What’s in a Name?
Here is today’s sermon based on Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost. It is also the last sermon I will preach at my current unit (since this is also my last BTA with my current unit).
While it may seem to be more to you, your name is nothing more than a group of letters that join together to form sounds to make a word. The significance of a name comes from the person behind it.
I want to give you a quick example through a simple word association. What comes to your mind when I say Jesus? What about when I say Adolf? Both names were quite common during their day and both have become associated with a specific person because of the actions of the bearer. One name is associated with all things good and perfect while the other name is associated with all things evil. If that isn’t enough, there are more Jesuses in the world today than there are Adolfs.
What does your name say about you? I want my name to stand for God. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 22 some of the characteristics I want people to see in me when they say my name. Today, I want to talk about three of them.
- I want my name to carry honor (v. 1-2).
It is no surprise that honor and respect are two of the Army values. They help to define who we are what we do when we put on this uniform. There are people who want to join the Army just to be part of that honor and respect but it takes more than just a uniform to make a person. So how do we get it?
The answer is rather simple. IT comes through ethical and moral conduct – also known as integrity. We need to a high standard of justice and responsibility that come through our connection to God. Christianity should not merely be a label we wear but a lifestyle we live daily. When we continue to be faithful to our spouses or significant others, our families and friends, we are earning honor and respect. When we live our lives the same if someone is watching us or not, we are earning honor and respect.
It is interesting to note that the Greek word for honor was also used for “weighty” or “valuable” and a good example is gold. We often describe things of high value and importance as the gold standard. For a Christian there is no higher gold standard than the Golden Rule which offers respect and honor to everyone we meet. This is just one of the ways I want my name to be remembered.
- I want my name to be synonymous with generosity (v. 8-9).
A boy in a small village listened as his teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas Day. The teacher explained that the gifts were expressions of joy and friendship for each other. When Christmas Day arrived, the boy stayed after school to give a gift to his teacher. It was a shell of remarkable beauty and the teacher was surprised to receive such a gift. She asked the boy where it came from and he told her that the shells could only be found in a bay that was a long walk from his home. She told the boy it was a wonderful gift but he should not have walked so far to get her a gift. With sparkling eyes, he answered, “Long walk part of gift.”
It is easy to be generous when you have extra money or time but then are you really being generous? When you share what you have – not your extra – then you are truly being generous with one another. Making sacrifices for one another, giving when you have little to give, and sharing when you barely have enough are signs of a true giver. I can remember days in elementary school when I opened my lunch box and found not one but two Oreos – now I had something to share with a friend.
Jesus said whatever we do to the least of these, we do to him. When we are sharing what we have with those around us – whether it be Oreos, time, talents, knowledge, or money – we are sharing with Jesus. Again, the desire to be generous comes from our connection to God. It is a remarkable thing that God’s generosity with us, in the form of blessings and his Son, inspires us to do the same thing. It is through our generosity that we can share our love of and connection to God. It is this connection that allows generosity to be synonymous with our name.
- I want my name to be synonymous with compassion (v. 22-23).
The world lacks compassion. All we have to do is watch the evening news to see one story after another that shows the cruelty we inflict upon each other. It seems like we are all shoving each other and stomping on each other to get to the front of the line. It’s a dog eat dog world. As long as I don’t finish last, who cares, right? The problem is everyone has this same attitude so we all end up being last in the end.
Here is another Greek lesson for you. The Greek work for sympathy means “to feel or suffer with”. When we have sympathy and compassion for one another, we share in their pain rather than contribute to it. We walk with then and we listen to them. This is not acting as Job’s friends and offering solutions to the pain but rather offering a shoulder to the pain.
You may notice that generosity is the response to people’s needs while compassion is the reason. Compassion arises in us because, get ready, we have a connection to God and we see other people as children of God. When we begin to look at the world through the eyes of Jesus, we see pain and suffering and we feel a desire to go and help those who need it.
Have you noticed how everything is really just a circle? With the eyes of Jesus, we see others with compassion which leads us to a desire to share and be generous. Sharing and generosity give honor and respect to those who need it most. It becomes a never-ending circle of glory to God.
I find myself ending where I started this sermon – what’s in a name? I want my name to mean something to people but then I realize it is not about me at all. It is all about God. It doesn’t matter if my name has honor and respect, generosity, or compassion attached it. What really matters is whether my name has God attached to it. When I live for God and live as God leads me, amazing things happen – my name becomes associated with respect/honor, generosity, and compassion – not for me but for God. When I live for God’s glory, it shows in all aspects of my life. After all, it’s not about me, it’s not you, it’s about God. Amen.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Have a Healthy Heart
Here is today’s sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost based on Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23. It is also my last sermon at Mt. Denson Cumberland Presbyterian Church as I prepare to head to Fort Hood to become an Active Duty Army Chaplain.
How is your heart? Today, more than ever people are keenly aware of the importance of having a healthy heart. Exercise helps our hearts to be healthy. Beyond that there is medicine or even procedures that help our hearts. Physically speaking we do not always know when we are sick. Spiritually speaking we know that our hearts are always infected with sin. This is the simple truth of the Scriptures. Jesus was often taken to task because of his association with “sinners”. “Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’”(LUKE 5:31). Sin-sick hearts always need help. Once again Jesus calls us sinners to repentance.
- Recognize our Problems
- We note the determination of Jesus’ enemies to confront him, verse 1. They came from Jerusalem.
- Jesus was teaching near Capernaum. This was 70 miles from Jerusalem.
- These church leaders walked a week in order to condemn Jesus not commend him.
- Verse 2. The Pharisees were upset that the disciples ate with unwashed, unclean hands.
- Washing hands before meals to be clean was the Pharisees’ teaching, verse 3.
- Verse 4. The word “washing” gives us our word for baptizing.
- Cup, pitchers were immersed. b. Kettles were not immersed but wiped with water.
- Verse 5. The Pharisees finally challenge Jesus with “why”. They thought to have Jesus trapped.
- The Pharisees did not recognize their own problems – faith was a matter of the heart.
- Problem: They valued traditions of men more than the teachings of God’s word.
- Problem: It was what was on the inside that made one unclean, not the outside.
- Humanity still faces the same problems today. Many look only at exterior appearances. But inside our hearts are only evil all the time. This is not a pleasant message to hear. But it is the truth. There is no one who can do good, not one. All our righteous acts are like filthy rags. The imagination of our hearts is only evil all the time. Our hearts cause us problem after problem because of the infection of sin. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (MATTHEW 15:19). These sins of our hearts reveal themselves in our words and actions.
- On this side of heaven there is not one person who can escape the effect of sin. Our every waking moment is tainted with sin because of our sinful hearts and flesh. We think terrible thoughts, utter worthless words, and act with evil intent. Again, not pleasant to hear but it is the problem we face daily. Unless we see and admit our problem we will never recognize that we need a cure. On our own and by ourselves we are completely corrupt. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out”(ROMANS 7:18). This is our problem.
- We live in a society that places great emphasis on the wisdom of humans rather than God. At times, worldly wisdom can creep into the very teachings / traditions of the church. Consider the morality, or lack of it, in our day and age. Things that would make us blush only a few years ago are now overlooked by our enlightened society. At times, even the church “winks at” behavior that is morally wrong. The rate of divorce, unwed mothers, and people living together without the benefit of marriage are only a few behaviors that are widely accepted. “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ”(COLOSSIANS 2:8). We will want to hear, read, and study God’s word more and more in order to know, believe, and base all our teachings on the “basic principles…of Christ” , not this world.
- We note the determination of Jesus’ enemies to confront him, verse 1. They came from Jerusalem.
HAVE A HEALTHY HEART. It seems impossible on this side of heaven. Sin infection is always with us. Sin lurks in our hearts waiting to lunge out into our lives. Christ gives and is our solution!
- RECOGNIZE GOD’S SOLUTION
- The Pharisees made the mistake of asking Jesus, “Why?” Now they would hear Jesus’ answer.
- Verse 6a. Jesus quotes Isaiah. The Pharisees held this prophet in high esteem.
- Isaiah prophesied of these church leaders, they were hypocrites.
- In case they did not understand Isaiah defines what that word hypocrite meant.
- Verse 6b. Their lips would say one thing but their hearts believed something else.
- They called Jesus “master, teacher, Rabbi”
- Their hearts did not believe these titles.
- Verse 7. They had only an outward, empty worship. They followed man’s traditions.
- Verse 6b. Their lips would say one thing but their hearts believed something else.
- The Pharisees had rejected God’s word. Verse 8. They admitted how they valued man’s traditions.
- God’s commands” were not just the Ten Commandments. Love summed up God’s law.
- Jesus spoke his word to these Pharisees. God’s word, God’s love, God’s Son = the solution.
- Rejoice that our eternal salvation does not depend on us. Rejoice that the simple solution to all our heart problems is our loving Savior, Jesus Christ. Our eternal salvation is so very important that God does not entrust it to our sinful, human choices. By grace, through faith, the Lord God Almighty saves us. The Lord God Almighty changes our hearts so that we will live with him forever. “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart”(JEREMIAH 24:7). The Lord does this that our hearts return to him.
- The message of salvation is so simple that it is difficult for some to believe. This happens whenever people think like humans and not God. Today’s gospel (MATTHEW 16:21-26) has Jesus rebuking Peter. Only a few verses earlier Jesus praised Peter and his confession. What changed? Peter’s thinking changed. Peter’s thinking misled him. Jesus reminded Peter that he did “not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men”. The solution for our sin-sick heart is to trust in the Lord and not lean on our own understanding. “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones”(PROVERBS 3:7,8). Shun evil and discover health.
- The days of this life quickly pass by from one month to another, year after year. We look at our lives and are reminded of our own mortality. The aches and pains seem to increase with the passing of time. The health of youth fades. BUT God renews our spirit through his refreshing word. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all”(2 CORINTHIANS 4:16,17). Yes, in our lives we may have health problems. We may have emotional problems. We may have many other difficulties that we face. In the end, God’s word remains the same. God’s word is our sure foundation. Our hearts are healthy because our sins are forgiven.
