PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON ON JANUARY 22, 2023 TITLED "Be in agreement" FROM HER NEW SERIES CALLED "LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD" .
January 22, 2023
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Be in Agreement
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Last week we learned from Paul that the Church, that is every local church in every community, already has what it needs to be the Church as long as its people are using their Spirit-given gifts. This week, Paul turns to teaching about relationships that exist within the Church, calling the body in the Corinthian church to be in agreement, with no divisions, having a like-minded attitude.
It's almost as though Paul was speaking directly to the Church in 2023, isn’t it? But we pause when we read this and we think, “yeah, right!” Be all in agreement on everything? Be of the same mind in everything? Everything is a lot, how is it even possible to have a group of people who make up the church always be in lock-step with one another in every decision that is made, every ministry that is done, every doctrine that is taught, every word that is preached? We might even shake our heads and heave a great sigh of defeat at just the thought of trying to make this happen.
We read this and we start to wonder what we have to give up just to get to an agreement. We have to decide whether being right on a matter is more important than being in agreement with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We wonder whose idea or statement we are required to agree with, and how do we reconcile that outward agreement with our inward thoughts and ideas?
Honestly, I don’t think Paul believed that every believer in every church would also be of one mind in all situations. Paul knew people well enough to know that, but he did have a specific purpose for appealing to this particular church to stop their disagreements.
Paul starts here by saying, “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.” Then we see why he is saying this in the next verse: “For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.”
Quarrels among the members of the church. It happens, unfortunately. I have heard stories of church splits over an argument as to what color carpet should be laid in the sanctuary. We know people have their own opinions, their own thoughts, their own ideas, their own way of wanting to do things. How can we be in agreement when we have so many differences?
Paul addresses exactly what is causing the divisions in this Corinthian church, though, and it didn’t have anything to do with the carpet color, the use of the kitchen, or where to stick the Sunday school kids who make too much noise and commotion on Sunday mornings.
The crux of the matter is that there are people in this church who are making claims to be better than others because of who they follow. We touched briefly on this last week. Some claim they are followers of Paul; others claim they are better because they follow Apollos. Still others claim superiority because they follow Cephas, that is Peter, and still others claim their lofty position of being better because they follow Christ.
The people are ranking their own positions in the church based on who they believe to be the most important person to follow, and each one thinks the person they have chosen to follow is more important than the others. A lesser man than Paul may have been flattered to be included in the list, but this isn’t a lesser man – this is Paul, one called to be an apostle of Christ by the grace of God, a man who recognizes that he is but a servant leader of these new Christians, and he would never try to elevate himself above the others simply to look more important.
Paul wants this bickering and comparing one to another to stop. He asks them, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? What good is it to claim that you follow Paul, or Apollos, or even Peter? They were not the ones who came to offer salvation, they were not the ones who were crucified for the sins of the world, it is not their names that are used when one is baptized.”
Paul wants them to understand that it is Christ Jesus, and him alone who these people should be following because Jesus is God who came to earth, it is Jesus who took upon himself all our sins and paid our price through death on the cross, it is Jesus in whose name they were baptized, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
It is in this, above all else, that Paul wants this church to be of like mind. There should be no divisions among the body of Christ as to who they follow, as to whom they belong. The church can start by getting on the same page on this foundational doctrine, because this is foundational to their Christian faith. If they cannot agree on this, nothing else matters.
When Paul called the Corinthian church to be in agreement, he never meant that they should automatically adopt an attitude of anything goes for the sake of harmony within the body. We know that there are times when division is necessary and that has gone back for centuries – all the way back to the first real church split which gave us the Eastern church and the Western church – the Orthodox and the Catholic churches. We know there was another major split when Martin Luther nailed his list of grievances to the door of the local church and began to preach that we are saved by grace through faith alone and the Protestant church was born.
Today we live in a world where we have multiple denominations and churches who exist because real differences in doctrine and theology have divided us, and that is sad, but sometimes necessary. But even in those divisions, as long as we can agree on what Paul taught to this Corinthian church, centuries ago - that Christ is the One whom we follow, that Christ is the One who is God who lived among us, that Christ is the One who took on our sins and paid the price for them so we did not have to, that it is through faith in Christ as the One who came to save us that we are given God’s grace and eternal life, then we are still, on the highest plane, in one accord on the most important doctrine that makes up the Christian church all over the world.
Paul’s appeal to the Church, then and now, is for unity in Christ which results in relationship with God and with one another. Relationship is vital to the existence of the Church, and to each part of the body of the Church.
We were made by our Creator to be in relationship with God and with our neighbor.
If we claim that our purpose as the body of Christ is to build up of the body, to encourage and support one another by using our Spirit-given gifts, then we need to approach differences and disagreements within the Church with a clear goal toward unity in Christ, knowing who he is and what he has done for us, because if we can’t come together on this – then nothing else matters.
I read of an African proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, then go together.” This was played out in 2012 in Columbus during a high school, Division III 3200-meter finals race. Runner Arden McMath was just twenty meters from the finish line when she collapsed on the track. When she realized her competitor had fallen, Megan Vogel rushed back to help her up and help her cross the finish line.
The girls ended the race in fourteenth and fifteenth place. Megan may have given up her chance for a first-place finish that day, but she showed true sportsmanship. When asked why she went back to help her fallen rival, Megan just said, “Any girl on the track would have done the same for me.”
Arden finished the race that day because she had Megan there to help her up and help her get going again. Our faith journey is not a race to see who gets to the finish line first, rather it is a long, slow walk of faith where people come alongside one another to offer a word, a hand, a shoulder. It is a journey we take together, helping one another become stronger and go further than any of us could ever hope to go on our own. It is a journey we help one another finish because no one can do it on our own.
I am grateful for those who have offered themselves to me, and I am grateful that I can offer myself to others when I see a need, but I am most grateful for our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we are called to be one with one another and one in him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are the One whom we follow, the One who saves us, the One who calls us. Thank you, Lord, for all who you are to us. Thank you, too, for our brothers and sisters who come alongside us and help us as we journey together on our walk of faith, encouraging one another, picking up the fallen, waiting for those who lag behind, never going too far ahead or too fast, so that we might all finish the race you have set before us. Lord, in you may we find agreement. In you may we find peace. AMEN.
References
https://globalnews.ca/news/1144378/athletes-helping-rival-athletes-5-examples-of-true-sportsmanship/
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Be in Agreement
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Last week we learned from Paul that the Church, that is every local church in every community, already has what it needs to be the Church as long as its people are using their Spirit-given gifts. This week, Paul turns to teaching about relationships that exist within the Church, calling the body in the Corinthian church to be in agreement, with no divisions, having a like-minded attitude.
It's almost as though Paul was speaking directly to the Church in 2023, isn’t it? But we pause when we read this and we think, “yeah, right!” Be all in agreement on everything? Be of the same mind in everything? Everything is a lot, how is it even possible to have a group of people who make up the church always be in lock-step with one another in every decision that is made, every ministry that is done, every doctrine that is taught, every word that is preached? We might even shake our heads and heave a great sigh of defeat at just the thought of trying to make this happen.
We read this and we start to wonder what we have to give up just to get to an agreement. We have to decide whether being right on a matter is more important than being in agreement with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We wonder whose idea or statement we are required to agree with, and how do we reconcile that outward agreement with our inward thoughts and ideas?
Honestly, I don’t think Paul believed that every believer in every church would also be of one mind in all situations. Paul knew people well enough to know that, but he did have a specific purpose for appealing to this particular church to stop their disagreements.
Paul starts here by saying, “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.” Then we see why he is saying this in the next verse: “For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.”
Quarrels among the members of the church. It happens, unfortunately. I have heard stories of church splits over an argument as to what color carpet should be laid in the sanctuary. We know people have their own opinions, their own thoughts, their own ideas, their own way of wanting to do things. How can we be in agreement when we have so many differences?
Paul addresses exactly what is causing the divisions in this Corinthian church, though, and it didn’t have anything to do with the carpet color, the use of the kitchen, or where to stick the Sunday school kids who make too much noise and commotion on Sunday mornings.
The crux of the matter is that there are people in this church who are making claims to be better than others because of who they follow. We touched briefly on this last week. Some claim they are followers of Paul; others claim they are better because they follow Apollos. Still others claim superiority because they follow Cephas, that is Peter, and still others claim their lofty position of being better because they follow Christ.
The people are ranking their own positions in the church based on who they believe to be the most important person to follow, and each one thinks the person they have chosen to follow is more important than the others. A lesser man than Paul may have been flattered to be included in the list, but this isn’t a lesser man – this is Paul, one called to be an apostle of Christ by the grace of God, a man who recognizes that he is but a servant leader of these new Christians, and he would never try to elevate himself above the others simply to look more important.
Paul wants this bickering and comparing one to another to stop. He asks them, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? What good is it to claim that you follow Paul, or Apollos, or even Peter? They were not the ones who came to offer salvation, they were not the ones who were crucified for the sins of the world, it is not their names that are used when one is baptized.”
Paul wants them to understand that it is Christ Jesus, and him alone who these people should be following because Jesus is God who came to earth, it is Jesus who took upon himself all our sins and paid our price through death on the cross, it is Jesus in whose name they were baptized, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
It is in this, above all else, that Paul wants this church to be of like mind. There should be no divisions among the body of Christ as to who they follow, as to whom they belong. The church can start by getting on the same page on this foundational doctrine, because this is foundational to their Christian faith. If they cannot agree on this, nothing else matters.
When Paul called the Corinthian church to be in agreement, he never meant that they should automatically adopt an attitude of anything goes for the sake of harmony within the body. We know that there are times when division is necessary and that has gone back for centuries – all the way back to the first real church split which gave us the Eastern church and the Western church – the Orthodox and the Catholic churches. We know there was another major split when Martin Luther nailed his list of grievances to the door of the local church and began to preach that we are saved by grace through faith alone and the Protestant church was born.
Today we live in a world where we have multiple denominations and churches who exist because real differences in doctrine and theology have divided us, and that is sad, but sometimes necessary. But even in those divisions, as long as we can agree on what Paul taught to this Corinthian church, centuries ago - that Christ is the One whom we follow, that Christ is the One who is God who lived among us, that Christ is the One who took on our sins and paid the price for them so we did not have to, that it is through faith in Christ as the One who came to save us that we are given God’s grace and eternal life, then we are still, on the highest plane, in one accord on the most important doctrine that makes up the Christian church all over the world.
Paul’s appeal to the Church, then and now, is for unity in Christ which results in relationship with God and with one another. Relationship is vital to the existence of the Church, and to each part of the body of the Church.
We were made by our Creator to be in relationship with God and with our neighbor.
If we claim that our purpose as the body of Christ is to build up of the body, to encourage and support one another by using our Spirit-given gifts, then we need to approach differences and disagreements within the Church with a clear goal toward unity in Christ, knowing who he is and what he has done for us, because if we can’t come together on this – then nothing else matters.
I read of an African proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, then go together.” This was played out in 2012 in Columbus during a high school, Division III 3200-meter finals race. Runner Arden McMath was just twenty meters from the finish line when she collapsed on the track. When she realized her competitor had fallen, Megan Vogel rushed back to help her up and help her cross the finish line.
The girls ended the race in fourteenth and fifteenth place. Megan may have given up her chance for a first-place finish that day, but she showed true sportsmanship. When asked why she went back to help her fallen rival, Megan just said, “Any girl on the track would have done the same for me.”
Arden finished the race that day because she had Megan there to help her up and help her get going again. Our faith journey is not a race to see who gets to the finish line first, rather it is a long, slow walk of faith where people come alongside one another to offer a word, a hand, a shoulder. It is a journey we take together, helping one another become stronger and go further than any of us could ever hope to go on our own. It is a journey we help one another finish because no one can do it on our own.
I am grateful for those who have offered themselves to me, and I am grateful that I can offer myself to others when I see a need, but I am most grateful for our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we are called to be one with one another and one in him. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are the One whom we follow, the One who saves us, the One who calls us. Thank you, Lord, for all who you are to us. Thank you, too, for our brothers and sisters who come alongside us and help us as we journey together on our walk of faith, encouraging one another, picking up the fallen, waiting for those who lag behind, never going too far ahead or too fast, so that we might all finish the race you have set before us. Lord, in you may we find agreement. In you may we find peace. AMEN.
References
https://globalnews.ca/news/1144378/athletes-helping-rival-athletes-5-examples-of-true-sportsmanship/
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON ON JANUARY 15, 2023 TITLED "Everything we need" FROM HER NEW SERIES CALLED "LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD" .
January 15, 2023
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Everything We Need
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
In this letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is writing to straighten out some of the issues they are experiencing. I know, it is shocking to think a church could be experiencing any issues among its members, right? But it happens. If we think about it, about how the church is made up of diverse people from different backgrounds, with different ideas, skills, desires, and personalities, we might start to wonder how the Church has survived for the last two thousand years.
The truth is, there have been divisions within the church from the very beginning, as Paul’s letters to the various churches prove. The Corinthian church is no different. Word has come to Paul that the people in Corinth are arguing over who is a better disciple. If we read a little further into his letter, Paul writes, “’What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.’” This is the playground equivalent of “My mom is better than yours.”
“Stop this!” Paul writes, “Who is the One who was crucified for you? Who is the One in whose name you are baptized?” Of course, the answer is Jesus, and as long as the church could agree on that key doctrine, Paul says, then they should put aside their petty comparisons and their game of one-up-manship and get to being about the business of the church in their community.
Paul is a pretty smart leader and communicator, though, and so he leads into all this by starting off his letter with an intentional introduction that reminds the readers of who he is and who has appointed him to the work he is doing. He is “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”
Paul didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to travel all over the place, endure hardships, and plant new churches for the fun of it. Remember, Paul was a zealous Pharisee who was persecuting Christians, he was laser-focused on finding anyone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus and having them arrested, even killed. Paul never sought to become anything other than he already was. It was God who called out to Paul one day as he was traveling to Damascus.
God stopped Paul in his tracks, blinded him for three days, and then set him on a new course with a new vision. Paul is traveling, teaching, preaching, and church planting under the authority given to him by God and no other. Paul is an apostle of Christ, but only through the grace and the will of God. He writes this to establish this authority in the minds of his readers because they will see in his words that he is not claiming to be a better disciple than the rest, he is simply laying out the facts of his case.
He moves from himself to the church – writing in a way that affirms their equality as disciples – calling the Corinthian believers to take their place as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” and going on to point out that they are “together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” Paul is putting a stop to their constant bickering as to who is better by showing them that they are all on a level playing field – with each other and with all Christians in every place, with all who have called on the name of Jesus and accepted him as their Lord and Savior.
Then, to further reiterate that each person is valuable, appreciated, needed and equal, he goes on to remind the church that they already have all they need to be the church in their Corinthian community. That may have shocked them. Everything? But what about Ephesus who has such and such that we don’t? What about Galatia who has such and such that we don’t? What about this church and that church?
And you know, I was thinking, don’t we do the same thing today? Don’t we look around at other churches and see them doing something successful in ministry and wonder why we aren’t or can’t do the same? Don’t most of us wish there was some magic formula that we could subscribe to and “shazam!” the church would grow so fast we wouldn’t know how to keep up? Don’t we all want to be known as the church that can do it all for all?
The compulsion to compare is ingrained in our human nature. Maybe we don’t go around claiming to be a better disciple than another because we were baptized by a different pastor or we follow more Christian leaders or have more followers on social media, but we still find a way to make comparisons. Paul wants us to know that it isn’t necessary, it isn’t right, and it needs to stop.
Verses 4-9 of today’s scripture may have been written to the Corinthian church, but it was also written for today’s church. Paul may have been angry with the way the church was acting, he may have been frustrated that they needed to be corrected, but he didn’t lash out here; he wrote with love and compassion.
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind - just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you - so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul thanks God for this church – as imperfect as it is, as rowdy and contentious as it is, because this is still a group of people to whom God has poured out his grace through the gift of Jesus Christ. And because of their acceptance of Christ as Savior, because they have accepted their calling to follow Jesus, Paul knows they have been given something special. They have been enriched and strengthened in mind, in speech, in knowledge because they testify to the community around them of Jesus Christ, and through their testimony, the church and the community are also enriched and strengthened.
In spite of their internal bickering, the church is still doing what it is called to do by reaching out to the people who are not yet saved to offer them the way to eternal life through Jesus. They are doing this with their words and their ministries. And they do this by using the special gifts that have been given to them by the Holy Spirit upon becoming a believer. They are using their spiritual gifts to strengthen, encourage, and support the church, which is the body of Christ.
The gifts they have for the ministries they have are perfectly paired. Their spiritual gifts work together – each one with his or her own gifts put into place and put into action – for the benefit of the church and the community. The reason the church down the street is doing ministry differently is because their people have different spiritual gifts. They are just as likely looking around comparing themselves to other churches in the same way and wondering if they measure up, because they, too, are forgetting that they have been given the spiritual gifts they need to do what they are called to do.
Listen, we can’t all do the same ministries because not all people have the same needs. If everyone had the same gift, what would we do about those who have a different need? If we all had the gift of teaching and fought over who would teach Sunday school, who would be the learners? If we all had the gift of cooking but no one had the gift of serving, we might have delicious food, but who would benefit from that gift as it sat in the kitchen waiting to be dished up? If we all had the gift of playing the piano, who would play the drums? Who would sing?
Each of us is given our own spiritual gift or gifts and they are to be used. Specifically, they are to be used to build up the church. Thankfully, most of us use our gifts without even thinking about them. We do what comes naturally and if someone points it out, we might even be surprised. I have often said, if you aren’t sure what your spiritual gift is, just ask your friends, they likely already know.
John MacArthur has said, “Godly, Biblical church growth results from every member of the body fully using his spiritual gift, in submission to the Holy Spirit and in cooperation with other believers.” I like that and I long for a time when this actually happens – when every single person in the church begins to use their Spirit-given gifts for the church in the Kingdom of God. Thankfully, some already do. Many here already use their gifts and do so regularly. What a blessing for this church and for this community.
There was a woman in a church who used her spiritual gifts of mercy and service at every opportunity. She simply saw a need and did what she could to help out, bringing glory to God in the process. It so happened that a woman with eight children got the phone call one night that her husband, a long-haul trucker, had been in an accident and died. Grief and panic overcame the woman. What was she to do with her children while she had to travel out of state to identify the body and make the necessary arrangements to bring him back for the funeral?
Before the widow had time to even begin to think about what to do, the church lady, Jodi, came knocking on her door. Jodi had made arrangements with church families that all eight children would be taken in and taken care of while mom was gone. Jodi drove the widow to the airport and helped her get to where she needed to go as she had never flown before, reassuring her that she would keep everything in order until she got back.
When the mom got back and walked into her house, she was surprised to see that the house had been cleaned, the laundry all washed, dried, and put away, and the children’s shoes all polished and lined up, ready to be worn to the funeral.
Two weeks after the funeral, the mom and her eight children showed up at church. Oh, did I forget to mention that this was not a churched family? But now, here they were on a Sunday morning. They came back week after week, and it wasn’t long before the mom and her children all accepted Christ.
A family was blessed and cared for in a time of tragedy simply because one woman used her gifts to show love by finding a way to serve them in their time of need. That is being the church, that is being a Christian who lives here in the Kingdom of God. That is what God calls each and every church to do, person by person.
When we take our membership vows, we promise to do just that. We pledge to support the church we are joining with our presence, our prayers, our gifts, our service, and our witness. As a congregation, we pledge to support and encourage new members to do just that, even as we are recommitting ourselves to the same pledge we have given.
That promise isn’t reserved only for members, though. That is a promise that every Christian makes when they accept the gift of grace through Jesus Christ. It is not a promise we make to get this gift, but one we make, having received and understood just how much we have been given. Our gratitude overflows and we joyfully want to give back.
When we use our Spirit-given gifts, we are doing just what God wants us to do – we are serving the church and building up the body. We are encouraging and supporting one another and finding ways to BE the church in our community. If we focus on that, then we won’t have time to compare ourselves to any other church or ministry, and we will no longer even want to, because we will know that we already have all we need to be the church that God wants us to be as we live here in the Kingdom of God on earth. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, through the gifts of your Holy Spirit, you have enabled us and equipped us to do your work right here where we are. Continue to stir our hearts in a way that helps us see the needs around us, open our eyes and our minds that we might discern how our gifts might be used to bless and serve others where they are, and help us to see that all we do, we do in your strength and for your glory. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76746/servanthood-by-ed-sasnett
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: Everything We Need
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
In this letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is writing to straighten out some of the issues they are experiencing. I know, it is shocking to think a church could be experiencing any issues among its members, right? But it happens. If we think about it, about how the church is made up of diverse people from different backgrounds, with different ideas, skills, desires, and personalities, we might start to wonder how the Church has survived for the last two thousand years.
The truth is, there have been divisions within the church from the very beginning, as Paul’s letters to the various churches prove. The Corinthian church is no different. Word has come to Paul that the people in Corinth are arguing over who is a better disciple. If we read a little further into his letter, Paul writes, “’What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.’” This is the playground equivalent of “My mom is better than yours.”
“Stop this!” Paul writes, “Who is the One who was crucified for you? Who is the One in whose name you are baptized?” Of course, the answer is Jesus, and as long as the church could agree on that key doctrine, Paul says, then they should put aside their petty comparisons and their game of one-up-manship and get to being about the business of the church in their community.
Paul is a pretty smart leader and communicator, though, and so he leads into all this by starting off his letter with an intentional introduction that reminds the readers of who he is and who has appointed him to the work he is doing. He is “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”
Paul didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to travel all over the place, endure hardships, and plant new churches for the fun of it. Remember, Paul was a zealous Pharisee who was persecuting Christians, he was laser-focused on finding anyone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus and having them arrested, even killed. Paul never sought to become anything other than he already was. It was God who called out to Paul one day as he was traveling to Damascus.
God stopped Paul in his tracks, blinded him for three days, and then set him on a new course with a new vision. Paul is traveling, teaching, preaching, and church planting under the authority given to him by God and no other. Paul is an apostle of Christ, but only through the grace and the will of God. He writes this to establish this authority in the minds of his readers because they will see in his words that he is not claiming to be a better disciple than the rest, he is simply laying out the facts of his case.
He moves from himself to the church – writing in a way that affirms their equality as disciples – calling the Corinthian believers to take their place as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” and going on to point out that they are “together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” Paul is putting a stop to their constant bickering as to who is better by showing them that they are all on a level playing field – with each other and with all Christians in every place, with all who have called on the name of Jesus and accepted him as their Lord and Savior.
Then, to further reiterate that each person is valuable, appreciated, needed and equal, he goes on to remind the church that they already have all they need to be the church in their Corinthian community. That may have shocked them. Everything? But what about Ephesus who has such and such that we don’t? What about Galatia who has such and such that we don’t? What about this church and that church?
And you know, I was thinking, don’t we do the same thing today? Don’t we look around at other churches and see them doing something successful in ministry and wonder why we aren’t or can’t do the same? Don’t most of us wish there was some magic formula that we could subscribe to and “shazam!” the church would grow so fast we wouldn’t know how to keep up? Don’t we all want to be known as the church that can do it all for all?
The compulsion to compare is ingrained in our human nature. Maybe we don’t go around claiming to be a better disciple than another because we were baptized by a different pastor or we follow more Christian leaders or have more followers on social media, but we still find a way to make comparisons. Paul wants us to know that it isn’t necessary, it isn’t right, and it needs to stop.
Verses 4-9 of today’s scripture may have been written to the Corinthian church, but it was also written for today’s church. Paul may have been angry with the way the church was acting, he may have been frustrated that they needed to be corrected, but he didn’t lash out here; he wrote with love and compassion.
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind - just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you - so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul thanks God for this church – as imperfect as it is, as rowdy and contentious as it is, because this is still a group of people to whom God has poured out his grace through the gift of Jesus Christ. And because of their acceptance of Christ as Savior, because they have accepted their calling to follow Jesus, Paul knows they have been given something special. They have been enriched and strengthened in mind, in speech, in knowledge because they testify to the community around them of Jesus Christ, and through their testimony, the church and the community are also enriched and strengthened.
In spite of their internal bickering, the church is still doing what it is called to do by reaching out to the people who are not yet saved to offer them the way to eternal life through Jesus. They are doing this with their words and their ministries. And they do this by using the special gifts that have been given to them by the Holy Spirit upon becoming a believer. They are using their spiritual gifts to strengthen, encourage, and support the church, which is the body of Christ.
The gifts they have for the ministries they have are perfectly paired. Their spiritual gifts work together – each one with his or her own gifts put into place and put into action – for the benefit of the church and the community. The reason the church down the street is doing ministry differently is because their people have different spiritual gifts. They are just as likely looking around comparing themselves to other churches in the same way and wondering if they measure up, because they, too, are forgetting that they have been given the spiritual gifts they need to do what they are called to do.
Listen, we can’t all do the same ministries because not all people have the same needs. If everyone had the same gift, what would we do about those who have a different need? If we all had the gift of teaching and fought over who would teach Sunday school, who would be the learners? If we all had the gift of cooking but no one had the gift of serving, we might have delicious food, but who would benefit from that gift as it sat in the kitchen waiting to be dished up? If we all had the gift of playing the piano, who would play the drums? Who would sing?
Each of us is given our own spiritual gift or gifts and they are to be used. Specifically, they are to be used to build up the church. Thankfully, most of us use our gifts without even thinking about them. We do what comes naturally and if someone points it out, we might even be surprised. I have often said, if you aren’t sure what your spiritual gift is, just ask your friends, they likely already know.
John MacArthur has said, “Godly, Biblical church growth results from every member of the body fully using his spiritual gift, in submission to the Holy Spirit and in cooperation with other believers.” I like that and I long for a time when this actually happens – when every single person in the church begins to use their Spirit-given gifts for the church in the Kingdom of God. Thankfully, some already do. Many here already use their gifts and do so regularly. What a blessing for this church and for this community.
There was a woman in a church who used her spiritual gifts of mercy and service at every opportunity. She simply saw a need and did what she could to help out, bringing glory to God in the process. It so happened that a woman with eight children got the phone call one night that her husband, a long-haul trucker, had been in an accident and died. Grief and panic overcame the woman. What was she to do with her children while she had to travel out of state to identify the body and make the necessary arrangements to bring him back for the funeral?
Before the widow had time to even begin to think about what to do, the church lady, Jodi, came knocking on her door. Jodi had made arrangements with church families that all eight children would be taken in and taken care of while mom was gone. Jodi drove the widow to the airport and helped her get to where she needed to go as she had never flown before, reassuring her that she would keep everything in order until she got back.
When the mom got back and walked into her house, she was surprised to see that the house had been cleaned, the laundry all washed, dried, and put away, and the children’s shoes all polished and lined up, ready to be worn to the funeral.
Two weeks after the funeral, the mom and her eight children showed up at church. Oh, did I forget to mention that this was not a churched family? But now, here they were on a Sunday morning. They came back week after week, and it wasn’t long before the mom and her children all accepted Christ.
A family was blessed and cared for in a time of tragedy simply because one woman used her gifts to show love by finding a way to serve them in their time of need. That is being the church, that is being a Christian who lives here in the Kingdom of God. That is what God calls each and every church to do, person by person.
When we take our membership vows, we promise to do just that. We pledge to support the church we are joining with our presence, our prayers, our gifts, our service, and our witness. As a congregation, we pledge to support and encourage new members to do just that, even as we are recommitting ourselves to the same pledge we have given.
That promise isn’t reserved only for members, though. That is a promise that every Christian makes when they accept the gift of grace through Jesus Christ. It is not a promise we make to get this gift, but one we make, having received and understood just how much we have been given. Our gratitude overflows and we joyfully want to give back.
When we use our Spirit-given gifts, we are doing just what God wants us to do – we are serving the church and building up the body. We are encouraging and supporting one another and finding ways to BE the church in our community. If we focus on that, then we won’t have time to compare ourselves to any other church or ministry, and we will no longer even want to, because we will know that we already have all we need to be the church that God wants us to be as we live here in the Kingdom of God on earth. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, through the gifts of your Holy Spirit, you have enabled us and equipped us to do your work right here where we are. Continue to stir our hearts in a way that helps us see the needs around us, open our eyes and our minds that we might discern how our gifts might be used to bless and serve others where they are, and help us to see that all we do, we do in your strength and for your glory. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76746/servanthood-by-ed-sasnett
Pastor Donna's Sermon on January 8, 2023 titled "The Baptism of the Lord" from her new series called "Living in the Kingdom of God" .
January 8, 2023
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: The Baptism of the Lord
Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
This new series, “Living in the Kingdom of God,” will explore what it looks like to live as a Christian in the ordinary days, the days where we live by routine and schedules, where we pretty much know what to expect of our days, or maybe we are simply marking time to the next thing – the arrival of spring, the next holiday, the upcoming vacation. Some might call these days rather ho-hum, mundane, even boring. I guess I can see their point, to a degree, but really, isn’t each day what we really make of it?
Here is what I’ve been thinking about as I worked on this series. We have come through the seasons of Advent and Christmas, and even celebrated Epiphany. Those are times when we hear of and participate in celebrations. There are expectations, there are plans, there is a purpose in talking about Jesus; it is easier to say his name in those days, it is easier to share him through our traditions and celebrations. And that is all good.
We need that easy way. Sometimes we need the reason of the season to feel comfortable in sharing what we have to those who may not always be open to hearing or receiving what we have to say. It’s easy to talk about Jesus when we are preparing to celebrate his birthday – the real reason for the season in the first place. But what about now? What about when the decorations are put away and the dull, drab, gray skies of winter set in? Easter, our next “church season” is still a few months away, so how do we find a way to share Jesus with others in what we call “ordinary time?”
Sometimes, this ordinary time actually becomes an unexpected, extraordinary event. As most of you know, on January 2, there was a Monday Night Football game – the Bengals and the Bills. In that game a Bills player, Damar Hamlin, took a hit and collapsed on the field. Hamlin was doing his job, playing the game. The other team had the ball, a pass was thrown, it was caught, and Hamlin went in for the tackle, just like he had done countless times before. Only this time was different.
This twenty-four-year-old athlete, nine minutes into the game, doing what he ordinarily does, collapsed a few seconds after that tackle. His heart stopped; he was in cardiac arrest. Quick action from medical personnel doing CPR got his heart restarted and he was taken to the hospital. Thankfully, reports about Hamlin over the last few days show he is recovering.
But here is where the extraordinary happened. While the medical team was working on Hamlin on the field, what were others doing? One photo shows a picture of a player from both teams kneeling together in prayer. The stadium, filled with thousands of people, was virtually silent, many waiting respectfully, several praying together. The Bengals team collectively took a knee, Bills players huddled around, supporting one another, praying for their teammate.
It didn’t stop there in that stadium, though. Prayer requests flooded the mainstream and social media as the story was shared, requests from fans, family, other players, even from sports broadcasters and other media persons. ESPN analyst, Dan Orlovsky, even prayed during a live broadcast of “NFL Live.” When was the last time we saw so much prayer being asked for and offered, and in such a public way?
It was an ordinary Monday, during an ordinary football game, after an ordinary play, when the extraordinary happened. Through this extraordinary event, we saw and heard God’s name mentioned more than we have in years. I would guess even more so than in the seasons we have just celebrated. To me, it just shows how much we all need God. No matter who we are, no matter where we are, we have a constant need for God in our lives. In the celebratory seasons, and in the ordinary days. God has always known this. Some of us have learned this. Thousands more around the world may have realized this last Monday night for the first time ever, and even more in the days that followed.
It is because God knows how much we need him that he set into motion a plan. That plan was to come to this earth and live as a human, to become one of us, to be with us, to save us. He was born, he grew and when it was time to make himself known, he began his ministry by seeking out his cousin John and requesting to be baptized.
John had been preaching to all who would hear to “Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.” People were coming to him, confessing their sins, repenting, and being baptized. Then, one ordinary day, something extraordinary happened; Jesus showed up, asking to be baptized.
John knew who he was and so he was shocked; he tried to decline, “I am the one who should be baptized by you, and yet you ask this of me?” Jesus reassured him, “Yes, John, this is the way it should be so that righteousness will be fulfilled.”
I imagine the people standing around wondering who this guy is. John is usually so eager to baptize anyone who comes earnestly seeking repentance and forgiveness, anyone who desires to live a more holy life, but he tries to talk this one out of it? Who is he, anyway? When they left their homes that day to come to the Jordan, they had no idea what was in store for them.
John listened to Jesus and took him into the river and baptized him, and I don’t know what the term is for something that is more extraordinary that regular extraordinary, but whatever it is, that is what happened next.
To onlookers, what they were watching was an ordinary baptism by John, a baptism like he did every day, many times a day, but this one was different. As Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were suddenly opened up to him, and as he looked up, he saw the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove, and he heard a voice from heaven say, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Did the onlookers see what Jesus saw? Did they hear what Jesus heard? Matthew doesn’t say, so we don’t know for sure, but even if they didn’t see and hear, I believe they understood that something extraordinary was happening. Something they had never expected, probably didn’t understand, but somehow knew was God at work.
In the article that Dr. Dave Kistler wrote on the incident with Damar Hamlin, he said, “My dad used to say, ‘There are no atheists in foxholes.’ Evidently there are no atheists amid a stunningly frightening incident like the world witnessed last night in Cincinnati.”
