the air out of us, we scramble to try to fix it, to figure it out and get back on track. When we finally realize that that isn’t working, out of desperation, we call out to God and ask for his help.
How often have we had a choice to make and chosen the easy path instead of the one that might require more work, more effort, and more faith? What have we forfeited by doing do? Where have we, as the Israelites did, chosen to dig our own cisterns instead of accepting the gift of living water offered to us by the One who wants nothing but the best for us?
When have we forgotten to be grateful for all we have because we let our gratitude leak out and go to waste? What will we do about it?
The first thing we need to do is to admit our ingratitude and ask God’s forgiveness. Next, we have to find a way to seek God in all we do – not just in the desperate times, but in the good times, and in the so-so times. We need to go to the source of this living water and give thanks for its sustaining power.
The practice of spiritual disciplines can help us with this. What are some of the spiritual disciplines? There are the inward, personal disciplines such as praying, fasting, and meditating on God’s word. There are outward disciplines that may be personal or practiced in community, such as service, confession, and worship.
Worship, both in community and privately is a great place to start – you are here so you’re already practicing that one. Reading and studying God’s word, prayer, and practicing the presence of God are spiritual disciplines which we can, and should, do intentionally, regularly, joyfully, and gratefully. Those may look different for different people.
Some may find that getting up early in the morning is the best time of day to read scripture and sit in the presence of God. Others may be better suited to waiting until evening. Some may find themselves feeling closer to God while they are outside, walking through the neighborhood, hiking a nature trail, or working in the garden. Others may find that sitting in a quiet room with the light of a candle helps them to focus on God. We all need to find what works best for us so we will do it.
It's okay to try something for awhile and see if it works for you. If it does – great – keep doing it, but if not, then try something else. It took me several years and several tries before I really found myself reading daily scripture. I cannot tell you how many times a new year would roll around and I would vow to read the Bible every day. I would start out well, but then I would get off track and eventually give up.
Finally, I discovered a Bible app that has reading plans. I tried it and it worked better for me. I have been able to read through the Bible every year now for the last several years and I find that I look forward to doing so each day. For me, that time is in the evening and because I know how easy it is to get busy and forget, I have set an alarm on my phone. Now, if my alarm goes off, I know I haven’t taken time to read God’s word that day, I have neglected to intentionally spend time in his presence, and I am reminded to do it now – not because I have to – but because I want to.
Find what works for you and just do it. Start with a few minutes if necessary and build up as you get used to it. I promise, you will be glad you did. God will be glad, too. This is what he wants from us – to come to him, to want to come to him, daily, at all times and in all situations, both good times and bad times, and even in the in-between times. But do it because you want to, because here’s the thing, we may sit down and buckle our seatbelt while we are in the car, but God knows if we are still standing up in our mind. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious God, we know you are the source of living water, the one who pours out grace on us like rain on fertile fields, and yet, we sometimes forget to thank you for your blessings. We forget that all good things come from you. We get caught up in our ways and our busyness, and we neglect our spiritual lives; we neglect you. Help us, Lord, as we seek to find ways to show our gratitude for all you do. Guide us as we order our daily routines to include you more. Forgive us when we falter, lead us to try again, that we might draw closer to you on this journey of faith. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Cracked Cisterns
Scripture: Jeremiah 2:4-13
Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord,
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,
where no one lives?”
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit.
9 Therefore once more I accuse you,
says the Lord,
and I accuse your children’s children.
10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look;
send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has ever been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for something that does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked; be utterly desolate,
says the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.
One day a man was driving down the road with his little boy in his car seat in the back. As the father glanced in his rearview mirror, he saw his son had unbuckled himself and was standing up on the seat. Sternly, his father warned him to sit back down and buckle up or he would be in a heap of trouble. The son obeyed, but after refastening his seat belt, he said to his dad, “My body is sitting now, but in my head, I am still standing.”
As a parent, I can relate to that story. The child was following orders on the outside, but he was still rebelling on the inside. That is the story of the Israelites in today’s scripture.
This is our last week of visiting with the old prophets – at least for a while. Summer is coming to a close and our visits are coming to an end. Next week we will do some time traveling as we move several hundred years forward and hear some words from Jesus.
Last week, we witnessed Jeremiah’s call to the ministry of being a prophet. We heard God tell Jeremiah that he was known before he was formed, he was consecrated before he was born, and he was appointed by God to be a prophet to God’s people. Now Jeremiah has accepted God’s call and is giving his first message to the people of Jerusalem.
The second chapter begins with God telling the people he remembers how it used to be, saying, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.”
As we hear these words, we remember how God called his people out of Egyptian slavery and led them through the desert. In all their time of wandering, they depended on God to provide for their every need. They never had to worry about their clothes or their sandals wearing out, they were fed quail for meat and manna from heaven, and they were given water which gushed forth from a solid rock when there was no other source of water to be found. For forty years, these people followed God, depended on God, worshiped God. If only they had remained in that wilderness, perhaps they would have remained faithful.
Eventually, they crossed the Jordan River and took possession of the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where crops were already planted and the harvest was easy, a land where new crops would grow abundantly, where vineyards and olive trees gave wine and oil, a land where hunting was plentiful, and food was easily acquired. And when life got easy, the people began to forget who brought them to the place where they were and who had provided for them and protected them along the way.
There were periods when times got tough, and the people would remember who God was and what he meant to them, and they would turn back, but when the crises had passed, and a new generation came along, they would once again fall away and turn their backs on God. Oh, they might still follow the Law – at least on the outside – at least some parts of it – but in their hearts and in their minds, they were effectively standing up on the back seat as their car went down the road.
Here is the difference, though, between the Israelites and that defiant little boy – the dad would not have known that the child was still “standing up in his mind” if the child hadn’t admitted it, but God knew exactly what the Israelites were thinking. He knew that any outward show of devotion for most of them was just that – an outward show that did not involve the heart because they were not truly devoted.
So, God asks, “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?” “What did I do,” God asks, “to make these people turn away from me?” We know the answer is “nothing.”
God did nothing wrong, of course. It is the people who have chosen to worship worthless, false gods instead of the Living God, and in doing so, they have become worthless and false themselves. They had become so enamored of these lifeless stone and wood idols that they didn’t even think to ask themselves, “Where is the Lord, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?”
It never occurred to them to ask, “Where is this God who has given us everything, who has loved us when we were not lovable, who has provided for us, grew us, strengthened us, protected us, guided us, and fought for us?” Instead, they chopped down a tree and used its wood to build a bench, to start a fire, and with what was left, to carve an idol and worship it as a god.
They turned away from their true source of life and love and turned toward nothing. Who does that? Who gives up something beautiful for something ugly, something valuable for something worthless? Hear the lament of God, “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked; be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”
We are used to having water whenever we want it. Clean water, good for drinking and cooking is ours with the turn of a faucet. Do we really ever think about where it comes from? For many people, water comes from a well that was dug when their house was built. A deep hole in the ground which reached a reliable, potable water source. Then pipe is laid, and a pump is installed, and water comes into the house.
I remember one house where we lived when I was younger, though where we had a cistern instead of a well. For those who may not know, a cistern is a receptacle for holding water, especially in a place where a well cannot be dug or if the water that is in the ground is not viable for consumption. Cisterns are different from wells in that water must be put into them – either through a system of catching rainwater, or by being hauled in by a water truck and filled up as needed.
Because the water is held in the cistern until it is ready to be used, the cistern must be waterproofed in some way so that the water doesn’t leak out and be wasted, and so that contaminates don’t leak in and ruin the water.
God says the Israelites have turned their noses up on the gift of living water and instead have chosen to dig for themselves a cistern to use as their spiritual water source – and a cracked one at that, one that will not hold water, or anything else they might keep keep filling it with.
“Who in their right mind would do that?” we ask. And yet, do we not do the same thing today? When life is easy and times are good, do we not go about our business as though we are in control and have brought about such times by our own doing? Then, when life hits us in the gut and takes all the air out of us, we scramble to try to fix it, to figure it out and get back on track. When we finally realize that that isn’t working, out of desperation, we call out to God and ask for his help.
How often have we had a choice to make and chosen the easy path instead of the one that might require more work, more effort, and more faith? What have we forfeited by doing do? Where have we, as the Israelites did, chosen to dig our own cisterns instead of accepting the gift of living water offered to us by the One who wants nothing but the best for us?
When have we forgotten to be grateful for all we have because we let our gratitude leak out and go to waste? What will we do about it?
The first thing we need to do is to admit our ingratitude and ask God’s forgiveness. Next, we have to find a way to seek God in all we do – not just in the desperate times, but in the good times, and in the so-so times. We need to go to the source of this living water and give thanks for its sustaining power.
The practice of spiritual disciplines can help us with this. What are some of the spiritual disciplines? There are the inward, personal disciplines such as praying, fasting, and meditating on God’s word. There are outward disciplines that may be personal or practiced in community, such as service, confession, and worship.
Worship, both in community and privately is a great place to start – you are here so you’re already practicing that one. Reading and studying God’s word, prayer, and practicing the presence of God are spiritual disciplines which we can, and should, do intentionally, regularly, joyfully, and gratefully. Those may look different for different people.
Some may find that getting up early in the morning is the best time of day to read scripture and sit in the presence of God. Others may be better suited to waiting until evening. Some may find themselves feeling closer to God while they are outside, walking through the neighborhood, hiking a nature trail, or working in the garden. Others may find that sitting in a quiet room with the light of a candle helps them to focus on God. We all need to find what works best for us so we will do it.
It's okay to try something for awhile and see if it works for you. If it does – great – keep doing it, but if not, then try something else. It took me several years and several tries before I really found myself reading daily scripture. I cannot tell you how many times a new year would roll around and I would vow to read the Bible every day. I would start out well, but then I would get off track and eventually give up.
Finally, I discovered a Bible app that has reading plans. I tried it and it worked better for me. I have been able to read through the Bible every year now for the last several years and I find that I look forward to doing so each day. For me, that time is in the evening and because I know how easy it is to get busy and forget, I have set an alarm on my phone. Now, if my alarm goes off, I know I haven’t taken time to read God’s word that day, I have neglected to intentionally spend time in his presence, and I am reminded to do it now – not because I have to – but because I want to.
Find what works for you and just do it. Start with a few minutes if necessary and build up as you get used to it. I promise, you will be glad you did. God will be glad, too. This is what he wants from us – to come to him, to want to come to him, daily, at all times and in all situations, both good times and bad times, and even in the in-between times. But do it because you want to, because here’s the thing, we may sit down and buckle our seatbelt while we are in the car, but God knows if we are still standing up in our mind. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious God, we know you are the source of living water, the one who pours out grace on us like rain on fertile fields, and yet, we sometimes forget to thank you for your blessings. We forget that all good things come from you. We get caught up in our ways and our busyness, and we neglect our spiritual lives; we neglect you. Help us, Lord, as we seek to find ways to show our gratitude for all you do. Guide us as we order our daily routines to include you more. Forgive us when we falter, lead us to try again, that we might draw closer to you on this journey of faith. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
AUGUST 21, 2022, PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON "I KNEW YOU"
August 21, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: I Knew You
Scripture: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.”
9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
Some weeks, when I sit down to write the sermon, I sit and ponder what to write. I ask, “What is God saying here that we need to know? What is he asking me to relay for him this week?” It might take awhile to put it all together. Honestly, sometimes, it can be a real struggle.
This week was not one of those weeks. In fact, this week was just the opposite. From the first few words, I felt like this passage was assaulting me with all the possibilities and thoughts that began rattling around in my head. How is it possible to read these words and think of about six other things all at the same time? I have no idea, but that is what it felt like. Some of those thoughts made it into today’s message so bear with me while I try to pull it all together.
We have arrived for our visit with Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, called by God to be a prophet to his people. God’s call to Jeremiah was pretty direct, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
In these words of introduction to Jeremiah, I hear the echoes of King David’s words in Psalm 139, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”
We don’t have to look far today to find the hope and the comfort in our scripture. It’s right there at the beginning. God told Jeremiah right away that he was known before he was born, the God had consecrated him for the purpose of being a prophet, of relaying God’s messages to God’s people.
What did Jeremiah think of all of this? His response: “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Why is it, when God calls, the first reaction is usually to make an excuse as to why the call cannot be answered? God says, “Jeremiah, I know who you are, I have known you since before you were formed and born, and I have a job that only you can do.” Jeremiah immediately says, “Sorry, I’m too young. You must want someone else.”
Moses may have been the best one to make excuses and arguments when God called him. God shows up one day in a burning bush, which catches Moses’ attention really fast. Then God tells Moses that he is sending him to Egypt to speak to Pharoah about letting the Israelites go free. Moses’ first excuse, “Who am I that I should go?” God says, “It’s okay because I will go with you.”
Moses’ next excuse, “They might not believe that I am working for you. What is your name?’ “I AM WHO I AM,” was the reply. Moses was still not convinced, “Listen, those people still might not believe me. What then?” So, God turned Moses’ staff into a snake and then back into a staff. Then God caused a skin disease on Moses’ hand and then cured it. “There,” God said, “if they won’t believe your words, show them these signs.”
Still, Moses was not convinced. “You may not know this about me, Lord, but I don’t speak too well. My words get mixed up sometimes and I speak too slow.” Once again, God had and answer. Once again, Moses wasn’t budging. “Lord, can’t you just send someone else, anyone else but me?”
If you are counting, that was five times Moses said no to God. We read that and think, “Whoa! How can someone say no to God?” But it happens. God calls; we make excuses. Jeremiah’s excuse of being too young didn’t change God’s mind any more than any of Moses’ excuses did in that time long before.
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’ for you shall go to all to whom I will send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” God is reassuring Jeremiah that he will not be sent out alone. God will go with him. God will tell him where to go. God will give him the words to say. God will protect him. All Jeremiah needs to do is follow God.
And that is the lesson for today. All we need to do is follow God. But do we? Think about a time when God called you. How did you respond? Did you ignore the message? Make an excuse? Answer and obey?
I read a story this week about a guy who was walking down the street in a large city and as he approached an intersection, he saw a police officer directing traffic. Just then, he felt God telling him to go over to the officer and tell him that God loves him. The man ignored the call and kept walking. But after taking several steps on down the street, the man was overcome by the weight of his disobedience, and he turned around and walked back to the police office. Feeling a little foolish, he walked up to the officer and said, “Excuse me, officer, but God just told me to tell you that he loves you.”
The officer turned to look at the man with tears in his eyes and he spoke, “Last night, I prayed to God for the first time in many years, and I told him that if he were real, the least he could do was send someone to tell me that he was here for me.” The officer then called for a back up officer to take over for him, and he and the man talked for a bit. Then, that police officer prayed, right then and there, to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior.
A call was made, an excuse was given, but in the end, obedience won. Think about it, if that man had not turned around and walked back to that intersection, that police officer just may have never gotten the answer he was looking for. He may have never come to a saving faith in Jesus. He may have been a lost soul for all of eternity.
But, answering God’s call is hard, isn’t it? I’ll say. I had my own struggle with that for awhile myself. For those who do not know, I lost my husband seventeen years ago. My son was grown, and I was feeling restless and without a purpose. I began to pray to God, and I told him that I was willing to give myself to him in whatever capacity he wanted, and I really meant it. Then I waited to hear what that might be. And I waited. And I waited. And I kept praying. And I kept offering. And I kept waiting.
I kept myself busy enough. I was working, I was getting my undergrad degree, and I was active in my church. I taught Sunday school, I was a youth leader, I served on committees. Whenever our pastor would be out of the pulpit, I took my turn giving the message as a Lay Speaker. But I was waiting to see what God “really wanted me to do with my life.”
Then we got an interim pastor. She never heard me preach, but almost right away she made it a point to tell me she thought I was being called into the ministry. I laughed and said, no, not me. She just smiled and gave me a book to read when I had time. Then we got our next pastor. He never heard me preach, but almost right away he made it a point to tell me he thought I was being called into the ministry. I laughed again, but not quite as long this time.
Finally, I read the book. I began to wonder. But I was still waiting to hear something from God. I was still offering, I was still waiting, but God was silent. Or so I thought. Several conversations and a few months later, I was lamenting to my pastor that I thought I might actually be being called to ministry, but I wasn’t sure because I had not heard God speaking to me to tell me that’s what he wanted from me.
I will never forget what he said to me: “Sometimes God uses other people to tell you what you are not hearing him say.” Oh. You see, I had been making excuses without realizing it. I was waiting to hear God’s voice in the way that Jeremiah heard God, in the way Moses heard God, in the way so many others have heard God. I was expecting an audible voice telling me what to do.
What my pastor reminded me was that God can speak to us in any way he pleases, and sometimes his voice sounds a lot like the people around us. Sometime his voice sounds like two of my pastors, sometimes he sounds just like my mom, and sometimes he sounds like so many of my church family who had been encouraging me to pursue ministry for years. But, because I didn’t hear God in the way that I expected to hear him, I used the excuse that maybe this isn’t really what he wants me to do.
We are all quick to have excuses when God calls us. Oh, you thought God only called people like me who stand in the pulpit, or people who travel to other places and countries to teach others his word? Wrong. God calls ALL of us, each in our own way, each to our own purpose in his kingdom. That is why we are all here today. God called and we answered. But coming to church is not the extent of our call. It is just the beginning. Jesus outlined if for us in Matthew 28, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” That wasn’t just for the disciples who were with him that day. That directive was for all Christians in all times and places.