- The Pharisees made the mistake of asking Jesus, “Why?” Now they would hear Jesus’ answer.
From time to time we might be tempted to question God, “Why?” We might want to challenge God and his wisdom. If so, then be ready for the answer God gives. Clearly and accurately the Lord will remind us of all the evil that lurks in our hearts. Sin is still sin and it is alive and well in this world, in our lives, and in our hearts. Thanks be to God that sin is not the only thing living in our hearts. Christ is also very much alive and well in the hearts of every believer. “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him”(1 JOHN 4:15,16). God lives in us – this pushes out sin. Our problem is sin. Our solution is the Savior. Our Savior is far, far greater than sin. Because of this we do HAVE A HEALTHY HEART. Amen.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Standing Firmly not Stubbornly
Here is today’s sermon for 13th Sunday after Pentecost based on Ephesians 6:10-20:
Have you noticed how challenging life can be? I mean how am I supposed to drive my car and shift gears while holding a cup of coffee and sending emails at the same time? When we are stressed, we are reminded how much flexibility is valued by Americans. We use phrases like “go with the flow,” and “when in Rome…” (Paul might have a different opinion), and “semper Gumby.” It is this attitude and belief that makes this particular passage so difficult because Paul tells us to do just the opposite. Stop going with the flow. Stop doing as the Romans are doing. Stand firm. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” (6:11)
Paul does not encourage that Christians just go with the flow and conform to the rest of society. If he were interested in fitting in, he would just encourage the Church to blend in with accepted cultural norms and beliefs. He doesn’t. He wants us to listen to him and follow Jesus. If we were to take Paul’s advice, we would likely find ourselves in an unpopular position with mainstream society. Do it anyway, Paul says. But who can do this? Who can stand on convictions against the stream of popular culture? Is this all about being a moral, lonely island in the sea of society? No. Paul talks about the Christian identity and faith which is rooted and strengthened in tradition and grows deep in the soil of faith.
There is a difference between being stubborn and standing firm. I cross the line once in a while and only realize in looking back that I went from standing firm to being a stubborn mule. Paul is not asking us to be stubborn, wedded to an opinion, rooted in prejudice, or closed-minded. No. He is asking us to stand in something that is not transient, something that is transcendent and renewing. This means being willing to be humble and to risk being unpopular, even to suffer ridicule, if not worse, as a faithful person in the community of faith. A stubborn person will not listen to ideas that differ from his or her own. A stubborn posture rejects alternatives out of hand and refuses, regardless of the situation, to change one’s position. Stubbornness is not self-or-other discerning. It is not informed, and it does not grow. It is enshrined in a closed circle of certainty and becomes fearful, boisterous, and one-dimensional. The stubborn heart and mind are impervious to reason and may constitute one way to hide insecurity. I have heard people refer to someone as having a heart of stone, a stubborn person has a heart of clay – impervious to everything.
Standing firm is different. Standing firm means that one is willing to debate, listen, and consider alternatives in order to reach a beneficial goal, while at the same time not sacrificing your basic principles and beliefs. Martin Luther King Jr. stood firm on nonviolence. Margaret Sanger, the twentieth-century suffragette, stood firm on women’s rights. Nelson Mandela stood firm and resolute against apartheid. Representative Barbara Lee stood firm against the war in Iraq. All stood firm against injustice and did not worry if they were unpopular or not. They considered the alternatives and realized they had to stand firm in their beliefs. The lesson we draw from them is that to have a strong ego, a concern for justice and compassion, is to be grounded in the convictions of the community and open to critical evaluation. This is how we stand firm, as Paul counsels.
Søren Kierkegaard said, “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” One can do this, staying focused and having singleness of purpose, without being stubborn about it. Paul is not asking us to get stuck on one strategy, idea, or position. He has in mind a larger goal, a bigger picture of God’s wider mercies. He is not counseling stubbornness, tunnel vision, or a siege mentality.
“I am too blessed to be stressed,” are words that some of the faithful have used. Paul’s words, “put on the whole armor,” prepare us for struggle. Stress and anxiety come when one prepares to engage things that really matter. No one in his or her right mind prepares for struggle without forethought. I have a goal of running a marathon someday. I am emphasizing some day. I am no way prepared to leave here today and run 26.2 miles. Life is the same way. We want to know what we are up against so that we can prepare appropriately and engage the struggle successfully.
Standing firm gives the struggle purpose and us meaning. In the midst of controversy we may ask, “Is the price to be paid worth the struggle?” Sometimes, in the midst of struggle and fatigue, we may find our strength renewed. We may find ourselves assessing and reassessing our situations and coming to new resolve. Surely, during the twenty-seven years of his incarceration, Nelson Mandela became discouraged. But he found strength to hope. He stood firm in his convictions. Such spiritual struggle requires discipline. We must prepare ourselves inwardly and prayerfully for the outer struggle. The outer struggle, the struggle against the principalities and powers, will test again and again our inner resolve. God never ceases to offer fresh opportunities to assess our situation, to grow and deepen our sense of commitment in community.
Struggle can be part of the process of faith development where spiritual growth, deepening into a mature faith, is valued. Struggle may also be seen as a resource and as opportunity for spiritual growth where followers of the Way stay alert to evil, pray, nurture one another’s growth, and hold one another accountable.
God’s rich mercies and spiritual resources are found among people and in nature. Spiritual resources enable us to stand firm and endure in the struggle—against systemic forces, “the principalities,…the powers,…[the] rulers of this present darkness” (6:12 RSV). Among these spiritual resources are “truth,…righteousness [or right relations],…the gospel of peace,…and faith” (6:14–16).
These resources may be found in the living expressions of people. Throughout my Christian journey, I have encountered people who I will testify were in that moment of my life to point me on the path or to strengthen me for the next step of the journey. As I look back, I realize I would not have made it without that person or those people being in the moment. I am sure if you were to look back on your own life you would have the same realization.
The resources may also be found in the divine-human relationship. Again, I can look back on my life and see in the pages of the Bible as I am reading scripture the words suddenly connect in a new way and in a way that speaks for a season in my life.
Finally, these resources may be found in the natural environment. Personally, I find a walk or a hike or a bike ride or a run is a great way to connect with God and find answers. I have had a number of profound worship experiences at the end of my morning run as I look in the sky and watch the sunrise beginning to creep up. I have felt the presence of God in a thunderstorm. <LT. Dan in the hurricane>
I know the images this scripture conjures in the mind. We see knights in shining armor carrying swords and shields. I believe the full armor of God is whatever resources God provides us for the struggles of life. As we learn to stand firm in our faith (and not stubborn), we realize we have the shield or the armor or belt or helmet that we need to continue the work God has called us to do.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
A Wise Fool
Here is today’s sermon based on 1 Kings 3:1-15 for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost:
During my seminary journeys, I had the chance to enjoy plenty of bumper stickers. One of my favorites said, “I took an IQ test and the results were negative!” There are times when very intelligent people can get negative results on an IQ test. If you need proof, read the packaging at the local supermarket. Here is a sampling:
- On a bag of Fritos: You could be a winner! No purchase necessary! Details inside.
- On a clothes iron: Do not iron clothes on the body.
- On a bottle of children’s cough medicine: Do not operate car or use machinery after use.
- On my a bottle of Nyquil: Warning. May cause drowsiness.
There is a name for this: sophomore. It comes from two Greek words – sophos meaning wise and moros meaning fool. In other words, a sophomore is a “wise fool” or a person who is just wise enough to be dangerous. They don’t realize how much they don’t know yet. Solomon was a wise fool. He was the wisest man on earth but failed to realize how much he didn’t know. How can such a smart person be so dumb?
We have to wonder if Solomon was too smart for his own good. For as a wise as he was, he made several mistakes that we will try to learn from today. The first mistake is that he started out well but finished so poorly. We can watch runners take off with a burst of speed only to sputter and stagger later in the race. The world is filled with people who were full of so much potential but crashed and burned. There a great many people who start things and even more people who do not finish. The Bible, not surprisingly, has something to say about the importance of finishing well:
- 1 Kings 20:11: The king of Israel answered, ‘Tell him: One who puts on armor should not brag like one who takes it off.’
- Matthew 24:13: But anyone who endures to the end will be saved.
- 2 Timothy 4:7-8: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Think of what Solomon was like in the beginning. God came to him in a dream and offered him his heart’s desire. Solomon chose wisdom over all else because he wanted to be a good king for his people. Because of his wise choice, God also gave him riches and fame as well. Solomon had a lot to say about living wisely but he never followed his own advice. He encouraged fear of the Lord but he stopped fearing the Lord. He was a wise fool.
The secret of finishing well is careful preparation. Go over the basics again and again until you have them down. Solomon forgot all about the basics as he became involved in the more spectacular of life. He wanted to grow his own wisdom rather than rely on God’s wisdom. He built a magnificent temple for God and then built an even grander palace for his 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon worshiped God alone at first but then started to worship the gods of his wives and neighbors. Instead of influencing others about God, he was seduced by other gods. His wisdom became foolishness. That was his first mistake.
The second mistake was that Solomon was a minimalist in everything he did. He did just enough to survive. He stopped growing in God. In fact, when it came to things of God, he less and less until he did nothing at all.
Solomon’s original name was Jedidiah which means “loved of the Lord.” It did fit him well as first. He was going to the be the king that David failed to be. Then Solomon was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force and no longer wished to use his power for good. He only worshiped God in public.
If the life of Solomon teaches us anything, it is ignoring God is the road to foolishness and despair. All we have to do is read Ecclesiastes to see this or compare Solomon to Jesus. One wallowed in shame and despair in the presence of God while the other grew in stature the more time he spent in the presence of God.