There are moments in time when we know without a doubt that God exists, and we turn to him. Too often, it is only when tragedy strikes, like it did last Monday, like it did on 911, like it did the last time any of us experienced our own personal crisis. In that moment, we recognize our need for God and so, in desperation, we turn to him
It isn’t only in in the midst of crisis that this happens, though. Sometimes it happens when we witness the unexpected in a positive way, too. Perhaps, in the moment that the heavens were opened, when the Spirit of God descended, when God spoke, the people who were standing by the banks of the river turned to God, recognized anew their need for him, too. Not because of a tragedy, but because of the extraordinary event that was unfolding right before them. Perhaps it was in that moment that they realized that the longing they felt deep down in their heart was a longing for God. Perhaps, in that moment, they even realized that they were, even then, living in the kingdom of God.
Returning once again to Dr. Kistler’s article, he writes, “Damar Hamlin has done something amazingly consequential by becoming a successful NFL player, who reportedly has a heart for serving his community. But he has done something even more impactful as a result of last night’s globally-watched incident.
He has illustrated the fact that man DESPERATELY NEEDS the comfort of God found ONLY in the God of all comfort – Jesus Christ! Mankind needs a relationship with Jesus for life here on earth, but more importantly, for eternity.”
How true are those words. I’m reminded of Paul’s words as he wrote to the church in Roma, “For we know that all things work together for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” God used a heart-stopping moment in a football game to show the world they need him. Today, as we celebrate the baptism of Christ, we are reminded once again of our need for him – even in the ordinary days – as we live here in the kingdom of God.
As we end today, I invite everyone to come forward, to dip your hand in the water, to feel it, to experience it, and as you do, may you remember your baptism and be thankful. Be thankful that an ordinary football player has shown the world their need for God, be thankful that he is recovering. Be thankful for the celebratory seasons, and be thankful for the ordinary days, but especially, be thankful for the gift of forgiveness and life that come to us through Jesus Christ. AMEN.
PRAYER: Extraordinary God, you are also God in the ordinariness of our days, you are with us as we take each step, as we breathe each breath. Today, as we celebrate the day your Son was baptized, we remember our own baptism and we are thankful for his work on our behalf, for the forgiveness of our sins when we repent, for the gift of eternal life that begins the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior. May we recognize each day that we are already living in your kingdom and share with others the way they, too, might join us, as we await the return of your Son, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
Dr. Dave Kistler, President, HOPE Ministries International. Written January 3, 2023.
Series: Living in the Kingdom of God
Message: The Baptism of the Lord
Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
This new series, “Living in the Kingdom of God,” will explore what it looks like to live as a Christian in the ordinary days, the days where we live by routine and schedules, where we pretty much know what to expect of our days, or maybe we are simply marking time to the next thing – the arrival of spring, the next holiday, the upcoming vacation. Some might call these days rather ho-hum, mundane, even boring. I guess I can see their point, to a degree, but really, isn’t each day what we really make of it?
Here is what I’ve been thinking about as I worked on this series. We have come through the seasons of Advent and Christmas, and even celebrated Epiphany. Those are times when we hear of and participate in celebrations. There are expectations, there are plans, there is a purpose in talking about Jesus; it is easier to say his name in those days, it is easier to share him through our traditions and celebrations. And that is all good.
We need that easy way. Sometimes we need the reason of the season to feel comfortable in sharing what we have to those who may not always be open to hearing or receiving what we have to say. It’s easy to talk about Jesus when we are preparing to celebrate his birthday – the real reason for the season in the first place. But what about now? What about when the decorations are put away and the dull, drab, gray skies of winter set in? Easter, our next “church season” is still a few months away, so how do we find a way to share Jesus with others in what we call “ordinary time?”
Sometimes, this ordinary time actually becomes an unexpected, extraordinary event. As most of you know, on January 2, there was a Monday Night Football game – the Bengals and the Bills. In that game a Bills player, Damar Hamlin, took a hit and collapsed on the field. Hamlin was doing his job, playing the game. The other team had the ball, a pass was thrown, it was caught, and Hamlin went in for the tackle, just like he had done countless times before. Only this time was different.
This twenty-four-year-old athlete, nine minutes into the game, doing what he ordinarily does, collapsed a few seconds after that tackle. His heart stopped; he was in cardiac arrest. Quick action from medical personnel doing CPR got his heart restarted and he was taken to the hospital. Thankfully, reports about Hamlin over the last few days show he is recovering.
But here is where the extraordinary happened. While the medical team was working on Hamlin on the field, what were others doing? One photo shows a picture of a player from both teams kneeling together in prayer. The stadium, filled with thousands of people, was virtually silent, many waiting respectfully, several praying together. The Bengals team collectively took a knee, Bills players huddled around, supporting one another, praying for their teammate.
It didn’t stop there in that stadium, though. Prayer requests flooded the mainstream and social media as the story was shared, requests from fans, family, other players, even from sports broadcasters and other media persons. ESPN analyst, Dan Orlovsky, even prayed during a live broadcast of “NFL Live.” When was the last time we saw so much prayer being asked for and offered, and in such a public way?
It was an ordinary Monday, during an ordinary football game, after an ordinary play, when the extraordinary happened. Through this extraordinary event, we saw and heard God’s name mentioned more than we have in years. I would guess even more so than in the seasons we have just celebrated. To me, it just shows how much we all need God. No matter who we are, no matter where we are, we have a constant need for God in our lives. In the celebratory seasons, and in the ordinary days. God has always known this. Some of us have learned this. Thousands more around the world may have realized this last Monday night for the first time ever, and even more in the days that followed.
It is because God knows how much we need him that he set into motion a plan. That plan was to come to this earth and live as a human, to become one of us, to be with us, to save us. He was born, he grew and when it was time to make himself known, he began his ministry by seeking out his cousin John and requesting to be baptized.
John had been preaching to all who would hear to “Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.” People were coming to him, confessing their sins, repenting, and being baptized. Then, one ordinary day, something extraordinary happened; Jesus showed up, asking to be baptized.
John knew who he was and so he was shocked; he tried to decline, “I am the one who should be baptized by you, and yet you ask this of me?” Jesus reassured him, “Yes, John, this is the way it should be so that righteousness will be fulfilled.”
I imagine the people standing around wondering who this guy is. John is usually so eager to baptize anyone who comes earnestly seeking repentance and forgiveness, anyone who desires to live a more holy life, but he tries to talk this one out of it? Who is he, anyway? When they left their homes that day to come to the Jordan, they had no idea what was in store for them.
John listened to Jesus and took him into the river and baptized him, and I don’t know what the term is for something that is more extraordinary that regular extraordinary, but whatever it is, that is what happened next.
To onlookers, what they were watching was an ordinary baptism by John, a baptism like he did every day, many times a day, but this one was different. As Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were suddenly opened up to him, and as he looked up, he saw the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove, and he heard a voice from heaven say, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Did the onlookers see what Jesus saw? Did they hear what Jesus heard? Matthew doesn’t say, so we don’t know for sure, but even if they didn’t see and hear, I believe they understood that something extraordinary was happening. Something they had never expected, probably didn’t understand, but somehow knew was God at work.
In the article that Dr. Dave Kistler wrote on the incident with Damar Hamlin, he said, “My dad used to say, ‘There are no atheists in foxholes.’ Evidently there are no atheists amid a stunningly frightening incident like the world witnessed last night in Cincinnati.”
There are moments in time when we know without a doubt that God exists, and we turn to him. Too often, it is only when tragedy strikes, like it did last Monday, like it did on 911, like it did the last time any of us experienced our own personal crisis. In that moment, we recognize our need for God and so, in desperation, we turn to him
It isn’t only in in the midst of crisis that this happens, though. Sometimes it happens when we witness the unexpected in a positive way, too. Perhaps, in the moment that the heavens were opened, when the Spirit of God descended, when God spoke, the people who were standing by the banks of the river turned to God, recognized anew their need for him, too. Not because of a tragedy, but because of the extraordinary event that was unfolding right before them. Perhaps it was in that moment that they realized that the longing they felt deep down in their heart was a longing for God. Perhaps, in that moment, they even realized that they were, even then, living in the kingdom of God.
Returning once again to Dr. Kistler’s article, he writes, “Damar Hamlin has done something amazingly consequential by becoming a successful NFL player, who reportedly has a heart for serving his community. But he has done something even more impactful as a result of last night’s globally-watched incident.
He has illustrated the fact that man DESPERATELY NEEDS the comfort of God found ONLY in the God of all comfort – Jesus Christ! Mankind needs a relationship with Jesus for life here on earth, but more importantly, for eternity.”
How true are those words. I’m reminded of Paul’s words as he wrote to the church in Roma, “For we know that all things work together for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” God used a heart-stopping moment in a football game to show the world they need him. Today, as we celebrate the baptism of Christ, we are reminded once again of our need for him – even in the ordinary days – as we live here in the kingdom of God.
As we end today, I invite everyone to come forward, to dip your hand in the water, to feel it, to experience it, and as you do, may you remember your baptism and be thankful. Be thankful that an ordinary football player has shown the world their need for God, be thankful that he is recovering. Be thankful for the celebratory seasons, and be thankful for the ordinary days, but especially, be thankful for the gift of forgiveness and life that come to us through Jesus Christ. AMEN.
PRAYER: Extraordinary God, you are also God in the ordinariness of our days, you are with us as we take each step, as we breathe each breath. Today, as we celebrate the day your Son was baptized, we remember our own baptism and we are thankful for his work on our behalf, for the forgiveness of our sins when we repent, for the gift of eternal life that begins the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior. May we recognize each day that we are already living in your kingdom and share with others the way they, too, might join us, as we await the return of your Son, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
Dr. Dave Kistler, President, HOPE Ministries International. Written January 3, 2023.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR JANUARY 1, 2023 ENDS HER SERIES CALLED "gOD OF THE DARK AND THE LIGHT" AND WAS TITLED "WHAT WILL WE OFFER"
January 1, 2023
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: What Will We Offer
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people, Israel.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Today, we celebrate Epiphany Sunday. The actual date set by the Christian calendar for Epiphany is January 6th, but it is usually celebrated in the church on the Sunday before. Epiphany is the day that is recognized as when the Magi came to see Jesus and present their gifts to him. Sometimes we call them kings, sometimes we call them the wise men. We typically ascribe to the idea that there were three of them, but that is only because three gifts were mentioned. A little-known story about the wisemen says there were actually four, but the fourth one was sent back home when the others discovered that his gift was a fruitcake.
And of course, we all know what would have happened if those wise men had been wise women instead – They would have arrived on time, they would have helped in the delivery, they would have cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and given practical gifts like diapers and onsies.
There are so many things we do not know about the magi. As I said, we don’t really know how many there were, we don’t know exactly where they came from or how far they traveled. We do know they were men of faith. How else can it be that they would see a star in the sky, understand its significance, and travel an unknown distance to reach its resting place?
We know they traveled from the east, and they knew for whom they were looking. When they stopped by Herod’s to ask for directions, they said, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” That star that shone so brightly in the sky was the signal to them that a king was born, and not just any king, but the king of the Jews. They wanted to find this king and pay tribute to him; they wanted to worship him. That certainly took faith.
We have seen other instances of people whose faith led them to do what others may have called crazy. Abram left his homeland and his extended family to go to a place he did not know, called by a God who made promises that seems outlandish. But he went because he had faith.
Noah built an ark to make a safe place for his family and a sampling of all creation, following the instructions from a God who told him that a flood was coming to cover the earth. Noah didn’t even know what rain was, because until God shut Noah and his family and all the animals inside the completed ark, no rain had ever fallen. But Noah built that ark because he had faith.
Mary agreed, without question or argument to bear the child of God because God sent an angel to give her the news that she had found favor with God. A young woman, engaged but not married, suddenly is pregnant doesn’t sound to most people like someone who has found favor with God, but Mary agreed because she had faith.
The magi left their homes to go to a place they did not know, not knowing how long it would take to get there, not knowing when or if they would return to their homes and their families because God placed a star in the sky that beckoned them to follow. Those magi followed that star because they had faith.
God calls us to have faith in him even today. We confess our faith in Jesus, the one who was born of a virgin, the one who is God here on earth, both God and man, the one who was crucified, found dead, buried in the tomb and yet was alive three days later. The world tells us we are crazy, that this is a bunch of made-up stories, but we believe because we have faith.
We know that these men were determined to do what they set out to do. Some estimate their journey to be about 500 miles. 500 miles over the desert sand, riding on camels, enduring whatever weather conditions cropped up, making a long journey that likely took about two years or so.
I imagine that there were times when they grew tired of riding on those camels all day. Times when they felt too tired to keep going. Times when they may have even questioned themselves – did they read that star right, were they going in the right direction, was this really the way to find the new king, was he really a king? But they did not let their questions, their fatigue, their doubts keep them from pressing on. Step by camel step, they plodded through that sand, slept in tents, picked sand out of their food, their clothes, their beards. They just kept going, determined to reach their destination.
We have days, even seasons, when we become discouraged. We have times when we look around and question ourselves as to whether what we are doing is worth the effort. Times when the days are long, and the nights are longer. We deal with illness, financial troubles, job issues, family dynamics, and even a crisis of faith. But God calls us to be determined, too. He wants us to trust him when we feel like we are living in the dark, when we don’t know what the solution is or how long this part of our journey will last.
God is the God of the dark, just as he is the God of the light. He is with us at all times and in all places. The magi kept their faith even when they struggled with the details of the journey, and so can we. They had each other to support and encourage one another, and so do we. We are the body of Christ, called to use our gifts for the church – to encourage, to support, and to uplift our brothers and sisters in Christ just as they do the same for us when we are in need. The magi were determined to keep on going, and we can be determined to do the same.
We also know that these magi were wise. Wise enough to discern what the new star meant and to follow it, and wise enough to discern that Herod was deceiving them when he told them “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
They were wise enough to sense his jealousy, his deceit, and his fear on hearing them speak of the child they sought as the king of the Jews. They were wise enough to listen to the message that came to them in a dream, after having seen the child they were looking for, and to take another route home so they did not go back to Herod as he had asked.
They were wise enough to recognize that this child they found was the one for whom they had traveled a great distance to see. They were wise enough to bring him gifts – gifts that were fit for a king, not for an ordinary child.
God calls us to be wise, too. We need to be wise so that we can discern his truth, so we can follow him diligently and with determination to stay the course he has set out for us through his word – the Bible. We need to be wise enough to know that we need to read his word, study his word, gather together to discern his word, and hear his word when he speaks. Without this wisdom, we are in danger of being led astray, taught false truths, and knocked off the path that leads to the narrow gate of life.
Finally, we know the wisemen understood the need for sacrifice. They brought those gifts to give to the one they came to worship. Gold, a gift to signify his kingship, frankincense, burned as incense to signify his priesthood, and myrrh, used for embalming the dead to signify his impending death.
These were expensive gifts, not something they simply picked up at Walmart on the way or orders on Amazon to be delivered by the time they arrived. The magi deliberately chose these gifts and gave them as an act of sacrifice in their worship of this child-king. Gifts that came with a cost from their personal treasuries.
God calls us to also offer our sacrifice. He calls us to give of our time, our talents, and our tithes. When we volunteer, we put our special gifts to use for the good of the church and the community. When we use our talents to do that volunteering, we are freeing up others to use their own special talents to do the same. That is why there are so many different spiritual gifts – because there are so many different needs and opportunities.
God also calls us to sacrifice through our tithes – our gifts to the church that come in through our financial giving. When we stop to consider how much God has given us already, and that everything we have comes from him, how can we not want to show our gratitude by giving back to him in a way that will help grow his kingdom here on earth?
When we commit to giving God our sacrifice of time, talent, and tithe, we are showing him that we love him and trust him. It is though sacrificial giving, in all three categories, that we are truly worshiping God. It is by this sacrificial giving that we acknowledge the very real sacrifice God has given us through his son, Jesus, and it is our way of thanking him for that gift.
On this first day of the year, as we think about what our New Year’s resolutions might be for 2023, I encourage all of us to resolve to be like the wise men: faithful, determined, wise, and sacrificial. In this way, we will honor God, our God who is God of the dark and the light, our God who is with us at all times and in all places. Thanks be to God for who he is, all he is, and all he is to us. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, this day, as we look at the example set for us by the magi, may we follow their lead to be faithful to you, determined to follow you, wise in your ways, and sacrificial in our giving in all the ways you call us. Let this be the day of a new beginning, a day of new resolve for us as disciples of your son, Jesus, the gift you have given to the world that we might know you through him. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-folly-of-not-following-the-wise-men-jim-mccutchen-sermon-on-faith-152913?page=3&wc=800
Call to Worship:
L: Christmas Day has come and gone,
P: The gifts have been opened; the messes cleaned up.
L: The cookies are eaten; the carols have been sung.
P: Christmas is over; a new year has begun.
L: But what of these three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh?
P: A reminder to us that we can daily offer gifts to our King.
All: On this day of new beginnings, we resolve to follow our star, Jesus,
And offer our lives anew to his service in this world. AMEN
Hymn: 254 We Three Kings
Since today we are going to be talking about the magi – sometimes called the wise men, I thought I’d share with you a little bit of wisdom from people of a younger age. Sometimes we can learn a good lesson, even from children:
Patrick, age 10, said, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
Michael, 14, said, “When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don’t answer him.”
Josh, age 9, said, “Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.”
Naomi, 15 said, “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.”
Lauren, age 9 said, “Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.”
Joel, 10 years old, said, “Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.” an
Eileen, age 8 said, “Never try to baptize a cat.”
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: What Will We Offer
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people, Israel.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Today, we celebrate Epiphany Sunday. The actual date set by the Christian calendar for Epiphany is January 6th, but it is usually celebrated in the church on the Sunday before. Epiphany is the day that is recognized as when the Magi came to see Jesus and present their gifts to him. Sometimes we call them kings, sometimes we call them the wise men. We typically ascribe to the idea that there were three of them, but that is only because three gifts were mentioned. A little-known story about the wisemen says there were actually four, but the fourth one was sent back home when the others discovered that his gift was a fruitcake.
And of course, we all know what would have happened if those wise men had been wise women instead – They would have arrived on time, they would have helped in the delivery, they would have cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and given practical gifts like diapers and onsies.
There are so many things we do not know about the magi. As I said, we don’t really know how many there were, we don’t know exactly where they came from or how far they traveled. We do know they were men of faith. How else can it be that they would see a star in the sky, understand its significance, and travel an unknown distance to reach its resting place?
We know they traveled from the east, and they knew for whom they were looking. When they stopped by Herod’s to ask for directions, they said, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” That star that shone so brightly in the sky was the signal to them that a king was born, and not just any king, but the king of the Jews. They wanted to find this king and pay tribute to him; they wanted to worship him. That certainly took faith.
We have seen other instances of people whose faith led them to do what others may have called crazy. Abram left his homeland and his extended family to go to a place he did not know, called by a God who made promises that seems outlandish. But he went because he had faith.
Noah built an ark to make a safe place for his family and a sampling of all creation, following the instructions from a God who told him that a flood was coming to cover the earth. Noah didn’t even know what rain was, because until God shut Noah and his family and all the animals inside the completed ark, no rain had ever fallen. But Noah built that ark because he had faith.
Mary agreed, without question or argument to bear the child of God because God sent an angel to give her the news that she had found favor with God. A young woman, engaged but not married, suddenly is pregnant doesn’t sound to most people like someone who has found favor with God, but Mary agreed because she had faith.
The magi left their homes to go to a place they did not know, not knowing how long it would take to get there, not knowing when or if they would return to their homes and their families because God placed a star in the sky that beckoned them to follow. Those magi followed that star because they had faith.
God calls us to have faith in him even today. We confess our faith in Jesus, the one who was born of a virgin, the one who is God here on earth, both God and man, the one who was crucified, found dead, buried in the tomb and yet was alive three days later. The world tells us we are crazy, that this is a bunch of made-up stories, but we believe because we have faith.
We know that these men were determined to do what they set out to do. Some estimate their journey to be about 500 miles. 500 miles over the desert sand, riding on camels, enduring whatever weather conditions cropped up, making a long journey that likely took about two years or so.
I imagine that there were times when they grew tired of riding on those camels all day. Times when they felt too tired to keep going. Times when they may have even questioned themselves – did they read that star right, were they going in the right direction, was this really the way to find the new king, was he really a king? But they did not let their questions, their fatigue, their doubts keep them from pressing on. Step by camel step, they plodded through that sand, slept in tents, picked sand out of their food, their clothes, their beards. They just kept going, determined to reach their destination.
We have days, even seasons, when we become discouraged. We have times when we look around and question ourselves as to whether what we are doing is worth the effort. Times when the days are long, and the nights are longer. We deal with illness, financial troubles, job issues, family dynamics, and even a crisis of faith. But God calls us to be determined, too. He wants us to trust him when we feel like we are living in the dark, when we don’t know what the solution is or how long this part of our journey will last.
God is the God of the dark, just as he is the God of the light. He is with us at all times and in all places. The magi kept their faith even when they struggled with the details of the journey, and so can we. They had each other to support and encourage one another, and so do we. We are the body of Christ, called to use our gifts for the church – to encourage, to support, and to uplift our brothers and sisters in Christ just as they do the same for us when we are in need. The magi were determined to keep on going, and we can be determined to do the same.
We also know that these magi were wise. Wise enough to discern what the new star meant and to follow it, and wise enough to discern that Herod was deceiving them when he told them “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
They were wise enough to sense his jealousy, his deceit, and his fear on hearing them speak of the child they sought as the king of the Jews. They were wise enough to listen to the message that came to them in a dream, after having seen the child they were looking for, and to take another route home so they did not go back to Herod as he had asked.
They were wise enough to recognize that this child they found was the one for whom they had traveled a great distance to see. They were wise enough to bring him gifts – gifts that were fit for a king, not for an ordinary child.
God calls us to be wise, too. We need to be wise so that we can discern his truth, so we can follow him diligently and with determination to stay the course he has set out for us through his word – the Bible. We need to be wise enough to know that we need to read his word, study his word, gather together to discern his word, and hear his word when he speaks. Without this wisdom, we are in danger of being led astray, taught false truths, and knocked off the path that leads to the narrow gate of life.
Finally, we know the wisemen understood the need for sacrifice. They brought those gifts to give to the one they came to worship. Gold, a gift to signify his kingship, frankincense, burned as incense to signify his priesthood, and myrrh, used for embalming the dead to signify his impending death.
These were expensive gifts, not something they simply picked up at Walmart on the way or orders on Amazon to be delivered by the time they arrived. The magi deliberately chose these gifts and gave them as an act of sacrifice in their worship of this child-king. Gifts that came with a cost from their personal treasuries.
God calls us to also offer our sacrifice. He calls us to give of our time, our talents, and our tithes. When we volunteer, we put our special gifts to use for the good of the church and the community. When we use our talents to do that volunteering, we are freeing up others to use their own special talents to do the same. That is why there are so many different spiritual gifts – because there are so many different needs and opportunities.
God also calls us to sacrifice through our tithes – our gifts to the church that come in through our financial giving. When we stop to consider how much God has given us already, and that everything we have comes from him, how can we not want to show our gratitude by giving back to him in a way that will help grow his kingdom here on earth?
When we commit to giving God our sacrifice of time, talent, and tithe, we are showing him that we love him and trust him. It is though sacrificial giving, in all three categories, that we are truly worshiping God. It is by this sacrificial giving that we acknowledge the very real sacrifice God has given us through his son, Jesus, and it is our way of thanking him for that gift.
On this first day of the year, as we think about what our New Year’s resolutions might be for 2023, I encourage all of us to resolve to be like the wise men: faithful, determined, wise, and sacrificial. In this way, we will honor God, our God who is God of the dark and the light, our God who is with us at all times and in all places. Thanks be to God for who he is, all he is, and all he is to us. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, this day, as we look at the example set for us by the magi, may we follow their lead to be faithful to you, determined to follow you, wise in your ways, and sacrificial in our giving in all the ways you call us. Let this be the day of a new beginning, a day of new resolve for us as disciples of your son, Jesus, the gift you have given to the world that we might know you through him. AMEN.
References
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-folly-of-not-following-the-wise-men-jim-mccutchen-sermon-on-faith-152913?page=3&wc=800
Call to Worship:
L: Christmas Day has come and gone,
P: The gifts have been opened; the messes cleaned up.
L: The cookies are eaten; the carols have been sung.
P: Christmas is over; a new year has begun.
L: But what of these three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh?
P: A reminder to us that we can daily offer gifts to our King.
All: On this day of new beginnings, we resolve to follow our star, Jesus,
And offer our lives anew to his service in this world. AMEN
Hymn: 254 We Three Kings
Since today we are going to be talking about the magi – sometimes called the wise men, I thought I’d share with you a little bit of wisdom from people of a younger age. Sometimes we can learn a good lesson, even from children:
Patrick, age 10, said, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
Michael, 14, said, “When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don’t answer him.”
Josh, age 9, said, “Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.”
Naomi, 15 said, “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.”
Lauren, age 9 said, “Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.”
Joel, 10 years old, said, “Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.” an
Eileen, age 8 said, “Never try to baptize a cat.”
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON FOR CHRISTMAS DAY, DECEMBER 25, 2022 FROM THE SERIES "GOD OF THE DARK AND THE LIGHT" TITLED "THE REFLECTION OF GOD'S GLORY"!
December 25, 2022
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: The Reflection of God’s Glory
Scripture: Hebrews 1:1-12
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son; today I have begotten you”?
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds
and his servants flames of fire.”
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
10 And, “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing;
12 like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same, and your years will never end.”
References
Call to Worship:
L: Come and see!
P: The Light of the World has been born.
L: Come and follow!
P: Jesus desires for all to know him and be saved.
L: Go and tell!
P: Share the Good News that Messiah has come,
ALL: And tell everyone that he will come again. AMEN.
Hymn: 251 Go Tell It on the Mountain
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: The Reflection of God’s Glory
Scripture: Hebrews 1:1-12
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son; today I have begotten you”?
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds
and his servants flames of fire.”
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
10 And, “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing;
12 like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same, and your years will never end.”
References
Call to Worship:
L: Come and see!
P: The Light of the World has been born.
L: Come and follow!
P: Jesus desires for all to know him and be saved.
L: Go and tell!
P: Share the Good News that Messiah has come,
ALL: And tell everyone that he will come again. AMEN.
Hymn: 251 Go Tell It on the Mountain
Pastor donna's sermon for Christmas Eve, December 24, 2022 from the series "God of the dark and the light" titled "The Light is Born"!
December 24, 2022
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: The Light is Born
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed [a]wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a [d]manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
References
Call to Worship:
L: Advent, the season of waiting is over. The time has come,
P: A child is born for us—a son has been given!
L: He is our restoration of hope, our signal of peace,
P: He is our source of joy and our sign of love.
L: Tonight, we celebrate the birth of our Savior,
P: We shall call him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God!
ALL: And we will join the angels in proclaiming peace on earth
and goodwill to all. AMEN.
Hymn:
Rootstown
Series: God of the Dark and the Light
Message: The Light is Born
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed [a]wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a [d]manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
References
Call to Worship:
L: Advent, the season of waiting is over. The time has come,
P: A child is born for us—a son has been given!
L: He is our restoration of hope, our signal of peace,
P: He is our source of joy and our sign of love.
L: Tonight, we celebrate the birth of our Savior,
P: We shall call him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God!
ALL: And we will join the angels in proclaiming peace on earth
and goodwill to all. AMEN.
Hymn:
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON DECEMBER 18, 2022. lAST SERMON IN THE SERIES TITLED "wHO IS jESUS?" CALLED "oUR SIGN OF lOVE"
December 18, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Advent: Who is Jesus?
Message: Our Sign of Love
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25, Isaiah 7:10-16
Matthew:
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
Isaiah:
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel, 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
Helen’s Devotional:
In Louisa May Alcott’s book, “Little Women,” Jo March is quoted as saying, “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” Perhaps you remember the story about young lovers’ Christmas gifts. He sold his gold watch to buy her combs for her long hair and she cut off and sold her hair to buy him a gold watch chain. Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, in her book, “Simple Abundance,” Christmas has always been about gifts.”
Let’s examine the role of gifts in the original Christmas story. Those gifts are wrapped in miracles, which is probably why we can’t find them in malls or online.
The first gift was of the Holy Spirit…unconditional love to mankind. Then gifts from a Jewish teenager named Mary. Her Christmas gift was selflessness and obedience…the complete surrender of ego and will needed to bring Heaven down to earth. It must have been love!
The gifts of Joseph, her fiancé, were trust and faith. He trusted that Mary wasn’t pregnant with another man’s child, He believed in God’s divine plan. It must have been love!
The angels’ gifts were tidings of comfort, joy, and peace with reassurance from fear. It must have been love!
The wisemen traveled many difficult and dusty miles following a bright star in search of a royal birth. Their real gifts were wonder, acceptance, and courage, surrendering logic, reason, and common sense. Accepting the impossible, they helped the young family escape Herod to a safe haven in Egypt. It must have been love!
The tiny child brought with him forgiveness, wholeness, joy, hope, second chances, compassion to us all. And ultimately, Jesus lived God’s plan for man’s salvation. He suffered injustice, shame, indignity, excruciating pain on the cross for our sins.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Now, that was love!
Several years ago, Redbook Magazine asked students in Protestant seminaries about their view on the virgin birth of Jesus. They reported that 56% of the students in Protestant seminaries studying for the ministry rejected the idea of the virgin birth!
Another poll, done by The Survey Research Center of the University of California at Berkeley, surveyed various denominations to get their view on the virgin birth, and found that 69% of the American Baptists believed in the virgin birth, 66% of the Lutherans believed in the virgin birth, 57% of the United Presbyterians, 39% of the Episcopalians, 34% of the Methodists, and 21% of the Congregationalists believed in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
This is astounding to me! I want to ask how a person can claim to be a Christian and not believe in the virgin birth. The virgin birth of Jesus is foundational to the Christian faith. Without the virgin birth, we have to question all other tenets of our faith. As Dr. Larry Petton writes on this subject, “To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Word of God. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the deity of Jesus Christ. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Gospel. To deny the virgin birth is to be lost in sin and headed to Hell.”
I believe to deny the virgin birth is to even deny the very existence of love, the very love we celebrate on this last Sunday of Advent. Love is a word that we, well, love to use and we use it in many different ways and with varying levels of depth as to its meaning. I’ve used the analogy before but let me share with you once again, I love pizza, I love the beach, I love my family, but the love I express for these three things is not equal.
There is a love that is so pure, so deep, so wide, so high, that we cannot even begin to comprehend it in our human minds. That love is the love that God has for us and for all of his creation. It is because of this true love that God has, that we see glimpses of it in our world.
Helen read about love given through the gifts given by some of the key players in our Christmas story. God, through the Holy Spirt, gave us the gift of a Savior. Mary, in her acceptance of God’s plan, showed a love that was beyond her years, the wisemen brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, along with being the first Gentiles to show the world who Jesus really is. And Joseph? What of Joseph’s role in all of this?
The word love is not used in scripture when joseph is mentioned, but joseph showed his love in quiet, determined ways. Joseph is a man who is betrothed to a young woman, Mary. Betrothment was a legally binding contract, in the eyes of the law, Mary was already his wife, and they were preparing for the day when they would officially become one and live together as a couple. The future looked good for Joseph.
Then, one day, Mary came to him and gave him the news – she was pregnant. She confessed her condition, but adamantly swore there was no other man. She had told him of a visit from Gabriel, the angel and repeated the message Gabriel had given her. She explained to Joseph that the baby was God’s Son, the one who was intended to sit on David’s throne forever, the One who would reign over Israel forever and whose kingdom would have no end.
What was Joseph to do? This story seemed outrageous. How could it possibly be true? What would people think of Mary, of him?
Joseph had options to consider, actions that were available to him under the law of Moses. He could publicly disgrace Mary and expose her unfaithfulness. He could even have her stoned for her indiscretion and shame. But Joseph doesn’t do either of these things. Matthew’s gospel tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, a man who followed the law, but also put the welfare of others before himself.
This is how we know that Joseph loved Mary; he couldn’t bring himself to disgrace and humiliate her, so he opted to quietly divorce her and move on. That was his plan, anyway. But God had another plan for Joseph.
God sent an angel to Joseph who appeared to him in a dream. “’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”
When joseph woke up, he did as God requested, he didn’t divorce Mary, instead, when he was required to leave his home to go to Bethlehem for the census, he took Mary with him, as his wife.
Joseph must have pondered what life would be like when people found out Mary was pregnant; he must have wondered how he would face them, how they would face them as a couple, but he let love overshadow his doubts and fears. He trusted that God’s love would see them through, somehow, even if he didn’t understand it all right then.
Joseph likely leaned into what he knew from scripture about the promised Messiah that all of Israel had been waiting for. He remembered the angel’s directive that the baby be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. He remembered Isaiah’s prophecy from long ago when he said to King Ahaz, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.”
Immanuel, God with us. That is certainly a sign of love. God with us. Why would God bother to come and live among us if not for love? When sin entered the world in the Garden, God could have turned his back and left us on our own, he could have destroyed his creation and started over, or given up completely. God didn’t do that. Instead, he put a plan of salvation into place that came to fruition through the gifts given by the Holy Spirit, a teenage virgin, and loving husband. Now that is love.
I read this week that signs do not create reality; they merely show its truth. The example was given that if you see a highway sign that reads, “Chicago: 160 miles,” and you change the sign to read “Chicago: 60 miles,” you haven’t changed the fact that Chicago is still 160 miles away because truth doesn’t change.
Jesus is our sign of God’s love. Jesus is God who lived among us. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, the child born of a virgin. Just because some choose not to believe in the virgin birth doesn’t change the fact that the virgin birth happened. We don’t have to understand how it happened, we just know that with God, all things are possible, Why? Because he loves us. In fact, he loves us so much that he came to earth, was born of a virgin, lived and died, and rose again to save us from our sins so we might have eternal life with him. That is the kind of love that has no end. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/an-advent-song-of-ascents/first-sunday-of-advent-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101747/mary-by-dr-larry-petton
Call to Worship:
L: And so, it continues, this season of Advent,
P: The season of waiting, the season of love.