That doesn’t mean that we all have to pack our bags and hit the road, though. “Go, therefore,” means as you go along, as you follow your routine, as you go to work and school and the doctor’s office, and the dentist’s office, everywhere you go, make sure you are listening for God’s call. You never know when you may have to tell someone that God loves them. But when you get that call, and when you answer that call, a life may be changed and that just might have everlasting consequences.
I finally stopped making excuses and became obedient to God’s calling me to pastoral ministry. The moment I made the decision and made the phone call to my DS to start the process, I felt like a great weight had been lifted off me that I didn’t even realize I had. I bet Moses and Jeremiah and all the others felt the same way when they stopped making excuses, too. I bet you will, too.
Oh, and one more thing. Remember God’s promise to Jeremiah that he would go with him wherever he went, and he would give him the words to say? Yeah, that is still God’s promise to those whom he calls, even today. We heard him say it to Jeremiah and we are reminded again of that promise in Matthew’s gospel.
Jesus is with his disciples, and he is warning them that being one of his followers won’t always be easy. But Jesus reassures them, “When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
What is the number one reason people don’t tell others about Jesus? Because they are afraid they won’t know what to say. Talking to people about Jesus doesn’t require a lengthy speech or a deep theological knowledge. Sometimes it is as simple as saying, “God loves you. Would you like to know how much?” Don’t worry about the rest. If they say yes, God will be with you and will give you the words. He knows you and has called you. Now, no more excuses. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, how amazing to realize that you knew us before we were formed. You knew us and loved us from the very beginning. You have called us to come and follow you and to tell others about you, and you have promised to be with us and give us the words. Lord, help us to put aside our excuses and become obedient to your call, that we might share your story with others and help them come to know you through the saving grace of your son, Jesus. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84360/evangelism-by-tim-smith
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: I Knew You
Scripture: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.”
9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
Some weeks, when I sit down to write the sermon, I sit and ponder what to write. I ask, “What is God saying here that we need to know? What is he asking me to relay for him this week?” It might take awhile to put it all together. Honestly, sometimes, it can be a real struggle.
This week was not one of those weeks. In fact, this week was just the opposite. From the first few words, I felt like this passage was assaulting me with all the possibilities and thoughts that began rattling around in my head. How is it possible to read these words and think of about six other things all at the same time? I have no idea, but that is what it felt like. Some of those thoughts made it into today’s message so bear with me while I try to pull it all together.
We have arrived for our visit with Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, called by God to be a prophet to his people. God’s call to Jeremiah was pretty direct, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
In these words of introduction to Jeremiah, I hear the echoes of King David’s words in Psalm 139, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”
We don’t have to look far today to find the hope and the comfort in our scripture. It’s right there at the beginning. God told Jeremiah right away that he was known before he was born, the God had consecrated him for the purpose of being a prophet, of relaying God’s messages to God’s people.
What did Jeremiah think of all of this? His response: “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Why is it, when God calls, the first reaction is usually to make an excuse as to why the call cannot be answered? God says, “Jeremiah, I know who you are, I have known you since before you were formed and born, and I have a job that only you can do.” Jeremiah immediately says, “Sorry, I’m too young. You must want someone else.”
Moses may have been the best one to make excuses and arguments when God called him. God shows up one day in a burning bush, which catches Moses’ attention really fast. Then God tells Moses that he is sending him to Egypt to speak to Pharoah about letting the Israelites go free. Moses’ first excuse, “Who am I that I should go?” God says, “It’s okay because I will go with you.”
Moses’ next excuse, “They might not believe that I am working for you. What is your name?’ “I AM WHO I AM,” was the reply. Moses was still not convinced, “Listen, those people still might not believe me. What then?” So, God turned Moses’ staff into a snake and then back into a staff. Then God caused a skin disease on Moses’ hand and then cured it. “There,” God said, “if they won’t believe your words, show them these signs.”
Still, Moses was not convinced. “You may not know this about me, Lord, but I don’t speak too well. My words get mixed up sometimes and I speak too slow.” Once again, God had and answer. Once again, Moses wasn’t budging. “Lord, can’t you just send someone else, anyone else but me?”
If you are counting, that was five times Moses said no to God. We read that and think, “Whoa! How can someone say no to God?” But it happens. God calls; we make excuses. Jeremiah’s excuse of being too young didn’t change God’s mind any more than any of Moses’ excuses did in that time long before.
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’ for you shall go to all to whom I will send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” God is reassuring Jeremiah that he will not be sent out alone. God will go with him. God will tell him where to go. God will give him the words to say. God will protect him. All Jeremiah needs to do is follow God.
And that is the lesson for today. All we need to do is follow God. But do we? Think about a time when God called you. How did you respond? Did you ignore the message? Make an excuse? Answer and obey?
I read a story this week about a guy who was walking down the street in a large city and as he approached an intersection, he saw a police officer directing traffic. Just then, he felt God telling him to go over to the officer and tell him that God loves him. The man ignored the call and kept walking. But after taking several steps on down the street, the man was overcome by the weight of his disobedience, and he turned around and walked back to the police office. Feeling a little foolish, he walked up to the officer and said, “Excuse me, officer, but God just told me to tell you that he loves you.”
The officer turned to look at the man with tears in his eyes and he spoke, “Last night, I prayed to God for the first time in many years, and I told him that if he were real, the least he could do was send someone to tell me that he was here for me.” The officer then called for a back up officer to take over for him, and he and the man talked for a bit. Then, that police officer prayed, right then and there, to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior.
A call was made, an excuse was given, but in the end, obedience won. Think about it, if that man had not turned around and walked back to that intersection, that police officer just may have never gotten the answer he was looking for. He may have never come to a saving faith in Jesus. He may have been a lost soul for all of eternity.
But, answering God’s call is hard, isn’t it? I’ll say. I had my own struggle with that for awhile myself. For those who do not know, I lost my husband seventeen years ago. My son was grown, and I was feeling restless and without a purpose. I began to pray to God, and I told him that I was willing to give myself to him in whatever capacity he wanted, and I really meant it. Then I waited to hear what that might be. And I waited. And I waited. And I kept praying. And I kept offering. And I kept waiting.
I kept myself busy enough. I was working, I was getting my undergrad degree, and I was active in my church. I taught Sunday school, I was a youth leader, I served on committees. Whenever our pastor would be out of the pulpit, I took my turn giving the message as a Lay Speaker. But I was waiting to see what God “really wanted me to do with my life.”
Then we got an interim pastor. She never heard me preach, but almost right away she made it a point to tell me she thought I was being called into the ministry. I laughed and said, no, not me. She just smiled and gave me a book to read when I had time. Then we got our next pastor. He never heard me preach, but almost right away he made it a point to tell me he thought I was being called into the ministry. I laughed again, but not quite as long this time.
Finally, I read the book. I began to wonder. But I was still waiting to hear something from God. I was still offering, I was still waiting, but God was silent. Or so I thought. Several conversations and a few months later, I was lamenting to my pastor that I thought I might actually be being called to ministry, but I wasn’t sure because I had not heard God speaking to me to tell me that’s what he wanted from me.
I will never forget what he said to me: “Sometimes God uses other people to tell you what you are not hearing him say.” Oh. You see, I had been making excuses without realizing it. I was waiting to hear God’s voice in the way that Jeremiah heard God, in the way Moses heard God, in the way so many others have heard God. I was expecting an audible voice telling me what to do.
What my pastor reminded me was that God can speak to us in any way he pleases, and sometimes his voice sounds a lot like the people around us. Sometime his voice sounds like two of my pastors, sometimes he sounds just like my mom, and sometimes he sounds like so many of my church family who had been encouraging me to pursue ministry for years. But, because I didn’t hear God in the way that I expected to hear him, I used the excuse that maybe this isn’t really what he wants me to do.
We are all quick to have excuses when God calls us. Oh, you thought God only called people like me who stand in the pulpit, or people who travel to other places and countries to teach others his word? Wrong. God calls ALL of us, each in our own way, each to our own purpose in his kingdom. That is why we are all here today. God called and we answered. But coming to church is not the extent of our call. It is just the beginning. Jesus outlined if for us in Matthew 28, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” That wasn’t just for the disciples who were with him that day. That directive was for all Christians in all times and places.
That doesn’t mean that we all have to pack our bags and hit the road, though. “Go, therefore,” means as you go along, as you follow your routine, as you go to work and school and the doctor’s office, and the dentist’s office, everywhere you go, make sure you are listening for God’s call. You never know when you may have to tell someone that God loves them. But when you get that call, and when you answer that call, a life may be changed and that just might have everlasting consequences.
I finally stopped making excuses and became obedient to God’s calling me to pastoral ministry. The moment I made the decision and made the phone call to my DS to start the process, I felt like a great weight had been lifted off me that I didn’t even realize I had. I bet Moses and Jeremiah and all the others felt the same way when they stopped making excuses, too. I bet you will, too.
Oh, and one more thing. Remember God’s promise to Jeremiah that he would go with him wherever he went, and he would give him the words to say? Yeah, that is still God’s promise to those whom he calls, even today. We heard him say it to Jeremiah and we are reminded again of that promise in Matthew’s gospel.
Jesus is with his disciples, and he is warning them that being one of his followers won’t always be easy. But Jesus reassures them, “When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
What is the number one reason people don’t tell others about Jesus? Because they are afraid they won’t know what to say. Talking to people about Jesus doesn’t require a lengthy speech or a deep theological knowledge. Sometimes it is as simple as saying, “God loves you. Would you like to know how much?” Don’t worry about the rest. If they say yes, God will be with you and will give you the words. He knows you and has called you. Now, no more excuses. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, how amazing to realize that you knew us before we were formed. You knew us and loved us from the very beginning. You have called us to come and follow you and to tell others about you, and you have promised to be with us and give us the words. Lord, help us to put aside our excuses and become obedient to your call, that we might share your story with others and help them come to know you through the saving grace of your son, Jesus. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84360/evangelism-by-tim-smith
august 14, 2022, pastor donna's sermon "yielding wild grapes"
August 14, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Yielding Wild Grapes
Scripture: Isaiah 5:1-7
I will sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield rotten grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
but heard a cry!
2
Oh, Isaiah, our hearts break for you for the weight of the message you have been tapped to
deliver to a wild and rebellious people. This is another week where the words are hard to hear
and we hope they aren’t intended for us, but only for those to whom Isaiah was speaking so long,
long ago.
The passage today starts off well. “I will sing for my beloved my love song concerning his
vineyard.” We anticipate soft words, a lyrical tune. We expect to hear whispered words of love, a
song of happiness. And we do – at first.
“My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it
with choice vines.” There was a lot of thought and planning that went into the preparation of this
vineyard. The perfect spot was chosen; a hill that would receive lots of sunshine, would accept
the needed rain but allow the excess to drain off so as not to rot the roots. The land had to be
cleared of rocks and stones so the ground could be tilled and worked to prepare it to accept the
cuttings, and even the selection of those cuttings was given much thought and consideration;
only the best varieties of plants were purchased, ones that would grow large, sweet grapes that
would yield an abundant harvest.
Building this vineyard really was a labor of love for the gardener. To protect the vineyard, he
built a watchtower in the center of the vineyard and hewed out a wine vat within the watchtower.
Now, I confess, I don’t know a lot about growing grapes, so I wondered what a watchtower was
3
for. I pictured a tall structure for someone to go up and look around to survey that year’s grape
crop, but that isn’t the only thing it is for.
The watchtower was a structure that was built in the middle of the vineyard and constructed of
thick stone with a lower and an upper floor. The lower floor was usually built of untreated stone
and due to the thickness of the stone, it remained cooler there than outside. This made it an ideal
place to store the grapes after the harvest. The cooler temperature ensured that the grapes didn’t
begin to ferment right away.
The upper floor was above ground, and it provided a place for the workers, and sometimes their
families, to stay during the harvest so they didn’t have to travel back and forth. Staying in the
vineyard during the harvest not only saved travel time, but it allowed the workers to keep a close
eye on the vineyard at a crucial time of the grape-growing season.
We can see how the one who built this vineyard that Isaiah is singing of has done so as an act of
love. He took the time to do it right, ensuring that the conditions were perfectly suited to reap an
abundant harvest of grapes. He had done the planning, he had done the planting, the watering,
the nurturing, and now he was ready to receive the reward. “He expected it to yield grapes, but it
yielded rotten grapes.”
4
This is where the love song ends, with this abrupt and unexpected downturn. As we might say,
this is where things went south. The singer’s voice is silenced in grief and now, another voice is
now heard, and we recognize this voice as that of the vineyard planter – the voice of God.
God is speaking directly to the people of Judah, especially those in Jerusalem, and by his words
we realize that they are the vineyard. The vineyard is used as a parable to capture their attention,
to help them understand what God is trying to say to them, what he is trying to teach them. I read
somewhere that parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings, and that is certainly true of
this one today
“What more could I have done for you?” God asks. “Since I did everything required, and did it
with much care and nurturing, who is to blame for the rotten fruit that has come from these
vines?” In essence, God is pointing out to his people that he has done his part, he has kept every
promise he has made to them. God is the one who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. God is
the one who provided for them for forty years of wandering in the wilderness. God is the one
who fought for them in battles where their small army defeated greater forces. It is God who has
remained faithful when his people have not.
The people who should be faithful and thankful for all they have and from where it came, instead
have chosen to pretend they don’t need God. They have chosen their fake idols over true love,
they have chosen their rebellious, wild ways over living the abundant life that is God’s plan for
5
them. Frustrated by their attitude, heart broken by their resistance, God speaks directly to his
people and lays out the consequences of their actions.
“I will remover the hedges that protect this vineyard and it will be destroyed; I will break down
the wall and it will be trampled.” The hedge of protection that God has put around his people
will be removed, leaving them open and vulnerable to attack from outsiders. When that happens,
then the land will become a wasteland. The vines will no longer be pruned, the ground will no
longer be hoed, the vines will become overgrown and entangled with briers. The grapes will be
wild grapes instead of cultivated grapes.
We may ask ourselves why it matters what kind of grapes they become. Grapes are grapes, right?
Yes and no. Yes, grapes are grapes to some extent, but wild grapes are much different from their
cultivated cousins. Wild grapevines can become invasive and detrimental to their surroundings.
These vines grow up trees and become so thick that their leaves block the sunshine from
reaching the leaves of the host tree, resulting in stunted growth for the tree.
In winter, snow can cling heavily to the vines which adds weight to the tree branches and the
extra weight can sometimes cause the branches to break off, leaving the tree exposed to the
elements and further hurting the tree. Then there are the grapes themselves. Wild grapes are
smaller and typically less sweet than cultivated grapes which makes them less appealing. They
are not what the gardener is looking for when he or she goes to collect the harvest.
6
God’s people have become like the wild grapes, unappealing to the gardener. They will be left to
go their own way, do their own thing, but they will have to pay the price for their stubbornness.
Unlike some of the parables we find in the Bible, the meaning of this parable is not hidden. We
do not need to ponder its significance or wonder at its message. We plainly see it in the closing
lines. “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his
cherished garden; he expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!”
Will God’s people see themselves in this parable and change their ways? That is the hope that we
find in Isaiah’s words. All is not yet lost if they do, but the choice is theirs. God has done his part
– above and beyond. He is a patient and loving God, but there comes a time when bad behavior
can no longer be tolerated.
Remember when the prophet Nathan went to King David and told him about the wealthy
landowner who took the only lamb of a poor farmer for his sacrifice? David was angry at the
injustice that was being done to the poor farmer. That was exactly the reaction that Nathan
wanted from David. He wanted him to see the injustice, and in his anger want to make it right.
Then, Nathan explained that David himself was the wealthy landowner and Uriah, the husband
of Bathsheba was the poor farmer.
7
If Nathan had simply confronted David about his sin, David may well have hardened his heart
against Nathan. He may have refused to listen to him, he may have given many excuses and
continued to be blinded about his own responsibility in the situation. The story that Nathan told
David helped Davis see his sin, admit it, and ultimately repent to God for it.
This is Isaiah’s objective here today. To get the people to see the vineyard and the gardener as
one of their own. They would have understood the work and the care that went into the building
and nurturing of this vineyard, and they would have agreed with the gardener’s plans to let it be
destroyed when it failed to produce a fruitful harvest after all that the gardener had done. Then,
when they understood that they were the vineyard and came to see their actions were the cause of
the destruction, Isaiah hoped they might do as David did, see their sin, admit their sin, repent,
and turn back to God.
I’ve heard it said that the Old Testament was not written to us, as Christians, but it was written
for us, nonetheless. If Israel was the vineyard in this story when it was first told by Isaiah, I
believe the Church is the vineyard today, making this passage as relevant to us as it was to the
people in Jerusalem.
We belong to God. He had adopted us into his family through the atoning blood of his son Jesus,
the one who died for our sins. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are given the privilege of
being called a Child of God. But then what? What does that mean for us? Do we just go on living
our lives as though nothing has changed? No, absolutely not. If we did that, we would be nothing
8
more than wild grapes when God wants us to be cultivated grapes whose fruit is sweet and
abundant.
The message is the same as we have been hearing throughout this series. We are to live a life that
is pleasing to God and that proves our transformation in Christ by the fruit we produce. We are
doing our best here to produce good fruit. There is evidence in the life of this church, which is
her people, but we can never rest on what we have done before. We must keep focusing on what
we are currently doing while also staying open for future opportunities to faithfully follow God
and serve his people. We must keep our eyes and ears and our hearts open to the suffering of
God’s people. We must continue to share Jesus with others so they, too, can become a child of
God living a transformed life, which is the only path to true freedom in this life, and in the next.