The problem in America today is not the immorality of the media, it is not the unethical behavior of our leaders, it is not our courtrooms or our schools; the problem in America is the church. The people of God are failing to be what we need to be. We sit down when we need to stand up. We are salt that has lost its saltiness. We are a light under a basket. We are not doing bad things but we are not doing the things we should be doing. We are simply letting ourselves be seduced by the Dark Side of the Force as we walk down a slippery slope.
This leads to the final mistake – Solomon let his strength become his weakness. His strength was his wisdom and he spent more time thinking than praying. Solomon was so impressed by his knowledge that he questioned everything and believed nothing. There was no avenue of knowledge he did not pursue but it did not lead to understanding but rather to confusion. It can be summed up by Romans 1:22-23 which says: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.” That clearly describes Solomon, and often many of us. Solomon valued the gift more than the Giver.
Your weaknesses are the exaggeration of your strengths. If you are a laid back, even tempered person who never gets upset over much, it is a tremendous strength. But carried too far, you may not get anything done, or you may fail to stand up for something when you need to. Perhaps you are a go-getter. Your strength is that you can get more done in a day than most people can accomplish in a week. It is a great strength, but if it goes too far you may be so overly committed that you neglect your family or your own need for spiritual reflection. You may be so driven that you take no time for your relationship with God or others. You may try to push others to the same level that you are driven. Someone’s strength may be that they are very practical and have clear goals. The shadow side of that is that you carry it too far and forget people’s feelings in your attempts to arrive at those goals. Your strength may be your humor, but carried too far you fail to take even important things seriously. What is your strength? Are you financially astute? Does your strength become weakness as it leads you to base your security in money rather than God? Is your strength intelligence? Does it lead you to ask so many questions that you never find any answers? Don’t let your strength become a weakness. Don’t take it too far. Don’t forget your dependence on God.
Robert Fulghum reminds us that real wisdom is found in the simple lessons of life. He wrote, “Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand box at nursery school. These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody…. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.”
What Fulghum was saying was that you can make life too complicated. Real wisdom means loving God and loving others. That is pretty much it. My grandmother used to tell me not to get too smart for my own britches. That is still good advice.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Encouraging Others
Here is today’s sermon based on Ephesians 4:25-5:2:
Do you remember the old children’s verse that began with “sticks and stones may break my bones”? We would often say this tom someone who said something mean or hurtful to us. The rest, of course, says, “but words will never hurt me!” The older we get, the more we realize that words do hurt us. There may be no scars on the outside but many times the scars from the words of others leaving last scars deep inside of us.
In our world here it is easy to get wrapped up in Army Strong and hooah when we put on this uniform. The pride that comes with this uniform and the purpose behind wearing it can often shade our better judgment when speaking to those around us. We have a mission to fulfill and it’s okay if we stomp on some toes or come across as being abrupt in our communication. No one was hurt and they know it’s our focus on the mission that dictates our words, right? Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.
In our text today, Paul tells us as Christians to encourage one another through our words and through our deeds. In our text we have six ways to encourage others as leaders, as Christians, and as Soldiers.
- We can speak the truth in love. The first way we can encourage one another is by removing falsehood and speaking the truth in love. On one side we must stop lying to each other, while on the other side we must speak the truth in a loving manner. Many times we try to avoid conflicts by fudging on the truth (does this dress make me look fat?). We do not want to hurt the other person’s feelings, or so we tell ourselves. Actually, we probably don’t want to get involved to the point that we put ourselves at risk. Loving relationships, though, mean that we do put ourselves in the place where we can be hurt for another’s welfare. At the same time we must not be blunt to the extent that we needlessly offend. Love must be our guide. We must ask ourselves what is the most loving way to express the truth. If you honestly care about another person, you can find ways to temper the truth through love so it is not harsh or blunt but rather the honest truth.
- We Encourage Others by Not Allowing Our Anger to Become Sin I have a temper that can get the best of me from time to time. There are certain triggers that just set me off (Memphis story). While anger is an emotion that arises in any relationship, we must not allow our anger to become sin. Biblical anger always involves a righteous reaction to sinfulness. But biblical anger is always seasoned by love and redemption. Sinful anger wants to hurt and get revenge. As Major Jackson said yesterday, we need to focus our anger and challenge ourselves. It is one of those cases where we have to decide whether it is ourselves or the other people that are making us angry.
- We Encourage Others by Working Hard Paul expresses a third manner in which we can encourage other people, and that is through sharing the goods we have gained through hard work. In verse 28 we are admonished not to steal but to work hard in order to have something to share with those who are in need. Sometimes the best thing we can do for someone is to supply a material need. Providing food or clothes or paying a medical bill can build others up in ways we could never imagine. The only way we can meet such a need is to be in a position financially to do so. Consequently, our income through gainful employment becomes a means for encouraging others. Hear me – I did not say you should only work so you can give it all away. I am saying that when we find ourselves with abundance and extra to share, we can encourage others by sharing what we have earned through our hard work.
- We Encourage Others by Speaking Positive Words Verse 29 is a verse that seems to tower over the rest of the passage. Words are not neutral. The words we say are either positive, which means they build up other people, or they are negative, which means they tear down other people. Evaluating our words as to whether they are positive or negative is one of the most difficult things for us to do. We need to be concerned with more than what we say and why we say it. We must be mindful of the way the other person hears and receives what we say. Perhaps the most encouraging thing we can do for others is to use our words to build them up.
- We Encourage Others by Forgiving Them The fifth way our passage teaches us to build up others is by forgiving them. Forgiveness means not taking into account wrongs we suffer. Forgiveness also involves treating the one who has sinned against us as though he or she has not done anything to us. We can forgive others even if they do not ask for our forgiveness, but full reconciliation takes place only when they admit their wrongs and ask our forgiveness. Think of the times in your life when you have had to ask for forgiveness. Can you remember how encouraging it was when you received forgiveness? So we need to be “tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
- We Encourage Others by Walking in Love Paul’s final exhortation on how we can encourage others is to walk in love. Our whole attitude and demeanor should be characterized by love. Such a character trait includes putting others before ourselves, wanting and working for the best for and in others, being patient and kind, and hoping and believing in others. Love is an action and not soupy sentimentality. We can encourage others best when we love them most.
The apostle Paul has given us practical instruction into exactly how we can encourage other people. The hard part for us is to apply what we know is right. The best application I can give you is to quote St. Francis of Assisi: “It’s no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” Amen.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
The Bread of Life
Here is today’s sermon based on John 6:21-34:
I want to invite you to a celebration and an adventure. You are invited to join a growing number of people all over this planet in celebrating the good news that the new age of God is literally transforming this present age! You are invited to join them in the unprecedented adventure of allowing God to use your life to change this world. You are invited to dare to believe that God is conspiring through your life and the lives of others like you to make a difference in his world. Quite simply, you are invited to live out your Christian faith among the rest of the world.
God calls us to hope and to action. Our hope is based on the biblical faith that God is very much alive and is very much the Lord of history. God is, even now, working to bring God’s new future into being in this place and this time. God is here!
Our action is made possible by the power of God’s spirit working in our lives to change this world. We are part of that mysterious work that uses the small, the insignificant, the invisible, and the incomprehensible to change the world.
Now, to accept this invitation, you have to do something. First of all, you have to tune your ear so that you can hear the gospel. For example, in the text for today there are two levels of communication going on. This is characteristic of the Gospel of John, where there is always the message of the surface and then the message of the deeper level of the spirit. New Testament theologian Sandra Schneiders says this about the Gospel of John: “The Fourth Gospel has been described as a body of water in which a child can wade and an elephant can swim.”
In today’s lesson we read about the “bread of life.” We know this is a message for the deeper part of us. Jesus is not talking about literal bread, because if he was, one of the disciples would have to ask what kind of bread Jesus wanted. No. He is talking about that which satisfies the hunger of a soul. And aren’t our souls hungry? Our souls hunger for something that we long to provide and often struggle to satisfy. It is this hungering that Jesus is speaking of in today’s gospel.
I need to give you a little background and context for today’s gospel reading. The people have followed Jesus across the lake which was no small feat. If we go back a few verses, we read the familiar story of the feeding of the five thousand or the feeding of the multitude – though that just counts the men so we have to assume the number is probably closer to 20 thousand or more. Jesus is sharing his eternal message with the crowd when his disciples realize it is dinner time (aren’t they always worried about something other than what Jesus is teaching!) and come to Jesus and ask how they are going to feed this crowd. While the disciples are puzzling this, a young boy comes forward and shares all he has – five loaves and two fishes. I would like to think the members of the crowd closest to Jesus witnessed this young boy sharing all he had and sheepishly, they begin to pull out their own snacks that were hidden away in their clothing to share. After all, if this one boy is willing to share, they can share too. And so it goes through the crowd as people begin to witness the sharing and before anyone realizes it, there is more than enough food for everyone in that crowd. In fact there is left overs for later.
The crowd, with full bellies, follows Jesus wanting more food for later because they are happy and satisfied – for the moment. They want to continue to have enough to eat and to satisfy their needs and keep their bellies full. They are not truly listening to Jesus. He knows this feeling will pass when they are hungry again and he tells the crowd that he can offer a better sort of bread and he begins with “I am the bread of life”
At our home we used to receive a lot of catalogs advertising all sorts of things from jewelry to electronics. I know you get them too. Have you “heard” the message of these catalogs with their attractive models and beautiful wares? Do you know what they are really saying to us? They’re saying, “You’re not happy. And you won’t be happy until you have what we are selling. Look at us. Don’t we look happy? We are happy! But, you’re not, so place your order today!” And our garages and attics fill to the brim with stuff that we think will make us happy, and we numb ourselves with alcohol and drugs to make us forget that we are not happy, and all the while trying to satisfy the hunger of the soul with the very things that cannot do it! We are seeking full bellies.
This reality is what makes the text from the Gospel of John so incredibly relevant to us today. Jesus is the bread of life. Jesus is not magic and neither is Jesus some form of insurance to buy into for a rainy day. Jesus is the bread of life that satisfies the hungry soul today. Right now. In this moment.