L: Jesus is the One who came,
P: And the One who will come again.
L: This season, may we search for who Jesus is,
P: Discovering he is our sign of love in a busy world.
ALL: Come Lord Jesus, come once again. AMEN.
Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Rootstown
Series: Advent: Who is Jesus?
Message: Our Sign of Love
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25, Isaiah 7:10-16
Matthew:
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
Isaiah:
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel, 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
Helen’s Devotional:
In Louisa May Alcott’s book, “Little Women,” Jo March is quoted as saying, “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” Perhaps you remember the story about young lovers’ Christmas gifts. He sold his gold watch to buy her combs for her long hair and she cut off and sold her hair to buy him a gold watch chain. Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, in her book, “Simple Abundance,” Christmas has always been about gifts.”
Let’s examine the role of gifts in the original Christmas story. Those gifts are wrapped in miracles, which is probably why we can’t find them in malls or online.
The first gift was of the Holy Spirit…unconditional love to mankind. Then gifts from a Jewish teenager named Mary. Her Christmas gift was selflessness and obedience…the complete surrender of ego and will needed to bring Heaven down to earth. It must have been love!
The gifts of Joseph, her fiancé, were trust and faith. He trusted that Mary wasn’t pregnant with another man’s child, He believed in God’s divine plan. It must have been love!
The angels’ gifts were tidings of comfort, joy, and peace with reassurance from fear. It must have been love!
The wisemen traveled many difficult and dusty miles following a bright star in search of a royal birth. Their real gifts were wonder, acceptance, and courage, surrendering logic, reason, and common sense. Accepting the impossible, they helped the young family escape Herod to a safe haven in Egypt. It must have been love!
The tiny child brought with him forgiveness, wholeness, joy, hope, second chances, compassion to us all. And ultimately, Jesus lived God’s plan for man’s salvation. He suffered injustice, shame, indignity, excruciating pain on the cross for our sins.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Now, that was love!
Several years ago, Redbook Magazine asked students in Protestant seminaries about their view on the virgin birth of Jesus. They reported that 56% of the students in Protestant seminaries studying for the ministry rejected the idea of the virgin birth!
Another poll, done by The Survey Research Center of the University of California at Berkeley, surveyed various denominations to get their view on the virgin birth, and found that 69% of the American Baptists believed in the virgin birth, 66% of the Lutherans believed in the virgin birth, 57% of the United Presbyterians, 39% of the Episcopalians, 34% of the Methodists, and 21% of the Congregationalists believed in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
This is astounding to me! I want to ask how a person can claim to be a Christian and not believe in the virgin birth. The virgin birth of Jesus is foundational to the Christian faith. Without the virgin birth, we have to question all other tenets of our faith. As Dr. Larry Petton writes on this subject, “To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Word of God. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the deity of Jesus Christ. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Gospel. To deny the virgin birth is to be lost in sin and headed to Hell.”
I believe to deny the virgin birth is to even deny the very existence of love, the very love we celebrate on this last Sunday of Advent. Love is a word that we, well, love to use and we use it in many different ways and with varying levels of depth as to its meaning. I’ve used the analogy before but let me share with you once again, I love pizza, I love the beach, I love my family, but the love I express for these three things is not equal.
There is a love that is so pure, so deep, so wide, so high, that we cannot even begin to comprehend it in our human minds. That love is the love that God has for us and for all of his creation. It is because of this true love that God has, that we see glimpses of it in our world.
Helen read about love given through the gifts given by some of the key players in our Christmas story. God, through the Holy Spirt, gave us the gift of a Savior. Mary, in her acceptance of God’s plan, showed a love that was beyond her years, the wisemen brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, along with being the first Gentiles to show the world who Jesus really is. And Joseph? What of Joseph’s role in all of this?
The word love is not used in scripture when joseph is mentioned, but joseph showed his love in quiet, determined ways. Joseph is a man who is betrothed to a young woman, Mary. Betrothment was a legally binding contract, in the eyes of the law, Mary was already his wife, and they were preparing for the day when they would officially become one and live together as a couple. The future looked good for Joseph.
Then, one day, Mary came to him and gave him the news – she was pregnant. She confessed her condition, but adamantly swore there was no other man. She had told him of a visit from Gabriel, the angel and repeated the message Gabriel had given her. She explained to Joseph that the baby was God’s Son, the one who was intended to sit on David’s throne forever, the One who would reign over Israel forever and whose kingdom would have no end.
What was Joseph to do? This story seemed outrageous. How could it possibly be true? What would people think of Mary, of him?
Joseph had options to consider, actions that were available to him under the law of Moses. He could publicly disgrace Mary and expose her unfaithfulness. He could even have her stoned for her indiscretion and shame. But Joseph doesn’t do either of these things. Matthew’s gospel tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, a man who followed the law, but also put the welfare of others before himself.
This is how we know that Joseph loved Mary; he couldn’t bring himself to disgrace and humiliate her, so he opted to quietly divorce her and move on. That was his plan, anyway. But God had another plan for Joseph.
God sent an angel to Joseph who appeared to him in a dream. “’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”
When joseph woke up, he did as God requested, he didn’t divorce Mary, instead, when he was required to leave his home to go to Bethlehem for the census, he took Mary with him, as his wife.
Joseph must have pondered what life would be like when people found out Mary was pregnant; he must have wondered how he would face them, how they would face them as a couple, but he let love overshadow his doubts and fears. He trusted that God’s love would see them through, somehow, even if he didn’t understand it all right then.
Joseph likely leaned into what he knew from scripture about the promised Messiah that all of Israel had been waiting for. He remembered the angel’s directive that the baby be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. He remembered Isaiah’s prophecy from long ago when he said to King Ahaz, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.”
Immanuel, God with us. That is certainly a sign of love. God with us. Why would God bother to come and live among us if not for love? When sin entered the world in the Garden, God could have turned his back and left us on our own, he could have destroyed his creation and started over, or given up completely. God didn’t do that. Instead, he put a plan of salvation into place that came to fruition through the gifts given by the Holy Spirit, a teenage virgin, and loving husband. Now that is love.
I read this week that signs do not create reality; they merely show its truth. The example was given that if you see a highway sign that reads, “Chicago: 160 miles,” and you change the sign to read “Chicago: 60 miles,” you haven’t changed the fact that Chicago is still 160 miles away because truth doesn’t change.
Jesus is our sign of God’s love. Jesus is God who lived among us. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, the child born of a virgin. Just because some choose not to believe in the virgin birth doesn’t change the fact that the virgin birth happened. We don’t have to understand how it happened, we just know that with God, all things are possible, Why? Because he loves us. In fact, he loves us so much that he came to earth, was born of a virgin, lived and died, and rose again to save us from our sins so we might have eternal life with him. That is the kind of love that has no end. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/an-advent-song-of-ascents/first-sunday-of-advent-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101747/mary-by-dr-larry-petton
Call to Worship:
L: And so, it continues, this season of Advent,
P: The season of waiting, the season of love.
L: Jesus is the One who came,
P: And the One who will come again.
L: This season, may we search for who Jesus is,
P: Discovering he is our sign of love in a busy world.
ALL: Come Lord Jesus, come once again. AMEN.
Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2022 TITLED "jESUS: OUR RESTORATION OF HOPE.
November 27, 2022
Series: Advent: Who is Jesus?
Message: Jesus: Our Restoration of Hope
Scripture: Psalm 122, Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm:
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together.
4 To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
Isaiah:
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
We begin this advent season, as we usually do, with the theme of HOPE. In this sermon series, we will be asking “Who is Jesus?” and we will see who he is and how he is connected to the weekly advent themes we are already familiar with. To help you make a connection with who Jesus is, we will be handing out an Advent devotional booklet to everyone as you leave. Each day’s devotion will be about one of the names of Jesus.
I encourage you to take a few minutes each day this Advent season and think on who Jesus is, what he has done for us, and the promises about him that we are still waiting to be fulfilled. Let’s begin.
How many of you like to watch home improvement type shows on TV? I love them. My favorite is “Good Bones” and all the iterations of Mina and Karen and their home improvement and restoration projects in the Indianapolis area. They have gotten themselves into some pretty disgusting messes as they seek the worst house on the block and set out to bring it back to life as they strive to improve neighborhoods.
There is something so satisfying about seeing a burned out, decrepit-looking, decades-old house turned into something bright and beautiful, warm and welcoming. What was once an eyesore that no one would or could live in is now the best-looking house on the block – and usually in a one-hour episode.
Houses are not the only thing that needs to be restored from time to time. I came across a story this week about a beautiful church, the Mountain Valley Cathedral, that sits in a remote Swiss village. This church had become known for its beautiful pipe organ – the most beautiful pipe organ in the entire region. Not only did this pipe organ look beautiful, but it also sounded beautiful, too. People would come from all over to hear it played.
As time went by, though, the day came when the notes that came from the organ were out of tune. Experts were called in from all over the world, but not a single person was able to restore this organ to its former glory – so it remained out of tune. This pipe organ was so unique in the way it had been created and customized, that it was beyond the capabilities of all who tried. Finally, everyone gave up and the organ simply sat in place, silent and broken.
One day, a long time later, an old man came by the church and wondered aloud as to why the organ was not being used. When he was told that it would not play, he asked if he might take a look at it himself. With no hope of a positive outcome, he was given permission.
The old man worked in near silence for two days while the church staff nervously went about their business, wondering why the man had not given up already like all the others before him. But then, about noon on the third day, the staff suddenly began hearing music – pipe organ music – beautiful pipe organ music. The old man had done it! He had restored their organ.
The villagers heard the music, and they began to come to the church to see for themselves that their beloved organ, silenced no more, had finally been restored. Amazed, they asked the old man how it was that he had been able to do what so many others could not. He told them, “I am the one who built this pipe organ all those years ago. I created it and now I have restored it.”
I thought of this story as I watched “Good Bones” Friday night with my mom, and it struck me that we are like those old houses and that old organ. We humans are full of junk; we are often old and decrepit; we are in need of restoration, and our only hope for that restoration is found in the one who created us.
This week, as we ask, “Who is Jesus?” our answer is, “Jesus is our hope of restoration.” That is why we can say, along with the Psalmist this week, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” Coming to worship should inspire gladness in our hearts because we are gathering together as a faith community to worship the one who created us, who is also the one who sent his son to restore us to relationship with him because of the great love he has for us.
This is advent, a time of worship filled with anticipation of both what was and what is to come. We celebrate the hope of restoration that came in the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, even as we celebrate the promise that this restoration of all creation will be completed when he returns.
God gave Isaiah a vision that offered the hope of restoration to his people. But in the days of Isaiah, God’s people lived, not in a time or a place of peace and prosperity, but in a time of war, hardship, and fear and in a place where there seemed to be no hope that the days to come would bring any relief.
It doesn’t feel like much has changed. When have we ever lived in a time when war was not a reality somewhere in the world? When have we ever lived when every person had enough to eat, a place to live, the means by which to prosper? Even today, after all this time, Isaiah’s promise to the people of Israel is a promise we cling to for ourselves as children of God. The only difference between us and them is that we live in a time when part of the promise has already been fulfilled – our Savior has come – now we wait for him to come again.
In the days to come, the days of which Isaiah speaks, Jesus has already come and already returned. The mountain of the Lord will be the focal point, not just of Jerusalem, but of the world. In those days, people from all nations will stream to Zion, moving like a river of water, undeterred from their purpose, to go and learn the ways of God that they might better walk in the path that he has established for them.
The Hope of Restoration, in those days, will teach the ways of peace, not war. There will no longer be any need for swords or weapons of destruction so they will be repurposed into tools that will work for the good of everyone – plows to work the ground and pruning hooks for the vines – tools of agriculture for the feeding of everyone.
In those days, there will be no need to restore houses, organs, or people, because all of creation will be restored by its creator. There will be no more war, no more hunger, no more poverty, no more disease, no more death.
Verse five today gives us a beautiful invitation: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” This isn’t the light we get when we turn on a lamp, it is the light of life, the light that shines to show us the way we are to walk so that we might not fall off the straight path that leads us to the narrow gate because this light is the light of our salvation, the light that came from a star so long ago that announced the birth of our Hope of Restoration and brought the magi to Bethlehem to worship the King of all kings. This light is the Light of the world and one day all will see this light for who he is – Jesus Christ.
Yes, we should say today, as the Psalmist proclaimed so long ago, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” We should enter his house ready to worship with singing and praise in our hearts and on our lips because of this hope we have been given, and this hope for which we still wait – the Hope of Restoration that comes from Jesus Christ, who fills us with such hope that we proclaim, “For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”
It is because of Jesus, our Hope of Restoration, that we are able to say, as King David proclaimed, that the day will come when “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” What beautiful hope we have in Christ Jesus this day, this season, and forever. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of Hope, in this season of anticipation, we remember the birth of your son, so long ago and we make preparations to celebrate that night once again. But we are also celebrating and anticipating the fulfillment of the promise of his coming again, and of the time when we will no longer live in a world where war, famine, disease, and poverty, exist. We eagerly await the time when there will be no more darkness because the Light of our hope shines so brightly that all shadows flee, making clear the path which you have laid for us, the path that leads us directly to you. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, along with the rest of the world. AMEN.
Series: Advent: Who is Jesus?
Message: Jesus: Our Restoration of Hope
Scripture: Psalm 122, Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm:
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together.
4 To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
Isaiah:
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
We begin this advent season, as we usually do, with the theme of HOPE. In this sermon series, we will be asking “Who is Jesus?” and we will see who he is and how he is connected to the weekly advent themes we are already familiar with. To help you make a connection with who Jesus is, we will be handing out an Advent devotional booklet to everyone as you leave. Each day’s devotion will be about one of the names of Jesus.
I encourage you to take a few minutes each day this Advent season and think on who Jesus is, what he has done for us, and the promises about him that we are still waiting to be fulfilled. Let’s begin.
How many of you like to watch home improvement type shows on TV? I love them. My favorite is “Good Bones” and all the iterations of Mina and Karen and their home improvement and restoration projects in the Indianapolis area. They have gotten themselves into some pretty disgusting messes as they seek the worst house on the block and set out to bring it back to life as they strive to improve neighborhoods.
There is something so satisfying about seeing a burned out, decrepit-looking, decades-old house turned into something bright and beautiful, warm and welcoming. What was once an eyesore that no one would or could live in is now the best-looking house on the block – and usually in a one-hour episode.
Houses are not the only thing that needs to be restored from time to time. I came across a story this week about a beautiful church, the Mountain Valley Cathedral, that sits in a remote Swiss village. This church had become known for its beautiful pipe organ – the most beautiful pipe organ in the entire region. Not only did this pipe organ look beautiful, but it also sounded beautiful, too. People would come from all over to hear it played.
As time went by, though, the day came when the notes that came from the organ were out of tune. Experts were called in from all over the world, but not a single person was able to restore this organ to its former glory – so it remained out of tune. This pipe organ was so unique in the way it had been created and customized, that it was beyond the capabilities of all who tried. Finally, everyone gave up and the organ simply sat in place, silent and broken.
One day, a long time later, an old man came by the church and wondered aloud as to why the organ was not being used. When he was told that it would not play, he asked if he might take a look at it himself. With no hope of a positive outcome, he was given permission.
The old man worked in near silence for two days while the church staff nervously went about their business, wondering why the man had not given up already like all the others before him. But then, about noon on the third day, the staff suddenly began hearing music – pipe organ music – beautiful pipe organ music. The old man had done it! He had restored their organ.
The villagers heard the music, and they began to come to the church to see for themselves that their beloved organ, silenced no more, had finally been restored. Amazed, they asked the old man how it was that he had been able to do what so many others could not. He told them, “I am the one who built this pipe organ all those years ago. I created it and now I have restored it.”
I thought of this story as I watched “Good Bones” Friday night with my mom, and it struck me that we are like those old houses and that old organ. We humans are full of junk; we are often old and decrepit; we are in need of restoration, and our only hope for that restoration is found in the one who created us.
This week, as we ask, “Who is Jesus?” our answer is, “Jesus is our hope of restoration.” That is why we can say, along with the Psalmist this week, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” Coming to worship should inspire gladness in our hearts because we are gathering together as a faith community to worship the one who created us, who is also the one who sent his son to restore us to relationship with him because of the great love he has for us.
This is advent, a time of worship filled with anticipation of both what was and what is to come. We celebrate the hope of restoration that came in the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, even as we celebrate the promise that this restoration of all creation will be completed when he returns.
God gave Isaiah a vision that offered the hope of restoration to his people. But in the days of Isaiah, God’s people lived, not in a time or a place of peace and prosperity, but in a time of war, hardship, and fear and in a place where there seemed to be no hope that the days to come would bring any relief.
It doesn’t feel like much has changed. When have we ever lived in a time when war was not a reality somewhere in the world? When have we ever lived when every person had enough to eat, a place to live, the means by which to prosper? Even today, after all this time, Isaiah’s promise to the people of Israel is a promise we cling to for ourselves as children of God. The only difference between us and them is that we live in a time when part of the promise has already been fulfilled – our Savior has come – now we wait for him to come again.
In the days to come, the days of which Isaiah speaks, Jesus has already come and already returned. The mountain of the Lord will be the focal point, not just of Jerusalem, but of the world. In those days, people from all nations will stream to Zion, moving like a river of water, undeterred from their purpose, to go and learn the ways of God that they might better walk in the path that he has established for them.
The Hope of Restoration, in those days, will teach the ways of peace, not war. There will no longer be any need for swords or weapons of destruction so they will be repurposed into tools that will work for the good of everyone – plows to work the ground and pruning hooks for the vines – tools of agriculture for the feeding of everyone.
In those days, there will be no need to restore houses, organs, or people, because all of creation will be restored by its creator. There will be no more war, no more hunger, no more poverty, no more disease, no more death.
Verse five today gives us a beautiful invitation: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” This isn’t the light we get when we turn on a lamp, it is the light of life, the light that shines to show us the way we are to walk so that we might not fall off the straight path that leads us to the narrow gate because this light is the light of our salvation, the light that came from a star so long ago that announced the birth of our Hope of Restoration and brought the magi to Bethlehem to worship the King of all kings. This light is the Light of the world and one day all will see this light for who he is – Jesus Christ.
Yes, we should say today, as the Psalmist proclaimed so long ago, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” We should enter his house ready to worship with singing and praise in our hearts and on our lips because of this hope we have been given, and this hope for which we still wait – the Hope of Restoration that comes from Jesus Christ, who fills us with such hope that we proclaim, “For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”
It is because of Jesus, our Hope of Restoration, that we are able to say, as King David proclaimed, that the day will come when “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” What beautiful hope we have in Christ Jesus this day, this season, and forever. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of Hope, in this season of anticipation, we remember the birth of your son, so long ago and we make preparations to celebrate that night once again. But we are also celebrating and anticipating the fulfillment of the promise of his coming again, and of the time when we will no longer live in a world where war, famine, disease, and poverty, exist. We eagerly await the time when there will be no more darkness because the Light of our hope shines so brightly that all shadows flee, making clear the path which you have laid for us, the path that leads us directly to you. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, along with the rest of the world. AMEN.
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON sUNDAY, nOVEMBER 20, 2022 "sCOFFERS ON A hILL"
November 20, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Scoffers on a Hill
Scripture: Luke 23:33-43
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The dictionary defines a scoffer as one who laughs at and/or speaks about a person in a manner that shows they think the person is stupid or silly. In today’s scripture, we see scoffers all around the cross as Jesus hung there dying.
This scripture seems out of place this week, doesn’t it? If you research this passage, you will find lots of sermons and stories more fitting for the Lenten season rather than one of Thanksgiving. We are used to reading about Jesus and the cross during Holy Week, not on Christ the King Sunday. But as often happens, if we look closely enough, we will see much to be thankful for in Luke’s story, and we will see the Kingship of our Lord, even as he hung, bloodied, beaten, and barely breathing on that cross so long ago.
So, who are these scoffers? Luke tells us that “the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’” The leaders – the religious leaders who had brought Jesus to trial, had followed along as the Roman soldiers had taken him first to Pilot, then to Herod, then back to Pilot for final sentencing.
These religious leaders were the ones who stirred up the crowd to call out for Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus, the ones who began the chant, “Crucify him,” to which the crowd then added their own voices. These are the ones who opposed Jesus and his ministry because he continually pointed out the difference between their legalistic rituals and real, heartfelt worship.
“He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” they call out into the crowd as they stand near the cross, close enough to make sure Jesus heard their mocking of him, far enough away to appear “presentable” in their own eyes. Scoffing because in their minds, only by Jesus coming down off that cross would they even begin to maybe believe he was the Messiah he claimed to be - the Messiah they denied with every breath.
“Let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God,” was said with all the sarcasm they could muster, once again trying to elevate themselves to the position of ultimate authority over God’s people.
Luke tells us that there were other scoffers that day, too. He writes, “The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”’ These soldiers were Roman soldiers, of course, and we don’t know how much they knew of Jesus and how much they had just picked up about him during his trials, his beatings, and his journey to Calvary to hang on that rugged cross.
The words of the soldiers closely mimicked the words of the religious leaders, scoffing at the notion that this man thought he was any kind of king, taunting him to save himself just as the others were doing. These soldiers were probably used to hearing all kinds of claims of innocence from the criminals they crucified, to the point where they never really listened to, or even really looked at anyone anymore as they drove the nails through their hands, hoisted the crossbar into position on the upright, crossed their feet and drove the final nail that held them in place to slowly suffocate, suffer, and die.
The religious leaders scoffed at Jesus to make a point to the crowd, the soldiers scoffed at Jesus to make fun of him, but why would the criminals on either side of Jesus scoff at him, too? Maybe, as we say today, “because they could?” Perhaps, more accurately, because they didn’t know any better.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that, “The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way,” but Luke writes that “One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’” Now, perhaps, of all those who taunted and scoffed at Jesus that day, we can identify with these two the most.
“If you are this Messiah they say you say you are, then save yourself, and while you’re at it, save us, too!” This makes sense. They have come to the end of the line; they have no hope left of getting out of this nightmare in which they find themselves. There is no going back once one is nailed to a cross, the only way down comes after death. They are throwing taunts at Jesus, yes, but they do so with desperation in their voices.
They don’t really believe this guy can save anyone, but if he can, he might as well take them with him. It’s certainly worth a try. While the religious leaders mocked Jesus to make a point to the crowd and the soldiers scoffed at Jesus to make fun of him, the criminals on either side of Jesus taunted him as a desperate cry of self-preservation, the cry of the condemned who have no hope of reprieve.
Somewhere along the line, though, a change takes place, a miracle occurs. It isn’t in the religious leaders; they are still scoffing, ranting, and waiting for Jesus to die. It isn’t in the soldiers, though there is one later who experiences a revelation and comes to faith in Jesus. At this point in time, the soldiers are still taunting, mocking, passing time while they wait for the three men to die.
The miracle that happened was that one of the criminals had a change of heart; he gained a new understanding. This one man, hanging on a cross, this one who began by taunting Jesus, began to recognize who Jesus might be. As this realization breaks over him, he stops scoffing at Jesus, he quits asking for Jesus to come off the cross and take him with him, and he rebukes the one who is still jeering, saying “’Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’”
What changed his mind? We do not know. What happened that his eyes were opened? We are not told. How did his heart open in this way? The gospel writers do not say. All we know is that this one man, this criminal in the last hours of his life, realized he was a sinner in need of saving and that he was looking at the only one who could save him.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” was all he asked now. His rebellious spirit was gone, his taunts were silenced, his heart was repentant. He had confessed his belief and asked for forgiveness, and Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
We hear these words and know that Jesus is truly the Christ the King whom we honor this day. He is the only one who can speak to this criminal and who has the authority to give him this promise. While we love the words and have our own notions of paradise, the words that Jesus spoke to that man had a deeper meaning than we know, but one the man would have readily understood.
The word paradise comes from a Persian word that means beautiful garden, and that is probably close to what most of us imagine, on some scale or another, when we think of paradise, but there is more to it. It specifically refers to a king’s garden, not just any random pretty place where plants and trees grow.
In those days, kings had beautiful gardens and often kept exotic animals there, animals that came from far-off places, places where most people would never travel to see them in their natural habitat. These gardens would feature moving water, lush plantings, and tall trees all coming together to create a welcoming, peaceful, inviting environment. But, because this paradise belonged to the king, not many would ever get to see its beauty or feel its peace.
Sometimes, though, if someone had performed some heroic act, or done something that particularly pleased the king, they would be invited to come visit the king’s garden. It was a special treat, reserved for only a few privileged people to enjoy.
When Jesus tells the criminal that he will be with him this very day in paradise, the criminal understands that he has just been given an invitation to the King’s Garden, an invitation that has been given by the King himself. Now we see how well this lesson points us to the one and only King on this Christ the King Sunday.
Jesus is the King of heaven, he has invited the criminal, a vile sinner, to join him there in paradise. But he has also issued that invitation to all of us! We, too, are vile sinners, we too, deserve to die, but we, too, if we have realized our sinfulness, repented, and confessed our faith in Jesus Christ as the only one who can save us, we, too, have received a personal invitation from our King to join him in paradise – in his Kingly Garden.
I would say that gives us much to be thankful for on this Sunday before Thanksgiving, or any ordinary day of the week. I heard someone on the radio this week say that instead of Thanksgiving Day, we should celebrate thanksliving – we should live each day as if we have something to be thankful for, because we do!
I know we get so excited about Christmas that many of us often go right from Halloween decorations to Christmas preparations, but I don’t. I love Thanksgiving almost as much as I love Christmas. I love the reminder that every day should be thanksliving day, but I also love having one specific day to remind me of that in case I forget.
Jesus, our Heavenly King, came to earth, became one of us, died for us, and upon his death issued an open invitation that for all who would believe in him to be with him in paradise. Criminals, soldiers, religious leaders, and ordinary people, we have all received the invitation, but it is up to us to accept it.
Our gratitude flows from knowing that Jesus has done this for us, and spills over into other areas of our lives. We begin to see how thankful we are when we begin to notice all the other blessings we have received, too. Blessings like family, food, shelter, friendship, jobs, cars, and more, too many more to even list. But I do want to share with you one blessing I have found this week – the blessing that is the Butterball turkey hotline – in case you have any pressing questions this week as you prepare your Thanksgiving bird.
Others may be thankful for them, too, as here are a few of the calls Butterball has taken of the years:
1. A woman in her seventies, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, called for help because her mother said it was time she learned how to prepare the Thanksgiving meal.
2. A proud gentleman called to tell the staff how he wrapped his turkey in a towel, laid it in the floor and stomped on it breaking the bones so it would fit in his pan.
3. Another gentleman called to tell the operator he cut his turkey in half with a chain saw and wanted to know if the oil from the chain would adversely affect the turkey.
4. A disappointed woman called wondering why her turkey had no breast meat. After a conversation with a Talk-Line operator, it became apparent that the woman’s turkey was lying upside down.
5. One mom called in and told the Help Line operator about how her little girl had asked if they could slow-roast the turkey for three or four days because she liked how it made the house smell. The experts at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line told her that the turkey should only stay in the oven for a few hours and that it wasn’t a good idea to leave it cooking four days!
6. After discovering a turkey from 1969 in his dad’s freezer, a man called the Talk-Line at Butterball to ask about the best way to cook the 30+ year-old bird. Although the Talk-Line staffer recommended the open roasting pan method to cook most turkeys, this time she suggested that the first step was to purchase a fresher fowl!
7. When a Talk-Line staffer asked a caller: “What state is your turkey in” (meaning how thawed was it) the caller responded with, “Florida.”
And that, my friends, reminds me of one more blessing, the gift of laughter, especially when shared with loved ones. May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving week, giving thanks first to God for the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, our King, the one who invites us to come and live with him in paradise. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of blessings, we give you thanks this day for the gift of your son, Jesus. Thank you for his willingness to die for our sins so we don’t have to. Thank you for the invitation to come and be with him in paradise one day, a day that will last for all of eternity. May we be extra mindful of all the reasons we have to be thankful this week, and may we find ways to bless and serve others in your name, for their benefit, and for your glory, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83956/heaven-by-tim-smith
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83887/thanksgiving-by-roy-fowler
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Scoffers on a Hill
Scripture: Luke 23:33-43
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The dictionary defines a scoffer as one who laughs at and/or speaks about a person in a manner that shows they think the person is stupid or silly. In today’s scripture, we see scoffers all around the cross as Jesus hung there dying.
This scripture seems out of place this week, doesn’t it? If you research this passage, you will find lots of sermons and stories more fitting for the Lenten season rather than one of Thanksgiving. We are used to reading about Jesus and the cross during Holy Week, not on Christ the King Sunday. But as often happens, if we look closely enough, we will see much to be thankful for in Luke’s story, and we will see the Kingship of our Lord, even as he hung, bloodied, beaten, and barely breathing on that cross so long ago.
So, who are these scoffers? Luke tells us that “the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’” The leaders – the religious leaders who had brought Jesus to trial, had followed along as the Roman soldiers had taken him first to Pilot, then to Herod, then back to Pilot for final sentencing.
These religious leaders were the ones who stirred up the crowd to call out for Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus, the ones who began the chant, “Crucify him,” to which the crowd then added their own voices. These are the ones who opposed Jesus and his ministry because he continually pointed out the difference between their legalistic rituals and real, heartfelt worship.
“He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” they call out into the crowd as they stand near the cross, close enough to make sure Jesus heard their mocking of him, far enough away to appear “presentable” in their own eyes. Scoffing because in their minds, only by Jesus coming down off that cross would they even begin to maybe believe he was the Messiah he claimed to be - the Messiah they denied with every breath.
“Let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God,” was said with all the sarcasm they could muster, once again trying to elevate themselves to the position of ultimate authority over God’s people.
Luke tells us that there were other scoffers that day, too. He writes, “The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”’ These soldiers were Roman soldiers, of course, and we don’t know how much they knew of Jesus and how much they had just picked up about him during his trials, his beatings, and his journey to Calvary to hang on that rugged cross.
The words of the soldiers closely mimicked the words of the religious leaders, scoffing at the notion that this man thought he was any kind of king, taunting him to save himself just as the others were doing. These soldiers were probably used to hearing all kinds of claims of innocence from the criminals they crucified, to the point where they never really listened to, or even really looked at anyone anymore as they drove the nails through their hands, hoisted the crossbar into position on the upright, crossed their feet and drove the final nail that held them in place to slowly suffocate, suffer, and die.
The religious leaders scoffed at Jesus to make a point to the crowd, the soldiers scoffed at Jesus to make fun of him, but why would the criminals on either side of Jesus scoff at him, too? Maybe, as we say today, “because they could?” Perhaps, more accurately, because they didn’t know any better.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that, “The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way,” but Luke writes that “One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’” Now, perhaps, of all those who taunted and scoffed at Jesus that day, we can identify with these two the most.
“If you are this Messiah they say you say you are, then save yourself, and while you’re at it, save us, too!” This makes sense. They have come to the end of the line; they have no hope left of getting out of this nightmare in which they find themselves. There is no going back once one is nailed to a cross, the only way down comes after death. They are throwing taunts at Jesus, yes, but they do so with desperation in their voices.
They don’t really believe this guy can save anyone, but if he can, he might as well take them with him. It’s certainly worth a try. While the religious leaders mocked Jesus to make a point to the crowd and the soldiers scoffed at Jesus to make fun of him, the criminals on either side of Jesus taunted him as a desperate cry of self-preservation, the cry of the condemned who have no hope of reprieve.
Somewhere along the line, though, a change takes place, a miracle occurs. It isn’t in the religious leaders; they are still scoffing, ranting, and waiting for Jesus to die. It isn’t in the soldiers, though there is one later who experiences a revelation and comes to faith in Jesus. At this point in time, the soldiers are still taunting, mocking, passing time while they wait for the three men to die.
The miracle that happened was that one of the criminals had a change of heart; he gained a new understanding. This one man, hanging on a cross, this one who began by taunting Jesus, began to recognize who Jesus might be. As this realization breaks over him, he stops scoffing at Jesus, he quits asking for Jesus to come off the cross and take him with him, and he rebukes the one who is still jeering, saying “’Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’”
What changed his mind? We do not know. What happened that his eyes were opened? We are not told. How did his heart open in this way? The gospel writers do not say. All we know is that this one man, this criminal in the last hours of his life, realized he was a sinner in need of saving and that he was looking at the only one who could save him.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” was all he asked now. His rebellious spirit was gone, his taunts were silenced, his heart was repentant. He had confessed his belief and asked for forgiveness, and Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
We hear these words and know that Jesus is truly the Christ the King whom we honor this day. He is the only one who can speak to this criminal and who has the authority to give him this promise. While we love the words and have our own notions of paradise, the words that Jesus spoke to that man had a deeper meaning than we know, but one the man would have readily understood.
The word paradise comes from a Persian word that means beautiful garden, and that is probably close to what most of us imagine, on some scale or another, when we think of paradise, but there is more to it. It specifically refers to a king’s garden, not just any random pretty place where plants and trees grow.
In those days, kings had beautiful gardens and often kept exotic animals there, animals that came from far-off places, places where most people would never travel to see them in their natural habitat. These gardens would feature moving water, lush plantings, and tall trees all coming together to create a welcoming, peaceful, inviting environment. But, because this paradise belonged to the king, not many would ever get to see its beauty or feel its peace.
Sometimes, though, if someone had performed some heroic act, or done something that particularly pleased the king, they would be invited to come visit the king’s garden. It was a special treat, reserved for only a few privileged people to enjoy.