We can do this – together we can – with God we can. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for making a way to allow us to be a part of your family.
Thank you for sending Jesus to us and for us. May we live a life, as a follower of Jesus, and as
his Church, that is pleasing to you; a life that bears good fruit for your kingdom, today,
tomorrow, and forever. AMEN.
9
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchtower_(agricultural)#:~:text=The%20temperature%20inside
%20the%20structure,to%20their%20home%20each%20day.
Https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-20-
3/commentary-on-isaiah-51-7-10
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Yielding Wild Grapes
Scripture: Isaiah 5:1-7
I will sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield rotten grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
but heard a cry!
2
Oh, Isaiah, our hearts break for you for the weight of the message you have been tapped to
deliver to a wild and rebellious people. This is another week where the words are hard to hear
and we hope they aren’t intended for us, but only for those to whom Isaiah was speaking so long,
long ago.
The passage today starts off well. “I will sing for my beloved my love song concerning his
vineyard.” We anticipate soft words, a lyrical tune. We expect to hear whispered words of love, a
song of happiness. And we do – at first.
“My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it
with choice vines.” There was a lot of thought and planning that went into the preparation of this
vineyard. The perfect spot was chosen; a hill that would receive lots of sunshine, would accept
the needed rain but allow the excess to drain off so as not to rot the roots. The land had to be
cleared of rocks and stones so the ground could be tilled and worked to prepare it to accept the
cuttings, and even the selection of those cuttings was given much thought and consideration;
only the best varieties of plants were purchased, ones that would grow large, sweet grapes that
would yield an abundant harvest.
Building this vineyard really was a labor of love for the gardener. To protect the vineyard, he
built a watchtower in the center of the vineyard and hewed out a wine vat within the watchtower.
Now, I confess, I don’t know a lot about growing grapes, so I wondered what a watchtower was
3
for. I pictured a tall structure for someone to go up and look around to survey that year’s grape
crop, but that isn’t the only thing it is for.
The watchtower was a structure that was built in the middle of the vineyard and constructed of
thick stone with a lower and an upper floor. The lower floor was usually built of untreated stone
and due to the thickness of the stone, it remained cooler there than outside. This made it an ideal
place to store the grapes after the harvest. The cooler temperature ensured that the grapes didn’t
begin to ferment right away.
The upper floor was above ground, and it provided a place for the workers, and sometimes their
families, to stay during the harvest so they didn’t have to travel back and forth. Staying in the
vineyard during the harvest not only saved travel time, but it allowed the workers to keep a close
eye on the vineyard at a crucial time of the grape-growing season.
We can see how the one who built this vineyard that Isaiah is singing of has done so as an act of
love. He took the time to do it right, ensuring that the conditions were perfectly suited to reap an
abundant harvest of grapes. He had done the planning, he had done the planting, the watering,
the nurturing, and now he was ready to receive the reward. “He expected it to yield grapes, but it
yielded rotten grapes.”
4
This is where the love song ends, with this abrupt and unexpected downturn. As we might say,
this is where things went south. The singer’s voice is silenced in grief and now, another voice is
now heard, and we recognize this voice as that of the vineyard planter – the voice of God.
God is speaking directly to the people of Judah, especially those in Jerusalem, and by his words
we realize that they are the vineyard. The vineyard is used as a parable to capture their attention,
to help them understand what God is trying to say to them, what he is trying to teach them. I read
somewhere that parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings, and that is certainly true of
this one today
“What more could I have done for you?” God asks. “Since I did everything required, and did it
with much care and nurturing, who is to blame for the rotten fruit that has come from these
vines?” In essence, God is pointing out to his people that he has done his part, he has kept every
promise he has made to them. God is the one who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. God is
the one who provided for them for forty years of wandering in the wilderness. God is the one
who fought for them in battles where their small army defeated greater forces. It is God who has
remained faithful when his people have not.
The people who should be faithful and thankful for all they have and from where it came, instead
have chosen to pretend they don’t need God. They have chosen their fake idols over true love,
they have chosen their rebellious, wild ways over living the abundant life that is God’s plan for
5
them. Frustrated by their attitude, heart broken by their resistance, God speaks directly to his
people and lays out the consequences of their actions.
“I will remover the hedges that protect this vineyard and it will be destroyed; I will break down
the wall and it will be trampled.” The hedge of protection that God has put around his people
will be removed, leaving them open and vulnerable to attack from outsiders. When that happens,
then the land will become a wasteland. The vines will no longer be pruned, the ground will no
longer be hoed, the vines will become overgrown and entangled with briers. The grapes will be
wild grapes instead of cultivated grapes.
We may ask ourselves why it matters what kind of grapes they become. Grapes are grapes, right?
Yes and no. Yes, grapes are grapes to some extent, but wild grapes are much different from their
cultivated cousins. Wild grapevines can become invasive and detrimental to their surroundings.
These vines grow up trees and become so thick that their leaves block the sunshine from
reaching the leaves of the host tree, resulting in stunted growth for the tree.
In winter, snow can cling heavily to the vines which adds weight to the tree branches and the
extra weight can sometimes cause the branches to break off, leaving the tree exposed to the
elements and further hurting the tree. Then there are the grapes themselves. Wild grapes are
smaller and typically less sweet than cultivated grapes which makes them less appealing. They
are not what the gardener is looking for when he or she goes to collect the harvest.
6
God’s people have become like the wild grapes, unappealing to the gardener. They will be left to
go their own way, do their own thing, but they will have to pay the price for their stubbornness.
Unlike some of the parables we find in the Bible, the meaning of this parable is not hidden. We
do not need to ponder its significance or wonder at its message. We plainly see it in the closing
lines. “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his
cherished garden; he expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!”
Will God’s people see themselves in this parable and change their ways? That is the hope that we
find in Isaiah’s words. All is not yet lost if they do, but the choice is theirs. God has done his part
– above and beyond. He is a patient and loving God, but there comes a time when bad behavior
can no longer be tolerated.
Remember when the prophet Nathan went to King David and told him about the wealthy
landowner who took the only lamb of a poor farmer for his sacrifice? David was angry at the
injustice that was being done to the poor farmer. That was exactly the reaction that Nathan
wanted from David. He wanted him to see the injustice, and in his anger want to make it right.
Then, Nathan explained that David himself was the wealthy landowner and Uriah, the husband
of Bathsheba was the poor farmer.
7
If Nathan had simply confronted David about his sin, David may well have hardened his heart
against Nathan. He may have refused to listen to him, he may have given many excuses and
continued to be blinded about his own responsibility in the situation. The story that Nathan told
David helped Davis see his sin, admit it, and ultimately repent to God for it.
This is Isaiah’s objective here today. To get the people to see the vineyard and the gardener as
one of their own. They would have understood the work and the care that went into the building
and nurturing of this vineyard, and they would have agreed with the gardener’s plans to let it be
destroyed when it failed to produce a fruitful harvest after all that the gardener had done. Then,
when they understood that they were the vineyard and came to see their actions were the cause of
the destruction, Isaiah hoped they might do as David did, see their sin, admit their sin, repent,
and turn back to God.
I’ve heard it said that the Old Testament was not written to us, as Christians, but it was written
for us, nonetheless. If Israel was the vineyard in this story when it was first told by Isaiah, I
believe the Church is the vineyard today, making this passage as relevant to us as it was to the
people in Jerusalem.
We belong to God. He had adopted us into his family through the atoning blood of his son Jesus,
the one who died for our sins. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are given the privilege of
being called a Child of God. But then what? What does that mean for us? Do we just go on living
our lives as though nothing has changed? No, absolutely not. If we did that, we would be nothing
8
more than wild grapes when God wants us to be cultivated grapes whose fruit is sweet and
abundant.
The message is the same as we have been hearing throughout this series. We are to live a life that
is pleasing to God and that proves our transformation in Christ by the fruit we produce. We are
doing our best here to produce good fruit. There is evidence in the life of this church, which is
her people, but we can never rest on what we have done before. We must keep focusing on what
we are currently doing while also staying open for future opportunities to faithfully follow God
and serve his people. We must keep our eyes and ears and our hearts open to the suffering of
God’s people. We must continue to share Jesus with others so they, too, can become a child of
God living a transformed life, which is the only path to true freedom in this life, and in the next.
We can do this – together we can – with God we can. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for making a way to allow us to be a part of your family.
Thank you for sending Jesus to us and for us. May we live a life, as a follower of Jesus, and as
his Church, that is pleasing to you; a life that bears good fruit for your kingdom, today,
tomorrow, and forever. AMEN.
9
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchtower_(agricultural)#:~:text=The%20temperature%20inside
%20the%20structure,to%20their%20home%20each%20day.
Https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-20-
3/commentary-on-isaiah-51-7-10
August 7, 2022 Pastor Donna's sermon "Learn to do good"
August 7, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Learn to Do Good
Scripture: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls
or of lambs or of goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more!
13 Bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation--
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove your evil deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;
17 learn to do good;
seek justice;
rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.
18 Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
will they become like wool?
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land,
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
We’ve spent our time with Hosea, and we leave him now to continue the work God has called him to do, and to work out his family problems in private. We are stopping by this week to visit Isaiah and we will hang out here next week, also. Isaiah has a lot to say to the people of God in Judah during the years of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
Today’s passage was likely written after the Assyrian ruler, Sennacherib, had invaded Judah in 701 BC which was when Hezekiah was King of Judah. You can learn about that time in Isaiah chapters 36-37 and 2 Kings 18-19. The city of Jerusalem is still standing after this invasion, but it is isolated from other surrounding cities which were destroyed, and it is to Jerusalem that Isaiah’s message from God is directed.
Isaiah’s words are not gentle and comforting for what the people have had to endure from the Assyrians as we might hope for them to be after such a time as they have been through. No, the words he speaks today are meant to cut directly to the heart of the people, to call them out on something that they are doing. God wants to talk about their worship practices.
You know the message isn’t going to go well when it begins with being called “rulers of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah.” We remember those cities from the time of Abraham and Lot, how God caused fire and brimstone to rain down upon those cities and destroy everything and everyone because of the atrocious sins of the way they were living.
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” God asks. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats.”
Now, wait, we wonder, isn’t that exactly what God had told them to do way back in the day? Weren’t they supposed to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to God as part of their worship, as part of the Law? Of course, the answer is yes. This is a practice that God himself had instituted when he gave the Law to Moses while the Israelites were in the wilderness. So, what’s changed?
The people have changed. Many are still following the letter of the Law, but the thing is, God requires not rote worship but loving worship. The new moon festivals and the sabbath days were to be observed as a show of heartfelt worship of the God who provides for all their needs, but now, the people either don’t practice these rites for the right reasons, or they don’t bother practicing them at all. God is tired of it. He is over their half-hearted attempts to appease him with their words and their actions but refusing to engage their hearts in what they are doing. What God wants is for his people to worship with integrity and genuine desire for relationship with him.
If we read this passage through quickly, it is easy to assume that God is wiping out the whole worship system that he had created. After all, we hear him say, “Trample my courts no more! Bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me.”
And then he says, “Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.”
Is God rejecting worship? Has he grown tired of it all and desires it no more? No. It isn’t worship that God is carrying the burden for, it is how the people are worshiping. I don’t mean the style of worship. God doesn’t care if the Israelites chose a contemporary or traditional style of worship, he doesn’t care if there is a choir or a praise band or not – the elements and style of worship all are pleasing to God – if they come from the heart. But Israel was no longer pouring out their hearts to God; they were going through the motions at best.
Look carefully at what God is saying through Isaiah: “I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity,” and, “your hands are full of blood.” God wants his people to get back to real worship and he gives them instructions for how to do that: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes.”
In other words, stop caring only about what you can get from others, stop taking advantage of the disadvantaged, see what wrongs need to be made right, start caring about, and for, the least, the lost, and the lonely. Clean the dust and the dirt and the cobwebs from your hearts, open your eyes, and SEE how your actions are creating separation between people and separating you from God.
I appreciate how Pastor Michael Ruffin puts the situation in his commentary: “Acts of worship, even if performed correctly and abundantly, cannot compensate for the mistreatment of people, especially of the weak and oppressed.” In other words, to use an expression we have all heard – worship is about quality, not quantity.
God’s call to his people, through the words of Isaiah, is to wash themselves – not just go take a shower but wash themselves from the inside out. Start with the heart, purify the heart and the outer actions will then align with God’s call to quality worship. Again, God gives the people the ways in which this can be done.
“Cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.” These directives were also given to the people when they were given the Law, but they were not practicing this way of living. By the way they treated others, they were not showing love for their neighbors, and they were not showing love for their God.
Now that God has laid it all out, now that he has pointed out how his people were living unjustly and has given them an alternative way to live, God issues an invitation to come back to him. “Come now, let’s argue this out,” says the Lord. Other versions say, “Let’s settle this matter,” or “Let’s settle this.” This isn’t about actually arguing or negotiating, it’s about seeing the error of their ways, recognizing those errors as wrong, and working to do better. This is God’s invitation to repentance for his people, to restore them and give them another chance to change their ways.
“Right now,” God says, “your sins run red with blood, but you have a chance to turn them white as snow.” If this is the path that God’s people choose to take, they will once again enjoy the blessing of the land. But God is not one to coerce – the people can decide for themselves – turn and be blessed – or continue and be destroyed.
It seems like an easy decision, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t choose box “A” – turn and be blessed? No one wants to be destroyed. But there is a catch here – remember, God knows the heart of his people and their choice is not “pretend to do better but not really do it,” the option is “turn away from sin and turn to God.” This must be genuine, a true change of heart which proves a transformed life.
If you haven’t already guessed by now, Isaiah’s words are just as valid for us as readers as it was for those to whom they were originally spoken. We have to ask ourselves, “What is our worship like?” Why do we come to church? Is it to see our friends, to hear the music or listen to the sermon? Is it to catch up on all the stuff that happened over the week? Is it because this is just what is expected of us on Sunday morning? Is our heart truly in it?
We should be coming to church, not because we have to, but because we want to. We should be here each week eager to praise God and seek his presence in community with our brothers and sisters. We should be excited that we get to come to church, not grumbling because we have to. Then, when we get here, our focus should be on God, not on ourselves.
Worship is a time of praise, song, prayers, word, and sacraments to and for our God. Out of that worship should come the fruit of transformed lives – fellowship, sacrifice of time, talent, and tithes, outreach to those who are in need, justice for the oppressed, defense of the widow and the orphan, learning ways we can cease to do harm, finding new ways to do good, scattering seeds of kindness, sharing the love of God.
When we commit ourselves to God’s preferred way of worship, we never know where the fruit of our faithfulness might lead us. Sometimes it is a blessing for one person, sometimes it becomes a series of changed lives for many people over several years.
That was the case for a man named Abbe Pierre in 1949. Pierre was approached by a man named Georges after being released from prison. Ready to start a new life, Georges found that his family didn’t want him to come around; they asked him to leave.
Georges, homeless, unemployed, and considering suicide, asked Pierre for help. He never expected the response he got – “Could you help me?” Pierre asked. Pierre had been reaching out to help homeless mothers and their children as much as he could, and the needs were starting to overwhelm him. He could use some help in his ministry. Pierre thought that perhaps Georges could better turn his own life around by first serving those who were even less fortunate than he was.
The plan worked. Georges became the first person, later called “companion” in the Emmaus communities that Pierre founded based on the transformation he had seen in Georges. Those who needed help were asked to help still others in varied ways.
Georges later said of Pierre, "Whatever else [Abbe Pierre] might have given me -- money, home, somewhere to work -- I'd have still tried to kill myself. What I was missing, and what he offered, was something to live for." Out of those words came the unofficial motto of the Emmaus Communities: “give the poor a reason to live, not just things to live on.”
Because Pierre lived a life of serving others as the fruit of his faithful worship, lives have been changed, people have been helped, dignity has been restored. Pierre found a way to learn to do good in a world that can so easily be bad.
God doesn’t want out platitudes, our reluctant worship, or our selfish motives. God wants us to see others, he wants us to change lives, he wants us to make our world better, and he wants us to do this because we first understand that all we have comes from him and that knowledge then motivates us to worship with genuineness and integrity this God whom we love and who inspires us to then learn ways to do good. It’s a beautiful circle with God at the center. May we all choose to be a part of it together. AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, you ask that we worship you fully, truly, honestly, but sometimes we lose our focus. We let the world give us priorities and we turn away from you. Help us to give our hearts to you, Lord. Help us to turn away from the distractions and whatever stands between us and worship. And as we learn to focus more on you and worship you, let the fruit of that worship show in the ways we will learn to do good for others in your name. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Margaret Visser, The Gift of Thanks, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009, p. 373. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Way to Glory, 8/13/2011
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-19-3/commentary-on-isaiah-11-10-20-5
Call to Worship:
L: Is worship a charade; is prayer a game?
P: May our worship be authentic, our prayers heartfelt.
L: With God’s help we will cease to do evil,
P: We will fight oppression and care for the orphans and widows.
L: We will bless others because God has first blessed us,
P: We will honor God with our lives, our words, our love.
ALL: AMEN.
Hymn: 357 Just as I Am, Without One Plea
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Learn to Do Good
Scripture: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls
or of lambs or of goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more!