While preparing for this message, I found myself singing familiar communion hymns that I grew up. I pulled one of the hymnals from my shelf and looked up the hymns listed under “Holy Communion.” I found these lines that keep playing in my mind: “You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat. Come, give to us, O saving Lord, the bread of life to eat”.
The spirit of those lines is captured in a little parable about a holy man who rested beneath a tree at the outskirts of a city. One day he was interrupted by a man who ran to him saying, “The stone! The stone! Please give me the stone!” He told how in a dream an angel had spoken to him of a man outside the city who would give him a stone and make him rich forever.
The holy man reached into his pocket and pulled out a large diamond. “Here,” he said, “the angel probably spoke of this. I found it on my journey here. If you want it, you may have it.”
The diamond was as big as his fist and perfect in every way. The man marveled at its beauty, clutched it eagerly, and walked away from the holy man. But that night he could not sleep, and before dawn he ran to the holy man and woke him up saying, “The wealth! The wealth! Give me the wealth that lets you so easily give away the diamond!”
Jesus is the bread of life and in him we satisfy the hungry heart. Why do we come here for worship? Not to simply serve God. That is a pagan idea. We do not have to cajole God to be bounteous to us. God already is bounteous to us, because Jesus is the bread of life. We come to be served; to have Jesus put on the apron and spread a table before us. We come to be sensitized to what God has already given. We come to receive the wealth that lets us give away all our riches. We come for the bread of life.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Community
Here is today’s sermon based on Acts 2:44-47. It was inspired by a recent drill weekend when my unit celebrated Family Day.
The other weekend, I attended my unit’s monthly BTA. Like many other things as of late, I am beginning a countdown of times I will drill with these Soldiers before we move to Fort Hood. This particular weekend, however, I noticed something or at least it occurred to me for the first time. I am part of this unit. I am accepted by the other Soldiers even though I am one of the newbies. I could make arguments why – we wear the same uniform; we have the same unit patch; we have the same mission. There are probably lots of reasons but whatever the reason, a community exists within the 332nd Medical Brigade HHC and I am part of it. It is good to be part of a community and it inspired today’s sermon.
Then amid the horror of the theater shootings in Aurora, CO, we witnessed a community developing as people came together to grieve, to heal, and to comfort one another. Perhaps in Colorado, there was not much of an existing community but they develop when the need arises.
I want to talk to you this morning not from the perspective of a minister, but simply as a member of a faith community, this community again as a newbie. The concept of “community” is not new by any means. It’s as old as time itself. It is more than just a group of people in a specific geographic area; it’s more than the physical placement of this place called Springfield, TN. Community is about relationships, specifically our relationships with each other. Scripture is far from silent on the topic of community. One of the foremost passages about community comes to us from the writings of Luke in the book of Acts.
In our passage of scripture this morning we see several aspects about the concept of community, these things were important facets of this 1st century community, and they are important to our own community today.
- In Community, we find diversity
- We are created by God to be individuals
- No two people are created the same (but wouldn’t it be nice if everyone was just like me?)
- Each and every one of us are unique creations of God, with unique gifts given to us by God
- Even people who are identical twins are different from one another
- Being uniquely created individuals we will see things differently than others do
- We will have differences of opinion
- Differences in likes and dislikes
- If 12 people in a room were presented with a problem, more than likely we would get 15 different solutions to that problem
- Even with our differences we can find common ground
- Those things that have separated Christians in the past for the most part have been merely matters of opinion
- We read in our passage that they “had all things in common” common means alike
- They were dedicated to the same thing, the spreading of the Gospel, and the growth of the Lord’s Church
- They were dedicated to leading others to Christ, so they might have a meaningful relationship with Him
- And these people were different as the day is long, Luke gives us 12 different and distinct places, each with their own culture, ideas, and upbringing, yet they were a “community” drawn together by their mutual faith
- When the Church was born on the day of Pentecost there was 1 church
- We have let our own differences of opinion separate us
- We must not compromise our core beliefs, but when it comes to matters of opinion we must be willing to accept differing viewpoints
- An old saying, In essentials – unity; in non-essentials – freedom; in all things love
- We can have unity within diversity, I believe as a Church we must
- Story: Chapel worship
- We are created by God to be individuals
- In Community, we find support
- Support for those who are down
- This speaks of Physical support
- When someone is in need this is when the community steps in
- We as a community are a supporting community
- Community is a place where people can find a stable place to stand in the midst of a storm of life
- We are encouraged to help those who need help
- Jesus’ words on this “when you have done it for the least of these you have done it for me”
- Story: Air Assault course
- Support for those who are down
- This speaks of spiritual support
- To help our brothers and sisters in time of need
- To pray for them and to pray with them
- To encourage them
- To let them know you care
- Community needs to be both types of support
- Sometimes we may be the giver and another time the receiver
- Support is one of the main threads that binds a community together
- Community extends beyond our towns borders, even our county and state borders
- The great humanitarian Mother Teresa was once asked by an interviewer: “What’s the biggest problem in the world today?” Without hesitating she replied, “The biggest problem in the world today is that we draw the circle of our family too small. We need to draw it larger every day.”
- As a community we are a family, and our arms need to reach out to each other and around the world
- Support for those who are down
- In Community, we find love
- Love for one another
- Love enough to meet the needs of those around us
- To support them
- To encourage them
- Its easy to love those we like, not always easy with those we are in conflict with
- We are called to love all people
- We see Jesus’ answer to the question about the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself”
- This command doesn’t have any disqualifying factors
- We are called to love each other, to be compassionate to each other
- The good Samaritan & the Golden rule
- The love of God should emanate from each of us to those around us
- God loves each one of us, he love us so much he gave all for us
- John 3:16 says it all
- We as a town are a community, we as Christians are a community
- A community where all are welcome
- Christianity has been compared to one beggar showing another where to find bread
- God’s love shines through his acceptance of each of us, he wants a relationship with each of us
- Our love for each other in this community should shine through that same love.
- Love for one another
The huge redwood trees in California are amazing. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are 300 feet high and more than 2,500 years old. You would think that trees that large would have a tremendous root system, reaching down hundreds of feet into the earth. But that is not the case. Redwoods have a very shallow root system. The roots of these trees are, however, intertwined. They are tied in with each other; interlocked. Thus, when the storms come and the winds blow the redwoods still stand. With an interlocking root system they support and sustain each other. They need one another to survive and to grow.
Community is interlocking our lives with others – whether they are exactly like us or not – not to be pushy or nosy but because we need each other. We need the love and the support and the encouragement and even the prodding from time to time. God did not make us to be alone with love and support. God is present in our lives through our community. Like the redwood trees, we need each other to survive and grow.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Who Can I Hate?
I am not preaching this Sunday but I felt the need to write a sermon to address some of the emotions and words that are floating out there given the shooting in Aurora, CO. Here is my offering based on Matthew 5:43-46:
This is yet another hard saying of the Sermon on the Mount. I share this message today given the events of this past week as we watched in horror the reports of yet another mass shooting of innocent victims in this country. We also have reports of more dead around the world – all innocent victims. On top of this, the Westboro Baptist Church plans to head to Colorado and revel in the deaths of these innocent people to share their message. If we look at all of this, it is easy to want to lash out and hate those who hate but then we have this scripture from the Sermon on the Mount. Should we hate? Let’s take a closer look.
- Reasons to HATE: Our reasons to hate are as numerous as our reasons to take revenge. We can rationalize anything. Notice that Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” The part about hating your enemy is nowhere in the Bible. The part about loving your neighbor is from Leviticus 19:18. We come up with good reasons to hate people.
- Not my NEIGHBOR
- Since it was said that we should love our neighbor, some drew the conclusion, that we should only love our neighbor. The logical conclusion was then to not love someone who wasn’t a neighbor.
- In the OT mind, the neighbor was a fellow countryman. It meant that a neighbor was someone like us (in thought, appearance [dress, race], belief, etc.).
- My ENEMY
- An enemy is someone who is against us.
- An enemy is someone who is different from us. It could be our nemesis at work, school, or wherever.
- Why should we love someone who doesn’t like? What have they every done for us?
- My PERSECUTOR
- A persecutor is the one who picks on us for who we are. This goes beyond an enemy.
- This is the bully who puts threats into practice.
- Okay, so I shouldn’t seek to do the same to him, but why can’t I sit and stew about him?
- They are EVIL
- It was also considered noble to hate the enemies of God.
- Someone who is an evil sinner should be hated.
- The WBC preached, “God hates fags.” Their rationale was that since they were “evil” people, God hated them and so should everyone else.
- They are UNJUST
- The unjust are those who seek to do harm to others.
- Not my NEIGHBOR
- Rewards for LOVE There are rewards for loving others. Jesus said that greatest commandment was to love God, which few have a problem with. The second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself. Part of the problem is the definition of who our neighbor is. Who is our neighbor? Jesus defined our neighbor in the story of the Good Samaritan. If their was any group that Jews hated in Jesus’ day, it was the Samaritans, along with the tax collectors and Gentiles, which covered about anyone who wasn’t like them. In effect our enemy is our neighbor.
- To be a CHILD of God
- Jesus said that one of the benefits of loving our enemies (who really are our neighbors) is that we will be children of God.
- Children bear the resemblance of their parents. People say I look like my parents, and my kid looks like my wife or me. Sometimes we even see a resemblance between parents and adopted children.
- To be a child of God is to reflect his image. We were created in the image of God.
- The mere act of loving our enemy doesn’t make us a child of God, but it shows that we are a child of God.
- To become a child of God we must begin a walk with God. The result will be that we will love our enemies.
- To make new FRIENDS
- Another reward for loving our enemies is that we can make a new friend.
- Read Matthew 5:14-16.
- If we show genuine love to someone who hates us, it may well turn into a friendship, but at the least we will show them that we are children of God and that may bring them into a relationship with God.
- If we hate them and claim to love God, what does that say?