When Jesus tells the criminal that he will be with him this very day in paradise, the criminal understands that he has just been given an invitation to the King’s Garden, an invitation that has been given by the King himself. Now we see how well this lesson points us to the one and only King on this Christ the King Sunday.
Jesus is the King of heaven, he has invited the criminal, a vile sinner, to join him there in paradise. But he has also issued that invitation to all of us! We, too, are vile sinners, we too, deserve to die, but we, too, if we have realized our sinfulness, repented, and confessed our faith in Jesus Christ as the only one who can save us, we, too, have received a personal invitation from our King to join him in paradise – in his Kingly Garden.
I would say that gives us much to be thankful for on this Sunday before Thanksgiving, or any ordinary day of the week. I heard someone on the radio this week say that instead of Thanksgiving Day, we should celebrate thanksliving – we should live each day as if we have something to be thankful for, because we do!
I know we get so excited about Christmas that many of us often go right from Halloween decorations to Christmas preparations, but I don’t. I love Thanksgiving almost as much as I love Christmas. I love the reminder that every day should be thanksliving day, but I also love having one specific day to remind me of that in case I forget.
Jesus, our Heavenly King, came to earth, became one of us, died for us, and upon his death issued an open invitation that for all who would believe in him to be with him in paradise. Criminals, soldiers, religious leaders, and ordinary people, we have all received the invitation, but it is up to us to accept it.
Our gratitude flows from knowing that Jesus has done this for us, and spills over into other areas of our lives. We begin to see how thankful we are when we begin to notice all the other blessings we have received, too. Blessings like family, food, shelter, friendship, jobs, cars, and more, too many more to even list. But I do want to share with you one blessing I have found this week – the blessing that is the Butterball turkey hotline – in case you have any pressing questions this week as you prepare your Thanksgiving bird.
Others may be thankful for them, too, as here are a few of the calls Butterball has taken of the years:
1. A woman in her seventies, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, called for help because her mother said it was time she learned how to prepare the Thanksgiving meal.
2. A proud gentleman called to tell the staff how he wrapped his turkey in a towel, laid it in the floor and stomped on it breaking the bones so it would fit in his pan.
3. Another gentleman called to tell the operator he cut his turkey in half with a chain saw and wanted to know if the oil from the chain would adversely affect the turkey.
4. A disappointed woman called wondering why her turkey had no breast meat. After a conversation with a Talk-Line operator, it became apparent that the woman’s turkey was lying upside down.
5. One mom called in and told the Help Line operator about how her little girl had asked if they could slow-roast the turkey for three or four days because she liked how it made the house smell. The experts at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line told her that the turkey should only stay in the oven for a few hours and that it wasn’t a good idea to leave it cooking four days!
6. After discovering a turkey from 1969 in his dad’s freezer, a man called the Talk-Line at Butterball to ask about the best way to cook the 30+ year-old bird. Although the Talk-Line staffer recommended the open roasting pan method to cook most turkeys, this time she suggested that the first step was to purchase a fresher fowl!
7. When a Talk-Line staffer asked a caller: “What state is your turkey in” (meaning how thawed was it) the caller responded with, “Florida.”
And that, my friends, reminds me of one more blessing, the gift of laughter, especially when shared with loved ones. May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving week, giving thanks first to God for the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, our King, the one who invites us to come and live with him in paradise. AMEN.
PRAYER: God of blessings, we give you thanks this day for the gift of your son, Jesus. Thank you for his willingness to die for our sins so we don’t have to. Thank you for the invitation to come and be with him in paradise one day, a day that will last for all of eternity. May we be extra mindful of all the reasons we have to be thankful this week, and may we find ways to bless and serve others in your name, for their benefit, and for your glory, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83956/heaven-by-tim-smith
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/83887/thanksgiving-by-roy-fowler
Pastor Donna's Sermon Sunday, November 18, 2022 "Open-mouthed tourists"
November 13, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Open-Mouthed Tourists
Scripture: Luke 21:5-19
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
One ordinary August day in 2007, a bridge over the Mississippi River in Minnesota suddenly collapsed during rush hour. Some of you may remember this. This bridge was the second busiest bridge in the entire state of Minnesota, with 140,000 vehicles crossing it every day. Imagine how many were on that bridge when it gave way.
One hundred eleven vehicles fell with the bridge, going down 115 feet to the water and the riverbank below. Thirteen people were killed; one hundred forty-five were injured. The rest of the world sat glued to our television sets, wondering just how something like this could have happened.
The answer was simple: oxidation. Over the years, the iron in the soil and in parts of the bridge reacted with the oxygen in the air producing a red-colored, bridge-eating element called rust. The bridge had collapsed because rust had weakened the structure until it collapsed under all the stress of the weight it carried.
Rust is an insidious stalker that must be constantly battled. There was a time when it almost destroyed the Statue of Liberty due to its corrosive nature. Great amounts of money have been given to research in how to combat rust, hence the creation of stainless steel and rust-resistant paints. And much diligence is given to fight off its advancement by those who maintain structures like pipelines, bridges, statues, and even our Navy ships.
Those persons in charge of maintenance must keep a constant watch, checking carefully and constantly for the visible signs of rust creeping in, on, and over what they are carefully guarding, because no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we have spent, and no matter how much research has been done, we still do not know how to stop rust from forming.
In our scripture today, Jesus isn’t talking about rust, but he is talking about the same effect that rust has, when as a Christian, we do not keep diligently about our business of following him because we have let the wonders of the world steal our focus and capture our attention too completely.
Our scripture begins with, “When some were speaking about the temple, and how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’”
Jesus is with the disciples, and some of them are commenting on how beautiful the temple was. And believe me, it was beautiful. Huge stones set precisely one on top of the other created the walls. White granite and marble that shone so bright when the sun hit it that it dazzled the eyes, and gold accents everywhere. This was a wonderous, solid structure built to worship God, how could someone not be entranced by the sight of it?
Perhaps, that day, the disciples felt a little like tourists coming to see this ancient wonder. Standing at the foot of it, looking up the height of the wall, looking down the length of it, touching the stones for themselves in awe of the sheer size.
Think about a time when you have been a tourist somewhere and something caught your eye. Where were you? The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, your first trip to the ocean, the mountains, the desert? What did it feel like to see something for the first time in person, something that was so awe-inspiring that you just stood and stared, jaw hanging open, taking in the sight, maybe even forgetting at first to take a picture?
I’ve been there. I have been to a few places where I just wanted to drink in the scenery, imprinting it on my mind and my heart so I would never forget it. I have taken in the sight of something that seems like it has been around forever and will last forever, too.
That’s just how people felt when they saw the temple and that’s how the disciples felt as they looked at it that day, pondering the size and the strength of the building. They would never have thought that in a few short years it would be gone. But Jesus knew, and he warned them, “Look at it now, boys, because the day will come when not one stone will be left on top of another.” That must have blown their minds! It certainly threw them into a state of confusion.
They asked Jesus, “When will this happen? What should we look for as a sign to know that it is about to happen?” Their joy and wonder were suddenly forgotten in the heart-breaking sadness of a loss that had not yet happened and they wanted to be prepared. Notice, they did not ask how Jesus knew the temple would be destroyed. They didn’t need to ask. They have been with him and learning from him enough to know by now that Jesus just knew things. They didn’t even ask how the temple would be destroyed, either, because that didn’t matter. Jesus said it so they accepted it as fact. They had put their trust in him, and it wasn’t wavering now.
Jesus was good with holding their trust, but he wanted to make sure they knew that just because they could trust him, that didn’t mean they could trust everybody – or everything.
Do not put your trust in things, no matter how big or strong they seem – like bridges and buildings – they will not last forever. Do not put your trust in others, even if they claim to come in Jesus’ name, until you know they are trustworthy; they may be trying to lead you astray. The Holy Spirit was sent, in part, to help Christians have discernment over who to trust and who not to.
Jesus goes on to warn the disciples that bad times are coming. We have heard these words often, “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” There will be wars and uprisings to come, but they are not the end, yet. There will be earthquakes, famines, and plagues, dreadful signals of coming calamities, and even signs from heaven. When we see all these things, then we know the end is near.
Then, as if all of that isn’t bad enough, Jesus drops some more on them, “Before any of these things happen though, you will face persecution. Some will be arrested and handed over to the authorities and brought to trial to defend your faith.” Decide now,” he says, “whether you will choose to continue to follow me. If you do, though, know this – you do not have to have a ready-made speech to give on that day, for I will give you the words at just the time you need them.”
There’s some comfort. In times of trouble, when everything seems hopeless, when we are called on to defend ourselves and our faith, Jesus himself will come to our rescue by giving us the wisdom to speak and the words to say that will leave all others dumfounded. They will not be able to refute us or contradict us. I can only imagine how relieved the disciples were to hear that bit of good news. I know how relieved I am to hear it.
It's also good news because in these trials, there will be people, sometimes high-up, important people, who will hear the testimony of those on trial and through them, they will hear the gospel. Perhaps these people would never have heard it any other way, perhaps they have heard it before and ignored it but now they will hear it again and it will take root. Being arrested and put on trial doesn’t sound like anything good, but in these cases, God will use their trials and their testimony to reach the lost in new ways.
Yes, there will be hard times, and terrible circumstances will confine us when we least expect it, and no one wants that, but thank you, Jesus, for speaking through us on our behalf. It will look like we are speaking, it will sound like us talking, but the words will be Jesus’ words, not our own. I don’t know about you, but in those kinds of circumstances, I wouldn’t know what to say on my own, and if I did come up with something, it would probably just get me into more trouble than when I started. Jesus’ words are the only words that will save us in those times. Again, I say, “Thank you, Jesus.”
This past Friday was Veterans Day, and I want to thank all of our Veterans who have and are serving to keep our country safe. I believe that the United States of America is the best country ever and I thank God that I was born here. We have it so easy here compared to other countries. We have freedoms that people in other countries can only dream of achieving one day.
This country is strong and independent, the most powerful nation there is. But I have a word of caution based upon Jesus’ lesson today. Do not put all your trust in this country – as great as it is – because there is no guarantee that it will last forever. Look at the history of the world; Rome may have been the biggest and greatest empire in the world, especially in Jesus’ time, but the Roman empire only lasted for about a thousand years.
Now, a thousand years is a long time, but it isn’t forever. Rome fell, others took its place, time moved on. Our country is almost two hundred fifty years old. That’s a long time, nothing near one thousand years yet, but still, pretty good. But our country isn’t infallible. Jesus is. Our country may not last forever; Jesus is eternal. He was present at creation, he is present with us today, and he will be present with us as we live out our eternal lives with him in heaven. Jesus can be counted on. Jesus can be trusted, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Jesus didn’t want the disciples to put all their faith and trust in something or someone that wouldn’t last, he didn’t want them to be so awed by beautiful buildings and pretty words that they would blindly follow like open-mouthed tourists on holiday following a tour guide. Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples saw him, trusted him, had absolute faith in him, because in Jesus they would find light and life and love.
Friends, Jesus wants the same of us, and for us, today. Big, beautiful buildings can be admired. Natural wonders can be gazed at and appreciated. We can marvel at bridges that span great spaces, bringing us from one piece of land to the next. All of that is good, but just remember, rust is always lurking just out of sight, eating away at the things we see, destroying even what looks like it should last forever.
Only Jesus will last forever. In him we put our faith, in him we find the wisdom to speak in ways that defend our faith. In him we are given life. Thank you, Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for being the one in whom we can put our trust, thank you for teaching us that if we keep our focus on you, we will not easily be led astray from the path you have laid out for us. Thank you for the comfort you give us by your reassurance that when we witness to others about the gospel, the words are yours, given through us, that others might see you and come to know you. May we be ever faithful to the one who alone is eternal and worthy of our trust. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Open-Mouthed Tourists
Scripture: Luke 21:5-19
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
One ordinary August day in 2007, a bridge over the Mississippi River in Minnesota suddenly collapsed during rush hour. Some of you may remember this. This bridge was the second busiest bridge in the entire state of Minnesota, with 140,000 vehicles crossing it every day. Imagine how many were on that bridge when it gave way.
One hundred eleven vehicles fell with the bridge, going down 115 feet to the water and the riverbank below. Thirteen people were killed; one hundred forty-five were injured. The rest of the world sat glued to our television sets, wondering just how something like this could have happened.
The answer was simple: oxidation. Over the years, the iron in the soil and in parts of the bridge reacted with the oxygen in the air producing a red-colored, bridge-eating element called rust. The bridge had collapsed because rust had weakened the structure until it collapsed under all the stress of the weight it carried.
Rust is an insidious stalker that must be constantly battled. There was a time when it almost destroyed the Statue of Liberty due to its corrosive nature. Great amounts of money have been given to research in how to combat rust, hence the creation of stainless steel and rust-resistant paints. And much diligence is given to fight off its advancement by those who maintain structures like pipelines, bridges, statues, and even our Navy ships.
Those persons in charge of maintenance must keep a constant watch, checking carefully and constantly for the visible signs of rust creeping in, on, and over what they are carefully guarding, because no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we have spent, and no matter how much research has been done, we still do not know how to stop rust from forming.
In our scripture today, Jesus isn’t talking about rust, but he is talking about the same effect that rust has, when as a Christian, we do not keep diligently about our business of following him because we have let the wonders of the world steal our focus and capture our attention too completely.
Our scripture begins with, “When some were speaking about the temple, and how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’”
Jesus is with the disciples, and some of them are commenting on how beautiful the temple was. And believe me, it was beautiful. Huge stones set precisely one on top of the other created the walls. White granite and marble that shone so bright when the sun hit it that it dazzled the eyes, and gold accents everywhere. This was a wonderous, solid structure built to worship God, how could someone not be entranced by the sight of it?
Perhaps, that day, the disciples felt a little like tourists coming to see this ancient wonder. Standing at the foot of it, looking up the height of the wall, looking down the length of it, touching the stones for themselves in awe of the sheer size.
Think about a time when you have been a tourist somewhere and something caught your eye. Where were you? The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, your first trip to the ocean, the mountains, the desert? What did it feel like to see something for the first time in person, something that was so awe-inspiring that you just stood and stared, jaw hanging open, taking in the sight, maybe even forgetting at first to take a picture?
I’ve been there. I have been to a few places where I just wanted to drink in the scenery, imprinting it on my mind and my heart so I would never forget it. I have taken in the sight of something that seems like it has been around forever and will last forever, too.
That’s just how people felt when they saw the temple and that’s how the disciples felt as they looked at it that day, pondering the size and the strength of the building. They would never have thought that in a few short years it would be gone. But Jesus knew, and he warned them, “Look at it now, boys, because the day will come when not one stone will be left on top of another.” That must have blown their minds! It certainly threw them into a state of confusion.
They asked Jesus, “When will this happen? What should we look for as a sign to know that it is about to happen?” Their joy and wonder were suddenly forgotten in the heart-breaking sadness of a loss that had not yet happened and they wanted to be prepared. Notice, they did not ask how Jesus knew the temple would be destroyed. They didn’t need to ask. They have been with him and learning from him enough to know by now that Jesus just knew things. They didn’t even ask how the temple would be destroyed, either, because that didn’t matter. Jesus said it so they accepted it as fact. They had put their trust in him, and it wasn’t wavering now.
Jesus was good with holding their trust, but he wanted to make sure they knew that just because they could trust him, that didn’t mean they could trust everybody – or everything.
Do not put your trust in things, no matter how big or strong they seem – like bridges and buildings – they will not last forever. Do not put your trust in others, even if they claim to come in Jesus’ name, until you know they are trustworthy; they may be trying to lead you astray. The Holy Spirit was sent, in part, to help Christians have discernment over who to trust and who not to.
Jesus goes on to warn the disciples that bad times are coming. We have heard these words often, “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” There will be wars and uprisings to come, but they are not the end, yet. There will be earthquakes, famines, and plagues, dreadful signals of coming calamities, and even signs from heaven. When we see all these things, then we know the end is near.
Then, as if all of that isn’t bad enough, Jesus drops some more on them, “Before any of these things happen though, you will face persecution. Some will be arrested and handed over to the authorities and brought to trial to defend your faith.” Decide now,” he says, “whether you will choose to continue to follow me. If you do, though, know this – you do not have to have a ready-made speech to give on that day, for I will give you the words at just the time you need them.”
There’s some comfort. In times of trouble, when everything seems hopeless, when we are called on to defend ourselves and our faith, Jesus himself will come to our rescue by giving us the wisdom to speak and the words to say that will leave all others dumfounded. They will not be able to refute us or contradict us. I can only imagine how relieved the disciples were to hear that bit of good news. I know how relieved I am to hear it.
It's also good news because in these trials, there will be people, sometimes high-up, important people, who will hear the testimony of those on trial and through them, they will hear the gospel. Perhaps these people would never have heard it any other way, perhaps they have heard it before and ignored it but now they will hear it again and it will take root. Being arrested and put on trial doesn’t sound like anything good, but in these cases, God will use their trials and their testimony to reach the lost in new ways.
Yes, there will be hard times, and terrible circumstances will confine us when we least expect it, and no one wants that, but thank you, Jesus, for speaking through us on our behalf. It will look like we are speaking, it will sound like us talking, but the words will be Jesus’ words, not our own. I don’t know about you, but in those kinds of circumstances, I wouldn’t know what to say on my own, and if I did come up with something, it would probably just get me into more trouble than when I started. Jesus’ words are the only words that will save us in those times. Again, I say, “Thank you, Jesus.”
This past Friday was Veterans Day, and I want to thank all of our Veterans who have and are serving to keep our country safe. I believe that the United States of America is the best country ever and I thank God that I was born here. We have it so easy here compared to other countries. We have freedoms that people in other countries can only dream of achieving one day.
This country is strong and independent, the most powerful nation there is. But I have a word of caution based upon Jesus’ lesson today. Do not put all your trust in this country – as great as it is – because there is no guarantee that it will last forever. Look at the history of the world; Rome may have been the biggest and greatest empire in the world, especially in Jesus’ time, but the Roman empire only lasted for about a thousand years.
Now, a thousand years is a long time, but it isn’t forever. Rome fell, others took its place, time moved on. Our country is almost two hundred fifty years old. That’s a long time, nothing near one thousand years yet, but still, pretty good. But our country isn’t infallible. Jesus is. Our country may not last forever; Jesus is eternal. He was present at creation, he is present with us today, and he will be present with us as we live out our eternal lives with him in heaven. Jesus can be counted on. Jesus can be trusted, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Jesus didn’t want the disciples to put all their faith and trust in something or someone that wouldn’t last, he didn’t want them to be so awed by beautiful buildings and pretty words that they would blindly follow like open-mouthed tourists on holiday following a tour guide. Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples saw him, trusted him, had absolute faith in him, because in Jesus they would find light and life and love.
Friends, Jesus wants the same of us, and for us, today. Big, beautiful buildings can be admired. Natural wonders can be gazed at and appreciated. We can marvel at bridges that span great spaces, bringing us from one piece of land to the next. All of that is good, but just remember, rust is always lurking just out of sight, eating away at the things we see, destroying even what looks like it should last forever.
Only Jesus will last forever. In him we put our faith, in him we find the wisdom to speak in ways that defend our faith. In him we are given life. Thank you, Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for being the one in whom we can put our trust, thank you for teaching us that if we keep our focus on you, we will not easily be led astray from the path you have laid out for us. Thank you for the comfort you give us by your reassurance that when we witness to others about the gospel, the words are yours, given through us, that others might see you and come to know you. May we be ever faithful to the one who alone is eternal and worthy of our trust. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON NOVEMBER 6, 2022 TITLED "MAN OUT ON A LIMB"
November 6, 2022, All Saints Sunday
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Man Out on a Limb
Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
It seems a little funny to be hearing about Zacchaeus, a man who was feared and disliked by his own people, on the day we are honoring the saints who have been good examples of the Christian faith, but here we are, so let’s see what happens when Zacchaeus has his own face to face encounter with Jesus. Perhaps we can learn something from even this little man.
Jesus is in Jericho. He is passing through the town and a man named Zacchaeus, who must have heard about Jesus from someone, decided he wanted to see Jesus for himself. Luke tells us that this Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and he was very rich. We can assume that it was his occupation that had made him rich, a job that made him also feared and disliked by the people – his own people, the Jews.
Working for the enemy, the Roman government, was bad enough, but being a tax collector, especially the chief tax collector, put Zacchaeus at a low level socially. His only friends may have been the other tax collectors; we don’t know if he had a relationship with his family, we don’t know about his religious life. It seems pretty likely he would not have been invited to sit with the more respectable people in the local synagogue, perhaps he would not have even been welcomed there at all.
Perhaps Zacchaeus has become so accustomed to being an outcast in his own hometown that he doesn’t even notice anymore when he is snubbed by a neighbor. But today, Zacchaeus is full of excitement and anticipation. He’s been hearing good things about this man, Jesus, and he wants to see him for himself. Zacchaeus doesn’t seem to want anything more than to just get a glimpse of the man who has been causing quite a stir all over the land, but even that is asking too much.
Wherever Jesus goes, he draws a great crowd of people who follow him and crowd around him, wanting to touch him, talk to him, be noticed by him, maybe even be healed by him. Alas, Zacchaeus is too short to see over the crowd; what is he to do? “I know,” he thinks to himself, “Jesus will pass right by that tall tree over there. If I go climb up in its branches, I will be able to get a good view.” So, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree.
Now, Zacchaeus may not have been well-liked or even considered a respectable person in the community, but for him to run and climb a tree is going too far – even for him. Grown men did not run. Running indicated hurry and gave the wrong impression. Running made a person look undignified and that just wouldn’t do. Climbing a tree was fine for young boys but grown men definitely did not climb trees – how shocking! One would think that even a lowly tax collector would know better than to act like that.
Zacchaeus was beyond caring about how he looked to others. He had no real social standing, no one to impress, let them be shocked, all he wanted was to see Jesus and he didn’t care what he had to do or how others saw him in the process. They already made fun of him for being short, he might as well act like a child this day if that is what it would take to do what he wanted, and he just wanted t see this Jesus guy.
So, Zacchaeus climbed up that tree and waited for Jesus to walk by. We don’t know how long he waited. We don’t know how well covered he may have been in those sheltering branches. We do know that Jesus, walking by, suddenly stopped, looked up into the tree, and called out, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
Can you imagine Zacchaeus’ surprise in that moment? Here he is, face to face with Jesus, a man he had never met before, a man who somehow knew his name, a man who was telling him to come down quick so they could go to his house! It’s a wonder that Zacchaeus didn’t fall right out of that tree in complete shock.
Oh, and can you imagine the surprise of the townspeople when they heard Jesus call out and realized who he was talking to, who he was calling to and who he was planning to go home with? They were not happy about this turn of events at all. They began to grumble amongst themselves. They wondered who should tell Jesus just who he was about to eat a meal with, a vile sinner. Maybe he didn’t realize; someone should speak up and stop this nonsense.
Zacchaeus came down from the tree. I can picture the crowd parting a bit, realizing who he is and not wanting to be near him enough to touch him – they didn’t want his cooties rubbing off on them, after all. Zacchaeus walks up to Jesus and makes a surprising announcement: “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
What? What brought that on? Jesus didn’t mention Zacchaeus’ occupation. Nothing had been said about stealing money or participating in fraud. Jesus didn’t have to. Zacchaeus, in that encounter, standing face to face with Jesus on that street in Jericho, was instantly transformed.
That’s the way it is when we encounter Jesus, when we meet him face to face. We are transformed. There is a difference between knowing who Jesus is and knowing Jesus. It is not in the knowing who, but in the knowing him that we, too are transformed.
We may not look any different on the outside, sure. We may still look in the mirror and see the same face we have always seen, but if we look close enough, if we have truly had a personal encounter with Jesus, then we can look in the mirror and see a reflection of him when we see ourselves. And so can other people, too, even if we aren’t aware they can.
There was a church who adopted for themselves the theme “Forty Days of Love” for that year’s Lenten season. Each week, members of the congregation were encouraged to show their love and appreciation of others in different ways. The first week, they were asked to write a note or a letter to someone in the congregation who had made a positive impact in their lives.
At the end of that Sunday’s service, a man from the congregation asked to speak to the pastor. This man, a former football player, a hunter and fisherman, a strong, independent, man’s man, told his pastor, "I love you and I love this church, but I'm not going to participate in this Forty Days of Love stuff.”
He went on to say, “It's OK for some folks," he said, "but it's a little too sentimental and syrupy for me."
The next Sunday, the man once again asked to speak to the pastor after church. "I want to apologize for what I said last Sunday," he told him, "about the Forty Days of Love. I realized on Wednesday that I was wrong."
“What happened on Wednesday?” the pastor asked. “I got one of those letters in the mail. It was a total surprise, and it came from someone I would never expect to hear from like this.”
This man was so touched by this letter that he put it in his wallet so he could carry it with him wherever he goes. The letter detailed how this man had been a positive influence on the writer’s life and he thanked him for being such a good example of faith. The letter, explaining how this man had affected the life of another, affected him and transformed his outlook on sharing love with others.
As a result of his transformation, this man then sat down and wrote out ten letters himself and sent them to people that he wanted to know had been a positive influence on him. This man had encountered Jesus, not sitting in a tree, but through a letter that came in his mailbox, a letter that came from a loving heart and that encounter changed his own heart and helped him reflect Jesus even more that he had before.
However he chooses to do it, God breaks into our lives, and we are changed through our encounter. Zacchaeus discovered that truth when he encountered Jesus. After Zacchaeus showed he had been transformed by announcing he would pay back all he had gotten through fraud and fear, Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
We don’t know how many lives were affected by Zacchaeus’ transformed heart, just as we don’t always know what will happen when we share our faith with another. We may never even see the results of sharing our faith. We may never know what an influence we have been for someone else, unless, like that former football player, we receive a letter of thanks, but listen to one such instance of when faith was shared, a seed was planted, and God grew it abundantly.
Max Lucado, in his book, “The Angels Were Silent,” connects the dots for us beginning in the 1800s when a Sunday school teacher named Kimball happened to share the gospel with a shoe salesman in Boston. A seed was planted and sprouted, and that shoe salesman, Dwight L. Moody, went on to become a world-renowned evangelist.
Moody became a major influence on a preacher named Frederick B. Meyer and Meyer began to preach on college campuses, thus converting to the faith a man named J, Wilbur Chapman. Chapman went on to become involved with the ministry of the YMCA, and he invited the famous former baseball player turned evangelist, Billy Sunday, to come and preach at a revival in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sunday’s preaching lit a fire in some of the town’s leaders and they ended up planning another revival, this time inviting Mordecai Hamm to come and preach.
That revival was attended by a young man who made the decision to give his life to Christ right then and there – that man was Billy Graham, who would go on to fill stadiums with thousands of people who would come to hear the word of God and accept Jesus as their Savior. All because one day a Sunday school teacher shared the gospel with a shoe salesman.
On this day, when we remember anew that we, as followers of Christ, follow in the footsteps of the saints who have gone before us. We can stand tall and strong in our faith because of how they have led by example. Now, it is our turn to remember that there are others who are watching us, learning from us. Will we be a positive influence on them? Will we be an example of what it looks like to live as a Christian in all circumstances, in the good times and in the hard times, through all of life’s highs and lows?
We may never know for sure who is watching and learning from us, we may never get to see that our lives impacted another and they came to be a believer because of something we said or did, and that is okay. It’s good to know, yes, but it’s not necessary. That shoe salesman had no way of knowing that one day, thousands of people would flock to stadiums and come to know Christ because he shared the gospel with just one person. But it’s okay of we don’t know the results of our seed planting because God knows. It is God who makes the seeds grow; it is God who is reflected back into the world through us when we have our own face to face encounter with him through his son Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Oh, Lord, we give you thanks for the saints we remember today, that through them, we are here to worship you. And we give you thanks, too that you see us, even when we try to hide in a tree, you seek us out and call us to come to you, letting us know that you must be with us this day. Lord, help us to honor you, and honor those who have gone before us, by being your agent in this world, by being a positive influence on others, by sharing the gospel that brings life and love to all who accept it. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-sermon-for-all-saints-day-revd-martin-dale-sermon-on-all-saints-day-204852
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Man Out on a Limb
Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
It seems a little funny to be hearing about Zacchaeus, a man who was feared and disliked by his own people, on the day we are honoring the saints who have been good examples of the Christian faith, but here we are, so let’s see what happens when Zacchaeus has his own face to face encounter with Jesus. Perhaps we can learn something from even this little man.
Jesus is in Jericho. He is passing through the town and a man named Zacchaeus, who must have heard about Jesus from someone, decided he wanted to see Jesus for himself. Luke tells us that this Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and he was very rich. We can assume that it was his occupation that had made him rich, a job that made him also feared and disliked by the people – his own people, the Jews.
Working for the enemy, the Roman government, was bad enough, but being a tax collector, especially the chief tax collector, put Zacchaeus at a low level socially. His only friends may have been the other tax collectors; we don’t know if he had a relationship with his family, we don’t know about his religious life. It seems pretty likely he would not have been invited to sit with the more respectable people in the local synagogue, perhaps he would not have even been welcomed there at all.
Perhaps Zacchaeus has become so accustomed to being an outcast in his own hometown that he doesn’t even notice anymore when he is snubbed by a neighbor. But today, Zacchaeus is full of excitement and anticipation. He’s been hearing good things about this man, Jesus, and he wants to see him for himself. Zacchaeus doesn’t seem to want anything more than to just get a glimpse of the man who has been causing quite a stir all over the land, but even that is asking too much.
Wherever Jesus goes, he draws a great crowd of people who follow him and crowd around him, wanting to touch him, talk to him, be noticed by him, maybe even be healed by him. Alas, Zacchaeus is too short to see over the crowd; what is he to do? “I know,” he thinks to himself, “Jesus will pass right by that tall tree over there. If I go climb up in its branches, I will be able to get a good view.” So, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree.
Now, Zacchaeus may not have been well-liked or even considered a respectable person in the community, but for him to run and climb a tree is going too far – even for him. Grown men did not run. Running indicated hurry and gave the wrong impression. Running made a person look undignified and that just wouldn’t do. Climbing a tree was fine for young boys but grown men definitely did not climb trees – how shocking! One would think that even a lowly tax collector would know better than to act like that.
Zacchaeus was beyond caring about how he looked to others. He had no real social standing, no one to impress, let them be shocked, all he wanted was to see Jesus and he didn’t care what he had to do or how others saw him in the process. They already made fun of him for being short, he might as well act like a child this day if that is what it would take to do what he wanted, and he just wanted t see this Jesus guy.
So, Zacchaeus climbed up that tree and waited for Jesus to walk by. We don’t know how long he waited. We don’t know how well covered he may have been in those sheltering branches. We do know that Jesus, walking by, suddenly stopped, looked up into the tree, and called out, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
Can you imagine Zacchaeus’ surprise in that moment? Here he is, face to face with Jesus, a man he had never met before, a man who somehow knew his name, a man who was telling him to come down quick so they could go to his house! It’s a wonder that Zacchaeus didn’t fall right out of that tree in complete shock.
Oh, and can you imagine the surprise of the townspeople when they heard Jesus call out and realized who he was talking to, who he was calling to and who he was planning to go home with? They were not happy about this turn of events at all. They began to grumble amongst themselves. They wondered who should tell Jesus just who he was about to eat a meal with, a vile sinner. Maybe he didn’t realize; someone should speak up and stop this nonsense.
Zacchaeus came down from the tree. I can picture the crowd parting a bit, realizing who he is and not wanting to be near him enough to touch him – they didn’t want his cooties rubbing off on them, after all. Zacchaeus walks up to Jesus and makes a surprising announcement: “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
What? What brought that on? Jesus didn’t mention Zacchaeus’ occupation. Nothing had been said about stealing money or participating in fraud. Jesus didn’t have to. Zacchaeus, in that encounter, standing face to face with Jesus on that street in Jericho, was instantly transformed.
That’s the way it is when we encounter Jesus, when we meet him face to face. We are transformed. There is a difference between knowing who Jesus is and knowing Jesus. It is not in the knowing who, but in the knowing him that we, too are transformed.
We may not look any different on the outside, sure. We may still look in the mirror and see the same face we have always seen, but if we look close enough, if we have truly had a personal encounter with Jesus, then we can look in the mirror and see a reflection of him when we see ourselves. And so can other people, too, even if we aren’t aware they can.
There was a church who adopted for themselves the theme “Forty Days of Love” for that year’s Lenten season. Each week, members of the congregation were encouraged to show their love and appreciation of others in different ways. The first week, they were asked to write a note or a letter to someone in the congregation who had made a positive impact in their lives.
At the end of that Sunday’s service, a man from the congregation asked to speak to the pastor. This man, a former football player, a hunter and fisherman, a strong, independent, man’s man, told his pastor, "I love you and I love this church, but I'm not going to participate in this Forty Days of Love stuff.”
He went on to say, “It's OK for some folks," he said, "but it's a little too sentimental and syrupy for me."
The next Sunday, the man once again asked to speak to the pastor after church. "I want to apologize for what I said last Sunday," he told him, "about the Forty Days of Love. I realized on Wednesday that I was wrong."
“What happened on Wednesday?” the pastor asked. “I got one of those letters in the mail. It was a total surprise, and it came from someone I would never expect to hear from like this.”
This man was so touched by this letter that he put it in his wallet so he could carry it with him wherever he goes. The letter detailed how this man had been a positive influence on the writer’s life and he thanked him for being such a good example of faith. The letter, explaining how this man had affected the life of another, affected him and transformed his outlook on sharing love with others.