13 Bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation--
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove your evil deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;
17 learn to do good;
seek justice;
rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.
18 Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
will they become like wool?
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land,
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
We’ve spent our time with Hosea, and we leave him now to continue the work God has called him to do, and to work out his family problems in private. We are stopping by this week to visit Isaiah and we will hang out here next week, also. Isaiah has a lot to say to the people of God in Judah during the years of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
Today’s passage was likely written after the Assyrian ruler, Sennacherib, had invaded Judah in 701 BC which was when Hezekiah was King of Judah. You can learn about that time in Isaiah chapters 36-37 and 2 Kings 18-19. The city of Jerusalem is still standing after this invasion, but it is isolated from other surrounding cities which were destroyed, and it is to Jerusalem that Isaiah’s message from God is directed.
Isaiah’s words are not gentle and comforting for what the people have had to endure from the Assyrians as we might hope for them to be after such a time as they have been through. No, the words he speaks today are meant to cut directly to the heart of the people, to call them out on something that they are doing. God wants to talk about their worship practices.
You know the message isn’t going to go well when it begins with being called “rulers of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah.” We remember those cities from the time of Abraham and Lot, how God caused fire and brimstone to rain down upon those cities and destroy everything and everyone because of the atrocious sins of the way they were living.
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” God asks. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats.”
Now, wait, we wonder, isn’t that exactly what God had told them to do way back in the day? Weren’t they supposed to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to God as part of their worship, as part of the Law? Of course, the answer is yes. This is a practice that God himself had instituted when he gave the Law to Moses while the Israelites were in the wilderness. So, what’s changed?
The people have changed. Many are still following the letter of the Law, but the thing is, God requires not rote worship but loving worship. The new moon festivals and the sabbath days were to be observed as a show of heartfelt worship of the God who provides for all their needs, but now, the people either don’t practice these rites for the right reasons, or they don’t bother practicing them at all. God is tired of it. He is over their half-hearted attempts to appease him with their words and their actions but refusing to engage their hearts in what they are doing. What God wants is for his people to worship with integrity and genuine desire for relationship with him.
If we read this passage through quickly, it is easy to assume that God is wiping out the whole worship system that he had created. After all, we hear him say, “Trample my courts no more! Bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me.”
And then he says, “Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.”
Is God rejecting worship? Has he grown tired of it all and desires it no more? No. It isn’t worship that God is carrying the burden for, it is how the people are worshiping. I don’t mean the style of worship. God doesn’t care if the Israelites chose a contemporary or traditional style of worship, he doesn’t care if there is a choir or a praise band or not – the elements and style of worship all are pleasing to God – if they come from the heart. But Israel was no longer pouring out their hearts to God; they were going through the motions at best.
Look carefully at what God is saying through Isaiah: “I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity,” and, “your hands are full of blood.” God wants his people to get back to real worship and he gives them instructions for how to do that: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes.”
In other words, stop caring only about what you can get from others, stop taking advantage of the disadvantaged, see what wrongs need to be made right, start caring about, and for, the least, the lost, and the lonely. Clean the dust and the dirt and the cobwebs from your hearts, open your eyes, and SEE how your actions are creating separation between people and separating you from God.
I appreciate how Pastor Michael Ruffin puts the situation in his commentary: “Acts of worship, even if performed correctly and abundantly, cannot compensate for the mistreatment of people, especially of the weak and oppressed.” In other words, to use an expression we have all heard – worship is about quality, not quantity.
God’s call to his people, through the words of Isaiah, is to wash themselves – not just go take a shower but wash themselves from the inside out. Start with the heart, purify the heart and the outer actions will then align with God’s call to quality worship. Again, God gives the people the ways in which this can be done.
“Cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.” These directives were also given to the people when they were given the Law, but they were not practicing this way of living. By the way they treated others, they were not showing love for their neighbors, and they were not showing love for their God.
Now that God has laid it all out, now that he has pointed out how his people were living unjustly and has given them an alternative way to live, God issues an invitation to come back to him. “Come now, let’s argue this out,” says the Lord. Other versions say, “Let’s settle this matter,” or “Let’s settle this.” This isn’t about actually arguing or negotiating, it’s about seeing the error of their ways, recognizing those errors as wrong, and working to do better. This is God’s invitation to repentance for his people, to restore them and give them another chance to change their ways.
“Right now,” God says, “your sins run red with blood, but you have a chance to turn them white as snow.” If this is the path that God’s people choose to take, they will once again enjoy the blessing of the land. But God is not one to coerce – the people can decide for themselves – turn and be blessed – or continue and be destroyed.
It seems like an easy decision, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t choose box “A” – turn and be blessed? No one wants to be destroyed. But there is a catch here – remember, God knows the heart of his people and their choice is not “pretend to do better but not really do it,” the option is “turn away from sin and turn to God.” This must be genuine, a true change of heart which proves a transformed life.
If you haven’t already guessed by now, Isaiah’s words are just as valid for us as readers as it was for those to whom they were originally spoken. We have to ask ourselves, “What is our worship like?” Why do we come to church? Is it to see our friends, to hear the music or listen to the sermon? Is it to catch up on all the stuff that happened over the week? Is it because this is just what is expected of us on Sunday morning? Is our heart truly in it?
We should be coming to church, not because we have to, but because we want to. We should be here each week eager to praise God and seek his presence in community with our brothers and sisters. We should be excited that we get to come to church, not grumbling because we have to. Then, when we get here, our focus should be on God, not on ourselves.
Worship is a time of praise, song, prayers, word, and sacraments to and for our God. Out of that worship should come the fruit of transformed lives – fellowship, sacrifice of time, talent, and tithes, outreach to those who are in need, justice for the oppressed, defense of the widow and the orphan, learning ways we can cease to do harm, finding new ways to do good, scattering seeds of kindness, sharing the love of God.
When we commit ourselves to God’s preferred way of worship, we never know where the fruit of our faithfulness might lead us. Sometimes it is a blessing for one person, sometimes it becomes a series of changed lives for many people over several years.
That was the case for a man named Abbe Pierre in 1949. Pierre was approached by a man named Georges after being released from prison. Ready to start a new life, Georges found that his family didn’t want him to come around; they asked him to leave.
Georges, homeless, unemployed, and considering suicide, asked Pierre for help. He never expected the response he got – “Could you help me?” Pierre asked. Pierre had been reaching out to help homeless mothers and their children as much as he could, and the needs were starting to overwhelm him. He could use some help in his ministry. Pierre thought that perhaps Georges could better turn his own life around by first serving those who were even less fortunate than he was.
The plan worked. Georges became the first person, later called “companion” in the Emmaus communities that Pierre founded based on the transformation he had seen in Georges. Those who needed help were asked to help still others in varied ways.
Georges later said of Pierre, "Whatever else [Abbe Pierre] might have given me -- money, home, somewhere to work -- I'd have still tried to kill myself. What I was missing, and what he offered, was something to live for." Out of those words came the unofficial motto of the Emmaus Communities: “give the poor a reason to live, not just things to live on.”
Because Pierre lived a life of serving others as the fruit of his faithful worship, lives have been changed, people have been helped, dignity has been restored. Pierre found a way to learn to do good in a world that can so easily be bad.
God doesn’t want out platitudes, our reluctant worship, or our selfish motives. God wants us to see others, he wants us to change lives, he wants us to make our world better, and he wants us to do this because we first understand that all we have comes from him and that knowledge then motivates us to worship with genuineness and integrity this God whom we love and who inspires us to then learn ways to do good. It’s a beautiful circle with God at the center. May we all choose to be a part of it together. AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, you ask that we worship you fully, truly, honestly, but sometimes we lose our focus. We let the world give us priorities and we turn away from you. Help us to give our hearts to you, Lord. Help us to turn away from the distractions and whatever stands between us and worship. And as we learn to focus more on you and worship you, let the fruit of that worship show in the ways we will learn to do good for others in your name. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Margaret Visser, The Gift of Thanks, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009, p. 373. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Way to Glory, 8/13/2011
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-19-3/commentary-on-isaiah-11-10-20-5
Call to Worship:
L: Is worship a charade; is prayer a game?
P: May our worship be authentic, our prayers heartfelt.
L: With God’s help we will cease to do evil,
P: We will fight oppression and care for the orphans and widows.
L: We will bless others because God has first blessed us,
P: We will honor God with our lives, our words, our love.
ALL: AMEN.
Hymn: 357 Just as I Am, Without One Plea
7/31/2022 pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON "cORDS OF kINDNESS"
July 31, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Cords of Kindness
Scripture: Hosea 11:1-11
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up in my arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks,
I bent down to them and fed them.
5 They shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword rages in their cities;
it consumes their oracle priests
and devours because of their schemes.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim,
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall go after the Lord,
who roars like a lion;
when he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the west.
11 They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt
and like doves from the land of Assyria,
and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.
I am reading a book by Michael Beck called Painting with Ashes. Michael was a speaker at this year’s Annual Conference and this book is his story of how he went from drug addict to pastor. He doesn’t hold back anything just to make himself look better, but instead; Michael reveals the dark, ugly truth of his journey from brokenness to wholeness in Christ.
At one point in his story, he speaks about his relationship with his grandmother. His grandparents had adopted and raised Michael, but his grandfather died unexpectedly while Michael was still pretty young. As young teen, Michael was introduced to the drug scene and soon thereafter, he began to be a drug dealer, providing large quantities to his distributers and selling to individuals right out of his grandma’s house.
Grandma begged and pleaded with Michael to stop, but he refused. She prayed for him daily, but nothing changed. Finally, Michael, as do many rebellious teenagers, gave Grandma an ultimatum; either he continued to run his drug business out of her house, or he would leave and find his own place.
Now, many of us would tell Grandma that she should have said good- bye and good riddance, and we shake our heads when we learn she didn’t follow our advice. You see, Grandma had suffered through several losses in her life and her fear of losing Michael and being left all alone drove her to allow Michael to continue his illegal activities in her home.
Grandma never gave up on Michael, though. Even as the lines of customers reached from Michael’s bedroom through the house to the front porch, Grandma would sit in her chair in the living room, reading her bible and praying for Michael and all the others who became his regulars. She just loved him too much to give up.
That is where God is in today’s scripture. We have skipped over a lot of what has happened to Hosea in the previous chapters. I told you that Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was constantly in conflict. Gomer would leave and go back to her old lifestyle, then she would return for a while, but eventually she would leave again. Eventually, her life would spiral so far downward that Hosea would have to rescue her from being sold as a slave by buying her back for himself.
In that action, Hosea fully understood how far Israel had fallen from following God. God’s love was so great for his people that he would take them back whenever they turned away from following all their false gods and returned to him.
Today, we hear God’s lament for his people, and it echoes with the heartbreak that was heard in Michael’s grandmother’s prayers for him.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and offering incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.”
God is heartbroken at how Ephraim, meaning Israel, has turned out. He remembers the days long ago when he brought them out of Egypt, how he saved them from the oppression of slavery to the Egyptians. He longs to once again gather the people to himself, to hold them in his arms as one holds a precious infant. God wants them to remember that he is the one who led them through the wilderness for forty years, when their clothes and their sandals never wore out. He wants them to remember that it was God who gave them manna to eat and brought water from the rocks when they were thirsty.
God’s love is so much greater than these people realize or remember, but unlike Michael’s grandmother, God cannot allow Israel to continue to live a life that is not good for them. They have turned their backs on the one who can love them and provide for them, and they have turned to false gods made of stone, wood, and metal – gods who have no life in them, who cannot provide for them, who do not love them as their own.
So, God gives Hosea a prophesy to warn the people: “They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword rages in their cities; it consumes their oracle priests and devours because of their schemes. My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.”
The day will come, Hosea tells them, when they will return to living under the rule of a foreign king once again. Assyria will conquer them, and they will serve the Assyrian king, and they have brought it all on themselves by breaking their covenant to serve only God.
Today, we often call this “tough love.” Tough love is hard. Sometimes it gets ugly. When we step up and put our foot down by setting boundaries for our children or other loved ones, we get to bear the brunt of their rebelliousness. We become the target of their anger; we are the one on whom they spew their hateful, hurtful words. We are painted as the “bad guy” in their life. It’s hard, isn’t it?
We want to be the one they love, the one they turn to for help, the one they know they can trust, but sometimes, in order to protect ourselves and for the benefit of others, we need to be strong enough to be the bad guy. Anyone who has raised teenagers knows this feeling at least once in their lives.
For me, it happened when I was planning a business to trip to Orlando. My husband and I had been struggling with our son for quite a while over doing his homework – he thought it was optional, his teachers did not. His test grades were always high, but his overall grades suffered because of his refusal to turn in his work.
The deal was made that any grade on his grade card before the trip that was lower than a “C” meant he would not go to Florida with us. The time for the trip approached. We were leaving on a Sunday; grade cards came home on a Friday. The list of exam grades was all As and Bs; but with no homework, his overall grades contained one D and one F. He would not be able to go.
It was a hard decision, but warnings had been given, the results on that grade card were entirely up to him. The weekend was awful. He was angry at me for sticking to my word, I was upset that he hadn’t tried at least a little bit to do the dang homework. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was to drop my kid off at my mom’s on Sunday and leave for Florida without him.
As I think about that time, I cannot imagine how much more God’s heart broke at having to discipline his own people in the way that he did. He had tried many times and through many prophets to warn them. He had given them many chances to turn their lives around, to leave their worship of false gods and to return to him. Sometimes they would do just that, but it never lasted; they would once again fall away and turn back to their idols, forgetting the God who loved them.
Our God is a God who keeps his word and he had to do that for his people to really learn who he was. He would allow his children to be returned to slavery, this time through the Assyrians, but he would not completely destroy them. And so, we hear the cry of his heart:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.”
God has decided to do what he needs to do to discipline his children, but it will be up to them whether they learn from their experience. We cannot coerce our children to change their hearts. We can discipline, we can love, we can pray, but ultimately, what they do and how they live is up to them.
Michael’s grandma waited patiently for Michael to come to his senses and turn back to God. My son never became proficient at doing that homework, but he never again had a grade card with such low grades. And God knows there will be a day when Ephraim, Israel, will once again return to him. They will not live in exile forever. “They shall go after the Lord, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.”
God is the same today. He loves us and he wants only what is best for us, but he allows us to make our own choices, our own decisions. God calls us to himself, but he will not coerce us to come. He wants us to want to come to him of our own free will so that we will know his love is genuine, and he will know the same of us.
We are warned that life without God is a life of slavery to sin and death, but through God, through his son, Jesus, we have been given the gift of leaving that life behind. We have been given a second chance – or maybe a third or a fourth. God will give us as many chances as it takes as he waits for us to come to him and live for him. For as long as we breathe, we can turn to God, and he will take us in.
It took Michael many years of trying and failing to live a life of faithfulness to God, but today, he does just that. His story echoes in many of our own lives as we remember how we have come to be here today. The roads may have been different, but we all have struggled on our journey, we may have slipped up, we may have walked away, we may have even given up, but God doesn’t quit on us. He keeps waiting, patiently waiting, and when we do turn back to him, we notice that his arms are open, and he beckons us to come to him.
There is a hymn that pleads, “Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken, bind us together with love.” That is God’s desire. His love is not oppressive but liberating, his love is not fickle but infinite. God wants to bind us together into a family – his family – a family bound together with cords made of kindness and love, mercy, and grace. Will we accept the invitation? AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, we want to be bound up together in your cords of kindness. We want to experience your mercy and grace and feel your love. Forgive us, Lord, when we act like the Israelites in Hosea’s time, when we turn away from you instead of to you, when we refuse to follow you, when we are in need of discipline. Help us to see you, arms open wide, beckoning us to come back, to be loved, to be included, to be your children once more. Thank you for your faithfulness when we have none, thank you for your love even when our actions are unlovable. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Cords of Kindness
Scripture: Hosea 11:1-11
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up in my arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks,
I bent down to them and fed them.
5 They shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword rages in their cities;
it consumes their oracle priests
and devours because of their schemes.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim,
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall go after the Lord,
who roars like a lion;
when he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the west.
11 They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt
and like doves from the land of Assyria,
and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.
I am reading a book by Michael Beck called Painting with Ashes. Michael was a speaker at this year’s Annual Conference and this book is his story of how he went from drug addict to pastor. He doesn’t hold back anything just to make himself look better, but instead; Michael reveals the dark, ugly truth of his journey from brokenness to wholeness in Christ.
At one point in his story, he speaks about his relationship with his grandmother. His grandparents had adopted and raised Michael, but his grandfather died unexpectedly while Michael was still pretty young. As young teen, Michael was introduced to the drug scene and soon thereafter, he began to be a drug dealer, providing large quantities to his distributers and selling to individuals right out of his grandma’s house.
Grandma begged and pleaded with Michael to stop, but he refused. She prayed for him daily, but nothing changed. Finally, Michael, as do many rebellious teenagers, gave Grandma an ultimatum; either he continued to run his drug business out of her house, or he would leave and find his own place.
Now, many of us would tell Grandma that she should have said good- bye and good riddance, and we shake our heads when we learn she didn’t follow our advice. You see, Grandma had suffered through several losses in her life and her fear of losing Michael and being left all alone drove her to allow Michael to continue his illegal activities in her home.
Grandma never gave up on Michael, though. Even as the lines of customers reached from Michael’s bedroom through the house to the front porch, Grandma would sit in her chair in the living room, reading her bible and praying for Michael and all the others who became his regulars. She just loved him too much to give up.