- 1 John 2:9 says, “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.” If you hate someone, are you really a child of God? We are called to…
- Real PERFECTION
- The last verse is a tough one. How on earth can I be perfect?
- Notice it doesn’t say to be as perfect as God is? This begs the question, “What is perfection?”
- To be perfect is meet our function. When we fulfill our function, we are perfect. We are perfect if we fulfill the design that God gave us. We were created to bear the image of God.
- To love our enemies is be a child of God, and therefore bear his image. God loves saint and sinner alike, and when we do that we are perfect in the NT sense. My car is perfect despite defects.
- Love as God LOVES
- God loves everyone, so we should love everyone. God sends rain and sun on all people regardless of who they are. God loves all his creation.
- As a child of God, I am created in his image.
- So is everyone else you could think of.
- Since we are to bear the image of God we should show love to all people.
- Live at a HIGHER LEVEL
- Even the worst sinner loves those who love those who love them.
- To be a follower of God, we are to live on a higher level. We are called to a better life. That doesn’t mean we get all puffed up.
- Growing to MATURITY
- Perfection has to do with our maturity. An 8-year old can play
- To be a CHILD of God
Who gets on your nerves? Who do you have good reason to hate? What does God want you to do about it?
Acknowledging Our Weaknesses
Here is today’s sermon based on 2 Corinthians 12:2-10:
As I was growing up, my favorite children’s story was ‘The Little Engine that could’ attributed to Mabel C. Bragg, a teacher in Boston, Massachusetts.
The gist of the story is that a long train must be pulled over a high mountain. Larger and more powerful engines are asked to pull the train but for various reasons they refuse. At last in desperation the train asks the little switch engine to take it up the mountain and down on the other side. “I think I can,” puffed the little locomotive, as it attaches itself to the front of the great heavy train. The other engines all mock the little engine for trying, but that did not stop the little engine.
As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” Then as it near the top of the mountain, that had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly, but still kept saying, “I–think–I–can, I–think–I–can, I–think–I–can.” It reached the top of the mountain through its brave, persistent effort. Then going down the other side, the little engine congratulated itself saying, “I thought I could, I thought I could.” By chugging on with his motto I-think-I-can, the engine succeeded in pulling the train over the mountain.
Without realizing it, children seem to adopt one of two philosophies of life from this story. Some of them look at life and just like the larger and more powerful engines they make all sorts of excuses because in the back of their minds they are thinking “I don’t think I can. I don’t think I can.” It does not matter what opportunities come their way, they still believe “I don’t think I can.” This attitude prevents them from taking risks and holds them back from stepping out in faith to attempt great things for God. They let their fear of failure slowly chip away at God’s work within them. They need revival!
In the Bible we see this in the story of Jesus walking on the water. Eleven of the disciples stayed huddled in the boat. They were afraid to take the risk and try to walk on the water toward Jesus.
Why are those with this operating philosophy – “I cannot do it?” – failing? Because for years they have had the wrong answer.
It is not about them and what they cannot do or think that they cannot do. Instead it is about God and what God can do. As Paul says in Philippians 4:13…“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
It is not what I cannot do. It is what Christ can do through me! Other children become the little engine that could: “I think I can. I think I can.” It does not matter what obstacles come their way, they still believe “I think I can. I think I can.”
We also see this attitude in the story of Jesus walking on the water. Peter thought he could. So in the middle of the lake Peter stepped over the side of the boat and started to walk on the water toward Jesus. As he took his eyes off of Jesus, he immediately began to sink.
Someday they will finally hit a wall and discover that they cannot. Positive thinking is not the answer.
As Jack Zuflet writes…“If goal setting, positive thinking, daily affirmations, self-talk, dream building, visualization, chanting, fire walking and every other technique that self-help guru’s preach actually worked… then why are they failing you miserably? Why are you failing?”
Why? Because for years they have had the wrong answer. It is not about them. It is not about what they can do or even what they think they can do. They are letting their own efforts slowly chip away at God’s work within then. They need revival!
As Paul says in Philippians 4:13… “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It is not what I can do. It is what Christ can do through me.
Both responses “I think I can” and “I think I can’t” are problematic. In both cases what needs to happen is that we need to let go. Things will only begin to change as we begin to change. Just as our Lord said to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 he says to each of us…“My power is strongest when you are weak.”
God’s power is strongest when we are weak.
As long as we operate on the basis that we cannot do it and therefore are not going to try, God doesn’t need to show up. And as long as we operate on the basis that we can do it, God doesn’t need to show up. It is only when we are willing to admit we cannot do it on our own, that we clear the path for God to be at work. It is only when we understand that it is far beyond our own capabilities and power, hat we clear the path for God to be at work. It is only when we believe that with God it can be done, that we clear the path for God to be at work. It is when we realize along with Paul…“…when I am weak, I am strong” (v. 10) … that we clear the path for God to be at work. If you want personal renewal – surrender yourself. If you desire congregational renewal – surrender your church. For that is the way to set the stage for renewal from God. Amen
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Only Believe
Here is today’s sermon based on Mark 5:21-34:
Introduction: You know it’s going to be a tough day when….
- You wake up face down on the pavement
- You look to see the birds outside your window and see nothing but buzzards
- Your birthday cake collapses under the weight of the candles
- You wake up to discover that your waterbed broke and then you remember that you don’t own a waterbed
- Your horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a motorcycle gang on the freeway
- During your morning cup of coffee, you turn on the news only to see a live view of your house surrounded by the police.
The Context
- Mark has grouped together 4 miracles from 4:35-5:43 or rather Jesus’ answer to 4 bad days
- He is giving us a glimpse of the reason behind the frenzy of people pressed around Jesus. It wasn’t a calm scene. No, the people were pressed in around him.
- As soon as Jesus steps foot on shore, people are there. One is a man named Jairus…a synagogue ruler. He falls at Jesus’ feet and pleads for the life of his little girl. There’s not a parent here who doesn’t understand a bit of the desperation of this man.
- As they are on the way a woman reaches out for healing.
- Jesus realizes what has taken place and affirms her faith and her healing.
- Word then comes that the little girl Jesus was going to heal had died. Jairus is encouraged to “let it go”. Have you ever been told that?
- Jesus ignored them and said, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
- Only Peter, James and John were allowed to come along with Jesus and Jairus.
- Everyone in this scene is wailing. They were hired mourners. Since Jairus held a position of prominence there were a lot of them.
- From wailing in “sorrow” the scene turns to a mockery of the situation and of Jesus when He proclaims that she is not dead but only sleeping. They laugh. I’m sure the mother didn’t laugh. She would have either had hoped put back in her heart or would have been furious. It seems from the next scene that she had hope.
- Jesus sends everyone away except the 3 disciples and the parents.
- He then takes her by the hand and tells her to get up. Her lifeless body responds immediately and she walks around to everyone’s surprise (everyone except Jesus). He tells them not to speak of the event and to give her something to eat.
What an event! Jesus told Jairus not to be afraid. What could Jairus be afraid of? What could we be afraid of?
- Miracles happen to others but not us
- Jesus healed the woman. Then news comes of the girl’s death.
- Do we sometimes feel that God is too late? Do we think God has paid too much attention to others and ignored our situation? (Come on Jesus, this woman is bleeding but my daughter is dying!)
- We can be afraid that the crowd is right
- The situation is not worth bothering God about
- That Jesus couldn’t possibly do anything about it. (This is the motivation behind them telling Jairus not to bother Jesus anymore…the inability to stay focused on what God can do instead of looking at the circumstances)
- We can be afraid that the crowd is right
- The possibility of the miraculous is laughable
- People will say, “Learn to live with it”, “just deal with it”, “get over it”, and “accept it”. Worse yet is when they may say we deserve it or God is punishing us.
- Satan comes to us and whispers, God doesn’t care. He will try to persuade you to doubt.
- What are the keys to faith?
- Point of view
- Jairus didn’t listen to the crowd. He listened to the one He came to ask for help in the first place.
- Quit listening to the naysayers. Look to Jesus.
- Psalm 121:1-2, “I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
- We are very quick to blame God when things don’t go our way. And when things don’t go our way perhaps it’s because of:
- Sin – ours or someone else’s
- Poor choices
- Improper timing (it might be “not yet” instead of “no”)
- While we are quick to blame God, we are slow to give glory and honor (notice I didn’t say credit—we should give God praise…not just an acknowledgment).
- Alex Haley, the author of “Roots,” had an unusual picture hanging on his office wall. It was a picture of a turtle on top of a fence post. When asked, “Why is that there?” Alex Haley answered, “Every time I write something significant, every time I read my words & think that they are wonderful, & begin to feel proud of myself, I look at the turtle on top of the fence post & remember that he didn’t get there on his own. He had help.”
- That is the basis of thankfulness – to remember that we got here with the help of God, & that He is the provider of every blessing we have.
- Priorities
- We must set our affections upon God and the fulfillment of His will.
- Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”
- This is not an unlimited debit card account. It is a principle founded in obedience and relationship with Almighty God. As I walk with Him I know that He will give everything I need and what I may ask I can understand that any “No” will be for the best interest of my soul. We get everything out of order.
- C.S. Lewis said, “Put first things first and we get second things thrown in; put second things first and we lose both first and second things.”
- Patience & Perseverance
- These two go together. You will never persevere without patience.
- Joel 1:4, “What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.”
- Oh, the barren times we can go through. It may seem like more than we can bear. It may seem that God does not care. But hold on. Be patient, persevere. God is doing something while the answer waits. He doesn’t forget us in the lean times. He is with us! And He will remember.
- Joel 2:25-27, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.”
