The Step of Faith

Sermon March 16, 2014          The Step of Faith

Genesis 12:1-4a

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran

God tells Abram to go to a place he has never been before – go from your country, go from your kin, go from your father’s house – go and I will show you where.  So Abram goes.  We really don’t know a lot about Abram. Was he a righteous man as Noah? Why would God call him?

In looking back through the scriptures God called the least likely to follow.  Even today we may hear of a person being called to ministry and we say “ why would God call that one?” Even when God calls us to do a job our first response usually is I am not equipped.

We see that God does not always call those with the best credentials or the shining pedigrees. But we do see again and again, that a faithful response to God’s leading results in a  blessing of gifts and talents, of learned and acquired skill sets sufficient for the task to which an individual is called.

Our own experience and the witness of Scripture concur that the one who calls is the one who equips.  The one who equips always leads the called to more complete expression of the persons they were created to be.

Consequently, if the call is of God, the answer to all the above questions is YES.  A faithful response is the embrace of what God has already called into being – a newness of being – and the release from what is known for what is promised.

A faithful response is neither forced nor coerced, but a step freely taken toward our true selves. The notion of embracing newness and relinquishing what has been connects this text with today’s Gospel, the story of Nicodemus (John 3:1-17). Abram was born into a new reality that God called into being.  He took  The Step of Faith.

 

Psalm 121  UMH 844

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

The psalm appears to be set in the context of a pilgrimage.  The psalmist looks to the hills, which may be Mount Zion, God’s holy mountain and the place of the temple.  Presumably it is not an easy journey, and the opening verse cries out a stark question, “From where will my help come?” On a gut level, we know what it means to lift our eyes to the hills in search of help. Inevitably we have all made this cry at challenging times in our lives.

It is a hard to accept that the Lord is my keeper as it is to accept that the Lord loves me, but these two facts are intertwined. That is the key to understanding not merely what the Lord does for us, but why God’s love is the very foundation of God’s trustworthiness.  God loves us, and therefore God keeps us.

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Abraham Justified by Faith

4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[a]

¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[a] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Paul provides a scriptural proof at verse 3 to demonstrate that the faith of Abraham is the means through which he was credited with righteousness: “Abram believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”.

In verses 4-5 the gift of righteousness is contrasted with the payment of earned wages, which are obligated because of “works”.   In contrast, Abram’s righteousness was not something he had earned by reason of his good deeds; rather, it was something freely given to him, solely on the basis of his faith.

An implicit message in the church and an explicit message in our society conspire to lead people to believe they will be entitled to God’s love and worthy of God’s love only if they earn it.

The heart and soul of this text is the proclamation of the unmerited grace that comes from God to us.

Think about this:

The God revealed in Jesus, bringing salvation to all who will accept it, is the same God revealed in Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and Esther.  The unique nature of Jesus will be seen as a unique revelation of the One God who is also revealed in many other places and ways.  Salvation, then, is through the revelation and work of God.

If Paul is correct in saying that Jews and Christians share the same faith and are at least spiritual descendants of Abraham, then the first tragedy was the division between the synagogue and the church.  Clearly the differences are perceived as greater than any common heritage.

Orthodox Judaism saw Abraham as keeping the law by anticipation and therefore in accord with the Mosaic tradition: Paul saw Abraham as preceding the law and therefore saved by faith.  The common thread is interpreted differently, depending on the community in which it is read.

Ignoring differences of dumbing down belief to avoid conflict does not provide sufficient intellectual support in today’s world.

What appears to be needed is humility, recognition that “our truth” may not be the ultimate truth about God:  a commitment to unity,   recognition that love does not depend on uniformity but welcomes a diversity of gifts; and a priority for mission, coming together with all our diversity, sharing gifts to reach out to those who need Good News.

God’s grace is evident in God’s choice to love us, which sets us in a right relationship with God.

So, we are inspired to say that the Christian life does not consist of doing good works to earn God’s love; rather, and wonderfully, it consist of doing good works because of God’s love and our love for Him and what He has done for us.