As a result of his transformation, this man then sat down and wrote out ten letters himself and sent them to people that he wanted to know had been a positive influence on him. This man had encountered Jesus, not sitting in a tree, but through a letter that came in his mailbox, a letter that came from a loving heart and that encounter changed his own heart and helped him reflect Jesus even more that he had before.
However he chooses to do it, God breaks into our lives, and we are changed through our encounter. Zacchaeus discovered that truth when he encountered Jesus. After Zacchaeus showed he had been transformed by announcing he would pay back all he had gotten through fraud and fear, Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
We don’t know how many lives were affected by Zacchaeus’ transformed heart, just as we don’t always know what will happen when we share our faith with another. We may never even see the results of sharing our faith. We may never know what an influence we have been for someone else, unless, like that former football player, we receive a letter of thanks, but listen to one such instance of when faith was shared, a seed was planted, and God grew it abundantly.
Max Lucado, in his book, “The Angels Were Silent,” connects the dots for us beginning in the 1800s when a Sunday school teacher named Kimball happened to share the gospel with a shoe salesman in Boston. A seed was planted and sprouted, and that shoe salesman, Dwight L. Moody, went on to become a world-renowned evangelist.
Moody became a major influence on a preacher named Frederick B. Meyer and Meyer began to preach on college campuses, thus converting to the faith a man named J, Wilbur Chapman. Chapman went on to become involved with the ministry of the YMCA, and he invited the famous former baseball player turned evangelist, Billy Sunday, to come and preach at a revival in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sunday’s preaching lit a fire in some of the town’s leaders and they ended up planning another revival, this time inviting Mordecai Hamm to come and preach.
That revival was attended by a young man who made the decision to give his life to Christ right then and there – that man was Billy Graham, who would go on to fill stadiums with thousands of people who would come to hear the word of God and accept Jesus as their Savior. All because one day a Sunday school teacher shared the gospel with a shoe salesman.
On this day, when we remember anew that we, as followers of Christ, follow in the footsteps of the saints who have gone before us. We can stand tall and strong in our faith because of how they have led by example. Now, it is our turn to remember that there are others who are watching us, learning from us. Will we be a positive influence on them? Will we be an example of what it looks like to live as a Christian in all circumstances, in the good times and in the hard times, through all of life’s highs and lows?
We may never know for sure who is watching and learning from us, we may never get to see that our lives impacted another and they came to be a believer because of something we said or did, and that is okay. It’s good to know, yes, but it’s not necessary. That shoe salesman had no way of knowing that one day, thousands of people would flock to stadiums and come to know Christ because he shared the gospel with just one person. But it’s okay of we don’t know the results of our seed planting because God knows. It is God who makes the seeds grow; it is God who is reflected back into the world through us when we have our own face to face encounter with him through his son Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Oh, Lord, we give you thanks for the saints we remember today, that through them, we are here to worship you. And we give you thanks, too that you see us, even when we try to hide in a tree, you seek us out and call us to come to you, letting us know that you must be with us this day. Lord, help us to honor you, and honor those who have gone before us, by being your agent in this world, by being a positive influence on others, by sharing the gospel that brings life and love to all who accept it. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/face-to-face-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-sermon-for-all-saints-day-revd-martin-dale-sermon-on-all-saints-day-204852
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON oCTOBER 30, 2022 "BAND OF PUZZLERS"
October 30, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Band of Puzzlers
Scripture: Luke 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”
Do you like riddles? I do. I remember my grandpa as a fun-loving guy who loved to stump us with silly riddle-like questions. One I remember is “Do you carry your lunch, or do you walk to work?” Now that never made sense to me a the time. I was a child who liked logic and concrete answers. One could answer either of the parts of this riddle, but the riddle as a whole made no sense because the two had nothing to do with each other. You can carry your lunch and you can walk to work – there was no way to answer with simply yes or no.
I have come to appreciate that the humor in this riddle for my grandfather was in watching us kids argue with him over the illogical question that he had posed. I have also come to appreciate riddles more as I have gotten older, so I want to share one with you this morning.
“You’re driving a bus for Sunday school. At your first stop you pick up 7 kids. At the next stop you pick up 4 kids and at the next stop 6 kids. You drop them all off and go out for more. The next three stops you get 5 kids each and the last stop 2, and actually drop off 3. How old is the driver?”
If you figure it out, don’t say anything yet. If you haven’t yet, don’t worry, I will give you the answer before we leave here today.
Riddles are nothing new, In Judges 14:14 we even find Samson using a riddle to try to win a bet from the men in his wedding party: “Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.” Now, for the answer to that one, I’ll let you go look it up later. Riddles today are meant to be fun, though. We puzzle them out and think on them. Some are really good at “getting it” and some of us take longer – or we never get there until someone takes pity on us and gives us the answer.
In today’s scripture passage, the band of puzzlers who came to Jesus with their riddle did not come for a fun time but to make fun of Jesus and his teachings. Let me give you a little background on these fellows so you can understand who they were.
The Sadducees were the ultra-conservative religious leaders of the day. They only held that the Torah – the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – were the authoritative word of God. They didn’t read or ascribe to any of the teachings of the books of the prophets and they revered Moses because it was in these books that the Law of Moses was given and instituted. They were very strict, and legalistic, in their beliefs and in the way they lived.
This is why they opposed Jesus so soundly – they rejected most of his teachings as heretical – love you enemies and pay the tax to Caesar that Caesar requires were ideas that countered their teachings from the Torah. And don’t get them started about how he let his disciples eat without washing their hands first, how Jesus ate with sinners, and, ow he broke the law of the Sabbath by working! We call it healing and loving, but they did not see it that way at all.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They were content with what they had in the here and now. They were the wealthy leaders, the ones who today would drive the big fancy cars and whose wives would shop at only the exclusive department stores. They had everything they needed and wanted, so the idea of anything better after death was foreign to them. They had a vague notion of eternity, but it was an eternity through the legacy of family. Their name would live on through generations of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and on and on. The idea that one would live again after death went against everything they believed in.
So, when they came to Jesus and posed their riddle to him, they were not coming to learn, they were not coming to join the party, they were coming to make an attempt to ridicule Jesus in front of others, to show him up with their superior knowledge, to trip him up with a question they knew had no answer.
Do you ever, when you read yet another passage where someone is trying to make Jesus appear to be foolish, do you ever just shake your head and sigh? Do you ever wonder how Jesus could have responded to them in the ways that he did? He never gets angry or turns them away. We might be tempted to brush them off and walk away, but Jesus never does. Of course, he knows their intentions, but he takes them at face-value and answers their question as if they were seeking a true answer.
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; then the second, and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
Now, let’s be honest, we read this, and we think, “Ugh! That poor woman.” It seems odd that she is passed form one brother to the next as each one dies. And it is odd when we look at it from our twenty-first century perspective. We need to remember, though that this wasn’t the twenty-first century. In those days, a woman was dependent on her family for support. She was not typically allowed to own property and was not allowed to inherit from her husband when he died. This edict from Moses was a means of ensuring that a woman who became a widow with no male children would be taken care of and protected. It also was a way of ensuring that the family name would be carried out and the family legacy live on through potential children with the subsequent brothers of her husband.
In trying to make their point to Jesus, the Sadducees use a bit of hyperbole – this woman wasn’t married to just two brothers but seven brothers in all. In their minds, this sorting out of whose wife she was in eternity – an eternity they did not believe existed, would be a fiasco. They asked their question and then sat back in eager anticipation of seeing Jesus squirm at trying to answer this one. But Jesus does answer it. He answers it seriously, as though they were asking him a serious question instead of a foolish riddle.
“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage,” Jesus says. This age, those who live in this world, but not in eternity. There is a difference in the here and now and the then and there. Things work differently, needs are different.
In this age marriage is necessary. Through marriage, the marriage of a man and a woman, family is created, children are born, legacies are created or continued. In the next age, none of that matters. In eternity, there is no marriage, everyone there is a child of God, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. No children will be born, no one will die, family is every single person in relation to one another through Jesus Christ.
When we take marriage vows, we say, “Until death we do part,” because in heaven we will know our spouse, we will love our spouse, but we will love them not as our husband or our wife, but as our brother or our sister. We will be in the presence and the protection of God forever and ever and that is all we will need. The truth of this is in Jesus’ own words, “those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”
We won’t be like angels in that we will have wings and halos and sit around on clouds playing a harp all day. Truth be told, that isn’t really an accurate description of angels anyway, just what we usually picture based upon years of paintings and pictures we have seen. We will be like angels in two ways, though – we will not marry, and we will not die. We will be children of God and children of the resurrection.
Then Jesus uses what the Sadducees know – Moses’ words – to show them how wrong they are in their disbelief of the resurrection. He isn’t snarky about it, he is still answering them as though they want to learn something important because he hopes they do. He says to them, “And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
By the time of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for many years, yet God speaks of them as though they are still living because they are. God is not the God of these faithful men who were, but who are. And Jesus finishes with, “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.” How can this be if there is no resurrection of the dead? Yet Jesus has just shown them that their own hero of the faith would disagree with their belief. That is a puzzle for this band of puzzlers to decipher.
In his words to the Sadducees, Jesus is teaching that from the very beginning of scripture, we see the God’s message that he is the God of the living, and this message continues through to the final AMEN at the end of Revelation. Yes, in this world we will all die – but as a follower of Jesus, the moment our mortal body dies, we are raised to life with God in heaven, redeemed by his grace and granted the gift of eternal life to worship and serve our God who gives life, even in death.
Perhaps that is our puzzle to figure out – why would he do that for us? How could he love us that much? Or perhaps we aren’t meant to figure it out at all; we are simply mean to believe, receive, and live for him in this age and with him in the age to come.
Oh, and before I forget – did anyone have the answer to the riddle from the beginning? Just how old was that bus driver, anyway?
As we have a little fun with that, let us remember that this is the day that the Lord has made, and he made it for our pleasure and his glory so let us rejoice in this gift and give him thanks. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this day, a day that brought us here together to worship and rejoice in your gift of grace and love through your son, Jesus. We celebrate this gift that you gave so freely that we might one day be with you, in your heavenly kingdom, forever. That was your plan from the very beginning, and though we are puzzled as to why you love us so, we are so happy you do. Help us live into the calling you have put on our lives with joy, that others might see you through us, and come to know you for themselves. AMEN.
Rootstown
Series: Face to Face with Jesus
Message: Band of Puzzlers
Scripture: Luke 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”
Do you like riddles? I do. I remember my grandpa as a fun-loving guy who loved to stump us with silly riddle-like questions. One I remember is “Do you carry your lunch, or do you walk to work?” Now that never made sense to me a the time. I was a child who liked logic and concrete answers. One could answer either of the parts of this riddle, but the riddle as a whole made no sense because the two had nothing to do with each other. You can carry your lunch and you can walk to work – there was no way to answer with simply yes or no.
I have come to appreciate that the humor in this riddle for my grandfather was in watching us kids argue with him over the illogical question that he had posed. I have also come to appreciate riddles more as I have gotten older, so I want to share one with you this morning.
“You’re driving a bus for Sunday school. At your first stop you pick up 7 kids. At the next stop you pick up 4 kids and at the next stop 6 kids. You drop them all off and go out for more. The next three stops you get 5 kids each and the last stop 2, and actually drop off 3. How old is the driver?”
If you figure it out, don’t say anything yet. If you haven’t yet, don’t worry, I will give you the answer before we leave here today.
Riddles are nothing new, In Judges 14:14 we even find Samson using a riddle to try to win a bet from the men in his wedding party: “Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.” Now, for the answer to that one, I’ll let you go look it up later. Riddles today are meant to be fun, though. We puzzle them out and think on them. Some are really good at “getting it” and some of us take longer – or we never get there until someone takes pity on us and gives us the answer.
In today’s scripture passage, the band of puzzlers who came to Jesus with their riddle did not come for a fun time but to make fun of Jesus and his teachings. Let me give you a little background on these fellows so you can understand who they were.
The Sadducees were the ultra-conservative religious leaders of the day. They only held that the Torah – the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – were the authoritative word of God. They didn’t read or ascribe to any of the teachings of the books of the prophets and they revered Moses because it was in these books that the Law of Moses was given and instituted. They were very strict, and legalistic, in their beliefs and in the way they lived.
This is why they opposed Jesus so soundly – they rejected most of his teachings as heretical – love you enemies and pay the tax to Caesar that Caesar requires were ideas that countered their teachings from the Torah. And don’t get them started about how he let his disciples eat without washing their hands first, how Jesus ate with sinners, and, ow he broke the law of the Sabbath by working! We call it healing and loving, but they did not see it that way at all.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They were content with what they had in the here and now. They were the wealthy leaders, the ones who today would drive the big fancy cars and whose wives would shop at only the exclusive department stores. They had everything they needed and wanted, so the idea of anything better after death was foreign to them. They had a vague notion of eternity, but it was an eternity through the legacy of family. Their name would live on through generations of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and on and on. The idea that one would live again after death went against everything they believed in.
So, when they came to Jesus and posed their riddle to him, they were not coming to learn, they were not coming to join the party, they were coming to make an attempt to ridicule Jesus in front of others, to show him up with their superior knowledge, to trip him up with a question they knew had no answer.
Do you ever, when you read yet another passage where someone is trying to make Jesus appear to be foolish, do you ever just shake your head and sigh? Do you ever wonder how Jesus could have responded to them in the ways that he did? He never gets angry or turns them away. We might be tempted to brush them off and walk away, but Jesus never does. Of course, he knows their intentions, but he takes them at face-value and answers their question as if they were seeking a true answer.
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; then the second, and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
Now, let’s be honest, we read this, and we think, “Ugh! That poor woman.” It seems odd that she is passed form one brother to the next as each one dies. And it is odd when we look at it from our twenty-first century perspective. We need to remember, though that this wasn’t the twenty-first century. In those days, a woman was dependent on her family for support. She was not typically allowed to own property and was not allowed to inherit from her husband when he died. This edict from Moses was a means of ensuring that a woman who became a widow with no male children would be taken care of and protected. It also was a way of ensuring that the family name would be carried out and the family legacy live on through potential children with the subsequent brothers of her husband.
In trying to make their point to Jesus, the Sadducees use a bit of hyperbole – this woman wasn’t married to just two brothers but seven brothers in all. In their minds, this sorting out of whose wife she was in eternity – an eternity they did not believe existed, would be a fiasco. They asked their question and then sat back in eager anticipation of seeing Jesus squirm at trying to answer this one. But Jesus does answer it. He answers it seriously, as though they were asking him a serious question instead of a foolish riddle.
“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage,” Jesus says. This age, those who live in this world, but not in eternity. There is a difference in the here and now and the then and there. Things work differently, needs are different.
In this age marriage is necessary. Through marriage, the marriage of a man and a woman, family is created, children are born, legacies are created or continued. In the next age, none of that matters. In eternity, there is no marriage, everyone there is a child of God, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. No children will be born, no one will die, family is every single person in relation to one another through Jesus Christ.
When we take marriage vows, we say, “Until death we do part,” because in heaven we will know our spouse, we will love our spouse, but we will love them not as our husband or our wife, but as our brother or our sister. We will be in the presence and the protection of God forever and ever and that is all we will need. The truth of this is in Jesus’ own words, “those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”
We won’t be like angels in that we will have wings and halos and sit around on clouds playing a harp all day. Truth be told, that isn’t really an accurate description of angels anyway, just what we usually picture based upon years of paintings and pictures we have seen. We will be like angels in two ways, though – we will not marry, and we will not die. We will be children of God and children of the resurrection.
Then Jesus uses what the Sadducees know – Moses’ words – to show them how wrong they are in their disbelief of the resurrection. He isn’t snarky about it, he is still answering them as though they want to learn something important because he hopes they do. He says to them, “And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
By the time of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for many years, yet God speaks of them as though they are still living because they are. God is not the God of these faithful men who were, but who are. And Jesus finishes with, “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.” How can this be if there is no resurrection of the dead? Yet Jesus has just shown them that their own hero of the faith would disagree with their belief. That is a puzzle for this band of puzzlers to decipher.
In his words to the Sadducees, Jesus is teaching that from the very beginning of scripture, we see the God’s message that he is the God of the living, and this message continues through to the final AMEN at the end of Revelation. Yes, in this world we will all die – but as a follower of Jesus, the moment our mortal body dies, we are raised to life with God in heaven, redeemed by his grace and granted the gift of eternal life to worship and serve our God who gives life, even in death.
Perhaps that is our puzzle to figure out – why would he do that for us? How could he love us that much? Or perhaps we aren’t meant to figure it out at all; we are simply mean to believe, receive, and live for him in this age and with him in the age to come.
Oh, and before I forget – did anyone have the answer to the riddle from the beginning? Just how old was that bus driver, anyway?
As we have a little fun with that, let us remember that this is the day that the Lord has made, and he made it for our pleasure and his glory so let us rejoice in this gift and give him thanks. AMEN.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this day, a day that brought us here together to worship and rejoice in your gift of grace and love through your son, Jesus. We celebrate this gift that you gave so freely that we might one day be with you, in your heavenly kingdom, forever. That was your plan from the very beginning, and though we are puzzled as to why you love us so, we are so happy you do. Help us live into the calling you have put on our lives with joy, that others might see you through us, and come to know you for themselves. AMEN.
Pastor Donna's Sermon Sunday, October 23, 2022 "Poured Out"
October 23, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Poured Out
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
16 At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Have you ever set out to do something, maybe something big or important, but before you get to the end you get so tired and worn out or discouraged that you just can’t go on? That is what happened to Florence Chadwick in 1952.
Florence was a swimmer, and that year she decided to attempt to swim from the California coastline to Catalina Island, a twenty-six-mile swim. These are dangerous waters, so she was accompanied by a team that would watch out for sharks and watch Florence for signs of cramps, injury, or fatigue. About fifteen hours into her swim, fog began to roll into the area, obscuring Florence’s vision, sapping her confidence. She communicated to her team that she didn’t think she was going to be able to make it.
In spite of her doubts, Florence kept swimming for another hour, but finally, she just couldn’t go on. She called it quits and was hauled out of the water and into one of the boats. Imagine her surprise, and her disappointment, when she realized she had stopped swimming only one mile short of reaching Cataline Island. The fog had clouded her vision and allowed doubt to creep into her heart.
How many of you have seen the movie, “Facing the Giants?” It’s a great movie about a down-and-out high school football team and there is one scene that stands out to me. It is football practice for a team that hasn’t won a game in forever and isn’t likely to win anytime soon. As you can imagine, morale is low. Brock, one of the leaders of the team, sets the tone for the others by making a comment about not expecting to win and Coach Grant sees an opportunity to show Brock, and the rests of the boys, the importance attitude plays in a game.
He calls Brock up and tells him he is going to do the death crawl. If you don’t know what that is, it is when the player gets down on his hand and feet and crawls across the field with another player on his back – his knees cannot touch the ground. Brock says he can make it to the twenty-yard line, Coach challenges him to go all the way to the fifty. Then he blindfolds Brock, Jeremy climbs on his back and the crawl begins.
Coach walks alongside Brock, encouraging him to keep going. When Brock’s muscles begin to burn, he cries out that he can’t go on. Coach tells him not to stop. When Brock asks if he has at least crossed the twenty-yard line yet, Coach tells him not to worry about where he is, just keep going.
As Brock really begins to struggle, muscles burning and becoming weak, Coach is right down on the ground encouraging him, saying “It’s all heart now, it’s all heart. Keep going.” Brock wants to quit, Coach says no; he tells Brock he can’t quit, “just thirty more steps, keep going. Come on, twenty more steps, you can do it. Don’t stop, ten more to go. Keep going, just five more. One more, you can do it, just one more.”
Brock keeps going in spite of running out of energy, in spite of weak and shaky muscles, until finally, Coach says stop. When Coach takes the blindfold off, Brock sees he is in the endzone on the opposite side of the field from where he had started. He didn’t think he could make it to the fifty-yard line, but with Coach’s encouragement, he made it all the way.
As Brock is laying in the end-zone grass, Coach tells him, “God’s gifted you with the ability of leadership. Don’t waste it.”
Brock would never have made that death crawl all the way down the field except for one thing – the encouragement of Coach telling him he could do it. I wonder if the people in the boats with Florence would have encouraged her, would she have made it? I believe she would have.
The Apostle Paul had been though a lot. We’ve talked about it these past few weeks, how he has suffered much for the sake of the gospel and is now sitting confined in prison for continuing to preach God’s word. He knows his end is near. If this were any of us, we might be asking ourselves about now, “Was it worth it?”
Paul isn’t asking if it was worth it, he knows it was. He knows what is up ahead and he writes to Timothy, “As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come.” A libation is a drink offering poured out to God. There were grain offerings, bread offerings, oil offerings, bulls, sheep, and goat offerings, and liquid offerings that were given to God in those days. But there is more to it than simply pouring out a cup of wine and calling it an offering.
The word libation that Paul uses here is from a Greek word that means “to have one’s life’s blood poured out.” It means to give your all, holding nothing back. Paul has given his whole self to sharing the gospel – he has poured himself out completely, he has nothing left to give. He has offered himself to God through his blood, sweat, and tears – quite literally, and quite willingly.
Paul goes on to say next, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” Can we fight a good fight? Aren’t “good” and “fight” kind of opposites? Hear this explanation from Professor Stephen Fowl of Loyola University, “Most immediately, Paul is claiming that he has fought well. That is, he has demonstrated the courage, determination, and effort characteristic of all good soldiers. In addition, Paul can also be claiming that he has fought in good struggles. That is, he has fought well for things well worth fighting for.”
Fighting for what is right isn’t a bad thing. Fighting for the right to life, the rights of the underprivileged, the right to free speech, these are some things worth fighting for. Paul has fought the good fight of doing what Christ called him to do after meeting him on the road to Damascus – to tell others of Jesus and how they can come to know him and follow him, how they can accept him and live in eternity with him.
By doing this, Paul has finished the race set before him. He was given a task and he followed through, he was given a job and he got it done. He isn’t saying there isn’t more work to do, he is acknowledging that he has done his part with integrity and with his whole heart. And Paul did this, in spite of the hardships it has brought him, by keeping the faith. Not keeping it to himself, but by guarding, preserving, protecting God’s truth without shame and sharing it in all the places he could with all the people he could. He remained faithful in his mission.
How could Paul have done all this? How could he have endured so much and stayed strong in his faith when giving up would have been so much easier? Because Paul knew what was waiting for him and he knew he didn’t make the journey alone. Paul knew that God was with him every step of the way, through the good times when people listened to the gospel, repented, believes, and started a new church, and through the bad times when he was being run out of town, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, bitten by a viper, arrested, and put in chains in prison.
That knowledge of God’s constant presence was Paul’s version of Coach down on the ground encouraging Grant to never give up. Without that, Paul may have thrown in the towel and then realized how close he was to the finish line a little too late.
But Paul didn’t give up; he kept on going because he knew that when his race was finished, Jesus would be ready and waiting to crown him with the crown of righteousness – “And guess what?” Paul says, “There’s one for everyone who does the same” This is Paul’s way of coaching Timothy to keep on crawling down the field even when he gets tired and feels like he can’t go on. Paul won’t be able to crawl along with him, so he does what he can through this letter he is writing. “Come on, Timothy, you can do this. Keep on going, just a little bit more. Don’t worry about how much further, just take the next step, and then the next, and then another. Don’t quit, never quit, it’s all heart now, it’s all heart.”
We need to hear that message ourselves. We, too, have been called by God to share his gospel in a harsh world that is unwilling to listen most days. But we don’t do what we do alone. Even if we are the only one we can see, we know that God is with us through his Holy Spirit. Paul found himself in exactly that position, “At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the gentiles might hear it.”
If God calls us to do something, he is certainly not going to abandon us to fend for ourselves in the doing. He will be right with us, through the good times and bad, through the easy days and the hard days, giving us his strength when we have none left of our own, so that his message can be proclaimed to a world in need. I don’t know about you, but my strength wears out pretty fast and I have to rely on God – a lot.
Two months after Florence came up one mile short of her goal of swimming from the California coast to the Island of Catalina, she tried again. Once again, before she could finish, a thick fog rolled in. This time, though, Florence fixed in her mind a mental image of her shoreline goal and she used that as her focus to keep going when she thought she couldn’t make it. It worked; Florence made it all the way to the island this time because this time she kept her goal in mind.
Brock’s goal was the fifty-yard line and with the encouragement of Coach, he thought he had made it, only to discover he has surpassed it – all the way to the end zone. Paul’s goal was to stand before Christ having done all he could for the kingdom of God here on earth and receive his reward from the Lord himself. None of them could have made it on their own, but with God’s strength, encouragement, and constant presence, they could, and they did.
We can too. We can set our goal, focus on our mission, draw strength from God, and encourage one another to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all the people we can in all the places we can. We can run a good race, we can fight the good fight, and we can do it all while keeping the faith for the glory of God forever and ever.
In the words of Coach Grant, “God’s gifted you with the ability of leadership. Don’t waste it.” Never waste it, it’s all heart from here. AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful God, Paul sure endured a lot, but by sharing his story and his faith with us through your word, we can learn to endure what life throws at us. We thought we had to do it alone, but now we know that we are never alone; you are always with us, encouraging us to never quit, strengthening us when we weaken, filling us when we are empty. Thank you, Lord, for helping us to swim the ocean waters and crawl across a football field with our buddy on our back, and by that we mean thank you for helping us to do whatever it is you ask of us, for your sake and your glory, today and always. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://medium.com/emphasis/youre-closer-than-you-think-a-story-about-long-distance-swimmer-florence-chadwick-99f9cf360b9f
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-30-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-46-8-16-18-5
Call to Worship:
L: We are all called by God for a purpose,
P: One day we will have completed our mission.
L: We will look back and see the hard days,
P: We will remember the easy ones, too.
L: We will see that the Lord stood with us at all times,
P: Giving us the strength to go on, protecting us, celebrating with us.
ALL: We give glory to God for his faithfulness and his love. AMEN.
Hymn: 526 What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Poured Out
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
16 At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Have you ever set out to do something, maybe something big or important, but before you get to the end you get so tired and worn out or discouraged that you just can’t go on? That is what happened to Florence Chadwick in 1952.
Florence was a swimmer, and that year she decided to attempt to swim from the California coastline to Catalina Island, a twenty-six-mile swim. These are dangerous waters, so she was accompanied by a team that would watch out for sharks and watch Florence for signs of cramps, injury, or fatigue. About fifteen hours into her swim, fog began to roll into the area, obscuring Florence’s vision, sapping her confidence. She communicated to her team that she didn’t think she was going to be able to make it.
In spite of her doubts, Florence kept swimming for another hour, but finally, she just couldn’t go on. She called it quits and was hauled out of the water and into one of the boats. Imagine her surprise, and her disappointment, when she realized she had stopped swimming only one mile short of reaching Cataline Island. The fog had clouded her vision and allowed doubt to creep into her heart.
How many of you have seen the movie, “Facing the Giants?” It’s a great movie about a down-and-out high school football team and there is one scene that stands out to me. It is football practice for a team that hasn’t won a game in forever and isn’t likely to win anytime soon. As you can imagine, morale is low. Brock, one of the leaders of the team, sets the tone for the others by making a comment about not expecting to win and Coach Grant sees an opportunity to show Brock, and the rests of the boys, the importance attitude plays in a game.
He calls Brock up and tells him he is going to do the death crawl. If you don’t know what that is, it is when the player gets down on his hand and feet and crawls across the field with another player on his back – his knees cannot touch the ground. Brock says he can make it to the twenty-yard line, Coach challenges him to go all the way to the fifty. Then he blindfolds Brock, Jeremy climbs on his back and the crawl begins.
Coach walks alongside Brock, encouraging him to keep going. When Brock’s muscles begin to burn, he cries out that he can’t go on. Coach tells him not to stop. When Brock asks if he has at least crossed the twenty-yard line yet, Coach tells him not to worry about where he is, just keep going.
As Brock really begins to struggle, muscles burning and becoming weak, Coach is right down on the ground encouraging him, saying “It’s all heart now, it’s all heart. Keep going.” Brock wants to quit, Coach says no; he tells Brock he can’t quit, “just thirty more steps, keep going. Come on, twenty more steps, you can do it. Don’t stop, ten more to go. Keep going, just five more. One more, you can do it, just one more.”
Brock keeps going in spite of running out of energy, in spite of weak and shaky muscles, until finally, Coach says stop. When Coach takes the blindfold off, Brock sees he is in the endzone on the opposite side of the field from where he had started. He didn’t think he could make it to the fifty-yard line, but with Coach’s encouragement, he made it all the way.
As Brock is laying in the end-zone grass, Coach tells him, “God’s gifted you with the ability of leadership. Don’t waste it.”
Brock would never have made that death crawl all the way down the field except for one thing – the encouragement of Coach telling him he could do it. I wonder if the people in the boats with Florence would have encouraged her, would she have made it? I believe she would have.
The Apostle Paul had been though a lot. We’ve talked about it these past few weeks, how he has suffered much for the sake of the gospel and is now sitting confined in prison for continuing to preach God’s word. He knows his end is near. If this were any of us, we might be asking ourselves about now, “Was it worth it?”
Paul isn’t asking if it was worth it, he knows it was. He knows what is up ahead and he writes to Timothy, “As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come.” A libation is a drink offering poured out to God. There were grain offerings, bread offerings, oil offerings, bulls, sheep, and goat offerings, and liquid offerings that were given to God in those days. But there is more to it than simply pouring out a cup of wine and calling it an offering.
The word libation that Paul uses here is from a Greek word that means “to have one’s life’s blood poured out.” It means to give your all, holding nothing back. Paul has given his whole self to sharing the gospel – he has poured himself out completely, he has nothing left to give. He has offered himself to God through his blood, sweat, and tears – quite literally, and quite willingly.
Paul goes on to say next, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” Can we fight a good fight? Aren’t “good” and “fight” kind of opposites? Hear this explanation from Professor Stephen Fowl of Loyola University, “Most immediately, Paul is claiming that he has fought well. That is, he has demonstrated the courage, determination, and effort characteristic of all good soldiers. In addition, Paul can also be claiming that he has fought in good struggles. That is, he has fought well for things well worth fighting for.”
Fighting for what is right isn’t a bad thing. Fighting for the right to life, the rights of the underprivileged, the right to free speech, these are some things worth fighting for. Paul has fought the good fight of doing what Christ called him to do after meeting him on the road to Damascus – to tell others of Jesus and how they can come to know him and follow him, how they can accept him and live in eternity with him.
By doing this, Paul has finished the race set before him. He was given a task and he followed through, he was given a job and he got it done. He isn’t saying there isn’t more work to do, he is acknowledging that he has done his part with integrity and with his whole heart. And Paul did this, in spite of the hardships it has brought him, by keeping the faith. Not keeping it to himself, but by guarding, preserving, protecting God’s truth without shame and sharing it in all the places he could with all the people he could. He remained faithful in his mission.
How could Paul have done all this? How could he have endured so much and stayed strong in his faith when giving up would have been so much easier? Because Paul knew what was waiting for him and he knew he didn’t make the journey alone. Paul knew that God was with him every step of the way, through the good times when people listened to the gospel, repented, believes, and started a new church, and through the bad times when he was being run out of town, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, bitten by a viper, arrested, and put in chains in prison.
That knowledge of God’s constant presence was Paul’s version of Coach down on the ground encouraging Grant to never give up. Without that, Paul may have thrown in the towel and then realized how close he was to the finish line a little too late.
But Paul didn’t give up; he kept on going because he knew that when his race was finished, Jesus would be ready and waiting to crown him with the crown of righteousness – “And guess what?” Paul says, “There’s one for everyone who does the same” This is Paul’s way of coaching Timothy to keep on crawling down the field even when he gets tired and feels like he can’t go on. Paul won’t be able to crawl along with him, so he does what he can through this letter he is writing. “Come on, Timothy, you can do this. Keep on going, just a little bit more. Don’t worry about how much further, just take the next step, and then the next, and then another. Don’t quit, never quit, it’s all heart now, it’s all heart.”
We need to hear that message ourselves. We, too, have been called by God to share his gospel in a harsh world that is unwilling to listen most days. But we don’t do what we do alone. Even if we are the only one we can see, we know that God is with us through his Holy Spirit. Paul found himself in exactly that position, “At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the gentiles might hear it.”
If God calls us to do something, he is certainly not going to abandon us to fend for ourselves in the doing. He will be right with us, through the good times and bad, through the easy days and the hard days, giving us his strength when we have none left of our own, so that his message can be proclaimed to a world in need. I don’t know about you, but my strength wears out pretty fast and I have to rely on God – a lot.
Two months after Florence came up one mile short of her goal of swimming from the California coast to the Island of Catalina, she tried again. Once again, before she could finish, a thick fog rolled in. This time, though, Florence fixed in her mind a mental image of her shoreline goal and she used that as her focus to keep going when she thought she couldn’t make it. It worked; Florence made it all the way to the island this time because this time she kept her goal in mind.
Brock’s goal was the fifty-yard line and with the encouragement of Coach, he thought he had made it, only to discover he has surpassed it – all the way to the end zone. Paul’s goal was to stand before Christ having done all he could for the kingdom of God here on earth and receive his reward from the Lord himself. None of them could have made it on their own, but with God’s strength, encouragement, and constant presence, they could, and they did.
We can too. We can set our goal, focus on our mission, draw strength from God, and encourage one another to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all the people we can in all the places we can. We can run a good race, we can fight the good fight, and we can do it all while keeping the faith for the glory of God forever and ever.
In the words of Coach Grant, “God’s gifted you with the ability of leadership. Don’t waste it.” Never waste it, it’s all heart from here. AMEN.