- Hold on today
- Point of view
Maybe you need to quit seeking after things, or the easy way, or a quick fix. It will take effort but you will have God’s help. Perhaps you need to surrender your insistence on your will for an answer to prayer and trust God’s perfect will. Maybe you need to ask, or keep asking. Just remember, Jesus’ words were few and direct. “Don’t be afraid, just believe.” Don’t be afraid today. Look to Jesus, live for Jesus, and wait for Jesus.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Finding Faith When the Storm Comes
Here is today’s sermon based on Mark 4:35-41:
Before we can dive in to this scripture (no pun intended), we have to consider a little context. The Sea of Galilee is a large, freshwater lake in Israel – in fact is the lowest freshwater lake in the world. Because of its geography, it tends to have unpredictable weather patterns and most sailors stayed closer to the shore at night. Rarely, did anyone make a night crossing and it is in this context, that our story takes place. So let’s begin.
- Storm Facts
- Storms come at inconvenient times.
- “when evening had come” (v. 35)
- Comes at the close of a long day
- Lots of ministry among the people
- It’s dark and I mean really dark
- They are tired
- Heading out to the next place and the storm shows up
- Storms sometimes happen right in the middle of God’s will.
- “He said to them, ‘Let us cross. . .’” (v. 35)
- They were right where Jesus told them to be
- Some people talk as if being in God’s will means you’ll have no storms in your life, but that’s just not true.
- Storms even happen to those closest to God.
- “Now when they had left the multitude. . .” (v. 36)
- The big crowd has been dispersed and those traveling with Jesus presumably consist mostly of His disciples.
- Despite the fact that they were the chosen of Jesus and closest to Him, the storm still came on them.
- Storms come at inconvenient times.
With some facts established, I think there are some questions that are raised from this story that we have to deal with. Some of the questions are obvious but some of them raise more questions then they answer. Anyway, here we go.
- Six Questions From The Storm:
- What did Jesus want them to do? “Take their problem to their Father.”
- “But He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’”
- There are four options I can see for what the disciples could have done in this situation:
- In their fears, wake Jesus up and ask for help.
- That’s exactly what they did and they get criticized for it, so that’s not the right option.
- Without fear, wake Jesus up and ask for help.
- Perhaps the problem wasn’t that they woke Him up, but the fearful spirit with which they woke Him up.
- Just keep bailing.
- They could have just tried to handle the situation themselves, but this appears to have been a sufficiently powerful storm to have killed them (v. 37)
- “the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling”), so it doesn’t seem a good option.
- Pray to their Father for help.
- Jesus knows He’ll be leaving them within a few years and among His goals is to get them to look to the Father for the answers to their problems.
- In Mark 11:22, Jesus tells them, “Have faith in God.” I think He wanted them, rather than rushing to Him again, to realize they could go themselves to their Father and have faith that He’ll take care of it.
- Jesus’ primary rebuke is that they have no faith. Who should they have had faith in? God.
- In their fears, wake Jesus up and ask for help.
- How will Jesus respond to our storm? “He rebuked what created the problem and calmed the troubling circumstances.”
- Notice that there are two separate actions (two distinct verbs) with regard to the wind and the waves. We often lump them in together and presume that it was one action, but it was two.
- First, Jesus “rebuked” the wind. This is a strong word, indicating chastisement. Second, Jesus “said” to the waves.
- The wind was, of course, what was causing the problem, so Jesus rebuked what created the problem. The waves were the result, so to speak – the “effect” to the wind’s “cause.”
- In our situations, often there is the thing that is causing the problem and then, separately, there are the resulting circumstances that are troubling us.
- Intense worry and anxiety may be our circumstances and the loss of our job may be the cause.
- Or, smoldering anger may be our circumstances and a broken relationship (because of a verbal fight) may be the cause.
- It’s important to know that God can help us with our circumstances as well as our original problem
- It’s important, as we see the two distinct actions that Jesus makes, that we understand that God can deal with both what created our problem and with the difficult circumstances that came as a result.
- How do we respond to our storm? “Pick your fear.”
- When we think of “fear” and this passage, we think of the disciples’ reaction to the storm. In v. 40, Jesus asks them, “Why are you so fearful?” Their reaction to the storm was caught up in their fear of the storm.
- But there is another “fear” mentioned right after that. In v. 41, it says, “And they feared exceedingly. . .”. In the Greek, it literally reads, “And they feared [a] fear great. . .”. This was their fear of the Lord.
- When we face the storm, do we focus on our fear of the storm or our fear of the Lord? Put another way, are we in awe of the power of the storm or are we in awe of the power of the Lord? When we focus on His power and might and our humble respect for all that He is, it puts the storm that we’re facing in a much clearer perspective.
- What about when my problem is really big? “Jesus brings ‘great’ calm to ‘great’ problems.”
- Another word (like “fear”) that shows up more than once is “great.” In v. 37, it notes that the storm that had hit them was “great.” There are times in each of our lives when our problems go beyond the everyday nuisances and we’re in the midst of a “great” storm.
- But in v. 39, after Jesus speaks His “Peace, be still!”, it says that there was a “great” calm. The same Greek word for “calm” is present in both v. 37 and v. 39.
- It’s good to know that Jesus can bring a “great” calm to the “great” storms that we face.
- When did God’s power show up? “When Jesus was ‘raised.’”
- There is an interesting detail in the Greek that we miss in the English. In v. 38, the NKJV says, “They awoke Him. . .”. In v. 39, it says, “Then He arose. . .”.
- In the Greek, though, in v. 38, it literally says, “And they raised him. . .” and, in v. 39, it literally says, “And having been raised thoroughly. . .”.
- Do you get the meaning that’s hidden there? God’s power showed up when Jesus was “raised”!
- In our lives, our confidence and our hope for the power of God to show up and deliver us from the storms that we face lies simply and completely in this truth: that Jesus has been raised!
- What is God’s biggest problem in our storms? “It’s not stopping our storms, but finding our faith.”
- There is a final interesting detail. It seems like a very small word, but I thought the irony was gripping. In v. 41, the disciples say, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” In the Greek, it literally says, “Who then this is that also the wind and the sea obey him?” The key word for the point I want to close with is that small word “also.”
- It is most ironic that the disciples, having just displeased Jesus with their actions, turn around and comment, “What kind of guy is this that the wind and waves also obey Him?” Why is it ironic? Because the wind and waves were the only ones obeying Jesus in this passage. In reality, the wind and waves were not “also” obeying (i.e. in addition to the disciples’ obeying Him), but the wind and waves were the only ones obeying.
- God’s biggest problem in our storms is not stopping our storms. He’s got all the resources that He needs to be able to take care of that easily. His biggest problem is exactly what Jesus points out in v. 40: “How is it that you have no faith?” God has all the power that’s needed to take care of our problems and our difficult circumstances – what He has trouble with is finding people who have the faith to believe that He can do it.
- What did Jesus want them to do? “Take their problem to their Father.”
Do you believe that God can take care of the storm you’re dealing with right now? Sometimes God calms the storm. Sometimes God lets the storm rage and calms the child.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Running Towards Your Giants
Here is today’s sermon based on 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13.
Yesterday, I had the privilege to visit the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA and a few days before that, I was wandering the hills of Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD. I will confess I love history but wandering these two monuments, made me realize something. The men in whose memory, these areas are dedicated, chose to run towards the impossible; towards their giants; and in many cases towards their own death. That is where I want to begin this morning…June 6, 1944 (briefly relay the story of D-Day).
I share this story with you because I believe it shows one of the three responses we can have when we are faced with “giants”. In this case, the Allied army chose to run towards their giants but before we look at why that is our best option, let’s look at two other choices.
- We can ignore our giants
- Imagine just a minute if the Allied army ignored the Germans as they came ashore
- Greater death
- A German victory
- Germans would not go away so no progress would be made
- Imagine if the Israelites ignored the Philistines
- Similar idea to the D-Day invasion
- My calling story
- Our response
- We often believe that ignoring something will simply make it go away
- Sadducees and Jesus
- Homeless
- Not a good option
- Imagine just a minute if the Allied army ignored the Germans as they came ashore
- We can run from our giants
- Imagine if the Allied army arrived at Normandy and turned and ran
- Back against the English Channel with no place to go
- A sure defeat
- What if the Israelites turned and ran
- The enemy neighbors would know they could be conquered
- Would face constant warfare
- When we run from our giants, we find that we are haunted by the “what ifs”
- My mother and the little girl at the library
- Exit 85 on I-40
- When we run from one giant, we are likely to run from the next one
- Alexander Hamilton said: “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”
- As I said a few weeks ago, people simply stop living and breathe
- Not a good option
- Imagine if the Allied army arrived at Normandy and turned and ran
- We can face our giants and even run towards them
- Allied Invasion of Normandy
- Many went to certain death but faced their giants
- A cause greater than themselves
- David and Goliath
- Went with confidence that God was on his side
- Was following God’s plan that was greater than himself
- Not always a happy ending
- We may get stepped on
- We may even die
- We still need to face our giants
- Allied Invasion of Normandy
- So where do we go from here?
- Feel good Christianity
- Become a Christian and everything will be just fine
- Follow Jesus and everything will be just fine
- Need I remind you about
- Jesus
- The 12 Apostles
- Paul
- Countless persecuted Christians
- Need I remind you about
- My own calling
- I do not wear a halo
- If I did, it would be dirty, dented, and misplaced from time to time
- Some of my biggest giants have occurred since accepting my calling
- Real Christianity
- Hardest thing we will ever do is follow Jesus
- Challenges and giants everywhere
- Christianity is not about us
- Those giants in our path serve the greater of God’s plan
- We have been called to be God’s children
- We are anointed
- Like David, we can face our giants in the confidence of God
- Facing our giants has eternal consequences
- Henry Adams, an American educator famously said: “A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops.”