John 3:1-17

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”

In John’s gospel there are two major images:  one is light and the other is darkness.  Nicodemus emerges out of the night’s darkness, seeking light from the teacher he believes to be sent from God.

Just as suddenly as he appears, Nicodemus disappears back into the night from whence he came.  Before he does so, Jesus tells him one must be born anew in order to see the kingdom of God, and the last we hear from Nicodemus is, “How can this be?” (V.9).

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ^\

A few verses down….

Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done of God” (V.21).  IT will take Nicodemus a long time – until 19:38-42 to come once and for all out of the night and into the light.

What does it mean to be born from above and to believe in Jesus?

To be born from above by water and the Spirit, to believe in Jesus, is to leave the darkness and to come into the light (v.19).

What does it mean to live either in darkness or in light?  Those who live in the darkness and hate the light do so because their evil deeds will be exposed. (v.20)  To come into the light – to be born from above – is to do “what is right”(21), to follow the one who is himself “the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6).

For many Christians, the gospel is summarized by the words in John 3:16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life..

Some Christians. However, understand faith or “believing in Jesus” to be simply what one does with one’s mind.

In John’s Gospel, being born from above and believing in Jeus are clearly not so much about what one does with one’s mind as about what one does with one’s heart and one’s life.

Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done of God” (V.21). 

In John’s Gospel believing and doing are inseparable.  Nicodemus lives in the darkness and the shadows of this story until its conclusion, when he emerges Publicly with Joseph of Arimathea, who is also a “secret disciple,” to bury Jesus.

Have you only assented with Your Mind the Jesus is Lord.

Or have you Taken The Step of Faith and Accepted Jesus as Your Lord Publicly.

Do Not Doubt God's Word

Sermon March 9 2014               Do Not Doubt God’s Word

Genesis 2:15-17 AND 3:1-7

You may eat freely of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.

But the serpent said to the woman, “ You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

This story is often interpreted theologically in terms of temptation, “fall,” sin, and death.

Human kind is placed in the garden of God’s creation to “till and keep it.”  The Creator who gives life also gives meaning and purpose to life.  We are called to serve as caretakers in God’s creation – STEWARDS of a world we did not make and can receive only as a gift held in trust.

The freedom of God ordains is expansive but not boundless.  There are limits to the exercise of our creaturely freedom.

What is the “tree of knowledge of good and evil,” and what becomes of the threat that “in the day that you eat of it you shall die?”  In the first serious theological conversation in Scripture, the woman is asked by the “crafty” serpent, “ Did God (REALLY) say, “ You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?” (V.3:1).

The way the question is asked makes God seem unreasonable. The Seed of Doubt is planted.

Eve goes beyond what God said.  When we add to the Word of God or take away from the Word of God that is where we begin to shift away from the Will of God.

Eve responded: “We may eat of the frut of the trees in the garden; but God said, “ You shall not eat of the fruit that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die”.  With the harmless bit of exaggeration the serpent strikes.  “ You will not die…..Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (3:4-5).

“Good and Evil” is not a matter of ethical discernment.  It is the desire to make ourselves the judges of good and evil, assuming for ourselves the role of God. ( I m gonna have it My Way.)

What does God Know?  Teenagers think : What do my parents Know?  What does my boss know?  What does my husband know?   You get the picture.

Think for yourself. Act for yourself.  Do not let anyone, even God, define for you what is good and evil.

Too often it leads not to wisdom and authentic liberation, but to messy divorces, to shouting matches between parents and children, to willful disregard of the needs and feelings of others, to chaos in the church, and to degradation of the environment.

One does not have to look far to find examples of how our life together is undermined by the refusal to accept the gracious limits of Gods truly liberating grace.

The Torah (instruction) of God is intended for the well-being of the “image bearing creature” to whom God has entrusted the stewardship of creation.

There is a story here that makes for the flourishing of life in community, there is already in the story a note of gospel that echoes throughout Scripture.

In God’s sovereign freedom, God responds to human disobedience, not with the full weight of judgment, but with Unexpected Mercy.

Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (Rom. 5:20)

If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36)

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another (Gal. 5:13).

Psalm 32 UMH 766

From the Message

 Let me give you some good advice;
    I’m looking you in the eye
    and giving it to you straight:

⁹ “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule
    that needs bit and bridle
    to stay on track.”

¹⁰ God-defiers are always in trouble;
    God-affirmers find themselves loved
    every time they turn around.

¹¹ Celebrate God.
    Sing together—everyone!
    All you honest hearts, raise the roof

 

Romans 5: 12-19

If because of  the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ

Paul is concerned to identify the nature and the extent of the human dilemma.  Human beings are beset with sin and death in a way that runs both deeper and wider than we might expect.

Having established  that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23); taken up again in (5:12), Paul is now concerned to give an account of the full scope and effects of sin.

His main point is that sin was introduced and somehow passed on to the entire human race by Adam, our first parent, so that we were all “made sinners” as a result of Adam’s Disobedience.

Therefore, Sin is the result of the first sin of Adam.  This is Paul’s chief statement of what Augustine called  “ Original Sin”.  John Wesley also points out this fact called “Original Sin”.

Christ did not die just for us to make some improvements.

He died to save us from a mortal disease that lies at the core of our being, affecting all of our thoughts, words, and deeds, and corrupting human society as a whole.

Matthew  4: 1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

It is written…..

1) One does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that come from the mouth of God.

2)Do not put the Lord Your God to the test.

3)Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Jesus used the Word of God to defeat Satan during his temptation. Jesus warned us of Satan’s tactics in the parable of the sower ( Mark 4:14-20):

¹⁴ The sower soweth the word.

¹⁵ And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

¹⁶ And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

¹⁷ And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

¹⁸ And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

¹⁹ And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

²⁰ And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

The Word of God has the power to bring itself to pass. Satan tries to steal that word out of your heart. He has five things he uses to steal the Word from you –

1. Persecution, 2)affliction, 3)the cares of this world, 4) the deceitfulness of riches, 5)the lusts of other things.

That one, the evil one, the serpent, Satan, the Devil  is still whispering his enticing suggestions to Christian people and institutions today. Many find his ideas attractive.

One of the greatest deceptions of satan is to convince you that he don’t exist. That message is being preached in many pulpits. That the devil and hell do not exist.  I have heard that message over and over in the 12 years I have been involved in churches in Montana and Wyoming.

Lenten penitence engages the dark places in our lives that we may come face to face with them, name them, understand them, and seek forgiveness for them.  It is not about guilt. It is about freedom from the control that our fears and insecurities have over us all, about the amendment of life and new beginnings.

Victory belongs to those who will follow Jesus through temptation and fight the devil with the Word of God.  Jesus showed us how to have that victory in our lives.  IT is written.

Do not doubt the Word of God. Amen.

Hymn of reflection UMH  377  IT is Well with My Soul

Wait and Hear from the Lord

Sermon March 2, 2014  Wait and Hear from the Lord

Scriptures

Exodus 24:12-18

This passage is an emphasis to HEAR God’s voice and connect it to obedience.

During this season of Epiphany the church probes deeply the “good news of great joy”( Luke 2:10) that has come to the world in the birth of Jesus.

He is the light that shines in darkness (John 1:5).  To his light the nations are drawn, and in His light the people who dwell in “thick darkness” (Ex. 20:21) come and see the light of the grace and truth of the triune God.

The Old Testament lesson for the final Sunday after the Epiphany magnifies the image of light with additional images of the revelation of God -  Mountain, Cloud, Fire, and Glory.

These images  come to the “High point” in the Gospel lesson for the day – The Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop.

The revelation of God on Sinai is not offered as a model for religious experiences of the glory of God in general. IT Speaks of a decisive revelation of God to Moses that in time leads to the unique revelation of the glory of God in the “Beloved Son” to whom we are commanded to “listen” (Matt. 17:5

Moses meeting with god on Mount Sinai is essential to the people of Israel as they face a forty-year journey through the wilderness to the promised land.