PRAYER: Faithful God, Paul sure endured a lot, but by sharing his story and his faith with us through your word, we can learn to endure what life throws at us. We thought we had to do it alone, but now we know that we are never alone; you are always with us, encouraging us to never quit, strengthening us when we weaken, filling us when we are empty. Thank you, Lord, for helping us to swim the ocean waters and crawl across a football field with our buddy on our back, and by that we mean thank you for helping us to do whatever it is you ask of us, for your sake and your glory, today and always. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://medium.com/emphasis/youre-closer-than-you-think-a-story-about-long-distance-swimmer-florence-chadwick-99f9cf360b9f
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-30-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-46-8-16-18-5
Call to Worship:
L: We are all called by God for a purpose,
P: One day we will have completed our mission.
L: We will look back and see the hard days,
P: We will remember the easy ones, too.
L: We will see that the Lord stood with us at all times,
P: Giving us the strength to go on, protecting us, celebrating with us.
ALL: We give glory to God for his faithfulness and his love. AMEN.
Hymn: 526 What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Pastor Donna's Sermon Sunday October 16, 2022 "Itching Ears"
October 16, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Itching Ears
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
Most, if not all of us have heard the term “virtual reality.” It usually conjures up images of wearing a device that covers the eyes and blocks out the world around us so that we can feel like we are actually part of whatever world is being conveyed through the digital image displayed by the device.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can help us imagine we are standing in places and seeing sights where we cannot physically go. I’ve never used one of these things, but I think of what it would be like to put one on and feel like I am standing in all the places in the world to which I dream of traveling. I could feel like I am right there, seeing the Tower of London, the Acropolis, the Roman Coliseum, the Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Seeing all these places without having to leave the comfort of our own home.
No airport security to go through, no long lines to stand in, no language barrier to overcome. Put on my special device and pretend I am far away and enjoy the “trip.” The reality, though, is that it isn’t real. We wouldn’t really be standing at all those amazing places, we wouldn’t be able to reach out and touch the stones, feel the texture, smell the smells, experience the thrill. Eventually, we would have to take off the device and realize we never left home. We would remember that we were simply looking through a filter, not living real life.
Speaking of filters, how many here have ever used a filter to enhance a photograph? I know SnapChat has lots of filters that we can play around with and have fun with. Again, there is nothing wrong with doing so, but I know there are people who have become so used to using a filter for every photograph they post to their social media that they are barely recognizable when we meet them in person. Filters are the new “airbrushing” that the advertising industry has done for years. Both techniques are used to make something look better than it actually is.
Some might call this “augmented reality.” We take what is, and add to it or take from it, to enhance or augment it, making it better that it is on its own. I am reminded here of Solomon’s words, though, when he writes, in Ecclesiastes 1:9: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.”
What? You mean Solomon had virtual reality devices and SnapChat filters? Of course not. But SnapChat didn’t invent filters, they just gave us a new way to use them. We all use filters in our lives – even in our real lives. Think about this – what we believe and how we live are predicated on what we know. Let me give you an example.
Playing peek-a-boo with a baby is fun. But a baby, or a young child who covers their own face to hide thinks that no one can see them. We know that isn’t the reality, but they don’t. They know that if they close or cover their eyes, they can’t see, so they filter what they believe through what they know – if they can’t see others, then no one else can see them. As they grow and learn, that filter dissolves and they begin to understand differently.
As Christians, we are called to view our world through the filter of the Bible. We use the term “Biblical world view.” What we experience, what we do, how we live, should be affected by what we know of how God wants us to be.
I like how Pastor Monty Newton describes this. He writes, “God’s Word, i.e., the bible, augments the way we see and experience the realities of life. The Word of God serves to enlighten and guide and inspire and encourage and comfort and instruct us in ways that help us experience life in ways that would not otherwise be possible. When we experience life through the lens of Scripture/God’s Word, we see life as God would have us see and experience it.”
Paul is trying to make sure Timothy keeps his Christian worldview filter firmly in place. Once again, he reminds Timothy to think back to those who have taught him what he knows to be true. Remember a few chapters ago, Paul reminded Timothy that he had learned his faith from his mother and grandmother, and he should hold onto that. He wants Timothy to know that what he learned as a child is right and true, that God’s truth never changes. God give us, through his word, the Bible, all we need to know about the way of salvation, and about Jesus Christ, who is the way to it, the truth of it, and the life through it.
The Bible is the filter through which Timothy, and we as Christians even today, should see the world and live our lives. Paul writes, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
Who is this person of God that is equipped for every good work? Timothy, for sure. Pastors and teachers, yes, but also everyone else. Friends, it is not just the pastor’s command to go and make disciples, it is given to each and every Christian – go and make disciples – and we do this best by letting God’s word enhance our own understanding of our world.
This is serious stuff, ya’ll. If we live as a Christian, one of the filters we need to have in place is that ALL Christians are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not everyone is called into formal ministry, true, but everyone is called to share the Good News, and that sharing is a ministry of the gospel.
Here’s the thing, though, how many of us have said before “I am waiting for the right time to tell _______ about Jesus? We think we have to wait for the perfect moment, but that isn’t true at all. Paul teaches us that we should be ready to tell someone about Jesus whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. Be persistent, he says, because some people will need to hear the message several times before it breaks down the worldly filter they live in so they can begin to hear, believe, and live with the filter of God’s truth.
There is an urgency to Paul’s message here to Timothy. He warns him not to delay because there is a time that is coming when people will no longer listen to sound teaching, they won’t be willing to exchange their worldly filter for a heavenly one. The day will come when they will refuse to listen to anything they don’t like and instead will search for someone who teaches what they want to hear.
Friends, I am sad to say that those days are here. Even within our churches, there are many who only hear what makes them feel good, what they believe to be right without any verification of its truth in scripture.
The time has come when even the pulpits are being filled with those who care more about appearances, about growing their church for the sake of numbers, about preaching what the people want to hear so they will keep coming back, instead of standing on God’s word and preaching the truth they need to hear.
I get it, I really do. Wouldn’t it be great if our church pews were full to overflowing every week? Wouldn’t it be great if the only message that we had to preach and hear every week was love, love, love? Wouldn’t it be great if we could just be good and know that was okay enough? Wouldn’t it be great if we never had to talk about sin and its consequences? Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to think about Jesus, beaten and bloodied, hanging on that cross and know that we put him there?
Oh, yeah, that would be great. But it wouldn’t be the truth, and people would be lost because of it. Remember Paul’s lesson from last week – we wouldn’t want for even one person to be lost forever because of something we said or did – or didn’t say or do.
Let me give you this from a little different perspective that I learned this week. Again, this comes from Pastor Monty Newton, and I love the way he put it. “Imagine picking your car up from the shop after a routine tune-up, and the technician says, "This car is in great shape. Clearly you have an automotive genius to take great care of your car." Later that day, your brakes don't work. You find out you were out of brake fluid. You could have died.
You go back to the shop, and you say, "Why didn't you tell me?" The technician replies, "Well, I didn't want you to feel bad. Plus, to be honest, I was afraid you might get upset with me. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted." You'd be furious! You'd say, "I didn't come here for a little fantasy-based ego boost! When it comes to my car, I want the truth."
Here is one more example: “Imagine going to the doctor's office for a check-up. The doctor says to you, "You are a magnificent physical specimen. You have the body of an Olympian. You are to be congratulated." Later that day while climbing the stairs, your heart gives out. You find out later your arteries were so clogged that you were, like, one cream cheese filled pastry away from going to see Jesus.
You go back to the doctor and say, "Why didn't you tell me?" The doctor says, "Well, I knew your body is in worse shape than the Pillsbury doughboy, but if I tell people stuff like that, they get offended. It's bad for business. They don't come back. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted." You'd be furious! You'd say to the doctor, "When it comes to my body, I want the truth!"
You see, there are times when the truth is vitally important. There are times when the truth is a matter of life and death. Talking to people about Jesus is one of those times. Jesus is the most important truth ever told. When we hang back and wait to tell someone about Jesus, we are taking the chance that they may never hear about him, they may never get the chance to learn about Jesus, never come to believe in him, never receive the gift of salvation through him.
Yes, I want these church pews to be filled to overflowing every week. I want them so full that we have to add additional services to accommodate everyone. But I want that because I know it means that people are coming to Christ, not because I have simply told everyone what they wanted to hear to make them feel good. I don’t want a full church for me, or for you – I want a full church for God.
I do preach about love a lot. The love of God, the love of Christ, the love of the Holy Spirit. Love is the foundation of all of creation, so yes, we get to hear a lot about love – and I like that. But we know that love doesn’t mean full acceptance of anything goes. Sin is still rampant in our world and when we sin, we still need to repent and ask for forgiveness. The problem is that those who are looking to hear only what they want to hear don’t want to recognize the sin in their life. They are looking for someone to validate them based on what they want to be true. We need to make sure that our love messages include the way to be transformed through God’s truth, in the way God wants us to be.
For that, once again, we can turn to scripture. In the Bible we can find the answers to the questions on how a Christian should live, what filters through which we should view the world, how we should live and interact with others, how we should worship, and what to do when we mess up. In the Bible we find truth, sometimes messy and sometimes not what we want to hear, but we don’t need a sugar-coated gospel. We need the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Paul’s final word to Timothy today is straight-forward and to the point: “As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.” Those are words we need to hear, too. Being a Christian is a privilege because we know it is a gift given to us, when we didn’t deserve it, by a God who loves us beyond measure. Being a Christian is also a responsibility, because just as we were taught by someone about Jesus, we are then called to teach others about him, too.
“Be sober in everything,” doesn’t mean there is no joy in what we do for Christ, it means take the responsibility seriously, do the best you can. “Endure suffering,” seems pretty foreign to us here in the States, but we know that there are Christians around the globe who are absolutely enduring suffering in Jesus’ name.
“Do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully” means share the good news whenever and wherever you can, and do so to the best of your ability, drawing on the strength of Christ and the truth of God’s word. Friends, we can do this. We can do this together, and we can do this with God’s help and his guidance. Let’s do this. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great and glorious God, we thank you that you have created us, that you love us, that you want us to be with you for all of eternity. We recognize that we don’t deserve it, but we are so very grateful for all you have done for us. Thank you for your truth found in your word, thank you for your son, Jesus, who is our way to salvation, and thank you for the Holy Spirit, who guides us each day as we do our best to carry out your command to share the gospel with others who might then come to know you and live. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
Call to Worship:
L: All scripture is inspired by God,
P: In it we will find words of teaching, correcting, and training,
L: That we might learn how to live a righteous life,
P: That we will be equipped to do good works,
L: That we might proclaim the good news,
P: Not allowing our ears to be tickled with sweet nothings,
ALL: But boldly standing for God’s truth with love for all. AMEN.
Hymn: 530 Are Ye Able
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Itching Ears
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
Most, if not all of us have heard the term “virtual reality.” It usually conjures up images of wearing a device that covers the eyes and blocks out the world around us so that we can feel like we are actually part of whatever world is being conveyed through the digital image displayed by the device.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can help us imagine we are standing in places and seeing sights where we cannot physically go. I’ve never used one of these things, but I think of what it would be like to put one on and feel like I am standing in all the places in the world to which I dream of traveling. I could feel like I am right there, seeing the Tower of London, the Acropolis, the Roman Coliseum, the Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Seeing all these places without having to leave the comfort of our own home.
No airport security to go through, no long lines to stand in, no language barrier to overcome. Put on my special device and pretend I am far away and enjoy the “trip.” The reality, though, is that it isn’t real. We wouldn’t really be standing at all those amazing places, we wouldn’t be able to reach out and touch the stones, feel the texture, smell the smells, experience the thrill. Eventually, we would have to take off the device and realize we never left home. We would remember that we were simply looking through a filter, not living real life.
Speaking of filters, how many here have ever used a filter to enhance a photograph? I know SnapChat has lots of filters that we can play around with and have fun with. Again, there is nothing wrong with doing so, but I know there are people who have become so used to using a filter for every photograph they post to their social media that they are barely recognizable when we meet them in person. Filters are the new “airbrushing” that the advertising industry has done for years. Both techniques are used to make something look better than it actually is.
Some might call this “augmented reality.” We take what is, and add to it or take from it, to enhance or augment it, making it better that it is on its own. I am reminded here of Solomon’s words, though, when he writes, in Ecclesiastes 1:9: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.”
What? You mean Solomon had virtual reality devices and SnapChat filters? Of course not. But SnapChat didn’t invent filters, they just gave us a new way to use them. We all use filters in our lives – even in our real lives. Think about this – what we believe and how we live are predicated on what we know. Let me give you an example.
Playing peek-a-boo with a baby is fun. But a baby, or a young child who covers their own face to hide thinks that no one can see them. We know that isn’t the reality, but they don’t. They know that if they close or cover their eyes, they can’t see, so they filter what they believe through what they know – if they can’t see others, then no one else can see them. As they grow and learn, that filter dissolves and they begin to understand differently.
As Christians, we are called to view our world through the filter of the Bible. We use the term “Biblical world view.” What we experience, what we do, how we live, should be affected by what we know of how God wants us to be.
I like how Pastor Monty Newton describes this. He writes, “God’s Word, i.e., the bible, augments the way we see and experience the realities of life. The Word of God serves to enlighten and guide and inspire and encourage and comfort and instruct us in ways that help us experience life in ways that would not otherwise be possible. When we experience life through the lens of Scripture/God’s Word, we see life as God would have us see and experience it.”
Paul is trying to make sure Timothy keeps his Christian worldview filter firmly in place. Once again, he reminds Timothy to think back to those who have taught him what he knows to be true. Remember a few chapters ago, Paul reminded Timothy that he had learned his faith from his mother and grandmother, and he should hold onto that. He wants Timothy to know that what he learned as a child is right and true, that God’s truth never changes. God give us, through his word, the Bible, all we need to know about the way of salvation, and about Jesus Christ, who is the way to it, the truth of it, and the life through it.
The Bible is the filter through which Timothy, and we as Christians even today, should see the world and live our lives. Paul writes, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
Who is this person of God that is equipped for every good work? Timothy, for sure. Pastors and teachers, yes, but also everyone else. Friends, it is not just the pastor’s command to go and make disciples, it is given to each and every Christian – go and make disciples – and we do this best by letting God’s word enhance our own understanding of our world.
This is serious stuff, ya’ll. If we live as a Christian, one of the filters we need to have in place is that ALL Christians are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not everyone is called into formal ministry, true, but everyone is called to share the Good News, and that sharing is a ministry of the gospel.
Here’s the thing, though, how many of us have said before “I am waiting for the right time to tell _______ about Jesus? We think we have to wait for the perfect moment, but that isn’t true at all. Paul teaches us that we should be ready to tell someone about Jesus whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. Be persistent, he says, because some people will need to hear the message several times before it breaks down the worldly filter they live in so they can begin to hear, believe, and live with the filter of God’s truth.
There is an urgency to Paul’s message here to Timothy. He warns him not to delay because there is a time that is coming when people will no longer listen to sound teaching, they won’t be willing to exchange their worldly filter for a heavenly one. The day will come when they will refuse to listen to anything they don’t like and instead will search for someone who teaches what they want to hear.
Friends, I am sad to say that those days are here. Even within our churches, there are many who only hear what makes them feel good, what they believe to be right without any verification of its truth in scripture.
The time has come when even the pulpits are being filled with those who care more about appearances, about growing their church for the sake of numbers, about preaching what the people want to hear so they will keep coming back, instead of standing on God’s word and preaching the truth they need to hear.
I get it, I really do. Wouldn’t it be great if our church pews were full to overflowing every week? Wouldn’t it be great if the only message that we had to preach and hear every week was love, love, love? Wouldn’t it be great if we could just be good and know that was okay enough? Wouldn’t it be great if we never had to talk about sin and its consequences? Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to think about Jesus, beaten and bloodied, hanging on that cross and know that we put him there?
Oh, yeah, that would be great. But it wouldn’t be the truth, and people would be lost because of it. Remember Paul’s lesson from last week – we wouldn’t want for even one person to be lost forever because of something we said or did – or didn’t say or do.
Let me give you this from a little different perspective that I learned this week. Again, this comes from Pastor Monty Newton, and I love the way he put it. “Imagine picking your car up from the shop after a routine tune-up, and the technician says, "This car is in great shape. Clearly you have an automotive genius to take great care of your car." Later that day, your brakes don't work. You find out you were out of brake fluid. You could have died.
You go back to the shop, and you say, "Why didn't you tell me?" The technician replies, "Well, I didn't want you to feel bad. Plus, to be honest, I was afraid you might get upset with me. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted." You'd be furious! You'd say, "I didn't come here for a little fantasy-based ego boost! When it comes to my car, I want the truth."
Here is one more example: “Imagine going to the doctor's office for a check-up. The doctor says to you, "You are a magnificent physical specimen. You have the body of an Olympian. You are to be congratulated." Later that day while climbing the stairs, your heart gives out. You find out later your arteries were so clogged that you were, like, one cream cheese filled pastry away from going to see Jesus.
You go back to the doctor and say, "Why didn't you tell me?" The doctor says, "Well, I knew your body is in worse shape than the Pillsbury doughboy, but if I tell people stuff like that, they get offended. It's bad for business. They don't come back. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted." You'd be furious! You'd say to the doctor, "When it comes to my body, I want the truth!"
You see, there are times when the truth is vitally important. There are times when the truth is a matter of life and death. Talking to people about Jesus is one of those times. Jesus is the most important truth ever told. When we hang back and wait to tell someone about Jesus, we are taking the chance that they may never hear about him, they may never get the chance to learn about Jesus, never come to believe in him, never receive the gift of salvation through him.
Yes, I want these church pews to be filled to overflowing every week. I want them so full that we have to add additional services to accommodate everyone. But I want that because I know it means that people are coming to Christ, not because I have simply told everyone what they wanted to hear to make them feel good. I don’t want a full church for me, or for you – I want a full church for God.
I do preach about love a lot. The love of God, the love of Christ, the love of the Holy Spirit. Love is the foundation of all of creation, so yes, we get to hear a lot about love – and I like that. But we know that love doesn’t mean full acceptance of anything goes. Sin is still rampant in our world and when we sin, we still need to repent and ask for forgiveness. The problem is that those who are looking to hear only what they want to hear don’t want to recognize the sin in their life. They are looking for someone to validate them based on what they want to be true. We need to make sure that our love messages include the way to be transformed through God’s truth, in the way God wants us to be.
For that, once again, we can turn to scripture. In the Bible we can find the answers to the questions on how a Christian should live, what filters through which we should view the world, how we should live and interact with others, how we should worship, and what to do when we mess up. In the Bible we find truth, sometimes messy and sometimes not what we want to hear, but we don’t need a sugar-coated gospel. We need the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Paul’s final word to Timothy today is straight-forward and to the point: “As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.” Those are words we need to hear, too. Being a Christian is a privilege because we know it is a gift given to us, when we didn’t deserve it, by a God who loves us beyond measure. Being a Christian is also a responsibility, because just as we were taught by someone about Jesus, we are then called to teach others about him, too.
“Be sober in everything,” doesn’t mean there is no joy in what we do for Christ, it means take the responsibility seriously, do the best you can. “Endure suffering,” seems pretty foreign to us here in the States, but we know that there are Christians around the globe who are absolutely enduring suffering in Jesus’ name.
“Do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully” means share the good news whenever and wherever you can, and do so to the best of your ability, drawing on the strength of Christ and the truth of God’s word. Friends, we can do this. We can do this together, and we can do this with God’s help and his guidance. Let’s do this. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great and glorious God, we thank you that you have created us, that you love us, that you want us to be with you for all of eternity. We recognize that we don’t deserve it, but we are so very grateful for all you have done for us. Thank you for your truth found in your word, thank you for your son, Jesus, who is our way to salvation, and thank you for the Holy Spirit, who guides us each day as we do our best to carry out your command to share the gospel with others who might then come to know you and live. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
Call to Worship:
L: All scripture is inspired by God,
P: In it we will find words of teaching, correcting, and training,
L: That we might learn how to live a righteous life,
P: That we will be equipped to do good works,
L: That we might proclaim the good news,
P: Not allowing our ears to be tickled with sweet nothings,
ALL: But boldly standing for God’s truth with love for all. AMEN.
Hymn: 530 Are Ye Able
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON sUNDAY oCTOBER 9, 2022, "nOT ASHAMED".
October 9, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Present Yourself to the Lord
Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:8-15
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful--
he cannot deny himself.
14 Remind them of this and warn them before the Lord that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
You know, I really like it when the week’s scripture reading is on the lighter side, one where I can find a cute little story to share with you all that makes us laugh a bit, wakes us up, and prepares us to receive God’s message. This week was not one of those weeks.
I know that we know that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter to Timothy, but I think we forget just how precarious life was for a Christian in those days. We have it pretty easy here, especially in the U. S. We can freely worship our God, we can speak the name of Jesus without repercussions – or at least without fear of being arrested and put to death.
That wasn’t the case in Paul’s time. It took great courage for the earliest church leaders to do what they did. I think of all the times Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and run out of town for speaking boldly to others about God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ. And he never gave up. He never let others dictate what he would say or do. He was never ashamed to keep on going – no matter what.
We see that boldness in Paul’s words here, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.” Chained like a criminal? What was his offense? Preaching the good news – the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You see, the Romans didn’t care, really what god you worshiped, as long as you also worshiped Caesar. If you could bow down to Caesar, worship him, offer incense to him, then you were pretty much free to go about your business with any and all other gods you wanted. But these Christians – now that was a whole different story. The Christians believe in only worshiping one God, and that sure wasn’t Caesar. This was the reason Christianity was a crime – because they would not worship Caesar. This was why Paul was labeled a criminal and put in prison – soon to be executed – because he promoted the idea the God was the one, true God and no other god or person should be worshiped.
But here is the secret that Paul wanted to make sure Timothy knew – people could be arrested and chained in prison, but the word of God could not, and can not ever be chained and silenced. Even though many, including Paul, were being imprisoned and killed for their faith, Christianity kept growing! The more the Roman government tried to squelch the movement, the bigger it got. The more they persecuted these Christians, the more they threatened, tortured, and killed people for being a Christian, the more people started following Christ. The word of God cannot, absolutely cannot be chained, contained, or confined. Remember, even if the people grow silent, the rocks will cry out the gospel.
It is because Paul knows that God is greater than the Romans that he can keep doing what he was called by God to do, to share the gospel with anyone and everyone he can. But Paul also knows that he carries a mountain of responsibility because of his faith and because of his calling.
Paul knows that if he were to give in and give up, to renounce his faith for the sake of his life, not only would he ultimately lose his eternal life, so would countless others. “Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
Paul knows others are counting on him. They will follow his lead; if he weakens, they will be lost. So, he is even more determined to stay strong, to endure all that comes his way, so that no one will lose out on knowing Jesus because of him. As the infomercials say, though, wait – there’s more!
Paul also knows that enduring all that has happened, and even what is to come, will ultimately be worth it. We can usually endure more hardships in our lives when we know there is a reward at the end. Paul knows the reward, it is eternal life in the presence of the Lord, and knowing that gives him the strength keep on going, keep on preaching, keep on sharing the love of Christ.
It is vitally important that Timothy knows this because he has also been called by God to preach the gospel and that puts him in danger, too. So Paul reminds Timothy of these five things:
If we have died with him, Jesus, we will live with him.
If we endure all things here on earth for Jesus’ sake, we will one day reign with him.
If we deny Jesus, he will deny us.
If we are faithless, Jesus remains faithful.
Jesus cannot deny himself.
“Remember this, Timothy,” Paul is writing, “so that you can take it to heart, so you can draw on this when times are rough, and the danger is high. Teach it, too. Teach these truths to others so they, too can take them to heart and be strong in the Lord, for this is how the gospel will move from one to another, from generation to generation. This is how the gospel, which cannot be chained as we humans can, will live, and move, and gather people to Jesus.”
Then Paul writes, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.” There is the key word to our series – do not be ashamed for telling the truth of the gospel.
No matter what the world tells us, we should never be ashamed to say the name of Jesus. We should never be ashamed to share the gospel. We should never be ashamed of who we are in Christ Jesus. And in all that we do, we should strive to do our best to please God.
We are called to present ourselves to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed of the work we have done if it is the work God has called us to do, no matter what our world, our society, our culture, our social media tells us. Stand on the truth of God; stand on his word, the unchained, unashamed, word of God which offers all we need for our salvation through Jesus Christ.
How do we do this? Timothy had Paul who taught him directly about Jesus, and now he is writing him encouraging letters, continuing to give him the instruction and the reminders he needs to endure his own trials and to carry on sharing the gospel. What do we have that will help us? I am glad you asked.
We still have God’s word – the Bible. We have it available to us in more ways, shapes, and forms than the people in Paul’s day could have even dreamed of. They had letters, they had the ancient writings on scrolls in the synagogues, they had the stories told them by their parents and grandparents. We have God’s word bound in a book that we can carry around. We have it on apps for our phones and our tablets. We have it practically whenever and wherever we want to read it and learn from it.
Guess what? There are more people in this world today, there are more opportunities for all those people to read God’s word, there is freedom for Christians to read the Bible like the people in Paul’s time would have dreamed of, but few people are doing it.
A survey by Lifeway in 2019, found that only 32% of Protestant Christians actually read the Bible every day, and about 25% claim they read it a few times a week. 12% of those who were asked, admitted they rarely, if ever, read the Bible. Let me ask you, how are we supposed to know God’s plan for our life, how are we supposed to gain knowledge and strength through God’s word, how are we supposed to share the truth of God’s word so we can present ourselves to God as one approved by him – if we don’t even read God’s word?
How can you even know if what you hear from the pulpit is God’s truth if you aren’t opening the Bible and verifying for yourself? The Bible is God’s letter to us and it is vital to the Christian life to read this life-giving letter.
Pastor Larry Petton writes this about the Bible:
"THIS BOOK contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.
Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.
It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character.
Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand object, our good is its design and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.
It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever.”
Friends, God loves us so much that he has given us his very word. We call it our Bible, the inspired word of God, written by many different men over thousands of years, because God knew from the beginning that we would endure trials and temptations here on earth in this life. God wanted us to have the means to endure, and to overcome those hardships that the world throws at us. The Bible is his way of being with us in a tangible way, a way we can see, touch, read, and take to heart.
May we all stand strong in our faith, may we us God’s word as our encouragement and our instruction manual, helping us to endure the hardships of life, knowing that in the end, we will receive the ultimate reward if we remain unashamed.
That is my prayer for us today. I want us, all of us, all Christians everywhere, to be able to stand before God one day and hear the approval in his voice as he says those words we all long to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Welcome home.” And we will know, in that moment, that everything we have endured was worth it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, when we read Paul’s letters, we often forget all that he had to go through to share your gospel with the world. We know that our troubles pale in comparison to his, but Lord, you don’t ask us to compare. You simply ask us to endure, to remain faithful, to do our best in all we do, and to share your love with others. Thank you for giving us your word that teaches us and strengthens us, help us to be better stewards of your word, help us to dig deep into your holy scripture and hear your voice, feel your presence, know your way and your truth. Help us Lord to boldly share you with others, refusing to be ashamed to say your name so others might come to know you through us. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100870/bible-by-dr-larry-petton
https://research.lifeway.com/2019/07/02/few-protestant-churchgoers-read-the-bible-daily/#:~:text=Regular%20Bible%20reading,once%20a%20month%20(5%25).
Call to Worship:
L: The word of God is not chained,
P: Nor is it mere words to hear and forget.
L: The word of God brings us salvation,
P: Through the living Word – Jesus Christ.
L: The word of God calls us to present ourselves to him,
P: As workers for his kingdom, without fear or shame,
ALL: Standing for God’s truth, sharing God’s word. AMEN.
Hymn: 377 It is Well with My Soul
Rootstown
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Present Yourself to the Lord
Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:8-15
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful--
he cannot deny himself.
14 Remind them of this and warn them before the Lord that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
You know, I really like it when the week’s scripture reading is on the lighter side, one where I can find a cute little story to share with you all that makes us laugh a bit, wakes us up, and prepares us to receive God’s message. This week was not one of those weeks.
I know that we know that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter to Timothy, but I think we forget just how precarious life was for a Christian in those days. We have it pretty easy here, especially in the U. S. We can freely worship our God, we can speak the name of Jesus without repercussions – or at least without fear of being arrested and put to death.
That wasn’t the case in Paul’s time. It took great courage for the earliest church leaders to do what they did. I think of all the times Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and run out of town for speaking boldly to others about God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ. And he never gave up. He never let others dictate what he would say or do. He was never ashamed to keep on going – no matter what.
We see that boldness in Paul’s words here, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.” Chained like a criminal? What was his offense? Preaching the good news – the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You see, the Romans didn’t care, really what god you worshiped, as long as you also worshiped Caesar. If you could bow down to Caesar, worship him, offer incense to him, then you were pretty much free to go about your business with any and all other gods you wanted. But these Christians – now that was a whole different story. The Christians believe in only worshiping one God, and that sure wasn’t Caesar. This was the reason Christianity was a crime – because they would not worship Caesar. This was why Paul was labeled a criminal and put in prison – soon to be executed – because he promoted the idea the God was the one, true God and no other god or person should be worshiped.
But here is the secret that Paul wanted to make sure Timothy knew – people could be arrested and chained in prison, but the word of God could not, and can not ever be chained and silenced. Even though many, including Paul, were being imprisoned and killed for their faith, Christianity kept growing! The more the Roman government tried to squelch the movement, the bigger it got. The more they persecuted these Christians, the more they threatened, tortured, and killed people for being a Christian, the more people started following Christ. The word of God cannot, absolutely cannot be chained, contained, or confined. Remember, even if the people grow silent, the rocks will cry out the gospel.
It is because Paul knows that God is greater than the Romans that he can keep doing what he was called by God to do, to share the gospel with anyone and everyone he can. But Paul also knows that he carries a mountain of responsibility because of his faith and because of his calling.
Paul knows that if he were to give in and give up, to renounce his faith for the sake of his life, not only would he ultimately lose his eternal life, so would countless others. “Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
Paul knows others are counting on him. They will follow his lead; if he weakens, they will be lost. So, he is even more determined to stay strong, to endure all that comes his way, so that no one will lose out on knowing Jesus because of him. As the infomercials say, though, wait – there’s more!
Paul also knows that enduring all that has happened, and even what is to come, will ultimately be worth it. We can usually endure more hardships in our lives when we know there is a reward at the end. Paul knows the reward, it is eternal life in the presence of the Lord, and knowing that gives him the strength keep on going, keep on preaching, keep on sharing the love of Christ.
It is vitally important that Timothy knows this because he has also been called by God to preach the gospel and that puts him in danger, too. So Paul reminds Timothy of these five things:
If we have died with him, Jesus, we will live with him.
If we endure all things here on earth for Jesus’ sake, we will one day reign with him.
If we deny Jesus, he will deny us.
If we are faithless, Jesus remains faithful.
Jesus cannot deny himself.
“Remember this, Timothy,” Paul is writing, “so that you can take it to heart, so you can draw on this when times are rough, and the danger is high. Teach it, too. Teach these truths to others so they, too can take them to heart and be strong in the Lord, for this is how the gospel will move from one to another, from generation to generation. This is how the gospel, which cannot be chained as we humans can, will live, and move, and gather people to Jesus.”
Then Paul writes, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.” There is the key word to our series – do not be ashamed for telling the truth of the gospel.
No matter what the world tells us, we should never be ashamed to say the name of Jesus. We should never be ashamed to share the gospel. We should never be ashamed of who we are in Christ Jesus. And in all that we do, we should strive to do our best to please God.
We are called to present ourselves to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed of the work we have done if it is the work God has called us to do, no matter what our world, our society, our culture, our social media tells us. Stand on the truth of God; stand on his word, the unchained, unashamed, word of God which offers all we need for our salvation through Jesus Christ.
How do we do this? Timothy had Paul who taught him directly about Jesus, and now he is writing him encouraging letters, continuing to give him the instruction and the reminders he needs to endure his own trials and to carry on sharing the gospel. What do we have that will help us? I am glad you asked.
We still have God’s word – the Bible. We have it available to us in more ways, shapes, and forms than the people in Paul’s day could have even dreamed of. They had letters, they had the ancient writings on scrolls in the synagogues, they had the stories told them by their parents and grandparents. We have God’s word bound in a book that we can carry around. We have it on apps for our phones and our tablets. We have it practically whenever and wherever we want to read it and learn from it.
Guess what? There are more people in this world today, there are more opportunities for all those people to read God’s word, there is freedom for Christians to read the Bible like the people in Paul’s time would have dreamed of, but few people are doing it.
A survey by Lifeway in 2019, found that only 32% of Protestant Christians actually read the Bible every day, and about 25% claim they read it a few times a week. 12% of those who were asked, admitted they rarely, if ever, read the Bible. Let me ask you, how are we supposed to know God’s plan for our life, how are we supposed to gain knowledge and strength through God’s word, how are we supposed to share the truth of God’s word so we can present ourselves to God as one approved by him – if we don’t even read God’s word?
How can you even know if what you hear from the pulpit is God’s truth if you aren’t opening the Bible and verifying for yourself? The Bible is God’s letter to us and it is vital to the Christian life to read this life-giving letter.
Pastor Larry Petton writes this about the Bible:
"THIS BOOK contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.
Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.
It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character.
Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand object, our good is its design and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.
It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever.”
Friends, God loves us so much that he has given us his very word. We call it our Bible, the inspired word of God, written by many different men over thousands of years, because God knew from the beginning that we would endure trials and temptations here on earth in this life. God wanted us to have the means to endure, and to overcome those hardships that the world throws at us. The Bible is his way of being with us in a tangible way, a way we can see, touch, read, and take to heart.