- Christians affect eternity as well through our actions with others
- We are part of God’s greater plan that extends well beyond us
- Feel good Christianity
The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 was just one battle or operation in a greater war. However, it lead to the weakening of the German forces and ultimately was the beginning of the end for the Germans. Without the efforts of D-Day, VE Day a little less than year later would not have possible. In much the same way, things we do today impact others in ways we can’t imagine. Who knows the implication of paying a few dollars so a little girl can watch a movie? Who knows the implication of giving $5 to perfect strangers at the top of an entrance ramp on the interstate? Who knows the implication of giving up a few evenings in July for VBS? We may never know what our actions will cause tomorrow, next week, or even five years from now. What we do know and what we can do, is choose to face the giants in our path and deal with them knowing they are part of God’s plan and in the end it is not about us but about the greater good.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
The Last Enemy
Here is today’s sermon based on Matthew 6:19-24 and 1 Corinthians 15:25-26:
I have been thinking about death a lot lately. Not that I plan to die anytime soon but given my line of work it is inevitable. I spend my days, or at least part of my days, delving in theology and the study of the Bible which more often than not involves the afterlife and eternity. Questions about death and life after death are common for ministers to be asked. In addition, as a Chaplain, I have to be prepared for the inevitable death among the Soldiers I serve. I have to be ready to counsel family and other Soldiers as well as conduct memorial services. It is just part of the job.
On top of that, I have been rereading the Harry Potter series which deals with good, evil, and death on an increasing level as you go through the series. In fact, the scripture verses for today’s sermon come in part from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yes, there is scripture in Harry Potter. In case you are curious, the Matthew text can be found on the grave of Dumbledore’s mother and sister and the 1 Corinthians text can be found on Harry’s parent’s graves. Have no clue who they are – just hang on a moment or two. So I read the books and something occurred to me this week. In fact, a sermon began to develop from the close of the book and I want to share with you this morning two different stories of death and then in light of these scriptures, what lessons we can take for living but more on that in just a minute.
Last but not least, I have been thinking about death lately because tomorrow is my birthday and I am getting a bit older. I once considered myself old until I reached this age! One’s mortality always seems to come to the surface around a birthday.
So back to Harry Potter.
The first story involves Albus Dumbledore – the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You see in his early life, he desired the three Deathly Hallows more than anything else he could imagine. These 3 things – the elder wand, the invisibility cloak, and the resurrection stone, when united, would make someone the master of Death and Dumbledore sought them with all of his energy, time, and resources. Rather than store his treasures in heaven, Dumbledore sought to be the master of death by seeking earthly treasure and the inevitable result was death – not his death but his sister’s death. He chose poorly.
Then we have Harry Potter who also finds himself in possession of the Deathly Hallows but there is a big difference. You see, he doesn’t want to be the master of death – he wants to save his friends and so he uses the Deathly Hallows to face He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and give his life in their place. Sorry for the spoilers for those who haven’t read the books or seen the movies but yes Harry dies. It is a noble death – the kind that Jesus refers to as one of the greatest things you can do for another. Harry realized that his treasure was not on earth but somewhere else and this is what leads him to lay down his life for others. He chose wisely.
So what lessons can we take from these stories? Well, the obvious is that Christians have to be poor and miserable because we cannot store things up on earth, right? I don’t think so. I don’t think that is what this scripture is saying because frankly, if we did, there would be very few Christians in the world because who wants to be miserable the entire life? I have a few aunts who may fit this category but most people don’t. I believe most people would prefer to be a little comfortable. No, I think scripture, and in light of our gospel today, is telling us that it is okay to have things, it is okay to have a car, a house, a savings account, and even air conditioning but we can’t let those things rule our life. We can’t spend a lifetime pursuing those things because when we do, death wins. When a person is so consumed by treasure that he or she will do everything and anything to get treasure, all that waits is an empty life followed by death. My New Testament professor from seminary, Mitzi Minor, whom I do quote often, puts it better than I could when she says that we all know people who are breathing but not really living. That is the first lesson, pursuing treasures on earth leads us to be merely breathing and not living life abundantly.
The second scripture is more interesting to me. You see, death still takes us because God has not yet fully destroyed death. We all will die but we know there is something else on the other side. William Penn said: “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” I think we all help destroy death when we share the gospel with someone. I think we all help death die when we live rather than just breathe. And there is where panic sets in because people often dread having to share the gospel with someone else. It makes us uncomfortable, okay at least it makes me uncomfortable to think about walking up to someone and opening my Bible and sharing the Good News, but it shouldn’t because there are other ways to share the gospel. You see, if we, as Harry did, lay down our lives for our friends so they might live, we are sharing the gospel. If we offer a smile to someone on the street rather than look down or look away, we are sharing the gospel. If we offer a hug or a kind word to someone during a bad day, we are sharing the gospel. If we do a random act of kindness with no desire for recognition, we are sharing the gospel. I am not saying that sharing the gospel and offering to pray the “sinner’s prayer” is not important; what I am saying is that when we live our life abundantly in spite of death, we are sharing the gospel. When we live in spite of death, we are storing our treasures in heaven and we are serving God because we are living. It more than simply coming to church for an hour on Sundays. It is more than professing to be a Christian. It is living abundantly and fully and appreciating the life God has given us! Mother Teresa said it even better: “People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway.” In other words live and live life fully!
I have been thinking about death a lot lately but not out of fear or a sense of panic. I have been thinking about death in terms of defeating death – that is not avoiding it but living abundantly so when it comes, I have no regrets and death takes nothing from me. I believe this is our challenge as Christians – to live so death takes nothing from us. Let’s stop merely breathing and start living! Amen.
Here is today’s worship bulletin.
Sacrificing For Your Enemy
No it does not say “Sacrificing Your Enemies” as good as that might sound at times. Jesus instead was pretty clear and adamant about us making sacrifices on behalf of our enemies. In the Sermon on the Mount he hits this hard.
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well. When they wish to haul you to court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. When they force you to go one mile, go with them two. Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you. -Matthew 5:38-41 (CEB)
Imagine this scenario if you would. The country in which you live has been conquered by another country that is steadily taking over the entire world. Everywhere you go there are foreign soldiers patrolling the streets. They are proud and boastful. They take what they want from anyone and arrest people whenever they feel like it. On a daily basis people are executed by the soldiers. Women live in fear that they may be violated like their neighbor was last week. Men live in anger and shame over their inability to do anything to protect their family and their possessions. In the midst of all this the occupying army has a law that any soldier may, at any time, grab any citizen and force them to carry their gear for one mile.
That is the context for these words from Jesus. This is not just some theoretical sermon on his part. This was life as faced by his followers everyday. The Roman army had conquered Israel years before. Soldiers were everywhere. In fact a unit was posted in a fortress right next to the Temple, the most holy of places for the Jews. Even when they went to worship they were reminded of being a conquered people. There was even the law about carrying a soldiers gear for one mile. You simply had to do it.
So now imagine that you had a son who was killed by the Romans, or a wife who was raped by them, or a husband who was beaten senseless by them. Then one day as you are heading to the market to buy food for your family, you see some Roman soldiers coming towards you. You keep your head lowered, avoiding eye contact at all costs. You move to the side of the road hoping to stay well out of their way and their notice. They move past you and you let out a quiet sigh of relief that nothing happened and you can move on to the market. Suddenly your heart sinks when you hear one of them shout, “Hey, you! Carry my pack and supplies”. The natural human reaction is to be angry, upset, maybe even a little afraid. You are being forced to go a mile in the wrong direction. In order to get back to where you are now means a total of two miles out of your way. You need to carry the very supplies that this soldier uses to keep your people in subjection and you need to do it so he is not worn out from doing it himself and has more energy to fight your people if need be.
Jesus makes it clear that when you get to the end of the one mile requirement of the law that you should offer freely to carry the pack a second mile. That means a four mile total for you to sacrifice for and serve your enemy and then get back to where you started hours earlier. This is clearly going above and beyond that call of duty. It is in fact where we get the phrase, “going the extra mile”.
In all of this Jesus is giving us a real life example for the principle of loving your enemies. It is a hard principle to follow but that is what makes it so provocative. Picture the response of your enemy at the end of the first mile when you freely offer to go a second. No one has ever done that before. Always in the past they dropped the gear as fast as they could and went rushing back the way they came. Maybe they even mumbled a few choice words as they did so. But you offer with a smile to serve this enemy. He is going to ask, “Why would you do that?” At which point you are given an open door to say, “because I love Jesus and I know he loves you too”.
It really is a matter of what you value most. If you value your agenda, time, pleasure, need for revenge, sense of justice or anything else more than you value fulfilling the call that Jesus has placed on your life, then this is an impossible task. Your reaction will default to complaining, anger or disgust. But if you have as your primary reason for being, to honor Jesus and see more people become worshipers of him, then you will set aside your need for revenge. You will give up your right to grumble and complain over the unfairness of it all. You will avoid the pity party of why this has happened to you. Instead you will, with joy, look at the opportunity that Jesus has given you to show someone what it means to truly follow Him.
That is what it means to be a Christian. So what is the extra mile you can go for someone? What is the thing you can do for another, even you enemy, so that they ask why you did it and you can point them to Jesus?
Running God’s Race
Here is today’s sermon for the 6th Sunday after Epiphany based on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. I preached it at Mt. Denson Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Don’t you know that all the runners in the stadium run, but only one gets the prize? So run to win. Everyone who competes practices self-discipline in everything. The runners do this to get a crown of leaves that shrivel up and die, but we do it to receive a crown that never dies. So now this is how I run—not without a clear goal in sight. I fight like a boxer in the ring, not like someone who is shadowboxing. Rather I’m landing punches on my own body and subduing it like a slave. I do this to be sure that I myself won’t be disqualified after preaching to others. -1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (CEB)
I am a reluctant runner. I hate running. I hate every single step I take while I am running each morning. I dread each run and I am grateful when I am finished. Why do it, you may ask? It’s Simple. The Army says I will be able to run two miles in less than 17 minutes. A happy bonus is coming up on my next birthday because I can run it in less than 18 minutes. So I run 6 days a week – reluctantly. But you know what? The Army says so is not a good enough reason. I could simply prepare for a PT test a few weeks ahead of time and pass and go back to walking. The Army says so is not enough. My motivation to keep running, my motivation to take the next step, and my motivation to push myself beyond what I think I can do is God. Because you see, it is not about me, it is not about the Army, it is about God. For my own race and for yours…
- God provides the purpose and the prize
- Context: Putting ourselves into the 1stCentury dirt
- Corinth was host to the Isthmian Games
- Important part of life in Corinth
- Second only to the Olympics
- Paul addresses the runners
- Training for these games was very important
- Some athletes trained all day – every day
- Why?