The transfiguration in Matthew is essential to the disciples as they head into the terrifying time of the passion.

Both texts are critical to us ass we face into our own forty day observance of Lent.

Jesus set out into a spiritual wilderness to face temptations, to overcome our worst fears, to die to ourselves in order to gain faith that God is indeed, present, loving, and wonderfully protective of our welfare.

The Point in this is God let the people know that God would communicate with them through Moses.

An echo of Exodus can be heard in the Gospel of Matthew when God speaks from the cloud: “This is  MY Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased: LISTEN TO HIM!” (Matt. 17:5).

The first time  God calls Moses to come up and worship. The second time Moses is called to receive the Law that will be used to instruct  the people….It suggests a link between the keeping of the Torah and worship.

Come Up to Me…….

On the Mountain…..

And Wait……

And I will give you tablets of stone.

Psalm 99  UMH 819

The story of the Transfiguration illustrates the message of Psalm 2.  Whatever earthly power we may have ultimately is NOTHING compared to the Power of God.

Our human sense of being in contrl is an illusion, as the disciples learned that day on the mountain.

This is not a loss.  Rather , the knowledge that it is God – not we--- who is in control comes as a huge relief.  This relinquishing of  power is the joy of  the life of faith.

While we are called to serve with fear and trembling and awe at the mighty power of god, we do so with the peace that comes with knowing everything rests in the hands of our loving, liberating, and life-giving God. 

As the psalm concludes, “ Happy are all who take refuge in Him (v.12).

2 Peter 1:16-21

Where were you on 9/11?  That day is fixed in your mind. No doubt most of us can go back and remember where we were when we heard the news. We may even remember exactly what we were doing.

Imagine you being on the mountain when Jesus was Transfigured.  It was a fixe transformative event in the lives of these three disciples and especially Peter’s.

We all have experiences that anchor our lives, shape our values, and define our commitments.

We find it frustrating when our narration of these experiences does not seem to influence the behavior of others, As if our stories could have the same impact as the experiences themselves.

The writer of 2 Peter relates the event of the transfiguration as an experience that anchors his life and specifically frames his understanding of the “prophetic message” (V. 19).

The writer of this passage knows that, given the circumstances of life and the various temptations within a world at odds with God’s purposes,

The life of faith requires memory and hope, persistence and perseverance, if it is to manifest a constancy that achieves the level of character.

We have no great certainty of the word itself, until it be confirmed by the testimony of the Spirit.

For God has so knit together the certainty of the Word and the Spirit, that our minds are duly imbued with reverence for the Word when the Spirit shining upon it enables us there to behold the face of God.

Here the text, the Spirit, and the reader’s mind are all knit together. The Word becomes alive with the Spirit of God. It is a transforming transfiguring moment in ones life when the Word of God shines on that moment in time in your life.

Matthew  17:1-9

We glimpse that moment when the evening news reflects nothing but chaos, and then there is one story of a person’s graceful act of healing a broken world by caring for another person the world would rather forget.

These are moments when people begin to understand that where there is suffering, there is Holy Ground.  These are the moments when we realize God is present in suffering and sacrifice, just as God is present in the promise and potential of our lives.

Peter, James, and John accompany Jesus us the mountain after hearing the news of Jerusalem and Jesus imminent death. (Jesus foretold his death and resurrection in Matthew 16:21-28). After 6 days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother and brought them up into a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.

This moment of transfiguration is just such a moment.  On one hand, the transfiguration affirms Jesus divinity; on the other , it begins to give the disciples eyes to see God’s light in the chaos to come: death, loss, fear and resurrection, the work of the early church.

The challenge to the disciples is to live in a world without Jesus’ bodily presence.  The transfiguration anticipates this challenge, inviting us to live in “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corin. 4:6).  As that light shines in our hearts, the incarnate God is made real in the everyday.

The moment of transfiguration is that point at which God says to the world and to each of us there nothing we can do to prepare for or stand in the way of joy or sorrow.  We cannot build God a monument, and we cannot keep God safe.