May we all stand strong in our faith, may we us God’s word as our encouragement and our instruction manual, helping us to endure the hardships of life, knowing that in the end, we will receive the ultimate reward if we remain unashamed.
That is my prayer for us today. I want us, all of us, all Christians everywhere, to be able to stand before God one day and hear the approval in his voice as he says those words we all long to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Welcome home.” And we will know, in that moment, that everything we have endured was worth it. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord God, when we read Paul’s letters, we often forget all that he had to go through to share your gospel with the world. We know that our troubles pale in comparison to his, but Lord, you don’t ask us to compare. You simply ask us to endure, to remain faithful, to do our best in all we do, and to share your love with others. Thank you for giving us your word that teaches us and strengthens us, help us to be better stewards of your word, help us to dig deep into your holy scripture and hear your voice, feel your presence, know your way and your truth. Help us Lord to boldly share you with others, refusing to be ashamed to say your name so others might come to know you through us. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100870/bible-by-dr-larry-petton
https://research.lifeway.com/2019/07/02/few-protestant-churchgoers-read-the-bible-daily/#:~:text=Regular%20Bible%20reading,once%20a%20month%20(5%25).
Call to Worship:
L: The word of God is not chained,
P: Nor is it mere words to hear and forget.
L: The word of God brings us salvation,
P: Through the living Word – Jesus Christ.
L: The word of God calls us to present ourselves to him,
P: As workers for his kingdom, without fear or shame,
ALL: Standing for God’s truth, sharing God’s word. AMEN.
Hymn: 377 It is Well with My Soul
PASTOR dONNA'S sERMON oCTOBER 2, 2022 "rEKINDLE THE gIFT"
October 2, 2022
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Rekindle the Gift
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
8 Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, in the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12 and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him. 13 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
This week we begin a new series called “Not Ashamed,” taken from Paul’s words to Timothy as he wrote, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me.” This might sound a little odd to us as we read or hear them, we don’t understand why Timothy would be ashamed of Paul, and we certainly don’t see any reason that he would be ashamed of the Lord.
To understand some of what Paul is getting at, we need to know the setting. Paul is writing this letter to Timothy from a Roman prison. He begins his letter with a beautiful greeting, acknowledging that he, Paul, is an apostle of the Lord Jesus through the grace and calling of God. He calls Timothy his “beloved child,” his adopted, spiritual son whom he has traveled with and mentored over the years, and he adds a blessing of “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Even though Paul is writing from prison, he opens this letter with such uplifting and positive words that we might forget what he is actually enduring, and what is about to come for him – death at the hands of the Romans.
Paul moves next into words of thanksgiving – he is grateful to God whom he worships just as his ancestors did, and he reminds Timothy that he also has been guided in his faith by both his mother and his grandmother. Most of us have come to faith through the encouragement and example of another Christian, some through family, some through friends, neighbors, or coworkers. Someone, at some time, in some place, has told us about Jesus, and somehow, we believed them and came to a saving faith in him for ourselves. Aren’t we also grateful for the witness of those folks, and don’t we give thanks to God for putting them in our lives and using them to bring us to himself?
By Paul reminding Timothy about the faith and the example of his mother and his grandmother, he is also reminding him that he is not alone on his faith journey. We don’t know if Lois and Eunice are still living at the time of this letter, but even if they are not, Timothy still has other believers who are his family, his support system, his brothers and sisters in Christ.
I confess that is one thing I love about being a Christian – knowing that I am connected through Jesus Christ with all other believers. That was a strong emphasis, too, of John Wesley for his people called Methodists, the connection we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ through the church that seeks to honor and serve him by showing his love to those who need it the most. We are a community of believers – those of us here in this church – and all of us who belong to the Church universal. We are a support system for one another, and I love that.
Sometimes we see the connections that make up our support system clearly, like Paul knowing he has learned to love and worship God through his ancestors, and Timothy, learning his faith through his mother and grandmother. Through our faith, we are always connected one to another.
After Paul pours out his thanksgiving for Timothy, for his ancestors, and for Timothy’s family, he begins to encourage Timothy in his own ministry. He starts where we started today – “Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, and don’t be ashamed of me.”
Let’s start with Paul, the prisoner. How many of us know someone personally who have been in prison? How did that make us feel? Were we ashamed of them for what they had done to be put away, separated from society? That is our first instinct usually, our gut reaction. We may feel embarrassed that people will think less of us because of our association to the one in jail. We may feel a desire to distance ourselves from that person. See how easily we make it all about us – how we feel, how we appear to others, the shame we feel for what others have done and how that might affect us?
Paul knows this is how people feel and he didn’t want Timothy, or anyone else, really, to associate his imprisonment negatively with sharing the gospel. Paul wants Timothy, and us, to realize that the gospel did not put Paul in prison – people did, people who were products of this broken world in which we live, people who felt threatened by the good news that Paul was trying to give them. Paul was in prison, yes – but he hadn’t done anything wrong – he hadn’t done anything for which he was ashamed, nor anything for someone else to be ashamed of him.
Professor Sunggu Yang, from George Fox University’s School of Theology, teaches that that Paul considers pain and suffering to be the true mark of a faithful, grace-filled life lived in Christ, not an unfortunate result of some unattractive, forced, or illegitimate religious life. In other words, Paul wants us to regard suffering as a natural part of faithful living. That seems like a lot to ask, doesn’t it?
Hey, good news! If you are a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, you will encounter pain and suffering in your life – doesn’t that sound great? Ya’ll want to get signed up for this? But look at the other side of this – people who are not followers of Jesus also have pain and suffering in their life; no one is exempt. So, hear the good news, and yes, there is good news in this - since Christ has already overcome pain and suffering on every level, so can we, with his help!
Therefore, there is no shame in this way of living as a faithful disciple. Yes, Paul is in prison. Yes, prison is a terrible place where no one ever wants to be. No, there is no reason to be ashamed of Paul. He is in prison because he was doing exactly what God had called him to do – share the gospel wherever he went.
That brings us to the other point Paul is making that Timothy should not be ashamed of his witness to the world for Christ Jesus. What if the person who first told you about Jesus had never done so? What if we were to all become quiet about our faith so we didn’t offend someone. What if we never said Jesus’ name because we were ashamed of him and how he lived and died all those years ago? Where would we be? Where would any of us be? Would Christianity just die off, fade away? No.
Remember on Palm Sunday as Jesus rode into Jerusalem with the crowds shouting their Hosannahs? The religious leaders admonished Jesus to tell his followers to be quiet, and what was Jesus’ response? Hear the words from Luke 19:39-40: “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”
Friends, I am telling you now, if we were to become so ashamed of the name of Jesus that we kept quiet, the stones on the ground would have to do the work that was meant for us to do – to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. One way or another, God’s will will be done – with us or without us, through us or through rocks. It is our choice. Paul knew this, now Timothy must know it, too. So should we.
I’ve heard it said that Christianity is always one generation away from becoming extinct. Sounds crazy, right? But if we don’t share the gospel with the next generation, how will they know about Jesus and all he has done for them? Through talking rocks? If we don’t teach them, then we are robbing them of the opportunity to share the gospel themselves. Just as we were unashamedly witnessed to by the ones who came before us, we are called to unashamedly be a witness to yet others after us, of the saving grace of our God through Jesus Christ.
Paul’s confidence in Christ is what makes him boldly share his faith, we see that confidence when he writes, “for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him.” When we put our trust in the one who has set us free from eternal death due to our sinful nature, the one who took on death for our sake, the one who never deserved to die at all yet did so willingly, we can banish any shame that the world wants to heap upon us for being Christian and we can boldly share our witness with that broken, hurting world.
Jesus warned his followers that they would not have an easy life. We talked about this a few weeks ago. Mark 9:23-26 says, “Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
I don’t want to gain the world; I just want Jesus. How about you? I don’t want Jesus to be ashamed of me, even though he has many good reasons to be, and I don’t want anyone to think I am ashamed of Jesus, my Lord and Savior.
Paul told Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you,” and he reminded Timothy that “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” God gave us the gift of himself, and there is no better gift that anyone could hope to receive.
Paul is speaking the same message to us today. As a believer, we are gifted with the presence of God within us – the Holy Spirit. Being reminded of this, lest we had forgotten, let today be the day we rekindle that gift of the Holy Spirit. Let today be the day that we begin to boldly share the gospel with everyone we know. Let today be the day we declare that we are not ashamed of the Gospel and take a stand for Christ Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Powerful, loving, giving God, make us bold for your sake. When we would remain silent, move us to speak up for you. When we are uncomfortable speaking of our faith, give us words that honor you and point others in your direction. Thank you for the gift that you have given us – the gift of yourself through Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. Never let us turn our job over to the rocks, help us to share you with the next generation and they with the next one after, a never-ending cycle until the promised return of your son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-11-14-5
Series: Not Ashamed
Message: Rekindle the Gift
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
8 Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, in the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12 and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him. 13 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
This week we begin a new series called “Not Ashamed,” taken from Paul’s words to Timothy as he wrote, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me.” This might sound a little odd to us as we read or hear them, we don’t understand why Timothy would be ashamed of Paul, and we certainly don’t see any reason that he would be ashamed of the Lord.
To understand some of what Paul is getting at, we need to know the setting. Paul is writing this letter to Timothy from a Roman prison. He begins his letter with a beautiful greeting, acknowledging that he, Paul, is an apostle of the Lord Jesus through the grace and calling of God. He calls Timothy his “beloved child,” his adopted, spiritual son whom he has traveled with and mentored over the years, and he adds a blessing of “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Even though Paul is writing from prison, he opens this letter with such uplifting and positive words that we might forget what he is actually enduring, and what is about to come for him – death at the hands of the Romans.
Paul moves next into words of thanksgiving – he is grateful to God whom he worships just as his ancestors did, and he reminds Timothy that he also has been guided in his faith by both his mother and his grandmother. Most of us have come to faith through the encouragement and example of another Christian, some through family, some through friends, neighbors, or coworkers. Someone, at some time, in some place, has told us about Jesus, and somehow, we believed them and came to a saving faith in him for ourselves. Aren’t we also grateful for the witness of those folks, and don’t we give thanks to God for putting them in our lives and using them to bring us to himself?
By Paul reminding Timothy about the faith and the example of his mother and his grandmother, he is also reminding him that he is not alone on his faith journey. We don’t know if Lois and Eunice are still living at the time of this letter, but even if they are not, Timothy still has other believers who are his family, his support system, his brothers and sisters in Christ.
I confess that is one thing I love about being a Christian – knowing that I am connected through Jesus Christ with all other believers. That was a strong emphasis, too, of John Wesley for his people called Methodists, the connection we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ through the church that seeks to honor and serve him by showing his love to those who need it the most. We are a community of believers – those of us here in this church – and all of us who belong to the Church universal. We are a support system for one another, and I love that.
Sometimes we see the connections that make up our support system clearly, like Paul knowing he has learned to love and worship God through his ancestors, and Timothy, learning his faith through his mother and grandmother. Through our faith, we are always connected one to another.
After Paul pours out his thanksgiving for Timothy, for his ancestors, and for Timothy’s family, he begins to encourage Timothy in his own ministry. He starts where we started today – “Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, and don’t be ashamed of me.”
Let’s start with Paul, the prisoner. How many of us know someone personally who have been in prison? How did that make us feel? Were we ashamed of them for what they had done to be put away, separated from society? That is our first instinct usually, our gut reaction. We may feel embarrassed that people will think less of us because of our association to the one in jail. We may feel a desire to distance ourselves from that person. See how easily we make it all about us – how we feel, how we appear to others, the shame we feel for what others have done and how that might affect us?
Paul knows this is how people feel and he didn’t want Timothy, or anyone else, really, to associate his imprisonment negatively with sharing the gospel. Paul wants Timothy, and us, to realize that the gospel did not put Paul in prison – people did, people who were products of this broken world in which we live, people who felt threatened by the good news that Paul was trying to give them. Paul was in prison, yes – but he hadn’t done anything wrong – he hadn’t done anything for which he was ashamed, nor anything for someone else to be ashamed of him.
Professor Sunggu Yang, from George Fox University’s School of Theology, teaches that that Paul considers pain and suffering to be the true mark of a faithful, grace-filled life lived in Christ, not an unfortunate result of some unattractive, forced, or illegitimate religious life. In other words, Paul wants us to regard suffering as a natural part of faithful living. That seems like a lot to ask, doesn’t it?
Hey, good news! If you are a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, you will encounter pain and suffering in your life – doesn’t that sound great? Ya’ll want to get signed up for this? But look at the other side of this – people who are not followers of Jesus also have pain and suffering in their life; no one is exempt. So, hear the good news, and yes, there is good news in this - since Christ has already overcome pain and suffering on every level, so can we, with his help!
Therefore, there is no shame in this way of living as a faithful disciple. Yes, Paul is in prison. Yes, prison is a terrible place where no one ever wants to be. No, there is no reason to be ashamed of Paul. He is in prison because he was doing exactly what God had called him to do – share the gospel wherever he went.
That brings us to the other point Paul is making that Timothy should not be ashamed of his witness to the world for Christ Jesus. What if the person who first told you about Jesus had never done so? What if we were to all become quiet about our faith so we didn’t offend someone. What if we never said Jesus’ name because we were ashamed of him and how he lived and died all those years ago? Where would we be? Where would any of us be? Would Christianity just die off, fade away? No.
Remember on Palm Sunday as Jesus rode into Jerusalem with the crowds shouting their Hosannahs? The religious leaders admonished Jesus to tell his followers to be quiet, and what was Jesus’ response? Hear the words from Luke 19:39-40: “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”
Friends, I am telling you now, if we were to become so ashamed of the name of Jesus that we kept quiet, the stones on the ground would have to do the work that was meant for us to do – to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. One way or another, God’s will will be done – with us or without us, through us or through rocks. It is our choice. Paul knew this, now Timothy must know it, too. So should we.
I’ve heard it said that Christianity is always one generation away from becoming extinct. Sounds crazy, right? But if we don’t share the gospel with the next generation, how will they know about Jesus and all he has done for them? Through talking rocks? If we don’t teach them, then we are robbing them of the opportunity to share the gospel themselves. Just as we were unashamedly witnessed to by the ones who came before us, we are called to unashamedly be a witness to yet others after us, of the saving grace of our God through Jesus Christ.
Paul’s confidence in Christ is what makes him boldly share his faith, we see that confidence when he writes, “for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him.” When we put our trust in the one who has set us free from eternal death due to our sinful nature, the one who took on death for our sake, the one who never deserved to die at all yet did so willingly, we can banish any shame that the world wants to heap upon us for being Christian and we can boldly share our witness with that broken, hurting world.
Jesus warned his followers that they would not have an easy life. We talked about this a few weeks ago. Mark 9:23-26 says, “Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
I don’t want to gain the world; I just want Jesus. How about you? I don’t want Jesus to be ashamed of me, even though he has many good reasons to be, and I don’t want anyone to think I am ashamed of Jesus, my Lord and Savior.
Paul told Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you,” and he reminded Timothy that “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” God gave us the gift of himself, and there is no better gift that anyone could hope to receive.
Paul is speaking the same message to us today. As a believer, we are gifted with the presence of God within us – the Holy Spirit. Being reminded of this, lest we had forgotten, let today be the day we rekindle that gift of the Holy Spirit. Let today be the day that we begin to boldly share the gospel with everyone we know. Let today be the day we declare that we are not ashamed of the Gospel and take a stand for Christ Jesus. AMEN.
PRAYER: Powerful, loving, giving God, make us bold for your sake. When we would remain silent, move us to speak up for you. When we are uncomfortable speaking of our faith, give us words that honor you and point others in your direction. Thank you for the gift that you have given us – the gift of yourself through Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. Never let us turn our job over to the rocks, help us to share you with the next generation and they with the next one after, a never-ending cycle until the promised return of your son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/not-ashamed
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-11-14-5
PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2022 "fINDING THE lOST"
September 11, 2022
Series: Having Words with Jesus
Message: Finding the Lost
Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Two quick weeks of hearing Jesus’ words – last week and this week. We heard him tell us last week to count the cost before we make a commitment to follow him because he wants us to be wholly ready and willing to give ourselves to him. He warned us that if we become his follower, we will need to pick up our cross daily because our lives will be difficult at times, maybe even in danger at times, and we must be prepared for those hard times that we might withstand the onslaught and come out the other side still a believer.
This week we get to talk about a lost sheep and a lost coin. We like these verses. They make us feel kind of warm and fuzzy – and not just from the sheep’s wool. We like knowing that we are sought after when we go astray, that God sees us and comes after us to bring us back into his fold. We like being reminded of the love that God has for us that he does that for even one, for every one of us.
How often, though, have we stopped to think about just how radical these stories are? We usually take them at face value, we see the shepherd looking for one lost sheep, finding it, and bringing it back to the others. We watch the woman methodically move her furniture, sweep every corner, every nook and cranny looking for that lost coin until she finally finds it. When the shepherd and the woman find what was lost, they celebrate, and we celebrate with them. “Yeah, good job! WooHoo!”
The reality is, though, that any shepherd worth his crook would never leave the flock of ninety-nine to go looking for one sheep who wandered off. The shepherd’s job is to protect the sheep, to help them find the best grass to eat and the freshest, safest water to drink. If the shepherd wanders off, the flock is in danger. They might scatter, they might see a tender tuft of grass on the edge of the cliff and fall off trying to reach it, they might see a rushing river of water and be carried away by the current trying to get a drink.
Then there is the possibility that a predator might attack while the sheep are left unprotected. A wolf, a bear, or a lion could come charging into the flock and carry off some of the best sheep – a loss that would be greater than that one silly sheep who wandered off and caused all this chaos and confusion.
No, the people who were listening to Jesus’ parable about the lost sheep would have wondered about a shepherd who left the ninety-nine to go find the one. Hearing this story, they might have wondered if Jesus even knew what he was talking about. The Pharisees were already miffed and grumbling about Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, now he has given them reason to question his intelligence – at least about shepherding.
But Jesus goes on; he tells another parable about a woman who has lost a coin. She had ten, but one is lost and now she only has nine. She searches everywhere to find it. She checked her wallet, her kitchen table, her pockets, but no coin. So, she lights a lamp to bring brighter light into the house and sets to work on a thorough search for this coin. She gets out her broom and moving each piece of furniture out of the way, taking the lamp with her room-to-room, she begins to deep clean her house looking for the coin. Likely this was done after a long day of hard work, a time in which she would usually be sleeping, but this lost coin is too valuable to put off looking for until she has more time. It must be found right now – this very night.
Now, we might wonder, why all the fuss for one coin? She still has nine other coins, why is she so worried about one that she spends hours of her time and most of her energy looking for this one?
Let’s look at this from a slightly different perspective:
I read about a girl named Christina, who lived in a small village in Brazil. Christina dreamed of and longed for the excitement of the big city. She wanted to go to Rio, but her mother knew that she was not ready yet to live by herself so far from home, she knew the dangers that lurked in the city, so she begged her daughter not to go.
One morning, though, her mother woke up to see that Christina's room was empty; she was gone. Maria, her mother, immediately gathered all the money she had and went to the bus station to buy a ticket to Rio. On the way to the bus station, Maria stopped at a photo booth and got a bunch of pictures of herself. She used the time during the long bus ride to write on the back of every single picture.
When Maria got to Rio, she searched everywhere for Christina, but could not find her. As she went up and down the streets, she put those pictures of herself wherever she could, hoping that Christina would see them and know that her mother was looking for her.
Some time went by, Christina was staying at a hotel in the city of her dreams, but the excitement and the dreams that had brought her to the city were now long gone, destroyed by the reality of life in the city. She was exhausted and she wanted to go home, but she thought there was no way she could do that. She had run away, abandoned her family, and she was ashamed of what she had done to survive here, so far from home.
As she came to the lobby of the hotel, though, she suddenly saw a picture of her mother. Surprised, her eyes began to fill with tears. She pulled the picture down from the wall and, turning it over, Christina saw what her mother had written. "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become -- it does not matter. Please come home!"
That was all that Christina needed. She left Rio that day to go home to her family. I imagine they greeted her and celebrated her return in much the same way the shepherd rejoiced at finding the lost sheep and the woman at finding her lost coin.
We don’t know if Maria had other children but imagine if she did, imagine if she had ten children, including Christina. We wouldn’t question Maria leaving the other nine children to go find one child. Her love for Christina does not end simply because Christina left and there are still nine remaining. Of course, Maria would do whatever she had to do to find her daughter. Hearing this, we would nod our heads and think to ourselves, “We would do the same.”
Friends, Jesus’ parables today aren’t really about a lost sheep or a lost coin. They are about lost people. A shepherd wouldn’t really leave his whole flock to come find one lost sheep, but our Good Shepherd does that all the time. Every single person, all of whom are created in the image of God and loved by God, are also called by God to come to him. Some come willingly; some need to be pursued. Sadly, some do not want to be found. But it isn’t God who gives up – it is the one who is lost who continues to run from God, continues to hide from God, continues to harden his or her heart against God.
When a lost sheep is found, when the lost coin is found, what happened next? There was a party where everyone was invited to come and celebrate the good news.
Jesus heard the grumblings of the Pharisees and the scribes. He knew what they were saying against him, so he began his parables by asking, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep, would not leave the ninety-nine to go find one that was lost?” Jesus knew the answer. He knew that none of them would do that. Jesus also knew that they were grumbling about how he ministered to the least, the lost, and the lonely, about how he ate with sinners and tax collectors. That these “lost sheep” were coming to know God through Jesus didn’t make the Pharisees want to celebrate, it made them angry.
The very next parable in Luke’s gospel is the story of the prodigal son. I think we can figure out who the Pharisees were in that story, but the story of the prodigal son, and the two that we have heard today, are warnings for us, too. We can easily become the older brother or the grumpy Pharisees, when we compare ourselves to others who come to Jesus.
We are good at welcoming people into our midst, but how often do we go searching for the lost? We are good at encouraging those whom we know and love, but when do we encourage the stranger? We are good at coming to church, but we must remember to BE the church. That is the message Jesus is conveying here, these are the words he wants us to hear from him. That is how we love our neighbor, no matter when they finally become found or how lost they may have been before – it is up to us to welcome them, love them, and celebrate their foundness with them.
On this day, the 21st anniversary of 9/11, I think it is fitting to end with a story of searching for the lost on that particularly fateful day.
We remember that when the World Trade Center crumbled to the ground on that dreadful day, more than 3000 people lost their lives. But there were a few who were buried beneath the rubble who miraculously survived. Two of these were Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, a pair of Port Authority employees. Will and John had responded to the attack and were on the bottom floor as the south tower fell. They were trapped in the rubble, breathing smoke filled air, and they knew they had little hope for survival.
While Will and John lay trapped under the tower of debris, David Karnes, an accountant, and a Marine veteran who served 23 years in active duty, was in Connecticut, watching the news footage on TV, like most of the rest of us did that day. But David decided to do something about it.
He went to his boss and told him he was leaving and wouldn’t be back for a while. He went home and put on his fatigues and then drove as quickly as he could to New York City. He reached ground zero by late afternoon. When he arrived, rescue workers were being called off the site, but Dave was able to stay, his uniform giving him the credentials he needed. He met another Marine, and the two decided to join forces, walking the pile of debris together, searching and seeking to save a life.
After an hour of searching, they heard a faint sound. It was someone tapping on metal pipes. It was Will and John, the two port authority men who had been trapped, by this time, for nine hours.
Just hours before, this former Marine had been wearing a suit, sitting at a desk, crunching numbers on a spreadsheet, but now he began to dig through the rocks, the dirt, the concrete, and the steel, working to free these two men whom he did not know.
There were twenty people who were eventually pulled out of the rubble to safety that day; Will and John were numbers 18 and 19. And it was all because Dave took off his suit, put on his rescue fatigues, (rolled up his sleeves) and stepped into the despair and darkness of Ground Zero. Imagine the celebration that Will’s and John’s families had when they were finally found after being lost for all those long, dark, dangerous hours.
Many might say Dave was crazy for risking his own life that day. He was safely in Connecticut, miles away from danger, yet he was compelled by his love for others to leave his home and go and do what he could to help.
It was a crazy plan that had Jesus leaving the comfort of heaven to come to earth and live as a human in a cold, dark world. It was an even crazier plan when it included him dying on a cross. We were like Will and John, buried with no hope of escape – only we were buried in sin instead of a tall tower. We had no way out, but God had a plan.
We once were lost, but now, having accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are found, and when we got found, there was a party in heaven. Friends, if there was a party for us, shouldn’t we be partying and celebrating for the others who come after us? Shouldn’t we celebrate whenever another lost soul is found and surrenders to the love of God through Christ Jesus? Let’s be the party-goers, not the big brother, let’s be a part of the celebration, not the grumpy Pharisees.
Let’s be seekers who invite in the lost so they can be found, and the celebration can continue without end until Jesus comes back again. And may we be cheering as loudly as we can. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for seeking the lost. We are all, at one time or another, the one who strayed from the ninety-nine, and through your goodness and your love, you have come after us to bring us back to you. Help us to stay put, stay by your side, even as we in turn seek others to bring to you, to invite into your fold, to become one of your flock, that they, too, might become one of the found. And Lord, when that happens, help us to celebrate the goodness of your love as we strive to love others as you have taught us to do. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/having-words-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84217/evangelism-by-tim-smith
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/81728/forgiveness-for-others-by-ken-henson
Series: Having Words with Jesus
Message: Finding the Lost
Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Two quick weeks of hearing Jesus’ words – last week and this week. We heard him tell us last week to count the cost before we make a commitment to follow him because he wants us to be wholly ready and willing to give ourselves to him. He warned us that if we become his follower, we will need to pick up our cross daily because our lives will be difficult at times, maybe even in danger at times, and we must be prepared for those hard times that we might withstand the onslaught and come out the other side still a believer.
This week we get to talk about a lost sheep and a lost coin. We like these verses. They make us feel kind of warm and fuzzy – and not just from the sheep’s wool. We like knowing that we are sought after when we go astray, that God sees us and comes after us to bring us back into his fold. We like being reminded of the love that God has for us that he does that for even one, for every one of us.
How often, though, have we stopped to think about just how radical these stories are? We usually take them at face value, we see the shepherd looking for one lost sheep, finding it, and bringing it back to the others. We watch the woman methodically move her furniture, sweep every corner, every nook and cranny looking for that lost coin until she finally finds it. When the shepherd and the woman find what was lost, they celebrate, and we celebrate with them. “Yeah, good job! WooHoo!”
The reality is, though, that any shepherd worth his crook would never leave the flock of ninety-nine to go looking for one sheep who wandered off. The shepherd’s job is to protect the sheep, to help them find the best grass to eat and the freshest, safest water to drink. If the shepherd wanders off, the flock is in danger. They might scatter, they might see a tender tuft of grass on the edge of the cliff and fall off trying to reach it, they might see a rushing river of water and be carried away by the current trying to get a drink.
Then there is the possibility that a predator might attack while the sheep are left unprotected. A wolf, a bear, or a lion could come charging into the flock and carry off some of the best sheep – a loss that would be greater than that one silly sheep who wandered off and caused all this chaos and confusion.
No, the people who were listening to Jesus’ parable about the lost sheep would have wondered about a shepherd who left the ninety-nine to go find the one. Hearing this story, they might have wondered if Jesus even knew what he was talking about. The Pharisees were already miffed and grumbling about Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, now he has given them reason to question his intelligence – at least about shepherding.
But Jesus goes on; he tells another parable about a woman who has lost a coin. She had ten, but one is lost and now she only has nine. She searches everywhere to find it. She checked her wallet, her kitchen table, her pockets, but no coin. So, she lights a lamp to bring brighter light into the house and sets to work on a thorough search for this coin. She gets out her broom and moving each piece of furniture out of the way, taking the lamp with her room-to-room, she begins to deep clean her house looking for the coin. Likely this was done after a long day of hard work, a time in which she would usually be sleeping, but this lost coin is too valuable to put off looking for until she has more time. It must be found right now – this very night.
Now, we might wonder, why all the fuss for one coin? She still has nine other coins, why is she so worried about one that she spends hours of her time and most of her energy looking for this one?
Let’s look at this from a slightly different perspective:
I read about a girl named Christina, who lived in a small village in Brazil. Christina dreamed of and longed for the excitement of the big city. She wanted to go to Rio, but her mother knew that she was not ready yet to live by herself so far from home, she knew the dangers that lurked in the city, so she begged her daughter not to go.
One morning, though, her mother woke up to see that Christina's room was empty; she was gone. Maria, her mother, immediately gathered all the money she had and went to the bus station to buy a ticket to Rio. On the way to the bus station, Maria stopped at a photo booth and got a bunch of pictures of herself. She used the time during the long bus ride to write on the back of every single picture.
When Maria got to Rio, she searched everywhere for Christina, but could not find her. As she went up and down the streets, she put those pictures of herself wherever she could, hoping that Christina would see them and know that her mother was looking for her.
Some time went by, Christina was staying at a hotel in the city of her dreams, but the excitement and the dreams that had brought her to the city were now long gone, destroyed by the reality of life in the city. She was exhausted and she wanted to go home, but she thought there was no way she could do that. She had run away, abandoned her family, and she was ashamed of what she had done to survive here, so far from home.
As she came to the lobby of the hotel, though, she suddenly saw a picture of her mother. Surprised, her eyes began to fill with tears. She pulled the picture down from the wall and, turning it over, Christina saw what her mother had written. "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become -- it does not matter. Please come home!"
That was all that Christina needed. She left Rio that day to go home to her family. I imagine they greeted her and celebrated her return in much the same way the shepherd rejoiced at finding the lost sheep and the woman at finding her lost coin.
We don’t know if Maria had other children but imagine if she did, imagine if she had ten children, including Christina. We wouldn’t question Maria leaving the other nine children to go find one child. Her love for Christina does not end simply because Christina left and there are still nine remaining. Of course, Maria would do whatever she had to do to find her daughter. Hearing this, we would nod our heads and think to ourselves, “We would do the same.”
Friends, Jesus’ parables today aren’t really about a lost sheep or a lost coin. They are about lost people. A shepherd wouldn’t really leave his whole flock to come find one lost sheep, but our Good Shepherd does that all the time. Every single person, all of whom are created in the image of God and loved by God, are also called by God to come to him. Some come willingly; some need to be pursued. Sadly, some do not want to be found. But it isn’t God who gives up – it is the one who is lost who continues to run from God, continues to hide from God, continues to harden his or her heart against God.
When a lost sheep is found, when the lost coin is found, what happened next? There was a party where everyone was invited to come and celebrate the good news.
Jesus heard the grumblings of the Pharisees and the scribes. He knew what they were saying against him, so he began his parables by asking, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep, would not leave the ninety-nine to go find one that was lost?” Jesus knew the answer. He knew that none of them would do that. Jesus also knew that they were grumbling about how he ministered to the least, the lost, and the lonely, about how he ate with sinners and tax collectors. That these “lost sheep” were coming to know God through Jesus didn’t make the Pharisees want to celebrate, it made them angry.
The very next parable in Luke’s gospel is the story of the prodigal son. I think we can figure out who the Pharisees were in that story, but the story of the prodigal son, and the two that we have heard today, are warnings for us, too. We can easily become the older brother or the grumpy Pharisees, when we compare ourselves to others who come to Jesus.
We are good at welcoming people into our midst, but how often do we go searching for the lost? We are good at encouraging those whom we know and love, but when do we encourage the stranger? We are good at coming to church, but we must remember to BE the church. That is the message Jesus is conveying here, these are the words he wants us to hear from him. That is how we love our neighbor, no matter when they finally become found or how lost they may have been before – it is up to us to welcome them, love them, and celebrate their foundness with them.
On this day, the 21st anniversary of 9/11, I think it is fitting to end with a story of searching for the lost on that particularly fateful day.
We remember that when the World Trade Center crumbled to the ground on that dreadful day, more than 3000 people lost their lives. But there were a few who were buried beneath the rubble who miraculously survived. Two of these were Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, a pair of Port Authority employees. Will and John had responded to the attack and were on the bottom floor as the south tower fell. They were trapped in the rubble, breathing smoke filled air, and they knew they had little hope for survival.
While Will and John lay trapped under the tower of debris, David Karnes, an accountant, and a Marine veteran who served 23 years in active duty, was in Connecticut, watching the news footage on TV, like most of the rest of us did that day. But David decided to do something about it.
He went to his boss and told him he was leaving and wouldn’t be back for a while. He went home and put on his fatigues and then drove as quickly as he could to New York City. He reached ground zero by late afternoon. When he arrived, rescue workers were being called off the site, but Dave was able to stay, his uniform giving him the credentials he needed. He met another Marine, and the two decided to join forces, walking the pile of debris together, searching and seeking to save a life.
After an hour of searching, they heard a faint sound. It was someone tapping on metal pipes. It was Will and John, the two port authority men who had been trapped, by this time, for nine hours.
Just hours before, this former Marine had been wearing a suit, sitting at a desk, crunching numbers on a spreadsheet, but now he began to dig through the rocks, the dirt, the concrete, and the steel, working to free these two men whom he did not know.
There were twenty people who were eventually pulled out of the rubble to safety that day; Will and John were numbers 18 and 19. And it was all because Dave took off his suit, put on his rescue fatigues, (rolled up his sleeves) and stepped into the despair and darkness of Ground Zero. Imagine the celebration that Will’s and John’s families had when they were finally found after being lost for all those long, dark, dangerous hours.
Many might say Dave was crazy for risking his own life that day. He was safely in Connecticut, miles away from danger, yet he was compelled by his love for others to leave his home and go and do what he could to help.