That is where God is in today’s scripture. We have skipped over a lot of what has happened to Hosea in the previous chapters. I told you that Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was constantly in conflict. Gomer would leave and go back to her old lifestyle, then she would return for a while, but eventually she would leave again. Eventually, her life would spiral so far downward that Hosea would have to rescue her from being sold as a slave by buying her back for himself.
In that action, Hosea fully understood how far Israel had fallen from following God. God’s love was so great for his people that he would take them back whenever they turned away from following all their false gods and returned to him.
Today, we hear God’s lament for his people, and it echoes with the heartbreak that was heard in Michael’s grandmother’s prayers for him.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and offering incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.”
God is heartbroken at how Ephraim, meaning Israel, has turned out. He remembers the days long ago when he brought them out of Egypt, how he saved them from the oppression of slavery to the Egyptians. He longs to once again gather the people to himself, to hold them in his arms as one holds a precious infant. God wants them to remember that he is the one who led them through the wilderness for forty years, when their clothes and their sandals never wore out. He wants them to remember that it was God who gave them manna to eat and brought water from the rocks when they were thirsty.
God’s love is so much greater than these people realize or remember, but unlike Michael’s grandmother, God cannot allow Israel to continue to live a life that is not good for them. They have turned their backs on the one who can love them and provide for them, and they have turned to false gods made of stone, wood, and metal – gods who have no life in them, who cannot provide for them, who do not love them as their own.
So, God gives Hosea a prophesy to warn the people: “They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword rages in their cities; it consumes their oracle priests and devours because of their schemes. My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.”
The day will come, Hosea tells them, when they will return to living under the rule of a foreign king once again. Assyria will conquer them, and they will serve the Assyrian king, and they have brought it all on themselves by breaking their covenant to serve only God.
Today, we often call this “tough love.” Tough love is hard. Sometimes it gets ugly. When we step up and put our foot down by setting boundaries for our children or other loved ones, we get to bear the brunt of their rebelliousness. We become the target of their anger; we are the one on whom they spew their hateful, hurtful words. We are painted as the “bad guy” in their life. It’s hard, isn’t it?
We want to be the one they love, the one they turn to for help, the one they know they can trust, but sometimes, in order to protect ourselves and for the benefit of others, we need to be strong enough to be the bad guy. Anyone who has raised teenagers knows this feeling at least once in their lives.
For me, it happened when I was planning a business to trip to Orlando. My husband and I had been struggling with our son for quite a while over doing his homework – he thought it was optional, his teachers did not. His test grades were always high, but his overall grades suffered because of his refusal to turn in his work.
The deal was made that any grade on his grade card before the trip that was lower than a “C” meant he would not go to Florida with us. The time for the trip approached. We were leaving on a Sunday; grade cards came home on a Friday. The list of exam grades was all As and Bs; but with no homework, his overall grades contained one D and one F. He would not be able to go.
It was a hard decision, but warnings had been given, the results on that grade card were entirely up to him. The weekend was awful. He was angry at me for sticking to my word, I was upset that he hadn’t tried at least a little bit to do the dang homework. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was to drop my kid off at my mom’s on Sunday and leave for Florida without him.
As I think about that time, I cannot imagine how much more God’s heart broke at having to discipline his own people in the way that he did. He had tried many times and through many prophets to warn them. He had given them many chances to turn their lives around, to leave their worship of false gods and to return to him. Sometimes they would do just that, but it never lasted; they would once again fall away and turn back to their idols, forgetting the God who loved them.
Our God is a God who keeps his word and he had to do that for his people to really learn who he was. He would allow his children to be returned to slavery, this time through the Assyrians, but he would not completely destroy them. And so, we hear the cry of his heart:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.”
God has decided to do what he needs to do to discipline his children, but it will be up to them whether they learn from their experience. We cannot coerce our children to change their hearts. We can discipline, we can love, we can pray, but ultimately, what they do and how they live is up to them.
Michael’s grandma waited patiently for Michael to come to his senses and turn back to God. My son never became proficient at doing that homework, but he never again had a grade card with such low grades. And God knows there will be a day when Ephraim, Israel, will once again return to him. They will not live in exile forever. “They shall go after the Lord, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.”
God is the same today. He loves us and he wants only what is best for us, but he allows us to make our own choices, our own decisions. God calls us to himself, but he will not coerce us to come. He wants us to want to come to him of our own free will so that we will know his love is genuine, and he will know the same of us.
We are warned that life without God is a life of slavery to sin and death, but through God, through his son, Jesus, we have been given the gift of leaving that life behind. We have been given a second chance – or maybe a third or a fourth. God will give us as many chances as it takes as he waits for us to come to him and live for him. For as long as we breathe, we can turn to God, and he will take us in.
It took Michael many years of trying and failing to live a life of faithfulness to God, but today, he does just that. His story echoes in many of our own lives as we remember how we have come to be here today. The roads may have been different, but we all have struggled on our journey, we may have slipped up, we may have walked away, we may have even given up, but God doesn’t quit on us. He keeps waiting, patiently waiting, and when we do turn back to him, we notice that his arms are open, and he beckons us to come to him.
There is a hymn that pleads, “Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken, bind us together with love.” That is God’s desire. His love is not oppressive but liberating, his love is not fickle but infinite. God wants to bind us together into a family – his family – a family bound together with cords made of kindness and love, mercy, and grace. Will we accept the invitation? AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, we want to be bound up together in your cords of kindness. We want to experience your mercy and grace and feel your love. Forgive us, Lord, when we act like the Israelites in Hosea’s time, when we turn away from you instead of to you, when we refuse to follow you, when we are in need of discipline. Help us to see you, arms open wide, beckoning us to come back, to be loved, to be included, to be your children once more. Thank you for your faithfulness when we have none, thank you for your love even when our actions are unlovable. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
7/24/2022 PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON "pITY ON THE HOUSE"
July 24, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Pity on the House
Scripture: Hosea 1:2-10
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Anyone here like the Marvel movies? The Avengers, Captain America, Thor and the rest? I do. I haven’t seen the newest Thor movie yet, but I have seen the earlier ones and I noticed a theme that runs through them that might be easy to miss in the chaos of destruction and the thrill of saving the world. That theme is love – not just the romantic love between Thor and Jane Foster, not just Thor’s love for earth and its people – but Thor’s love for his family, even – and especially – his love for his brother Loki.
Let’s face it, Loki is not easy to love. He’s the quintessential bad guy, always looking for ways to be the king of some world or realm, always betraying Thor whenever he gets a chance. But Thor truly loves his brother, not because he doesn’t see him as he is, not because he doesn’t recognize Loki’s diabolical nature. Thor loves Loki in spite of all that, simply because he is his brother. Even knowing Loki is adopted doesn’t bother Thor – they are brothers and that is all that matters.
That’s what I was thinking of this week when I read the beginning of Hosea. This is truly a testament to the love God has for his people. It’s also a testament of the love Hosea has for God, that he would be so obedient as to defile himself by marrying a prostitute, simply because God told him to do so. That is a strong faith, my friends, and a strong love.
I believe, even though Hosea married Gomer because God had told him to, that he came to love this woman in spite of her past. Let’s face it, this was a risky love that Hosea was pursuing. A love that will persevere through both the good times and the bad times. A love that others might look at and wonder why he bothers. A love that does not give up even when Gomer disregards that love and returns to her previous lifestyle.
Do we have someone like that in our life? Someone who has loved us no matter what we have done, no matter what we have said, no matter how many times we have hurt them? Is there someone in our lives whom we love enough that we refuse to give up on them, no matter what? If we can say yes to either or both of these questions, then we get a glimpse of what God is asking Hosea to do when he sends him out to marry a woman who will make it hard to love.
This was Hosea’s introductory call into the ministry of being a prophet. Kind of feels like jumping off the deep end, doesn’t it? No easy prophesy to convey to the people as a learning curve, just the directive to go out and marry a prostitute. It’s important to remind ourselves here that Hosea is not being punished by God – instead God is using Hosea to show the people how God himself sees them and their own infidelities.
Professor Pamela Scalise teaches us that those who would hear Hosea’s message and witness his obedience to God would have been the men who were heads of families, of clans, and even national leaders. God’s message, through Hosea, would have been meant for them to see themselves as both the children and the wife; as ones who had prostituted themselves before other gods and as children of those who had done so before them.
God’s accusation of these people was intentionally offensive because he wanted them to be shocked into seeing themselves as how they had become. It was a wake-up call in the hopes that recognition would lead to repentance.
So, Hosea marries Gomer, and all seems to go well at first, so they started their family. The first child was a boy. God said, “Name him Jezreel.’ This was a name that the people would associate with bloodshed – a name they knew from their history.
Next came their baby girl. God chose her name to be Lo-ruhamah – not loved. Our heart breaks when we hear that name, doesn’t it? How can this tiny baby not be loved? But, we ask, how can one not love God? Ahh, perhaps that was his point then.
Not long after little Lo-ruhamah was on solid food, along comes the next child – another boy. Again, God chooses his name; this one is to be named Lo-ammi: “you are not my people, and I am not your God.” Again, our heart breaks a little when we hear this, and we are reminded that when we had visited with Amos, he had prophesied that there would be a time coming when there would be a famine – a time when there would be no word from God. A time when God’s people would seek for God but not be able to find him. What God told through Amos he is showing through Hosea.
This is another week where the reading is hard. Another week where we wonder where the good news is, where the hope is in the words and actions of the prophet we visit as he carries out God’s directives. But, as always, if we search for it, we will find it.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. God has used words to reach out to his people. He has spoken through his prophets, but his people are no longer willing to listen. So, God calls Hosea to radical action – to SHOW his people how they are, what they are doing. Hosea could tell them another story using words, but instead, God calls Hosea to tell his story by how he lives.
We all have a story to tell. Remember, I asked if anyone had someone who had loved them or someone you have loved no matter what? If we had the time, we might invite everyone to tell that story, and in the telling, we would sympathize with the heartbreak and celebrate the triumphs. But, of all who hear our stories, who among us would feel the heartbreak the deepest, who would thrill to the victories the most? It would be the ones whose experiences most closely matched the storytellers.
When we have experienced our own hard times, we can better understand what others are going through. When we have emerged through those hard times into the light, we can more readily encourage those who are still on their journey, we can celebrate with them a little more exuberantly. What we have lived helps us see what others are living.
God has called Hosea to tell the Israelites, through his own experiences, how God sees them. This is a radical love that God is pouring out on his people. If they wouldn’t listen to words, perhaps some will see with their eyes and turn back to God. Hosea’s story becomes more authentic because he is living it himself. Hosea isn’t telling God’s story to God’s people simply by using words – he is living the story in real time, in real life.
Sadly, after the birth of their third child, Gomer leaves Hosea. She breaks her marriage vows and returns to her former lifestyle. She lusted after the material things that she could gain from other men – rich food, fine clothes, jewels, money. She reveled in this life for a time, but finally, reality set in and Gomer realized she was not living in the way she should. She came to her senses and returned to her husband, and Hosea took her back because he loved her.
In the closing verses of today’s scripture, we begin to feel the love God has for his people, this love that will not let him give up on them, no matter what. He gives them a glimpse of what is to come when they finally admit they have sinned and fallen away, and they finally turn back and worship him as their One, True God:
“Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
Just as Gomer finally returned to her husband, the nations of Israel and Judah will come together and return to God. They will once again love him as their ancestors did long ago. And in that day, the names of Hosea’s children will be changed. Instead of Lo-ammi, he will be Ammi – my people – and instead of Lo-ruhamah, she will be Ruhamah – pitied. And in those days, God will say, “You are my people,” and they will say, “You are my God.”
Gomer would eventually leave Hosea again, but she would come back, and he would take her in, and it would happen again and again. I think it is easy for us to judge Gomer. She had everything she needed at home, yet she kept throwing it all away and running back to a sinful way of living. I think it’s also easy for us to judge Hosea. Why would he keep taking her back? She clearly was incapable of returning his love in any real, lasting way. She was a selfish person who didn’t care for her husband or her kids; he should have closed the door in her face and told her to get lost.
Friends, before we judge either of these people too quickly, let’s take another look. God may have been using Hosea’s situation as a way to reach the Israelites, but I believe he is using Hosea’s story to reach us today.
We are Gomer. We are the ones who come to God and profess our love one day but then turn our backs the next. Then we come back, say we are sorry, beg for forgiveness, and ask to be let back in the house. And God, in his love, opens that door wide and welcomes us back. All is good for a while, but then we slip up and we slip away, returning to the places we never should have been in the first place. We run away again. But God will have pity on us when we once again come to our senses and knock on the door, asking for another chance, promising to be better this time, asking for forgiveness once again.
God’s love is greater than our sin. That is the good news we need to hear. God loves us and wants us to be a part of his family. How do I know that? Because God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins so that we can live with him for all of eternity. That is certainly a radical love. Thank God for his love. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, your love for us is radical. That you could love us even when we turn away from you is amazing, but we thank you, Lord, that you never give up on us. We thank you that when we come to our senses and come back to you, you welcome us with open arms. Lord, we don’t deserve it, but we are so grateful for it. Now, help us to share the good news of your love with others. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17-3/commentary-on-hosea-12-10-5
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Pity on the House
Scripture: Hosea 1:2-10
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Anyone here like the Marvel movies? The Avengers, Captain America, Thor and the rest? I do. I haven’t seen the newest Thor movie yet, but I have seen the earlier ones and I noticed a theme that runs through them that might be easy to miss in the chaos of destruction and the thrill of saving the world. That theme is love – not just the romantic love between Thor and Jane Foster, not just Thor’s love for earth and its people – but Thor’s love for his family, even – and especially – his love for his brother Loki.
Let’s face it, Loki is not easy to love. He’s the quintessential bad guy, always looking for ways to be the king of some world or realm, always betraying Thor whenever he gets a chance. But Thor truly loves his brother, not because he doesn’t see him as he is, not because he doesn’t recognize Loki’s diabolical nature. Thor loves Loki in spite of all that, simply because he is his brother. Even knowing Loki is adopted doesn’t bother Thor – they are brothers and that is all that matters.
That’s what I was thinking of this week when I read the beginning of Hosea. This is truly a testament to the love God has for his people. It’s also a testament of the love Hosea has for God, that he would be so obedient as to defile himself by marrying a prostitute, simply because God told him to do so. That is a strong faith, my friends, and a strong love.
I believe, even though Hosea married Gomer because God had told him to, that he came to love this woman in spite of her past. Let’s face it, this was a risky love that Hosea was pursuing. A love that will persevere through both the good times and the bad times. A love that others might look at and wonder why he bothers. A love that does not give up even when Gomer disregards that love and returns to her previous lifestyle.
Do we have someone like that in our life? Someone who has loved us no matter what we have done, no matter what we have said, no matter how many times we have hurt them? Is there someone in our lives whom we love enough that we refuse to give up on them, no matter what? If we can say yes to either or both of these questions, then we get a glimpse of what God is asking Hosea to do when he sends him out to marry a woman who will make it hard to love.
This was Hosea’s introductory call into the ministry of being a prophet. Kind of feels like jumping off the deep end, doesn’t it? No easy prophesy to convey to the people as a learning curve, just the directive to go out and marry a prostitute. It’s important to remind ourselves here that Hosea is not being punished by God – instead God is using Hosea to show the people how God himself sees them and their own infidelities.
Professor Pamela Scalise teaches us that those who would hear Hosea’s message and witness his obedience to God would have been the men who were heads of families, of clans, and even national leaders. God’s message, through Hosea, would have been meant for them to see themselves as both the children and the wife; as ones who had prostituted themselves before other gods and as children of those who had done so before them.
God’s accusation of these people was intentionally offensive because he wanted them to be shocked into seeing themselves as how they had become. It was a wake-up call in the hopes that recognition would lead to repentance.
So, Hosea marries Gomer, and all seems to go well at first, so they started their family. The first child was a boy. God said, “Name him Jezreel.’ This was a name that the people would associate with bloodshed – a name they knew from their history.
Next came their baby girl. God chose her name to be Lo-ruhamah – not loved. Our heart breaks when we hear that name, doesn’t it? How can this tiny baby not be loved? But, we ask, how can one not love God? Ahh, perhaps that was his point then.
Not long after little Lo-ruhamah was on solid food, along comes the next child – another boy. Again, God chooses his name; this one is to be named Lo-ammi: “you are not my people, and I am not your God.” Again, our heart breaks a little when we hear this, and we are reminded that when we had visited with Amos, he had prophesied that there would be a time coming when there would be a famine – a time when there would be no word from God. A time when God’s people would seek for God but not be able to find him. What God told through Amos he is showing through Hosea.
This is another week where the reading is hard. Another week where we wonder where the good news is, where the hope is in the words and actions of the prophet we visit as he carries out God’s directives. But, as always, if we search for it, we will find it.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. God has used words to reach out to his people. He has spoken through his prophets, but his people are no longer willing to listen. So, God calls Hosea to radical action – to SHOW his people how they are, what they are doing. Hosea could tell them another story using words, but instead, God calls Hosea to tell his story by how he lives.
We all have a story to tell. Remember, I asked if anyone had someone who had loved them or someone you have loved no matter what? If we had the time, we might invite everyone to tell that story, and in the telling, we would sympathize with the heartbreak and celebrate the triumphs. But, of all who hear our stories, who among us would feel the heartbreak the deepest, who would thrill to the victories the most? It would be the ones whose experiences most closely matched the storytellers.