We also cannot escape the light that God will shed on our path.  We cannot escape God, Immanuel with us.  God will find us in our homes and in our workplaces.

God will find us when our hearts are broken and when we discover Joy.

God will find us when we run away from God and when we are sitting in the middle of what seems like hell. And he says: get up and do not be afraid”( v.7).

God comes into the world as a human hand laid upon a shoulder and the words, “do not be afraid.”

God comes to us quietly, gently, that we may draw near and not be afraid.

God’s glory is majestic and so far beyond our capacity to receive it that we can take just as much of God’s glory as a human hand can hold.

Fear not….Wait… Be still and Know that I am God…..Hear His Voice as He is speaking to each of you at this very moment.

Wait and Hear from the Lord.  Amen.

Hymn of Reflection UMH 451 Be Thou My Vision

Love Your Enemies

Sermon February 23, 2014

Love Your Enemies

Lev. 19:1-2, 9-18

YOU shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy….

As he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written:
“Be holy, because I am holy.” (I Peter 1:15-16)

We have the power of Choice. We are not forced to obey in the Christian life. WE obey because we Love Him.

We have that power within  us to reject god’s instruction – but where else shall we go?

If we refuse His words, which way will we turn.

If we turn away from the authority of God’s Word, to whose authority do we yield.

Our mistaken so often is that we generally turn to a human leader.

The word holiness occurs 650 times in the Bible  If we added similar words that mean the same such as sanctify or sanctified the number would go upwards of over 1000.

It is said that heaven is a holy place where nothing unclean can enter.  God himself is described by the adjective Holy – Holy Spirit, Holy Lord and Holy Lord God Almighty.

The bible also points out that “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14)

What does the word holiness mean? When the scriptures declare God to be holy, they mean that He is kind, merciful, pure and blameless with a white heat intensity of degree.

Holiness when referring to humans can be compared to the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galations 5:22 ----the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…….

This is the essence of this passage:   You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Psalm 119:33-40  UMH 842

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe them.

The psalmist acknowledges that life according to God’s law, while entirely dependent upon God, requires participation and reorientation on the part of the faithful.

The psalmist prays, “Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain” (v.36)  God provides the law and the understanding, but the psalmist has to follow the law and act with understanding.

Turning to God often means turning away from something else.  The speaker cries, “turn my eyes from looking at vanities,” which also can be translated as “worthless things” (v. 37.)

As we seek to discern God’s ways in the midst of complicated and troublesome situations, we would do well to echo the psalmist’s prayer for understanding,  seeking god’s gift of abundant life not only for ourselves and those who are close to us, but for the whole world.

I Corinthians 3:10-11, and 16-23

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ…

You are God’s holy temple and Gods Spirit dwells in you. God’s temple is holy and you are that temple.

You can be implied to an individual as well as to the “Church Community”.

Paul reminds the early Christians at Corinth to remain unified, to remember that they have only one true leader – Jesus Christ.

While Paul was writing, of course, to the people of the first-century church, division and misdirected priorities are not Unfamiliar to contemporary Christians of today.

It is easy to get mired down in quarrels over who is right, who is the most faithful, who is the best suited to be a leader in the church.

Paul has something different to say: a timeless reminder to the church to place God at the center of everything they do together.

Paul is urging intentionality, with a deep awareness that we build on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Any other foundation will be tried by fire.

V. 12 and 13 ¹² Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

¹³ Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

The ultimate test for our ministerial work is the test of fire, the test of endurance in times of difficulty and challenge.

Paul further points out that we are the temple of God.  God dwells in the temple, but the temple is not a building, it is a community of believers. 

Community is what we are called to build, knowing that the holy spirit dwells in the people of God.

Matthew 5:38-48

Don’t be mad but be glad and turn the other cheek. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Jacob Damkani a Jew that accepted Jesus and has an Evangelistic ministry to the Jews faces this persecution daily in Israel. 