- To win the one and only prize
- A crown of olive leaves
- Temporary, fading, and perishable glory
- Our world is not concerned with God’s race but with the rat race
- Humanity offers that crown of olive leaves in the form of money, fame, glory, wealth
- All temporary according to Paul and not worth the time or effort given the true prize
- “And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive an unfading crown of glory.” – 1 Peter 5:4 (CEB)
- So how do we stay focused on training for God’s race?
- Look ahead in our planning and living
- Example of running down the greenway
- “Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33 (CEB)
- Pagans in Paul’s day sough riches glory first while believers sough God first.
- Through grace, God has called us all to run the race
And so believers run God’s race and God provides the purpose and the prize but
- God <also> supplies the strength and the success
- More running story: breaking down the run into smaller pieces to find the endurance and strength to keep going
- Paul understood that all strength and success came from God
- Paul was called when he wasn’t seeking
- Paul was given strength to survive beatings, stoning, and rejections
- Paul knew he could not rely on his own strength
- Through God, Paul was able to do all things
- Paul became all things to reach out to all people – a Gentile among Gentiles.
- Paul was more concerned with others than himself
- There are many things that distract us along the way
- Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: ““Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”
- Our calling is our race – some think our calling is crazy and discourage us
- Our own doubts and fears
- Our sin
- We have to train to run the race
- I can’t run a marathon today (if ever!)
- I need to prepare with extensive training
- Paul says we should train for things that matter: following God
- Reading Scripture, praying, sharing the Good news, and most importantly living
An amazing thing happens when I take my focus off me while I am running and begin to look around me and focus on God. It no longer is a burden nor does it hurt to run so much. My focus is on God and I know that I am running God’s race. It’s not about me, it’s not about the Army or even running, it’s all about God
Today’s worship bulletin can be found here.
What about Nineveh?
The LORD’s word came to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city, and declare against it the proclamation that I am commanding you.” And Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’s word. (Now Nineveh was indeed an enormous city, a three days’ walk across.) Jonah started into the city, walking one day, and he cried out, “Just forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant. God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it. -Jonah 3:1-5, 10 (CEB)
The story of Jonah affirms the character of God as persevering, responsive, and merciful to all who repent.
It is very different to be poor or about to be deported than it is to be well-off and comfortable. The well-off and comfortable do not know what urgency is! Luckily we have prophets like Jonah to remind us that someone is about to be deported, someone is about to be laid off. If we cannot manage our own obsession with the self, then we can use a well-polished prophetic trick. Imagine yourself in the place of someone who is oppressed, or poor, or in trouble. That will focus our attention.
Maybe the main joke and gospel in this strange book of Jonah is the sense that not even the Lord knows how far divine mercy and compassion can go, especially when it comes to sticking with this particular people God has chosen.
Perhaps instead of judging the worth of others, I need to look to repent for the ways in which I have failed to see my need for God.
Decisions for God
The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth.” Nathanael responded, “Can anything from Nazareth be good?” Philip said, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here is a genuine Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are God’s Son. You are the king of Israel.” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these! I assure you that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up to heaven and down to earth on the Human One. -John 1:43-51 (CEB)
Such vision required the unfolding of the full narrative of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. In the signs that follow in the Gospel, particularly the pivotal sign of cross, the heavens are indeed opened. The disciples will see the divine glory fully only when the work of crucifixion and resurrection is completed. The unveiling of the glory of God occurs in the history of Jesus, in the mysterious conjunction of crucifixion and exaltation.
This story begins with Jesus making a decision. It is comforting to remember that even Jesus, though utterly Spirit-filled and completely in tune with God’s will, had to sort out his options and make his own decisions. God thus honors the gift of individual freedom.
Nathanael is excellent disciple material because he is without guile. Nathanael would make a terrible poker player but a wonderful friend. God thus honors the qualities of honesty, genuineness, integrity, and open-mindedness. This is not one of those cases where God takes a miserable sinner and turns him into a saint. This is one of those equally remarkable cases where God takes a person who is humanly praiseworthy in every way and makes of him something even more—a disciple.
Our relationship with God is a two-way street, both parties talking and listening and reaching out to each other.
Do you call yourself a disciple? What qualifications for this calling are necessary, as far as you are concerned?
Obligations to Life and Obligations to God
I have the freedom to do anything, but not everything is helpful. I have the freedom to do anything, but I won’t be controlled by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, and yet God will do away with both. The body isn’t for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God has raised the Lord and will raise us through his power. Don’t you know that your bodies are parts of Christ? So then, should I take parts of Christ and make them a part of someone who is sleeping around? No way! Don’t you know that anyone who is joined to someone who is sleeping around is one body with that person? The scripture says, The two will become one flesh. The one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Avoid sexual immorality! Every sin that a person can do is committed outside the body, except those who engage in sexual immorality commit sin against their own bodies. Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Don’t you know that you have the Holy Spirit from God, and you don’t belong to yourselves? You have been bought and paid for, so honor God with your body. -1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (CEB)
Our lives may be ordered by commitments to many different things: career, wealth, power, reputation, sex, nation, church, tribe, or ethnic group. But we are not meant only for these things. We are not fitted to live only for these things. These things, important as they are, need to be fitted into a broader context. They need to be put into their proper places. Indeed, when we are oriented toward these things alone, when our attitude and disposition is not adjusted by an appreciation for and loyalty to some greater and grander reality, we become skewed and enslaved. Then we do things that are neither beneficial nor helpful.
Paul’s teachings remind today’s churches that the body and sex are good and that what we do with them matters. To be made as physical and sexual beings is to be given a powerful means of finding physical and spiritual union with other beings. However, this goodness and power also give us a profound responsibility to live in our bodies and express our sexuality in ways that glorify God and build up our communities. What might it mean for us to glorify God with our bodies, especially in the expression of our sexuality? What might it mean to think of our bodies as belonging to Christ and of sexual acts as done with Christ and to Christ?
My life is filled with obligations, but none greater than serving God.
Our Identity Is in God
LORD, you have examined me.
You know me.
You know when I sit down
and when I stand up.
Even from far away,
you comprehend my plans.
You study my traveling and resting.
You are thoroughly familiar
with all my ways.
There isn’t a word on my tongue, LORD,
that you don’t
already know completely.
You surround me—front and back.
You put your hand on me.
That kind of knowledge
is too much for me;
it’s so high above me
that I can’t fathom it.
Where could I go to get away
from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape
your presence?
If I went up to heaven,
you would be there.
If I went down to the grave,
you would be there too!
If I could fly on the wings of dawn,
stopping to rest only
on the far side of the ocean—
even there your hand would guide me;
even there your strong hand
would hold me tight!
If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;
the light will become night around me,”
even then the darkness
isn’t too dark for you!
Nighttime would shine bright as day,
because darkness is the same
as light to you!
You are the one who created
my innermost parts;
you knit me together
while I was still in my mother’s womb.
I give thanks to you
that I was marvelously set apart.
Your works are wonderful—
I know that very well.
My bones weren’t hidden from you
when I was being put together
in a secret place,
when I was being woven together
in the deep parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my embryo,
and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me,
before any one of them
had yet happened.
God, your plans are incomprehensible
to me!
Their total number is countless!
If I tried to count them—
they outnumber grains of sand!
If I came to the very end—
I’d still be with you.
If only, God, you would kill the wicked!
If only murderers
would get away from me—
the people who talk about you,
but only for wicked schemes;
the people who are your enemies,
who use your name as if
it were of no significance.
Don’t I hate everyone who hates you?
Don’t I despise those who attack you?
Yes, I hate them—
through and through!
They’ve become my enemies too.
Examine me, God! Look at my heart!
Put me to the test!
Know my anxious thoughts!
Look to see if there is any idolatrous ways in me,
then lead me on the eternal path!
-Psalm 139 (CEB)
Psalm 139 invites us to receive an identity rooted not in the things we say about ourselves or the labels others assign us, but in the One who knows us more deeply and more lovingly than we could ever know ourselves. . . . The value of our lives does not come from what we achieve or possess or what others may think of us. It comes from the God who knows and names us, from whose steadfast love nothing in all creation can ever separate us.
difference between creator and creature, between God and human beings, is ultimately too great for us to fathom. Yet perhaps it is enough for us to know that God knows us—intimately and completely—and that we live our lives from beginning to end surrounded by God’s discerning presence.
Does it frighten or comfort you to think about how deeply God knows everything about you?
Tied Up in Knots
LORD, you have examined me. You know me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up. Even from far away, you comprehend my plans. You study my traveling and resting. You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways. There isn’t a word on my tongue, LORD, that you don’t already know completely. You surround me—front and back. You put your hand on me. That kind of knowledge is too much for me; it’s so high above me that I can’t fathom it. You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful— I know that very well. My bones weren’t hidden from you when I was being put together in a secret place, when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened.God, your plans are incomprehensible to me! Their total number is countless! If I tried to count them— they outnumber grains of sand! If I came to the very end— I’d still be with you. -Psalm 139:1-6; 13-18
Speaking about God tends to tie theologians up in tense knots of contradiction. God is transcendent but also immanent, just but also gracious, omnipotent but also personal. The wonder of this cherished psalm is that it knits these complex threads of God’s nature together into the single garment of divine providence.
Because God is at the farthest reaches of the universe and in the most secret depths of the human heart, God is the constant companion, who cannot be escaped, fooled, or ignored.
The conviction that human beings are autonomous, self-determining individuals is an illusion produced by pride. Human destiny is in the hands of a gracious God. Therefore genuine selfhood includes trusting dependence on God and grateful responsibility to God.