When we have experienced our own hard times, we can better understand what others are going through. When we have emerged through those hard times into the light, we can more readily encourage those who are still on their journey, we can celebrate with them a little more exuberantly. What we have lived helps us see what others are living.
God has called Hosea to tell the Israelites, through his own experiences, how God sees them. This is a radical love that God is pouring out on his people. If they wouldn’t listen to words, perhaps some will see with their eyes and turn back to God. Hosea’s story becomes more authentic because he is living it himself. Hosea isn’t telling God’s story to God’s people simply by using words – he is living the story in real time, in real life.
Sadly, after the birth of their third child, Gomer leaves Hosea. She breaks her marriage vows and returns to her former lifestyle. She lusted after the material things that she could gain from other men – rich food, fine clothes, jewels, money. She reveled in this life for a time, but finally, reality set in and Gomer realized she was not living in the way she should. She came to her senses and returned to her husband, and Hosea took her back because he loved her.
In the closing verses of today’s scripture, we begin to feel the love God has for his people, this love that will not let him give up on them, no matter what. He gives them a glimpse of what is to come when they finally admit they have sinned and fallen away, and they finally turn back and worship him as their One, True God:
“Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
Just as Gomer finally returned to her husband, the nations of Israel and Judah will come together and return to God. They will once again love him as their ancestors did long ago. And in that day, the names of Hosea’s children will be changed. Instead of Lo-ammi, he will be Ammi – my people – and instead of Lo-ruhamah, she will be Ruhamah – pitied. And in those days, God will say, “You are my people,” and they will say, “You are my God.”
Gomer would eventually leave Hosea again, but she would come back, and he would take her in, and it would happen again and again. I think it is easy for us to judge Gomer. She had everything she needed at home, yet she kept throwing it all away and running back to a sinful way of living. I think it’s also easy for us to judge Hosea. Why would he keep taking her back? She clearly was incapable of returning his love in any real, lasting way. She was a selfish person who didn’t care for her husband or her kids; he should have closed the door in her face and told her to get lost.
Friends, before we judge either of these people too quickly, let’s take another look. God may have been using Hosea’s situation as a way to reach the Israelites, but I believe he is using Hosea’s story to reach us today.
We are Gomer. We are the ones who come to God and profess our love one day but then turn our backs the next. Then we come back, say we are sorry, beg for forgiveness, and ask to be let back in the house. And God, in his love, opens that door wide and welcomes us back. All is good for a while, but then we slip up and we slip away, returning to the places we never should have been in the first place. We run away again. But God will have pity on us when we once again come to our senses and knock on the door, asking for another chance, promising to be better this time, asking for forgiveness once again.
God’s love is greater than our sin. That is the good news we need to hear. God loves us and wants us to be a part of his family. How do I know that? Because God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins so that we can live with him for all of eternity. That is certainly a radical love. Thank God for his love. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, your love for us is radical. That you could love us even when we turn away from you is amazing, but we thank you, Lord, that you never give up on us. We thank you that when we come to our senses and come back to you, you welcome us with open arms. Lord, we don’t deserve it, but we are so grateful for it. Now, help us to share the good news of your love with others. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17-3/commentary-on-hosea-12-10-5
7/17/2022 pastor donna's sermon "living in a bitter day"
July 17, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Living in a Bitter Day
Scripture: Amos 8:1-12
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, “Amos, what
do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me,
“The end has come upon my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer.
3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day,”
says the Lord GOD;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!”
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier
and practice deceit with false balances,
6 buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
9 On that day, says the Lord GOD,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
2
I will bring sackcloth on all loins
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.
Amos has extended the invitation to stay another week so here we are. This week
Amos speaks hard words. Some might say even harsh words. These are words that no
one wants to hear – and no one really wants to have to say. But the truth sometimes is
hard. Sometimes hearing the unbridled truth is what it takes to wake us up from the
lethargy we seem to fall into in our overworked, hectic lives.
Let’s face it – at the end of the day, after work and chores and errands, after kids and
families, and all the rest – what we really want is just to veg in front of the TV or spend
time on our devices so that we can close ourselves off from everything that is “out there”
pulling us in too many directions, overloading our senses, overwhelming our strength.
We’re tired, we’re sapped, and we’re vulnerable.
That is why it is so hard to listen for the word of God and so hard to take time to look up
and out to see what is around us. We are afraid if we see something we might have to
do something. But today’s scripture once again calls us to look up and around, not just
at what we see in our own neighborhood, but what we see in the world. Ouch! Are we
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up to that? Can we really muster up the wherewithal to do that? With God’s strength we
can.
This seeing that God is asking us to do through Amos is a deeper seeing. Here’s an
example of deeper seeing. God asked Amos, “What do you see?” and this time the
answer was, “A basket of summer fruit.” What do we picture when we hear that? A
beautiful, lush display of ripened fruit, juicy and waiting to be eaten. Have you ever
bought a package of beautiful strawberries at the supermarket and when you got home
discovered that some of the ones on the bottom had rotted? We didn’t see deeply
enough to see the spoilage, we only saw the beautiful attraction on the outside, the part
we like to see.
As Rev. Dr. Derek Weber writes, “God asks Amos, who then asks us, to look deeper.
What is underneath our wealth, our comfort, our excess? Who is suffering, who is
hurting, who is decaying like a basket of summer fruit” that is beautiful to the eye but
spoiled underneath?
Lest we begin to think this is only a 21 st century problem, let’s remember our scripture:
“Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying,
‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so that we
may offer wheat for sale?’”
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Even in Amos’ day people we too busy to care about others on a regular basis. The new
moon festivals and the sabbath breaks were a time to endure as they waited to get back
to “real life” where business could go back to being as usual, where trades could
resume, where blinders could be put on and life could rush right by. And how do we
know they had little care for others?
Hear this proof: The people have said, “’We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel
heavier and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy
for a pair of sandals and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’”
What kind of practices are these? Dirty, deceitful practices that go against what God
would have. These people have devised ways to cheat others, their scales are out-of-
balance to their good and the others’ misfortune, they are willing buy another person for
a few pieces of silver or a pair of sandals. And who is going to notice if there is dirt and
debris mixed in with that wheat – go ahead and sweep it up off the floor and sell it
anyway. Is this how we are supposed to treat people?
“But wait,” you say, “we don’t do any of those things. We don’t measure with any scale,
let alone an imbalanced one, we don’t sell wheat off the floor, and we certainly don’t buy
people!” And you are right. That is not how we conduct ourselves today. Times have
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changed and many ways of doing business and just living day to day are different now
from Amos’ time. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our own ways of cheating others
and taking advantage when we know we shouldn’t
Have we ever made our children younger than they really were just to get a discount at
a restaurant or to save on admission to an amusement park? Have we ever said, “We
can do such and such because everyone else does,” even though we know it is wrong?
Have we ever written a check when we know there was no money in our account? Have
we ever peeked at someone’s phone when they accidentally left it on, or opened
someone else’s mail?
We are an inventive and creative people and the ways we use those gifts can be for the
better or for the worse. Most of us can surely confess that we have done both better and
worse. Why do we do the things that we know are wrong? Because we think we can get
away with it, that no one will really be harmed, that no one will even notice. But God
notices. That’s the thing we forget – God is omniscient – he sees everything and knows
everything – even when we don’t think so.
That is what has happened to the children of Israel in Amos’ time. They have forgotten
about God. They have forgotten that even when they don’t think about him or
acknowledge him, he is still with them. He sees all and knows all – and he is not happy
with them. And God tells Amos, “’The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely, I
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will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and
everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and
sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?’”
If you are a parent, or even if you have ever been around children for any length of time,
you know that sometimes they don’t listen well. We tell them over and over not to run in
the house, to clean their room, to not hit their brother or sister, to not ride their bikes in
the road, but inevitably, they do something they are not supposed to do, and we must
discipline them. We don’t like it, they don’t like it, but it is necessary for their safety and
their development as a decent human being.
That is where God is in today’s passage. He loves the Israelites beyond measure, and
he wants to give them all the good things they need and want, but they have broken the
rules too many times and as a loving father, he must discipline his children. He doesn’t
want to have to do this, they are not going to like it when he does, but it is for their own
benefit that it must be done.
God tells Amos the plan. He tells Amos exactly what to expect when the day of
discipline comes: “’On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your
songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.’”
7
Put your spiritual imaginations to work and picture how hard it is for God to bring this
punishment to his people. Imagine the broken heartedness this causes, the deep grief
that God feels. This isn’t what he wants to do. When God says, “I will make it like the
mourning for an only son and the end of a bitter day,” I believe he means for both Israel
and for himself. When we have had to punish our own children, don’t we feel awful for
it? Doesn’t our heart break? Don’t we live that day as a bitter day right along with them?
Wouldn’t God, as the loving father that he is, feel the same?
And as if that weren’t enough, God continues by warning that, “‘The time is surely
coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They
shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking
the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.’”
Today’s passage began with the picture of abundance – a basket of summer fruit,
bounty from the rich, fertile land that Israel was at that time. But it ends with famine –
not a famine of food and or water, but a famine of something even more important and
vital for life – the absence of the word of God. God has been speaking to his people
through his prophets since the time of Moses, but now, in their willful sinfulness, God
will be silent to his people.
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With no food or water, a body will perish, but without God, the soul will perish. Which is
the more detrimental to us, which is more devastating?
We know that Amos’ prophesy came to be. The Assyrians conquered the Northern
kingdom of Israel, many died, many others taken captive. Those who were left wore
sackcloth and shaved their heads as a sign of mourning. Where there had once been
singing in the temple there was now only wailing and lamenting, and the feasts that had
been seen as an obstacle for business were now neither a time of rest and worship, nor
a time of enduring to get back to business as usual – they were simply another occasion
to remember and mourn for what was.
Israel had committed many sins in their time, but what was it that God had found in
them here to cause this much punishment? God’s own words, through Amos, tell that it
was their sin of oppressing of the poor and the needy by using means of economic
exploitation. They put profits ahead of people by cheating, by committing fraud, and by
enslaving those who were poor to the point that it will make the very land tremble. It was
God’s love and compassion for such as these whom Israel did not, and would not, see
as people of value, that caused Israel’s destruction.
As we go about our daily lives, as we try to keep up with all the demands on our time,
we simply cannot allow ourselves to succumb to the temptation to keep our heads down
and our eyes closed to the world around us. God is still calling us to look up and around
9
and see the poor, the needy, the vulnerable, to see them as people worthy of love and
valued by God. And once we see them, then we are called to minister to them in
whatever way we have means to do so.
Friends, I confess that there are days when I feel like we are headed toward that same
fate as the Israelites. It feels like we are fast becoming a society where we are in danger
of God once again becoming silent. Who will stand in the gap for us? Who will reach out
and show the love of God to those who are in need? It is up to us, to all of us,
individually and collectively to say “I will do it.”
In the introduction to this series, I warned you that there would be some words that
would be hard to hear, and I know this week is one of those times. I also said that I was
praying that we would be able to hear the hope and the love that could be found, even
in those hard words, and I believe this week we surely can find both. Even though I
have only been here a couple of weeks, I already see how this church finds ways to
stand in the gap for those who are in need, I have witnessed how seriously God’s
directive to care for his people is taken, I have seen the outpouring of love and feel the
hope that fills this church body.
I have seen people reaching out, inviting me to go with them to visit the shut-ins, I have
seen back-packs being filled with food for families who live without enough to eat, I have
heard how people have worked to build a house for a family who needed a safe place to
10
live, how children are being taught the word of God through Bridge Builders, how many
different groups are invited to use this building to meet, how bicycles were provided to a
refugee family, how prayers were offered, and how love was shared.
We are certainly not without our own struggles, but friends, when we choose to put
aside our own tendencies to hide from the world, when we find ways to affect the lives
of others for their benefit and for God’s glory, then I know he sees and is pleased. May
we never stop trying to bear one another’s burdens, may we never stop living as gap-
fillers for God, may we never have to live in a time when God is silent. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to stand in the gap for
you to the ones who need our help. May we seek to spread your love through the
ministries you call us to provide. Help us to keep our heads up and our eyes and hearts
open that we might see where we can be of assistance to all because all are worthy of
love and valued by you. May we bear one another’s burden’s and increase your
kingdom here on earth as we await the return of your precious son, Jesus Christ.
AMEN.
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References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Call to Worship:
L: As God asked Amos, now he asks us,
P: “What do we see?”
L: We see distractions, divisions, dissension,
P: We see the fruit we produce by the way we live.
L: Then let us worship our God, and be a witness of the gospel,
P: Let us produce good fruit that will benefit others
ALL: And honor God. AMEN.
Hymn: 61 Come, Thou Almighty King
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE:
OBJECT: 2 bags of quarters – 1 with $3 in all quarters, 1 with a few nickels replacing
some of the quarters.
Lesson – It isn’t right to cheat – God is watching all that we do and we should not take
advantage of others even if we think we can get away with it.
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Living in a Bitter Day
Scripture: Amos 8:1-12
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, “Amos, what
do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me,
“The end has come upon my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer.
3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day,”
says the Lord GOD;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!”
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier
and practice deceit with false balances,
6 buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
9 On that day, says the Lord GOD,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
2
I will bring sackcloth on all loins
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.
Amos has extended the invitation to stay another week so here we are. This week
Amos speaks hard words. Some might say even harsh words. These are words that no
one wants to hear – and no one really wants to have to say. But the truth sometimes is
hard. Sometimes hearing the unbridled truth is what it takes to wake us up from the
lethargy we seem to fall into in our overworked, hectic lives.
Let’s face it – at the end of the day, after work and chores and errands, after kids and
families, and all the rest – what we really want is just to veg in front of the TV or spend
time on our devices so that we can close ourselves off from everything that is “out there”
pulling us in too many directions, overloading our senses, overwhelming our strength.
We’re tired, we’re sapped, and we’re vulnerable.
That is why it is so hard to listen for the word of God and so hard to take time to look up
and out to see what is around us. We are afraid if we see something we might have to
do something. But today’s scripture once again calls us to look up and around, not just
at what we see in our own neighborhood, but what we see in the world. Ouch! Are we
3
up to that? Can we really muster up the wherewithal to do that? With God’s strength we
can.
This seeing that God is asking us to do through Amos is a deeper seeing. Here’s an
example of deeper seeing. God asked Amos, “What do you see?” and this time the
answer was, “A basket of summer fruit.” What do we picture when we hear that? A
beautiful, lush display of ripened fruit, juicy and waiting to be eaten. Have you ever
bought a package of beautiful strawberries at the supermarket and when you got home
discovered that some of the ones on the bottom had rotted? We didn’t see deeply
enough to see the spoilage, we only saw the beautiful attraction on the outside, the part
we like to see.
As Rev. Dr. Derek Weber writes, “God asks Amos, who then asks us, to look deeper.
What is underneath our wealth, our comfort, our excess? Who is suffering, who is
hurting, who is decaying like a basket of summer fruit” that is beautiful to the eye but
spoiled underneath?
Lest we begin to think this is only a 21 st century problem, let’s remember our scripture:
“Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying,
‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so that we
may offer wheat for sale?’”
4
Even in Amos’ day people we too busy to care about others on a regular basis. The new
moon festivals and the sabbath breaks were a time to endure as they waited to get back
to “real life” where business could go back to being as usual, where trades could
resume, where blinders could be put on and life could rush right by. And how do we
know they had little care for others?
Hear this proof: The people have said, “’We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel
heavier and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy
for a pair of sandals and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’”
What kind of practices are these? Dirty, deceitful practices that go against what God
would have. These people have devised ways to cheat others, their scales are out-of-
balance to their good and the others’ misfortune, they are willing buy another person for
a few pieces of silver or a pair of sandals. And who is going to notice if there is dirt and
debris mixed in with that wheat – go ahead and sweep it up off the floor and sell it
anyway. Is this how we are supposed to treat people?
“But wait,” you say, “we don’t do any of those things. We don’t measure with any scale,
let alone an imbalanced one, we don’t sell wheat off the floor, and we certainly don’t buy
people!” And you are right. That is not how we conduct ourselves today. Times have
5
changed and many ways of doing business and just living day to day are different now
from Amos’ time. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our own ways of cheating others
and taking advantage when we know we shouldn’t
Have we ever made our children younger than they really were just to get a discount at
a restaurant or to save on admission to an amusement park? Have we ever said, “We
can do such and such because everyone else does,” even though we know it is wrong?
Have we ever written a check when we know there was no money in our account? Have
we ever peeked at someone’s phone when they accidentally left it on, or opened
someone else’s mail?
We are an inventive and creative people and the ways we use those gifts can be for the
better or for the worse. Most of us can surely confess that we have done both better and
worse. Why do we do the things that we know are wrong? Because we think we can get
away with it, that no one will really be harmed, that no one will even notice. But God
notices. That’s the thing we forget – God is omniscient – he sees everything and knows
everything – even when we don’t think so.
That is what has happened to the children of Israel in Amos’ time. They have forgotten
about God. They have forgotten that even when they don’t think about him or
acknowledge him, he is still with them. He sees all and knows all – and he is not happy
with them. And God tells Amos, “’The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely, I
6
will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and
everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and
sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?’”