This sermon seems to push us to the limit.  But when we think of Jesus and the persecution he suffered it becomes clear….We are called to Love as God Loves.  It is a plan of action rooted in the promise to be made “children of your Father in heaven” (v.45).

The sermon here and elsewhere is a portrait of the very heart of God, one who loves the unlovable, comes among us in Christ, suffers our worst, and rises to forgive us.

Turn the cheek, give the cloak, go another mile, lend, love the enemy – because that is how God loves.

What do we get for loving, forgiving, being kind and gracious, and offering generosity?  Some of us are too suspicious of the outcome and may resist living the values of God’s realm.  We are more intent on making sure no one has a chance to abuse or tyrannize us again. Some of us are so stubborn we would rather be right than be in a relationship with others.

Some of us may shrug our shoulders and declare, “ I’m only human,” as a way to justify the failure we are unable to overcome on our own.

God’s community is filled with people who think of others first.  Every decision and action is carried out for the common good.  Each person is a sister or brother to the other and acts out of love.

The capacity for this kind of love is due to the empowering love given by God, who is love.  We are able to be gracious, forgiving, hospitable, and generous because we are children of the God who showers us with abundant grace, mercy, love, and protection.

John Wesley preached holiness and perfection. A hallmark of John Wesley’s Methodist revival and the variety of Holiness movements he spurred (Nazarene, Holiness, Assemblies of God) was the great seriousness with which they took Jesus’ command in 5:48 (Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Why would Jesus command such a thing if it were not possible?

Perfection does ot mean always choosing the right fork at the dinner table, nor does it mean attaining to such divine attributes as omniscience.  IT means loving as God Loves, with every breath God gives us.

“Be Perfect,” is not an indictment; it is a promise that carries the possibility that we may love the world as God has loved us – fully, richly, abundantly, and completely.

That is how we can love our enemies. Amen.

Let your Words Choose Life

Sermon February 16, 2014    Sermon –- Let your Words choose Life

Today’s readings challenge us to choose life.  As the church, we are called to focus on what God’s kingdom requires, what it blesses, and how the worshiping community is to live out its distinct calling to be the body of Christ. Jesus calls us to choose the practices that will bring God Glory and Honor.

Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit

Every word you speak has power—to build or destroy hopes and dreams, to restore or cause loss, to heal or break the spirit, to bring delight or despair, to bless or curse—for God’s Word says that death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

¹⁵ See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

¹⁶ In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

¹⁷ But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

¹⁸ I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

²⁰ That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

There are consequences to pay for making the wrong choices. God desires for us to choose life which is on the covenantal side. A marriage is a covenant between two people. As long as both honor the covenant life is good. But if one decides to become unfaithful most generally there will be consequences to pay and it could lead to divorce.

We make a covenant with God by accepting the Blood of Jesus that was given for our salvation.

Some people can accept the covenant and live faithful lives to Jesus.

Others fight against the covenant and seem to struggle throughout life.

God did not write the Bible to be a coffee table book just to show. It is the instruction book on how to live.  If it is not read the information does not pass from God to you.

Psalm 119:1-8  UMH 840

Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.

This is a good statement for those that accept the covenant and try to live their lives according to the instruction manual that God gave. Their lives are happy and full of blessings. The law of the Lord is the Torah or the instruction of God.

The Word of God revealed in Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Word that the Torah illustrates in this diadactical and instructional psalm.

I Corinthians 3:1-9

Paul is working to counter factions in the Corinthian community that have formed around claims of superior wisdom attributed to various religious teachers.

Pauls response to this situation has been to deny that human wisdom, however, exalted, has any ability to attain reliable knowledge of God (Chap 1)

Paul argues instead that it is the Holy Spirit that equips human beings to know God truly (Chapter 2), rather than rhetorical-philosophical cleverness.

Some of us may have many Christian broadcast on our cable or satellite. If you have ever sat for any length of time and watched program after program you can see how confusing it can be. One is saying this. One is saying that. Until You get confused. God is not the author of confusion. That is why He has told us to let the Holy Spirit be our teacher and guide. If we listen to man more than we listen to God we will get confused.

Matthew 5:21-37

Jesus makes it clear that if we are in conflict with one of our brothers or sisters, we are to go and seek restoration or reconciliation with that person before we bring our gift to the altar.

This would imply that old scores need to be settled and wounds healed before we gather around the holy table to receive the sacrament. Such action, of course, would serve as the ideal, in that each one of us could kneel before the Lord with a clear conscience and lighter heart.

However, we also know that there are just those moments when the ideal is not immediately possible.  The process of reconciliation and forgiveness often takes time, and not a small amount of patience on the part of both parties. 

It would be an awkward situation, for all concerned, if folk refused to offer their gift –“ourselves, our souls, and bodies..” because of some unresolved relationship, yet to be mended.

Holding grudges and resentments towards others will EAT YOUR LUNCH>

There was a profound reading that I found in a magazine article that helped me to see and understand the importance of forgiveness more clearly. It was written by a clergy person and this is what it said:

“If you have a resentment you want to be free of, if you will pray for the person or the thing that you resent, you will be free.  If you will ask in prayer for everything you want for yourself to be given to them, you will be free.

Ask for their health, their prosperity, their happiness, and you will be free.  Even when you don’t really want it for them and your prayers are only words and you don’t mean it, go ahead and do it anyway.

Do it everyday for two weeks, and you will find you have come to mean it and to want it for them, and you will realize that where you used to feel bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness and hatred, you now feel compassionate understanding and love. “(AA Bigbook page 552)

There are things that have happened in this church through the years. There are things that have happened in your family through the years. There are things that have happened on the job through the years.  You might have buried it but it is still there eating on you like a cancer.

Jesus is coming soon. It is time to get rid of it. How do I know? Because God has brought it forth in today’s message for someone.

Un-Forgiveness is probably one of the most common problems  and does the most damage in churches  and families today.

Matthew 6:12 from the Lords prayer: And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Sometimes it is referred to as trespasses or sins.

Jesus goes on to comment in the 14^th verse saying: For if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father Will also forgive you….v. 15 But if you forgive not men their trespasses, NEITHER will your Father forgive your trespasses.

IF We want God to forgive us, we must at the same time forgive others.              In this way we are choosing Words of Life. This is Love and Love covers a multitude of Sins so say the scriptures.

But Pastor you just don’t know what I have experienced…….I may not but God does. I am just the messenger. God is speaking to each of you this morning on this issue. Including the pastor.

It always boils down to “Choice”.  The one precious gift God gave to humans.

Adam and Eve had a choice. And we know what that wrong choice created.

A choice can affect the rest of your life.

A choice can change the rest of your life.

If you are just a church attender and a pew warmer God is saying Make the right choice.

Today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day to choose life.   Jesus said I am the way the truth and the Life.

If you have never made that choice I invite you to do so today.

Say this little prayer with me.

Lord, I have made a lot of wrong choices in life. Help me today to make the right choice. Help me to choose Life. I repent of my sins. I repent of unforgiveness in my heart. And today I choose to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are the Salt and Light of the World

Sermon February 9 2014

You are the Salt and Light of the World

Isaiah 58:1-12

Worship style and practice are not what pleases or offends God, according to Isaiah. Worship style and practice are not to blame for the exilic decline of the community.  They are not the measuring sticks by which the people of God will be judged.  They will not restore or preserve a relationship with God in and of themselves.

From the beginning of time it has always been about relationship with God. He wants a relationship with us.

This is a curious thing to say to a community reconstituting itself following a return from exile.

It is a frustrating thing to say to a church trying to reinvent itself, beginning with the practice of worship.

Worship is the most important thing we do together.  It is the place that forms us into the people of God.  It is the place where we inhale God’s love and grace, so that we can be sent forth to exhale God’s love and grace in a broken world in need of redemption.

Psalm 112:1-10  UMH 833

Psalm 112 is an exhortation. It begins with the call to “Praise the Lord!” then gives the reason for doing so: those who fear the Lord are happy. The text assumes that the audience fears the Lord and keeps the commandments; therefore, they ought to praise God.