If you are a parent, or even if you have ever been around children for any length of time,
you know that sometimes they don’t listen well. We tell them over and over not to run in
the house, to clean their room, to not hit their brother or sister, to not ride their bikes in
the road, but inevitably, they do something they are not supposed to do, and we must
discipline them. We don’t like it, they don’t like it, but it is necessary for their safety and
their development as a decent human being.
That is where God is in today’s passage. He loves the Israelites beyond measure, and
he wants to give them all the good things they need and want, but they have broken the
rules too many times and as a loving father, he must discipline his children. He doesn’t
want to have to do this, they are not going to like it when he does, but it is for their own
benefit that it must be done.
God tells Amos the plan. He tells Amos exactly what to expect when the day of
discipline comes: “’On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your
songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.’”
7
Put your spiritual imaginations to work and picture how hard it is for God to bring this
punishment to his people. Imagine the broken heartedness this causes, the deep grief
that God feels. This isn’t what he wants to do. When God says, “I will make it like the
mourning for an only son and the end of a bitter day,” I believe he means for both Israel
and for himself. When we have had to punish our own children, don’t we feel awful for
it? Doesn’t our heart break? Don’t we live that day as a bitter day right along with them?
Wouldn’t God, as the loving father that he is, feel the same?
And as if that weren’t enough, God continues by warning that, “‘The time is surely
coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They
shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking
the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.’”
Today’s passage began with the picture of abundance – a basket of summer fruit,
bounty from the rich, fertile land that Israel was at that time. But it ends with famine –
not a famine of food and or water, but a famine of something even more important and
vital for life – the absence of the word of God. God has been speaking to his people
through his prophets since the time of Moses, but now, in their willful sinfulness, God
will be silent to his people.
8
With no food or water, a body will perish, but without God, the soul will perish. Which is
the more detrimental to us, which is more devastating?
We know that Amos’ prophesy came to be. The Assyrians conquered the Northern
kingdom of Israel, many died, many others taken captive. Those who were left wore
sackcloth and shaved their heads as a sign of mourning. Where there had once been
singing in the temple there was now only wailing and lamenting, and the feasts that had
been seen as an obstacle for business were now neither a time of rest and worship, nor
a time of enduring to get back to business as usual – they were simply another occasion
to remember and mourn for what was.
Israel had committed many sins in their time, but what was it that God had found in
them here to cause this much punishment? God’s own words, through Amos, tell that it
was their sin of oppressing of the poor and the needy by using means of economic
exploitation. They put profits ahead of people by cheating, by committing fraud, and by
enslaving those who were poor to the point that it will make the very land tremble. It was
God’s love and compassion for such as these whom Israel did not, and would not, see
as people of value, that caused Israel’s destruction.
As we go about our daily lives, as we try to keep up with all the demands on our time,
we simply cannot allow ourselves to succumb to the temptation to keep our heads down
and our eyes closed to the world around us. God is still calling us to look up and around
9
and see the poor, the needy, the vulnerable, to see them as people worthy of love and
valued by God. And once we see them, then we are called to minister to them in
whatever way we have means to do so.
Friends, I confess that there are days when I feel like we are headed toward that same
fate as the Israelites. It feels like we are fast becoming a society where we are in danger
of God once again becoming silent. Who will stand in the gap for us? Who will reach out
and show the love of God to those who are in need? It is up to us, to all of us,
individually and collectively to say “I will do it.”
In the introduction to this series, I warned you that there would be some words that
would be hard to hear, and I know this week is one of those times. I also said that I was
praying that we would be able to hear the hope and the love that could be found, even
in those hard words, and I believe this week we surely can find both. Even though I
have only been here a couple of weeks, I already see how this church finds ways to
stand in the gap for those who are in need, I have witnessed how seriously God’s
directive to care for his people is taken, I have seen the outpouring of love and feel the
hope that fills this church body.
I have seen people reaching out, inviting me to go with them to visit the shut-ins, I have
seen back-packs being filled with food for families who live without enough to eat, I have
heard how people have worked to build a house for a family who needed a safe place to
10
live, how children are being taught the word of God through Bridge Builders, how many
different groups are invited to use this building to meet, how bicycles were provided to a
refugee family, how prayers were offered, and how love was shared.
We are certainly not without our own struggles, but friends, when we choose to put
aside our own tendencies to hide from the world, when we find ways to affect the lives
of others for their benefit and for God’s glory, then I know he sees and is pleased. May
we never stop trying to bear one another’s burdens, may we never stop living as gap-
fillers for God, may we never have to live in a time when God is silent. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to stand in the gap for
you to the ones who need our help. May we seek to spread your love through the
ministries you call us to provide. Help us to keep our heads up and our eyes and hearts
open that we might see where we can be of assistance to all because all are worthy of
love and valued by you. May we bear one another’s burden’s and increase your
kingdom here on earth as we await the return of your precious son, Jesus Christ.
AMEN.
11
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Call to Worship:
L: As God asked Amos, now he asks us,
P: “What do we see?”
L: We see distractions, divisions, dissension,
P: We see the fruit we produce by the way we live.
L: Then let us worship our God, and be a witness of the gospel,
P: Let us produce good fruit that will benefit others
ALL: And honor God. AMEN.
Hymn: 61 Come, Thou Almighty King
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE:
OBJECT: 2 bags of quarters – 1 with $3 in all quarters, 1 with a few nickels replacing
some of the quarters.
Lesson – It isn’t right to cheat – God is watching all that we do and we should not take
advantage of others even if we think we can get away with it.
7/10/2022 Pastor Donna's Sermon "What Do you see?"
July 10, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: What Do You See?
Scripture: Amos 7:7-17
This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a
plumb line in his hand. 8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A
plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“See, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer;
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has
conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his
words. 11 For thus Amos has said,
‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there,
and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a
temple of the kingdom.”
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and
a dresser of sycamore trees, 15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said
to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 “Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore thus says the LORD:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”
2
Last week, the prophet Elisha taught us to listen to God, even when we didn’t understand the
reason behind his instructions. This week we are going to stop by for a visit with Amos, who
says, not just listen, but look around and see what God wants us to know.
We hear this same plea today in various forms. We are becoming a society of people who never
look up, out, or around. We are too busy peering down at what we are holding in our hands: our
phones or our tablets. The world that we hold in our hands is vast and captivating, but at the
same time, it is also narrow and confining. When we only look down, our vision is confined to
what we see on the screen, and we can’t see the broader picture of the world around us that is
teeming with life. We can’t see the needs of the world or hear the cries of distress, so we can’t
see that there is a place where we are called to minister to the least, the lost, and the lonely. We
don’t notice when we are veering off the straight and narrow way that God has prepared for us.
Now, I’m not saying that technology is a bad thing. There are many good things that come from
having and using our phones and tablets. We can communicate with others instantly even when
they are across town, around the world, or just upstairs. We can look up useful information (or
trivial information) in a quick second, we can learn new languages or new skills, we can shop or
take a class, or read a book. Our devices are not, in themselves, either bad or good, but it is up to
us to use them in a good way, in a balanced way.
That is why I like Amos’s lesson of the plumb line. I’m not sure how often a plumb line is used
today. Most people I know use a level instead, but before levels were invented, with their
3
bubbles that could determine whether something was level or straight, a plumb line was the tool
of choice. Why is it important to make sure what we are building is straight? Think of a wall, or
the side of a building. If it were to be built out of plumb, meaning not straight, it wouldn’t be a
safe structure.
When a building leans too far in one direction, it is in danger of toppling over. It is no good for
what it is intended and needs to be torn down. That was the message God gave Amos to pass on
to the people of Israel. They had gotten to leaning too far in one direction, and they were no
longer good for what they were intended. They were no longer following God because they were
out of plumb.
Today’s passage takes place at Bethel. Bethel plays a prominent role in the lives of many of the
Old Testament people. Abraham built an altar there as he was passing through to Egypt and
revisited it again later. Jacob, on the run from his brother, encounters God at Bethel. This is
where Jacob dreamed of the ladder set up on earth that reached to heaven where angels were
going up and coming down, where God introduced himself to Jacob and renewed his promise to
give the land to his people while making a promise to be with him always. Genesis 28:18-19 tells
us, “So, Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and
set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the place Bethel.” This was a place
that was revered by the Israelites for many years.
4
But then, Jeroboam I changed all that. He chose not to follow God and God’s ways. He had two
golden calves made and he set up a place of worship in the north and in the south – and the
southern place was in Bethel. This Jeroboam also began to appoint his own priests and instituted
a new festival for the people to celebrate the gods “who brought you up out of the land of
Egypt.” Israel is beginning to lean; they are no longer plumb straight, as God showed Amos in
his vision.
Now, this Jeroboam, the second king with that name, has followed the first Jeroboam’s ways. He
has continued promoting worship in the high places, he has turned the people away from God,
and he has appointed his own priests, including Amaziah, who hears Amos’ prophesy from God:
“See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will spare them no longer; the
high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I
will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amaziah doesn’t like what Amos has to say so he goes to the king and makes an indictment
against Amos based on rumors, misrepresentations, and outright lies. Then Amaziah goes back to
Amos and tells him to get out of town and never come back. “We don’t need a seer in this
place,” he says, “This is the king’s sanctuary and a temple of the kingdom. Take your words
elsewhere or else.”
Amos is quick to deny being a prophet; he is just a simple herdsman and a dresser of sycamore
trees and quite happy at that. But you see, when God gives you a vision and tells you to share it,
5
then that is what you do. Amos IS a prophet, but he wants to make sure Amaziah knows he isn’t
the kind of prophet Amaziah is used to – Amos won’t make up pretty lies to make the king and
the people feel good – he will only speak the truth – God’s truth, no matter what. Amos will
choose to stand straight for God – plumb straight.
Amaziah, the out-of-plumb false priest would pay the price for his accusations about. and to,
Amos. He didn’t get God’s message to look up and see what was around him. He failed to notice
that God, not those idols he worshiped, was in control. And God showed Amaziah what a hard
heart and harsh words against one of God’s chosen prophets would get him, and what
disobedience to God would cost.
God gave Amos another prophesy, this time it wasn’t only for the people of Israel, but also for a
person of Israel – for Amaziah himself. “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
Therefore, thus says the Lord:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the
sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and
Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”
Amaziah didn’t want to see the truth in Amos’ prophesy. He didn’t want to believe that God
would have any say in what happened to Israel and its people. But just because we don’t want to
6
see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Amos’ prophesy did
come to pass. Amaziah and his family were wiped out, and Israel was led off into a seventy-year
period of captivity. They had become too out of plumb to be corrected in any other way.
As a builder works at building a wall or a house, he doesn’t simply make sure the first row or
side is plumb and then forget about the rest. He must continually check to see that each part of
the building is level, square, plumb.
Friends, in our lives, we need to continually do the same. We must, over and over again, hold
ourselves against God’s plumb line and ask ourselves, “What do we see?’ and then we need to
also ask God, “What do you see?”
If our answer doesn’t match up with God’s, then we might just be getting out of plumb, and as a
good builder will know, getting straightened out now is so much easier than waiting until later,
or by waiting too long, we may find that we must be torn down to be corrected at all. No one
wants that. So, what do you see? Are you straight with God? Are you plumb straight? I pray so.
AMEN.
PRAYER: God of grace and mercy, help us to see ourselves clearly enough that when we start to
become out of plumb in your eyes, as measured by your standards, that we will seek your will
and recommit ourselves to you in order to get back where we need to be. Lord, thank you for
7
your patience with us when we start to lean, prevent us from going too far, and keep us coming
back for a remeasure when needed. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: What Do You See?
Scripture: Amos 7:7-17
This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a
plumb line in his hand. 8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A
plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“See, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer;
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has
conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his
words. 11 For thus Amos has said,
‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there,
and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a
temple of the kingdom.”
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and
a dresser of sycamore trees, 15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said
to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 “Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore thus says the LORD:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”
2
Last week, the prophet Elisha taught us to listen to God, even when we didn’t understand the
reason behind his instructions. This week we are going to stop by for a visit with Amos, who
says, not just listen, but look around and see what God wants us to know.
We hear this same plea today in various forms. We are becoming a society of people who never
look up, out, or around. We are too busy peering down at what we are holding in our hands: our
phones or our tablets. The world that we hold in our hands is vast and captivating, but at the
same time, it is also narrow and confining. When we only look down, our vision is confined to
what we see on the screen, and we can’t see the broader picture of the world around us that is
teeming with life. We can’t see the needs of the world or hear the cries of distress, so we can’t
see that there is a place where we are called to minister to the least, the lost, and the lonely. We
don’t notice when we are veering off the straight and narrow way that God has prepared for us.
Now, I’m not saying that technology is a bad thing. There are many good things that come from
having and using our phones and tablets. We can communicate with others instantly even when
they are across town, around the world, or just upstairs. We can look up useful information (or
trivial information) in a quick second, we can learn new languages or new skills, we can shop or
take a class, or read a book. Our devices are not, in themselves, either bad or good, but it is up to
us to use them in a good way, in a balanced way.
That is why I like Amos’s lesson of the plumb line. I’m not sure how often a plumb line is used
today. Most people I know use a level instead, but before levels were invented, with their
3
bubbles that could determine whether something was level or straight, a plumb line was the tool
of choice. Why is it important to make sure what we are building is straight? Think of a wall, or
the side of a building. If it were to be built out of plumb, meaning not straight, it wouldn’t be a
safe structure.
When a building leans too far in one direction, it is in danger of toppling over. It is no good for
what it is intended and needs to be torn down. That was the message God gave Amos to pass on
to the people of Israel. They had gotten to leaning too far in one direction, and they were no
longer good for what they were intended. They were no longer following God because they were
out of plumb.
Today’s passage takes place at Bethel. Bethel plays a prominent role in the lives of many of the
Old Testament people. Abraham built an altar there as he was passing through to Egypt and
revisited it again later. Jacob, on the run from his brother, encounters God at Bethel. This is
where Jacob dreamed of the ladder set up on earth that reached to heaven where angels were
going up and coming down, where God introduced himself to Jacob and renewed his promise to
give the land to his people while making a promise to be with him always. Genesis 28:18-19 tells
us, “So, Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and
set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the place Bethel.” This was a place
that was revered by the Israelites for many years.
4
But then, Jeroboam I changed all that. He chose not to follow God and God’s ways. He had two
golden calves made and he set up a place of worship in the north and in the south – and the
southern place was in Bethel. This Jeroboam also began to appoint his own priests and instituted
a new festival for the people to celebrate the gods “who brought you up out of the land of
Egypt.” Israel is beginning to lean; they are no longer plumb straight, as God showed Amos in
his vision.
Now, this Jeroboam, the second king with that name, has followed the first Jeroboam’s ways. He
has continued promoting worship in the high places, he has turned the people away from God,
and he has appointed his own priests, including Amaziah, who hears Amos’ prophesy from God:
“See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will spare them no longer; the
high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I
will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amaziah doesn’t like what Amos has to say so he goes to the king and makes an indictment
against Amos based on rumors, misrepresentations, and outright lies. Then Amaziah goes back to
Amos and tells him to get out of town and never come back. “We don’t need a seer in this
place,” he says, “This is the king’s sanctuary and a temple of the kingdom. Take your words
elsewhere or else.”
Amos is quick to deny being a prophet; he is just a simple herdsman and a dresser of sycamore
trees and quite happy at that. But you see, when God gives you a vision and tells you to share it,
5
then that is what you do. Amos IS a prophet, but he wants to make sure Amaziah knows he isn’t
the kind of prophet Amaziah is used to – Amos won’t make up pretty lies to make the king and
the people feel good – he will only speak the truth – God’s truth, no matter what. Amos will
choose to stand straight for God – plumb straight.
Amaziah, the out-of-plumb false priest would pay the price for his accusations about. and to,
Amos. He didn’t get God’s message to look up and see what was around him. He failed to notice
that God, not those idols he worshiped, was in control. And God showed Amaziah what a hard
heart and harsh words against one of God’s chosen prophets would get him, and what
disobedience to God would cost.
God gave Amos another prophesy, this time it wasn’t only for the people of Israel, but also for a
person of Israel – for Amaziah himself. “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
Therefore, thus says the Lord:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the
sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and
Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”
Amaziah didn’t want to see the truth in Amos’ prophesy. He didn’t want to believe that God
would have any say in what happened to Israel and its people. But just because we don’t want to
6
see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Amos’ prophesy did
come to pass. Amaziah and his family were wiped out, and Israel was led off into a seventy-year
period of captivity. They had become too out of plumb to be corrected in any other way.
As a builder works at building a wall or a house, he doesn’t simply make sure the first row or
side is plumb and then forget about the rest. He must continually check to see that each part of
the building is level, square, plumb.
Friends, in our lives, we need to continually do the same. We must, over and over again, hold
ourselves against God’s plumb line and ask ourselves, “What do we see?’ and then we need to
also ask God, “What do you see?”
If our answer doesn’t match up with God’s, then we might just be getting out of plumb, and as a
good builder will know, getting straightened out now is so much easier than waiting until later,
or by waiting too long, we may find that we must be torn down to be corrected at all. No one
wants that. So, what do you see? Are you straight with God? Are you plumb straight? I pray so.
AMEN.
PRAYER: God of grace and mercy, help us to see ourselves clearly enough that when we start to
become out of plumb in your eyes, as measured by your standards, that we will seek your will
and recommit ourselves to you in order to get back where we need to be. Lord, thank you for
7
your patience with us when we start to lean, prevent us from going too far, and keep us coming
back for a remeasure when needed. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-
7/3/2022 Pastor Donna's Sermon "wash and be Clean"!
July 3, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Wash and Be Clean
Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high
favor with his master because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man,
though a mighty warrior, suffered from a skin disease. 2 Now the Arameans on one of
their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served
Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is
in Samaria! He would cure him of his skin disease.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his
lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, “Go,
then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets
of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter
reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him
of his skin disease.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and
said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of
his skin disease? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he
sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that
he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and
chariots and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him,
saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you
shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for
me he would surely come out and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and
would wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease! 12 Are not Abana and
Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash
in them and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants
approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do
something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to
you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times
in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the
flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
2
The idea of summer conjures up thoughts of long, lazy sun-filled days. Front porch
sitting, iced tea or lemonade sipping, visiting with neighbors, kids playing outside until
dark, backyard BBQ kind of days. Maybe even family vacation days. Summer is a great
time to plan a trip, a journey to a new destination – or a revisit of a familiar place where
we might notice something new.
This summer series is a journey of sorts. We are going to visit a few books from the Old
Testament and spend time with some of God’s people – some of the prophets of old.
We will listen to the words of Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea. Words that
might seem harsh to the people to whom they were spoken, but we will see how there
was love behind the warnings, the disciplines, the corrections. My prayer throughout this
series is that we all find the hope that can be gleaned from the lives of the prophets, that
we will learn from the lessons they gave the people, that we will see God at work then,
and now, and draw closer to him as disciples on our own faith journey.
Today, we begin the first leg of our journey with Elisha and the story of Naaman.
Naaman was a captain in the army under the king of Aram. He was a mighty warrior
who had helped his country win many battles, but Naaman suffered from a skin disease
of which there was no cure. As luck would have it – or as God had planned it –
Naaman’s wife had a servant girl who had been captured on a raid of Israel. When the
3
servant girl learned of Naaman’s problems, she approached her mistress and told her of
the prophet who lived in Israel who would be able to cure this skin disease.
Of course, the wife told her husband, and Naaman went right to the king and relayed
what had been said. As he had hoped, the king gave Naaman permission to go to Israel
to seek this cure and he even wrote a letter of recommendation to the king of Israel on
Naaman’s behalf.
Naaman made his preparations to leave, taking with him gifts for the king including ten
talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing, the letter from
the king, and his faithful servants. Full of hope, Naaman went to see the king of Israel,
handed him the letter, and waited for instructions. Imagine his surprise when the king,
upon reading the letter, suddenly tore his clothes in a panic and accused the king of
Aram of using Naaman to trick him and pick a fight. Poor Naaman, all he wanted was to
find a cure for his leprosy, but now what?
The prophet Elisha heard what was happening at the king’s palace and sent word to the
king, “Don’t panic, don’t worry. Send him to me and he will learn there is a prophet in
Israel.” So, Naaman and his contingent went to Elisha’s. They stopped at the gate, and
Naaman was told by a messenger to go wash himself in the Jordan River seven times
and he would become clean and healed. That seems easy enough, doesn’t it? Maybe
too easy? Naaman thought so. He became angry. He was ticked that Elisha himself
4
didn’t bother coming to the door but sent a messenger, and then he was even more
ticked that he was told to just go jump in a river – seven times! Surely there should be
more to this healing than that!
Sometimes what seems too easy makes us uneasy. Betty Crocker can attest to that. In
the 1950s, General Mills created a new cake mix and launched it under the Betty
Crocker line. This boxed mix had everything needed to make a cake except water. It
was a great concept – just add water, mix, bake, eat, and enjoy. Sales should have
been through the roof. They weren’t.
Puzzled, the execs conducted some market research to see why the product wasn’t
selling. What they discovered surprised them – people were concerned that the product
was too easy to use. It was so simple and yet so good that the women felt guilty for
serving it to their family and their guests. They didn’t want to give the false impression
that they had worked so hard to make the cake that they simply refused to buy the cake
mix. So, General Mills reworked the cake mix so that the cakes would need to have
water and an egg added to the mix.
It worked. the extra step made people feel better about having to “work” at making the
cake – the guilt was gone – and sales skyrocketed.
5
Naaman would have been one of the people who would have preferred the extra step
necessary to make the cake. Bathing in the Jordan river seven times just wasn’t
enough. Why the Jordan? Why not any random river in his own country? How was this
supposed to work anyway? Leprosy was a serious disease – there was no cure for it,
and it led to a painful end. Water? The Jordan? Seven times? That was it? Seriously?
Absolutely not! Naaman, in his anger, must have thought this was a joke and he was
having no part of it. He was heading home, angry, frustrated, confused, and still a leper.
But God intervened through Naaman’s servants. “What could it hurt?” they asked. They
pointed out that if Naaman had been given a difficult task he would have set to
accomplish it right away. He expected difficulty, he expected a challenge, but why not
try the directions as given, why not give the simple plan a chance?
Naaman finally listened and went to the Jordan and immersed himself in the water.
Seven times he dipped himself below the surface and after the last time, his skin was
restored; he was healed! What a miracle! I can only imagine the celebration that ensued
when they all noticed that Naaman no longer showed signs of leprosy, but now had the
smooth skin of a young boy.
I love the story of Naaman, but I can’t help but think about how his expectations almost
caused him to live with leprosy and all its issues instead of choosing to be healed and
6
whole once again. There are so many people in the world who are more like Naaman
than they realize.
Friends, God offers us the most perfect wholeness through Jesus Christ. All we have to
do is accept the gift by believing in him. That’s it. Only, we don’t understand how such a
magnificent gift can be given so easily. We think there must be more to it than that. We
are willing to work for this gift, jump through all the right hoops to win the gift, do
whatever it takes to get this gift, add the egg to the cake mix to receive this gift, but
really, all we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is really that
simple.
Naaman was healed and he knew that healing had come through God. He vowed after
that to worship the One, True God, to offer sacrifices to only him, and to remember what
he had done for him.
We humans like to complicate things because we think that makes the end result more
valuable somehow. God wants to make coming to him as easy as possible so that
everyone has the same opportunity to do so. The apostle Paul reminds us of that in his
second letter to the Ephesian church, “For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no
one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
7
Elisha told Naaman to go to the Jordan and wash himself seven times and he would be
clean. The blood of Jesus was shed for us that we might be washed and made clean by
his death on the cross. It was there that he took on all our sins so that we would not
have to be punished for them. Then the gift was extended, in his resurrection, to include
eternal life for all who accepted the offer to wash and be clean. Sometimes it really is
the simple answer that is the best answer after all. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, forgive us when we try to make difficult what you made easy.
Help us to remember that your offer of salvation through your son, Jesus Christ, is a
free gift, available for the asking, and help us to accept it with grateful hearts that
welcome you into our lives. May we share the good news of your gift in this world so
that others might also come to accept the gift that we have been given. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-box/201401/creativity-lesson-
betty-crocker
8
Call to Worship:
L: God’s healing love is available to all,
P: To Jew and Gentile, man and woman, rich and poor.
L: God’s loving mercy is poured out on us,
P: Let us accept this gift with open hearts.
L: We will rejoice in this gracious gift that is given,
P: Given freely, given abundantly to all who accept.
ALL: Hallelujah! AMEN.
Prelude:
Hymn:
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE:
Let’s play a game. Anyone ever heard of the game Simon Says? Ok, we are going to
play that, but we are going to change it to Elisha Says because Elisha is the prophet we
are going to hear from today. I will tell you all something to do, and if I say, “Elisha
Says,” then you do it, but if I don’t say “Elisha Says,” then you don’t. Ready?
Elisha says, touch your eyebrow.
Elisha says touch your toes.
Jump one time.
Elisha says give yourself a high five.
Spin in a circle.
Elisha says put your hand on your head, jump on one foot, and stick out your tongue.
Some of those instructions were pretty silly, weren’t they? Well, this summer we are
going to be reading about some of the prophets. Do any of you know what a prophet is?
(A person who hears a message from God and shares that message with others)
Sometimes the message God gives through the prophets seems a little strange and we
wonder what in the world is God thinking! But the important thing we remember is that
God is so much smarter than we are, and he does things differently from how we might
do them. And guess what? His plan is always better than ours.
Today we are going to learn about a guy named Naaman who had a skin disease that
no doctor could cure. So Naaman went to see Elisha the Prophet, and Elisha told him to
go wash in the Jordan River seven times.
9
That seems silly, doesn’t it? If no doctor could cure him, how would jumping in a river
help? But God was at work and so, even tho it sounded silly, Naaman did what Elisha
said, and he was healed!
Imagine if Naaman had said, “this is too silly” and didn’t do what Elisha told him to do.
He would never have been healed. God told Elisha what to tell Naaman, and Naaman
did what he was told even though is sounded like a crazy plan. But God’s plan was to
cure Naaman all along – it’s a good thing Naaman could play a good game of Elisha
Says!
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Wash and Be Clean
Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high
favor with his master because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man,
though a mighty warrior, suffered from a skin disease. 2 Now the Arameans on one of
their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served
Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is
in Samaria! He would cure him of his skin disease.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his
lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, “Go,
then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets
of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter
reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him
of his skin disease.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and
said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of
his skin disease? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he
sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that
he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and
chariots and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him,
saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you
shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for
me he would surely come out and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and
would wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease! 12 Are not Abana and
Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash
in them and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants
approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do
something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to
you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times
in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the
flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
2
The idea of summer conjures up thoughts of long, lazy sun-filled days. Front porch
sitting, iced tea or lemonade sipping, visiting with neighbors, kids playing outside until
dark, backyard BBQ kind of days. Maybe even family vacation days. Summer is a great
time to plan a trip, a journey to a new destination – or a revisit of a familiar place where
we might notice something new.
This summer series is a journey of sorts. We are going to visit a few books from the Old
Testament and spend time with some of God’s people – some of the prophets of old.
We will listen to the words of Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea. Words that
might seem harsh to the people to whom they were spoken, but we will see how there
was love behind the warnings, the disciplines, the corrections. My prayer throughout this
series is that we all find the hope that can be gleaned from the lives of the prophets, that
we will learn from the lessons they gave the people, that we will see God at work then,
and now, and draw closer to him as disciples on our own faith journey.
Today, we begin the first leg of our journey with Elisha and the story of Naaman.
Naaman was a captain in the army under the king of Aram. He was a mighty warrior
who had helped his country win many battles, but Naaman suffered from a skin disease
of which there was no cure. As luck would have it – or as God had planned it –
Naaman’s wife had a servant girl who had been captured on a raid of Israel. When the
3
servant girl learned of Naaman’s problems, she approached her mistress and told her of
the prophet who lived in Israel who would be able to cure this skin disease.
Of course, the wife told her husband, and Naaman went right to the king and relayed
what had been said. As he had hoped, the king gave Naaman permission to go to Israel
to seek this cure and he even wrote a letter of recommendation to the king of Israel on
Naaman’s behalf.
Naaman made his preparations to leave, taking with him gifts for the king including ten
talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing, the letter from
the king, and his faithful servants. Full of hope, Naaman went to see the king of Israel,
handed him the letter, and waited for instructions. Imagine his surprise when the king,
upon reading the letter, suddenly tore his clothes in a panic and accused the king of
Aram of using Naaman to trick him and pick a fight. Poor Naaman, all he wanted was to
find a cure for his leprosy, but now what?
The prophet Elisha heard what was happening at the king’s palace and sent word to the
king, “Don’t panic, don’t worry. Send him to me and he will learn there is a prophet in
Israel.” So, Naaman and his contingent went to Elisha’s. They stopped at the gate, and
Naaman was told by a messenger to go wash himself in the Jordan River seven times
and he would become clean and healed. That seems easy enough, doesn’t it? Maybe
too easy? Naaman thought so. He became angry. He was ticked that Elisha himself
4
didn’t bother coming to the door but sent a messenger, and then he was even more
ticked that he was told to just go jump in a river – seven times! Surely there should be
more to this healing than that!
Sometimes what seems too easy makes us uneasy. Betty Crocker can attest to that. In
the 1950s, General Mills created a new cake mix and launched it under the Betty
Crocker line. This boxed mix had everything needed to make a cake except water. It
was a great concept – just add water, mix, bake, eat, and enjoy. Sales should have
been through the roof. They weren’t.
Puzzled, the execs conducted some market research to see why the product wasn’t
selling. What they discovered surprised them – people were concerned that the product
was too easy to use. It was so simple and yet so good that the women felt guilty for
serving it to their family and their guests. They didn’t want to give the false impression
that they had worked so hard to make the cake that they simply refused to buy the cake
mix. So, General Mills reworked the cake mix so that the cakes would need to have
water and an egg added to the mix.
It worked. the extra step made people feel better about having to “work” at making the
cake – the guilt was gone – and sales skyrocketed.
5
Naaman would have been one of the people who would have preferred the extra step
necessary to make the cake. Bathing in the Jordan river seven times just wasn’t
enough. Why the Jordan? Why not any random river in his own country? How was this
supposed to work anyway? Leprosy was a serious disease – there was no cure for it,
and it led to a painful end. Water? The Jordan? Seven times? That was it? Seriously?
Absolutely not! Naaman, in his anger, must have thought this was a joke and he was
having no part of it. He was heading home, angry, frustrated, confused, and still a leper.
But God intervened through Naaman’s servants. “What could it hurt?” they asked. They
pointed out that if Naaman had been given a difficult task he would have set to
accomplish it right away. He expected difficulty, he expected a challenge, but why not
try the directions as given, why not give the simple plan a chance?
Naaman finally listened and went to the Jordan and immersed himself in the water.
Seven times he dipped himself below the surface and after the last time, his skin was
restored; he was healed! What a miracle! I can only imagine the celebration that ensued
when they all noticed that Naaman no longer showed signs of leprosy, but now had the
smooth skin of a young boy.
I love the story of Naaman, but I can’t help but think about how his expectations almost
caused him to live with leprosy and all its issues instead of choosing to be healed and
6
whole once again. There are so many people in the world who are more like Naaman
than they realize.
Friends, God offers us the most perfect wholeness through Jesus Christ. All we have to
do is accept the gift by believing in him. That’s it. Only, we don’t understand how such a
magnificent gift can be given so easily. We think there must be more to it than that. We
are willing to work for this gift, jump through all the right hoops to win the gift, do
whatever it takes to get this gift, add the egg to the cake mix to receive this gift, but
really, all we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is really that
simple.
Naaman was healed and he knew that healing had come through God. He vowed after
that to worship the One, True God, to offer sacrifices to only him, and to remember what
he had done for him.
We humans like to complicate things because we think that makes the end result more
valuable somehow. God wants to make coming to him as easy as possible so that
everyone has the same opportunity to do so. The apostle Paul reminds us of that in his
second letter to the Ephesian church, “For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no
one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
7
Elisha told Naaman to go to the Jordan and wash himself seven times and he would be
clean. The blood of Jesus was shed for us that we might be washed and made clean by
his death on the cross. It was there that he took on all our sins so that we would not
have to be punished for them. Then the gift was extended, in his resurrection, to include
eternal life for all who accepted the offer to wash and be clean. Sometimes it really is
the simple answer that is the best answer after all. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, forgive us when we try to make difficult what you made easy.
Help us to remember that your offer of salvation through your son, Jesus Christ, is a
free gift, available for the asking, and help us to accept it with grateful hearts that
welcome you into our lives. May we share the good news of your gift in this world so
that others might also come to accept the gift that we have been given. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-box/201401/creativity-lesson-
betty-crocker
8
Call to Worship:
L: God’s healing love is available to all,
P: To Jew and Gentile, man and woman, rich and poor.
L: God’s loving mercy is poured out on us,
P: Let us accept this gift with open hearts.
L: We will rejoice in this gracious gift that is given,
P: Given freely, given abundantly to all who accept.
ALL: Hallelujah! AMEN.
Prelude:
Hymn:
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE:
Let’s play a game. Anyone ever heard of the game Simon Says? Ok, we are going to
play that, but we are going to change it to Elisha Says because Elisha is the prophet we
are going to hear from today. I will tell you all something to do, and if I say, “Elisha
Says,” then you do it, but if I don’t say “Elisha Says,” then you don’t. Ready?
Elisha says, touch your eyebrow.
Elisha says touch your toes.
Jump one time.
Elisha says give yourself a high five.
Spin in a circle.
Elisha says put your hand on your head, jump on one foot, and stick out your tongue.
Some of those instructions were pretty silly, weren’t they? Well, this summer we are
going to be reading about some of the prophets. Do any of you know what a prophet is?
(A person who hears a message from God and shares that message with others)
Sometimes the message God gives through the prophets seems a little strange and we
wonder what in the world is God thinking! But the important thing we remember is that
God is so much smarter than we are, and he does things differently from how we might
do them. And guess what? His plan is always better than ours.
Today we are going to learn about a guy named Naaman who had a skin disease that
no doctor could cure. So Naaman went to see Elisha the Prophet, and Elisha told him to
go wash in the Jordan River seven times.
9
That seems silly, doesn’t it? If no doctor could cure him, how would jumping in a river
help? But God was at work and so, even tho it sounded silly, Naaman did what Elisha
said, and he was healed!
Imagine if Naaman had said, “this is too silly” and didn’t do what Elisha told him to do.
He would never have been healed. God told Elisha what to tell Naaman, and Naaman
did what he was told even though is sounded like a crazy plan. But God’s plan was to
cure Naaman all along – it’s a good thing Naaman could play a good game of Elisha
Says!