Trembling in awe of God as we do, we are always, always offered the Amazing Grace of  both the promise of God’s unconditional Love and the Humbling chance to have a purpose, to make a difference, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. 

That is the obeying-God’s –commands part of the deal.  It turns out to be better than it sounds.  Obedience, a word of our culture hates, turns out to mean having a chance to make a difference, to make the world a  better place.

I Corinthians 2:1-16

The great temptation that the church faces in Corinth is a desire for security and a reliance on their own ingenuity and knowledge.  It goes without saying that these challenges continue to plague the church in our own day.

Threatened with decline, we flock to the latest guru who can help us to ‘grow” our congregations, if  only we cultivate seven habits of highly successful congregations or follow twelve simple steps or adopt a new mission statement.

Jesus is the answer, we say, but what is the question?

May be we should say if Jesus is the answer maybe the problem is with me and my relationship with Him.

WE do good in reciting prayers, traditional rituals, and hymns. If only each of us could renew that relationship with Jesus our churches would once again come alive.

A church that is alive and vibrant has Jesus as Lord.  Not potato salad, pot luck or pot roast.

Matthew 5:13-20

Jesus uses two metaphors to describe and prescribe who his followers are and what they do for and in the world.

The first is  “ ye are the salt of the earth” suggest that Jesus gives them as his disciples a distinctive capacity to elicit goodness on the earth.  Like Salt, which is used to alter or enhance the taste of food, the disciples capacity to elicit goodness as they participate on the earth should be of profound consequence, in the ways that we find in (5:3-10

The danger for disciples is that they may lose that capacity by forgetting that they are to disorder the status quo by valuing those who are dispossessed, caring for those who suffer loss, seeking to do justice, showing mercy, having integrity, being peacemakers, and courageously standing for what they believe.

Disciples who do not engage in such practices that humanize life on earth will be like salt that has lost its taste.

The second metaphor, “ You are the light of the world,” invites us to consider the role of diciples as a gathered community (vv.14-16). Light enables us to see things and is a kind of energy that gives things color, helps vegetation to grow, provides solar power for electricity, and can be focused for specific uses such as a laser.

Like light, the disciples as a gathered community have the overarching purpose of being the mirror that refracts God’s light so that all peoples and nations can know of god’s justice and mercy.

As a gathered community the disciples are like light when they engage others in the world, enabling when they engage others in the world, enabling diversity (giving things color), nurturing a healthy ecofriendly world (Helping vegetation to grow), generating policies for ecojustice (providing solar power), and restoring or repairing whatever relationships that need such (focusing for specific purposes).  These are the good works that will glorify God.

As Jesus declairs to his newly commissioned disciples and followers that he has not come to abolish the law or the prophets, he claims his place in God’s history of the liberation of and covenant with God’s chosen people.

Jesus admonishes his followers that breaking the commandments oneself or leading others to do so is an offense against the Divine Eternal purposes.

In verse 20 Jesus enjoins his followers in these words: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is concerned with observance of tradition, public displays of piety, and adherence to the letter of the law.

The righteousness of Jesus flows from his relationship with God and, in turn, is the ground of Jesus’ relationship with his followers.

“ Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

There is always a contrast of light and dark.

Jesus encourages his followers to bring light to a dark and broken world.  The light is the light of the gospel, and it draws all people to its warmth and radiance. This mission has been primary, from the very beginning, throughout every age. The first thing we see in Genesis on page one is

God said, Let there be Light……and the Light was.

In order for the light to be seen, we must be willing to go where the darkness exists, to engage and walk through it, so that, in time, the light can overcome it.

Finally, human righteousness is about being the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  As the salt of the earth, we are disciples of Jesus when we allow our characters to be formed by God’s blessings.

As the light of the world, we are followers of Jesus when we accept the covenantal blessings as a call into relationships with despised groups because of what we believe – even if it means that we may be persecuted.  Amen.