It was a crazy plan that had Jesus leaving the comfort of heaven to come to earth and live as a human in a cold, dark world. It was an even crazier plan when it included him dying on a cross. We were like Will and John, buried with no hope of escape – only we were buried in sin instead of a tall tower. We had no way out, but God had a plan.
We once were lost, but now, having accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are found, and when we got found, there was a party in heaven. Friends, if there was a party for us, shouldn’t we be partying and celebrating for the others who come after us? Shouldn’t we celebrate whenever another lost soul is found and surrenders to the love of God through Christ Jesus? Let’s be the party-goers, not the big brother, let’s be a part of the celebration, not the grumpy Pharisees.
Let’s be seekers who invite in the lost so they can be found, and the celebration can continue without end until Jesus comes back again. And may we be cheering as loudly as we can. AMEN.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for seeking the lost. We are all, at one time or another, the one who strayed from the ninety-nine, and through your goodness and your love, you have come after us to bring us back to you. Help us to stay put, stay by your side, even as we in turn seek others to bring to you, to invite into your fold, to become one of your flock, that they, too, might become one of the found. And Lord, when that happens, help us to celebrate the goodness of your love as we strive to love others as you have taught us to do. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/having-words-with-jesus
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84217/evangelism-by-tim-smith
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/81728/forgiveness-for-others-by-ken-henson
September 4, 2022 PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON "cOUNTING THE cOST"
September 4, 2022
Series: Having Words with Jesus
Message: Counting the Cost
Scripture: Luke 14:25-33
Now large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
Have you ever built a house? Or taken on a major remodeling project? Or planned a dream vacation? Or made the decision to change careers or decided to go back to school? What is one of the deciding factors in making these kinds of decisions, as well as a myriad of others? Probably one of the first things we think about, worry about, ask ourselves, is “Can I afford this? Can WE afford this?”
This week and next, our Sermon Series is titled, “Having Words with Jesus,” but what we are really doing is listening and learning from Jesus. Today’s scripture is probably not one that many of us like to hear. Jesus is being followed by a large crowd of people and suddenly he turns to them and says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
These words don’t sound like the Jesus we know. Where is the love we usually associate with Jesus and his teachings? What happened to “Love the Lord your God, love your neighbor, love yourself, and love your enemies? Now he wants us to hate? That’s an awfully strong word. That’s a word we teach our children not to say, but here is Jesus telling us that if we want to be a disciple, be one of his followers, we have to hate our family, even hate our life?
Our first instinct is to stop right there and close the book. “I’m out,” we say, “I can’t do that. That is just asking too much.” But wait, maybe we shouldn’t be too hasty. Let’s open the book back up and look at the words Jesus says once more. Is Jesus really telling us to hate others? Really?
No, of course not. But let’s look at the scene. Jesus is being followed by great crowds of people wherever he goes. Why do they follow him? What do they want? They have seen, or at least heard of, Jesus’ healing ministry. He has healed a leper, a paralytic, a man’s withered hand, a Centurion’s slave, a demoniac, a twelve-year-old girl, a demon-possessed boy, a bleeding woman, a bent-over woman, and a man who suffered from swelling. He has raised a widow’s son from the dead and fed a crowd of over five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
Who wouldn’t want to follow this man? For someone to have performed even one of these miracles would be astounding, but this man, this Jesus, has done ALL OF THIS! The people see him, see what he has done, and decide to follow him. But Jesus knows there is more to being a disciple than the miracles. And Jesus knows that when the hard times come, many will decide to “nope right out.”
To be a follower of Jesus, a real disciple, requires a commitment, not just a curiosity. A disciple isn’t someone who comes along for the good times only, but who also knows there will be hard times, even dangerous times ahead. Jesus’ call for his followers to hate their family and their lives isn’t a call to hate at all – but it is a call to love him more than anything, and anyone, else, because only a love that puts Jesus first, a love that centers a life around Jesus himself, is a love that will stand life’s tests.
We often talk about “what this world is coming to,” and it often feels like we are speeding downhill towards utter disaster, but that has pretty much been the feeling of every generation from the time Adam and Eve left the garden. Jesus knew what was to come. He knew that some would die proclaiming his name, some of those who were present with him in that moment, and many, many more to come over the years, decades, centuries.
Jesus is telling the people, “Don’t follow me for only the good times, but realize there will be troubling times, too. Are you prepared for those times as well? Will you be willing to follow me daily, willing to pick up your cross, your burdens, your issues, even when others tell you to drop them and run? That is what it takes to be a disciple.”
Then, to make himself clear, Jesus uses an analogy they can all understand. He asks them, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’”
I asked at the beginning, “Have you ever built a house? Or taken on a major remodeling project? Or planned a dream vacation? Or made the decision to change careers or go back to school?” These are the kinds of things for which we count the cost before beginning. What good would it do to sit down with a builder and present him the plans for a new home, but have no money to build it? Why would we show up at the airport to get on an airplane, ready to fly to a tropical destination, without first knowing how much it would cost for the ticket, the hotel, and for food?
“Know what you are getting into before you make the commitment,” Jesus is warning the crowds. “There is a battle looming on the horizon, a kingdom that needs built. Are you in or out? It won’t be easy, it’s not a stroll on the beach. This is a battle for your soul, for yours and everyone else’s. This is a commitment to living a transformed life so others can see me through you. This battle will mean you are giving me your all, one hundred percent of yourself, your very own blood, sweat, and tears. Can you do it? Will you do it?”
Many will be quick to agree. Some will make a good beginning. Few will weather the hardships because they didn’t count the cost. They didn’t take the time to think about what they were getting into. They didn’t expect the going to get so tough so fast, to stumble and fall more often than not, or for tragedy to strike so close to home.
Jesus wants to be upfront about what he is asking of us. “Give up everything for me, every single thing that might hold you back, every single person you think you love so much, even your own life, give it up for my sake, because in the end, you are really giving it all up for your own sake.”
“What does he mean by that?” we ask. When we are followers of Jesus, when we are willing to give him everything, and I mean everything, without holding anything or anyone back, we have taken off the chains that keep us from experiencing the purest, truest form of love – the love of Jesus himself. And when we have experienced his love, then we can start to learn how to love others in the way Jesus calls us to love them. Not selfishly, not sporadically, not conditionally, but fully, completely, and whole-heartedly, just as Jesus loves us.
In “The Imitation of Christ,” Thomas a Kempis writes, “Jesus has many who love His Kingdom in Heaven, but few who bear His Cross (Luke 14:27). He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the Breaking of Bread, but few to the drinking of the Cup of His Passion. Many admire His miracles, but few follow Him in the humiliation of His Cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them. Many praise and bless Him, as long as they are receiving comfort from Him. But if Jesus withdraw Himself, they fall to complaining and utter dejection.”
“Count the cost,” Jesus says, “Pick up your cross and follow me. Make me your priority, give me your whole self.” Jesus could ask this because he knew he was on his way to giving his whole self for everyone to whom he was speaking that day. He had counted the cost long ago, long before he ever agreed to step across the stars, leave his heavenly dwelling place, and come to earth as a baby who would be the Savior of the world. It was a message that he meant for all of us, too, not just for those long-ago crowds.
Jesus’ invitation still stands today. He invites us to pick up our own cross, to weigh the pros and the cons, to make a decision, and to put him in the center of our lives, make him priority number one, but he does so because he wants us to know what real love is like. My friends, it is only by accepting his invitation that we can really know what it is like to really love ourselves, love our neighbor, love our enemies, and love our God. The road we take to follow Jesus may be hard, but when we count the cost, we will find that in the end, it is worth it at any price. Won’t you accept his invitation today?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, like the crowds in today’s scripture, we find ourselves drawn to you because of the good things, the miracles, the good deeds that you have done. Lord, we confess that we often forget the cost associated with being your disciple. We want the good times, the easy times, but we try to hide from the hard times, the stormy times. Help us, Lord, to see that without you, the hard times are harder to bear, help us to make a whole-hearted commitment to follow you wherever you lead us, and to help others to do the same. Help us to give up all that we have in exchange for you, that we might know your love, and that you might teach us to love others as you would have us love them.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being willing to go to the cross for us, for saving us, for loving us beyond any capacity we can measure or understand. May we bring you honor as we strive to glorify your name in the way we live and in the way we follow you, each and every day. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/having-words-with-jesus
Series: Having Words with Jesus
Message: Counting the Cost
Scripture: Luke 14:25-33
Now large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
Have you ever built a house? Or taken on a major remodeling project? Or planned a dream vacation? Or made the decision to change careers or decided to go back to school? What is one of the deciding factors in making these kinds of decisions, as well as a myriad of others? Probably one of the first things we think about, worry about, ask ourselves, is “Can I afford this? Can WE afford this?”
This week and next, our Sermon Series is titled, “Having Words with Jesus,” but what we are really doing is listening and learning from Jesus. Today’s scripture is probably not one that many of us like to hear. Jesus is being followed by a large crowd of people and suddenly he turns to them and says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
These words don’t sound like the Jesus we know. Where is the love we usually associate with Jesus and his teachings? What happened to “Love the Lord your God, love your neighbor, love yourself, and love your enemies? Now he wants us to hate? That’s an awfully strong word. That’s a word we teach our children not to say, but here is Jesus telling us that if we want to be a disciple, be one of his followers, we have to hate our family, even hate our life?
Our first instinct is to stop right there and close the book. “I’m out,” we say, “I can’t do that. That is just asking too much.” But wait, maybe we shouldn’t be too hasty. Let’s open the book back up and look at the words Jesus says once more. Is Jesus really telling us to hate others? Really?
No, of course not. But let’s look at the scene. Jesus is being followed by great crowds of people wherever he goes. Why do they follow him? What do they want? They have seen, or at least heard of, Jesus’ healing ministry. He has healed a leper, a paralytic, a man’s withered hand, a Centurion’s slave, a demoniac, a twelve-year-old girl, a demon-possessed boy, a bleeding woman, a bent-over woman, and a man who suffered from swelling. He has raised a widow’s son from the dead and fed a crowd of over five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
Who wouldn’t want to follow this man? For someone to have performed even one of these miracles would be astounding, but this man, this Jesus, has done ALL OF THIS! The people see him, see what he has done, and decide to follow him. But Jesus knows there is more to being a disciple than the miracles. And Jesus knows that when the hard times come, many will decide to “nope right out.”
To be a follower of Jesus, a real disciple, requires a commitment, not just a curiosity. A disciple isn’t someone who comes along for the good times only, but who also knows there will be hard times, even dangerous times ahead. Jesus’ call for his followers to hate their family and their lives isn’t a call to hate at all – but it is a call to love him more than anything, and anyone, else, because only a love that puts Jesus first, a love that centers a life around Jesus himself, is a love that will stand life’s tests.
We often talk about “what this world is coming to,” and it often feels like we are speeding downhill towards utter disaster, but that has pretty much been the feeling of every generation from the time Adam and Eve left the garden. Jesus knew what was to come. He knew that some would die proclaiming his name, some of those who were present with him in that moment, and many, many more to come over the years, decades, centuries.
Jesus is telling the people, “Don’t follow me for only the good times, but realize there will be troubling times, too. Are you prepared for those times as well? Will you be willing to follow me daily, willing to pick up your cross, your burdens, your issues, even when others tell you to drop them and run? That is what it takes to be a disciple.”
Then, to make himself clear, Jesus uses an analogy they can all understand. He asks them, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’”
I asked at the beginning, “Have you ever built a house? Or taken on a major remodeling project? Or planned a dream vacation? Or made the decision to change careers or go back to school?” These are the kinds of things for which we count the cost before beginning. What good would it do to sit down with a builder and present him the plans for a new home, but have no money to build it? Why would we show up at the airport to get on an airplane, ready to fly to a tropical destination, without first knowing how much it would cost for the ticket, the hotel, and for food?
“Know what you are getting into before you make the commitment,” Jesus is warning the crowds. “There is a battle looming on the horizon, a kingdom that needs built. Are you in or out? It won’t be easy, it’s not a stroll on the beach. This is a battle for your soul, for yours and everyone else’s. This is a commitment to living a transformed life so others can see me through you. This battle will mean you are giving me your all, one hundred percent of yourself, your very own blood, sweat, and tears. Can you do it? Will you do it?”
Many will be quick to agree. Some will make a good beginning. Few will weather the hardships because they didn’t count the cost. They didn’t take the time to think about what they were getting into. They didn’t expect the going to get so tough so fast, to stumble and fall more often than not, or for tragedy to strike so close to home.
Jesus wants to be upfront about what he is asking of us. “Give up everything for me, every single thing that might hold you back, every single person you think you love so much, even your own life, give it up for my sake, because in the end, you are really giving it all up for your own sake.”
“What does he mean by that?” we ask. When we are followers of Jesus, when we are willing to give him everything, and I mean everything, without holding anything or anyone back, we have taken off the chains that keep us from experiencing the purest, truest form of love – the love of Jesus himself. And when we have experienced his love, then we can start to learn how to love others in the way Jesus calls us to love them. Not selfishly, not sporadically, not conditionally, but fully, completely, and whole-heartedly, just as Jesus loves us.
In “The Imitation of Christ,” Thomas a Kempis writes, “Jesus has many who love His Kingdom in Heaven, but few who bear His Cross (Luke 14:27). He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the Breaking of Bread, but few to the drinking of the Cup of His Passion. Many admire His miracles, but few follow Him in the humiliation of His Cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them. Many praise and bless Him, as long as they are receiving comfort from Him. But if Jesus withdraw Himself, they fall to complaining and utter dejection.”
“Count the cost,” Jesus says, “Pick up your cross and follow me. Make me your priority, give me your whole self.” Jesus could ask this because he knew he was on his way to giving his whole self for everyone to whom he was speaking that day. He had counted the cost long ago, long before he ever agreed to step across the stars, leave his heavenly dwelling place, and come to earth as a baby who would be the Savior of the world. It was a message that he meant for all of us, too, not just for those long-ago crowds.
Jesus’ invitation still stands today. He invites us to pick up our own cross, to weigh the pros and the cons, to make a decision, and to put him in the center of our lives, make him priority number one, but he does so because he wants us to know what real love is like. My friends, it is only by accepting his invitation that we can really know what it is like to really love ourselves, love our neighbor, love our enemies, and love our God. The road we take to follow Jesus may be hard, but when we count the cost, we will find that in the end, it is worth it at any price. Won’t you accept his invitation today?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, like the crowds in today’s scripture, we find ourselves drawn to you because of the good things, the miracles, the good deeds that you have done. Lord, we confess that we often forget the cost associated with being your disciple. We want the good times, the easy times, but we try to hide from the hard times, the stormy times. Help us, Lord, to see that without you, the hard times are harder to bear, help us to make a whole-hearted commitment to follow you wherever you lead us, and to help others to do the same. Help us to give up all that we have in exchange for you, that we might know your love, and that you might teach us to love others as you would have us love them.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being willing to go to the cross for us, for saving us, for loving us beyond any capacity we can measure or understand. May we bring you honor as we strive to glorify your name in the way we live and in the way we follow you, each and every day. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/having-words-with-jesus
AUGUST 28, 2022 PASTOR dONNA'S SERMON "CRACKED CISTERNS".
August 28, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Cracked Cisterns
Scripture: Jeremiah 2:4-13
Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord,
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,
where no one lives?”
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit.
9 Therefore once more I accuse you,
says the Lord,
and I accuse your children’s children.
10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look;
send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has ever been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for something that does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked; be utterly desolate,
says the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.
One day a man was driving down the road with his little boy in his car seat in the back. As the father glanced in his rearview mirror, he saw his son had unbuckled himself and was standing up on the seat. Sternly, his father warned him to sit back down and buckle up or he would be in a heap of trouble. The son obeyed, but after refastening his seat belt, he said to his dad, “My body is sitting now, but in my head, I am still standing.”
As a parent, I can relate to that story. The child was following orders on the outside, but he was still rebelling on the inside. That is the story of the Israelites in today’s scripture.
This is our last week of visiting with the old prophets – at least for a while. Summer is coming to a close and our visits are coming to an end. Next week we will do some time traveling as we move several hundred years forward and hear some words from Jesus.
Last week, we witnessed Jeremiah’s call to the ministry of being a prophet. We heard God tell Jeremiah that he was known before he was formed, he was consecrated before he was born, and he was appointed by God to be a prophet to God’s people. Now Jeremiah has accepted God’s call and is giving his first message to the people of Jerusalem.
The second chapter begins with God telling the people he remembers how it used to be, saying, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.”
As we hear these words, we remember how God called his people out of Egyptian slavery and led them through the desert. In all their time of wandering, they depended on God to provide for their every need. They never had to worry about their clothes or their sandals wearing out, they were fed quail for meat and manna from heaven, and they were given water which gushed forth from a solid rock when there was no other source of water to be found. For forty years, these people followed God, depended on God, worshiped God. If only they had remained in that wilderness, perhaps they would have remained faithful.
Eventually, they crossed the Jordan River and took possession of the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where crops were already planted and the harvest was easy, a land where new crops would grow abundantly, where vineyards and olive trees gave wine and oil, a land where hunting was plentiful, and food was easily acquired. And when life got easy, the people began to forget who brought them to the place where they were and who had provided for them and protected them along the way.
There were periods when times got tough, and the people would remember who God was and what he meant to them, and they would turn back, but when the crises had passed, and a new generation came along, they would once again fall away and turn their backs on God. Oh, they might still follow the Law – at least on the outside – at least some parts of it – but in their hearts and in their minds, they were effectively standing up on the back seat as their car went down the road.
Here is the difference, though, between the Israelites and that defiant little boy – the dad would not have known that the child was still “standing up in his mind” if the child hadn’t admitted it, but God knew exactly what the Israelites were thinking. He knew that any outward show of devotion for most of them was just that – an outward show that did not involve the heart because they were not truly devoted.
So, God asks, “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?” “What did I do,” God asks, “to make these people turn away from me?” We know the answer is “nothing.”
God did nothing wrong, of course. It is the people who have chosen to worship worthless, false gods instead of the Living God, and in doing so, they have become worthless and false themselves. They had become so enamored of these lifeless stone and wood idols that they didn’t even think to ask themselves, “Where is the Lord, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?”
It never occurred to them to ask, “Where is this God who has given us everything, who has loved us when we were not lovable, who has provided for us, grew us, strengthened us, protected us, guided us, and fought for us?” Instead, they chopped down a tree and used its wood to build a bench, to start a fire, and with what was left, to carve an idol and worship it as a god.
They turned away from their true source of life and love and turned toward nothing. Who does that? Who gives up something beautiful for something ugly, something valuable for something worthless? Hear the lament of God, “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked; be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”
We are used to having water whenever we want it. Clean water, good for drinking and cooking is ours with the turn of a faucet. Do we really ever think about where it comes from? For many people, water comes from a well that was dug when their house was built. A deep hole in the ground which reached a reliable, potable water source. Then pipe is laid, and a pump is installed, and water comes into the house.
I remember one house where we lived when I was younger, though where we had a cistern instead of a well. For those who may not know, a cistern is a receptacle for holding water, especially in a place where a well cannot be dug or if the water that is in the ground is not viable for consumption. Cisterns are different from wells in that water must be put into them – either through a system of catching rainwater, or by being hauled in by a water truck and filled up as needed.
Because the water is held in the cistern until it is ready to be used, the cistern must be waterproofed in some way so that the water doesn’t leak out and be wasted, and so that contaminates don’t leak in and ruin the water.
God says the Israelites have turned their noses up on the gift of living water and instead have chosen to dig for themselves a cistern to use as their spiritual water source – and a cracked one at that, one that will not hold water, or anything else they might keep keep filling it with.
“Who in their right mind would do that?” we ask. And yet, do we not do the same thing today? When life is easy and times are good, do we not go about our business as though we are in control and have brought about such times by our own doing? Then, when life hits us in the gut and takes all the air out of us, we scramble to try to fix it, to figure it out and get back on track. When we finally realize that that isn’t working, out of desperation, we call out to God and ask for his help.
How often have we had a choice to make and chosen the easy path instead of the one that might require more work, more effort, and more faith? What have we forfeited by doing do? Where have we, as the Israelites did, chosen to dig our own cisterns instead of accepting the gift of living water offered to us by the One who wants nothing but the best for us?
When have we forgotten to be grateful for all we have because we let our gratitude leak out and go to waste? What will we do about it?
The first thing we need to do is to admit our ingratitude and ask God’s forgiveness. Next, we have to find a way to seek God in all we do – not just in the desperate times, but in the good times, and in the so-so times. We need to go to the source of this living water and give thanks for its sustaining power.
The practice of spiritual disciplines can help us with this. What are some of the spiritual disciplines? There are the inward, personal disciplines such as praying, fasting, and meditating on God’s word. There are outward disciplines that may be personal or practiced in community, such as service, confession, and worship.
Worship, both in community and privately is a great place to start – you are here so you’re already practicing that one. Reading and studying God’s word, prayer, and practicing the presence of God are spiritual disciplines which we can, and should, do intentionally, regularly, joyfully, and gratefully. Those may look different for different people.
Some may find that getting up early in the morning is the best time of day to read scripture and sit in the presence of God. Others may be better suited to waiting until evening. Some may find themselves feeling closer to God while they are outside, walking through the neighborhood, hiking a nature trail, or working in the garden. Others may find that sitting in a quiet room with the light of a candle helps them to focus on God. We all need to find what works best for us so we will do it.
It's okay to try something for awhile and see if it works for you. If it does – great – keep doing it, but if not, then try something else. It took me several years and several tries before I really found myself reading daily scripture. I cannot tell you how many times a new year would roll around and I would vow to read the Bible every day. I would start out well, but then I would get off track and eventually give up.
Finally, I discovered a Bible app that has reading plans. I tried it and it worked better for me. I have been able to read through the Bible every year now for the last several years and I find that I look forward to doing so each day. For me, that time is in the evening and because I know how easy it is to get busy and forget, I have set an alarm on my phone. Now, if my alarm goes off, I know I haven’t taken time to read God’s word that day, I have neglected to intentionally spend time in his presence, and I am reminded to do it now – not because I have to – but because I want to.
Find what works for you and just do it. Start with a few minutes if necessary and build up as you get used to it. I promise, you will be glad you did. God will be glad, too. This is what he wants from us – to come to him, to want to come to him, daily, at all times and in all situations, both good times and bad times, and even in the in-between times. But do it because you want to, because here’s the thing, we may sit down and buckle our seatbelt while we are in the car, but God knows if we are still standing up in our mind. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious God, we know you are the source of living water, the one who pours out grace on us like rain on fertile fields, and yet, we sometimes forget to thank you for your blessings. We forget that all good things come from you. We get caught up in our ways and our busyness, and we neglect our spiritual lives; we neglect you. Help us, Lord, as we seek to find ways to show our gratitude for all you do. Guide us as we order our daily routines to include you more. Forgive us when we falter, lead us to try again, that we might draw closer to you on this journey of faith. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Cracked Cisterns
Scripture: Jeremiah 2:4-13
Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord,
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,
where no one lives?”
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit.
9 Therefore once more I accuse you,
says the Lord,
and I accuse your children’s children.
10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look;
send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has ever been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for something that does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked; be utterly desolate,
says the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.
One day a man was driving down the road with his little boy in his car seat in the back. As the father glanced in his rearview mirror, he saw his son had unbuckled himself and was standing up on the seat. Sternly, his father warned him to sit back down and buckle up or he would be in a heap of trouble. The son obeyed, but after refastening his seat belt, he said to his dad, “My body is sitting now, but in my head, I am still standing.”
As a parent, I can relate to that story. The child was following orders on the outside, but he was still rebelling on the inside. That is the story of the Israelites in today’s scripture.
This is our last week of visiting with the old prophets – at least for a while. Summer is coming to a close and our visits are coming to an end. Next week we will do some time traveling as we move several hundred years forward and hear some words from Jesus.
Last week, we witnessed Jeremiah’s call to the ministry of being a prophet. We heard God tell Jeremiah that he was known before he was formed, he was consecrated before he was born, and he was appointed by God to be a prophet to God’s people. Now Jeremiah has accepted God’s call and is giving his first message to the people of Jerusalem.
The second chapter begins with God telling the people he remembers how it used to be, saying, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.”
As we hear these words, we remember how God called his people out of Egyptian slavery and led them through the desert. In all their time of wandering, they depended on God to provide for their every need. They never had to worry about their clothes or their sandals wearing out, they were fed quail for meat and manna from heaven, and they were given water which gushed forth from a solid rock when there was no other source of water to be found. For forty years, these people followed God, depended on God, worshiped God. If only they had remained in that wilderness, perhaps they would have remained faithful.
Eventually, they crossed the Jordan River and took possession of the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where crops were already planted and the harvest was easy, a land where new crops would grow abundantly, where vineyards and olive trees gave wine and oil, a land where hunting was plentiful, and food was easily acquired. And when life got easy, the people began to forget who brought them to the place where they were and who had provided for them and protected them along the way.
There were periods when times got tough, and the people would remember who God was and what he meant to them, and they would turn back, but when the crises had passed, and a new generation came along, they would once again fall away and turn their backs on God. Oh, they might still follow the Law – at least on the outside – at least some parts of it – but in their hearts and in their minds, they were effectively standing up on the back seat as their car went down the road.
Here is the difference, though, between the Israelites and that defiant little boy – the dad would not have known that the child was still “standing up in his mind” if the child hadn’t admitted it, but God knew exactly what the Israelites were thinking. He knew that any outward show of devotion for most of them was just that – an outward show that did not involve the heart because they were not truly devoted.
So, God asks, “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?” “What did I do,” God asks, “to make these people turn away from me?” We know the answer is “nothing.”
God did nothing wrong, of course. It is the people who have chosen to worship worthless, false gods instead of the Living God, and in doing so, they have become worthless and false themselves. They had become so enamored of these lifeless stone and wood idols that they didn’t even think to ask themselves, “Where is the Lord, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?”
It never occurred to them to ask, “Where is this God who has given us everything, who has loved us when we were not lovable, who has provided for us, grew us, strengthened us, protected us, guided us, and fought for us?” Instead, they chopped down a tree and used its wood to build a bench, to start a fire, and with what was left, to carve an idol and worship it as a god.
They turned away from their true source of life and love and turned toward nothing. Who does that? Who gives up something beautiful for something ugly, something valuable for something worthless? Hear the lament of God, “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked; be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”
We are used to having water whenever we want it. Clean water, good for drinking and cooking is ours with the turn of a faucet. Do we really ever think about where it comes from? For many people, water comes from a well that was dug when their house was built. A deep hole in the ground which reached a reliable, potable water source. Then pipe is laid, and a pump is installed, and water comes into the house.
I remember one house where we lived when I was younger, though where we had a cistern instead of a well. For those who may not know, a cistern is a receptacle for holding water, especially in a place where a well cannot be dug or if the water that is in the ground is not viable for consumption. Cisterns are different from wells in that water must be put into them – either through a system of catching rainwater, or by being hauled in by a water truck and filled up as needed.
Because the water is held in the cistern until it is ready to be used, the cistern must be waterproofed in some way so that the water doesn’t leak out and be wasted, and so that contaminates don’t leak in and ruin the water.
God says the Israelites have turned their noses up on the gift of living water and instead have chosen to dig for themselves a cistern to use as their spiritual water source – and a cracked one at that, one that will not hold water, or anything else they might keep keep filling it with.
“Who in their right mind would do that?” we ask. And yet, do we not do the same thing today? When life is easy and times are good, do we not go about our business as though we are in control and have brought about such times by our own doing? Then, when life hits us in the gut and takes all the air out of us, we scramble to try to fix it, to figure it out and get back on track. When we finally realize that that isn’t working, out of desperation, we call out to God and ask for his help.
How often have we had a choice to make and chosen the easy path instead of the one that might require more work, more effort, and more faith? What have we forfeited by doing do? Where have we, as the Israelites did, chosen to dig our own cisterns instead of accepting the gift of living water offered to us by the One who wants nothing but the best for us?
When have we forgotten to be grateful for all we have because we let our gratitude leak out and go to waste? What will we do about it?
The first thing we need to do is to admit our ingratitude and ask God’s forgiveness. Next, we have to find a way to seek God in all we do – not just in the desperate times, but in the good times, and in the so-so times. We need to go to the source of this living water and give thanks for its sustaining power.
The practice of spiritual disciplines can help us with this. What are some of the spiritual disciplines? There are the inward, personal disciplines such as praying, fasting, and meditating on God’s word. There are outward disciplines that may be personal or practiced in community, such as service, confession, and worship.
Worship, both in community and privately is a great place to start – you are here so you’re already practicing that one. Reading and studying God’s word, prayer, and practicing the presence of God are spiritual disciplines which we can, and should, do intentionally, regularly, joyfully, and gratefully. Those may look different for different people.
Some may find that getting up early in the morning is the best time of day to read scripture and sit in the presence of God. Others may be better suited to waiting until evening. Some may find themselves feeling closer to God while they are outside, walking through the neighborhood, hiking a nature trail, or working in the garden. Others may find that sitting in a quiet room with the light of a candle helps them to focus on God. We all need to find what works best for us so we will do it.
It's okay to try something for awhile and see if it works for you. If it does – great – keep doing it, but if not, then try something else. It took me several years and several tries before I really found myself reading daily scripture. I cannot tell you how many times a new year would roll around and I would vow to read the Bible every day. I would start out well, but then I would get off track and eventually give up.
Finally, I discovered a Bible app that has reading plans. I tried it and it worked better for me. I have been able to read through the Bible every year now for the last several years and I find that I look forward to doing so each day. For me, that time is in the evening and because I know how easy it is to get busy and forget, I have set an alarm on my phone. Now, if my alarm goes off, I know I haven’t taken time to read God’s word that day, I have neglected to intentionally spend time in his presence, and I am reminded to do it now – not because I have to – but because I want to.
Find what works for you and just do it. Start with a few minutes if necessary and build up as you get used to it. I promise, you will be glad you did. God will be glad, too. This is what he wants from us – to come to him, to want to come to him, daily, at all times and in all situations, both good times and bad times, and even in the in-between times. But do it because you want to, because here’s the thing, we may sit down and buckle our seatbelt while we are in the car, but God knows if we are still standing up in our mind. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious God, we know you are the source of living water, the one who pours out grace on us like rain on fertile fields, and yet, we sometimes forget to thank you for your blessings. We forget that all good things come from you. We get caught up in our ways and our busyness, and we neglect our spiritual lives; we neglect you. Help us, Lord, as we seek to find ways to show our gratitude for all you do. Guide us as we order our daily routines to include you more. Forgive us when we falter, lead us to try again, that we might draw closer to you on this journey of faith. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
AUGUST 21, 2022, PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON "I KNEW YOU"
August 21, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: I Knew You
Scripture: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.”
9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
Some weeks, when I sit down to write the sermon, I sit and ponder what to write. I ask, “What is God saying here that we need to know? What is he asking me to relay for him this week?” It might take awhile to put it all together. Honestly, sometimes, it can be a real struggle.
This week was not one of those weeks. In fact, this week was just the opposite. From the first few words, I felt like this passage was assaulting me with all the possibilities and thoughts that began rattling around in my head. How is it possible to read these words and think of about six other things all at the same time? I have no idea, but that is what it felt like. Some of those thoughts made it into today’s message so bear with me while I try to pull it all together.
We have arrived for our visit with Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, called by God to be a prophet to his people. God’s call to Jeremiah was pretty direct, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
In these words of introduction to Jeremiah, I hear the echoes of King David’s words in Psalm 139, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”
We don’t have to look far today to find the hope and the comfort in our scripture. It’s right there at the beginning. God told Jeremiah right away that he was known before he was born, the God had consecrated him for the purpose of being a prophet, of relaying God’s messages to God’s people.
What did Jeremiah think of all of this? His response: “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Why is it, when God calls, the first reaction is usually to make an excuse as to why the call cannot be answered? God says, “Jeremiah, I know who you are, I have known you since before you were formed and born, and I have a job that only you can do.” Jeremiah immediately says, “Sorry, I’m too young. You must want someone else.”
Moses may have been the best one to make excuses and arguments when God called him. God shows up one day in a burning bush, which catches Moses’ attention really fast. Then God tells Moses that he is sending him to Egypt to speak to Pharoah about letting the Israelites go free. Moses’ first excuse, “Who am I that I should go?” God says, “It’s okay because I will go with you.”
Moses’ next excuse, “They might not believe that I am working for you. What is your name?’ “I AM WHO I AM,” was the reply. Moses was still not convinced, “Listen, those people still might not believe me. What then?” So, God turned Moses’ staff into a snake and then back into a staff. Then God caused a skin disease on Moses’ hand and then cured it. “There,” God said, “if they won’t believe your words, show them these signs.”
Still, Moses was not convinced. “You may not know this about me, Lord, but I don’t speak too well. My words get mixed up sometimes and I speak too slow.” Once again, God had and answer. Once again, Moses wasn’t budging. “Lord, can’t you just send someone else, anyone else but me?”
If you are counting, that was five times Moses said no to God. We read that and think, “Whoa! How can someone say no to God?” But it happens. God calls; we make excuses. Jeremiah’s excuse of being too young didn’t change God’s mind any more than any of Moses’ excuses did in that time long before.
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’ for you shall go to all to whom I will send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” God is reassuring Jeremiah that he will not be sent out alone. God will go with him. God will tell him where to go. God will give him the words to say. God will protect him. All Jeremiah needs to do is follow God.
And that is the lesson for today. All we need to do is follow God. But do we? Think about a time when God called you. How did you respond? Did you ignore the message? Make an excuse? Answer and obey?
I read a story this week about a guy who was walking down the street in a large city and as he approached an intersection, he saw a police officer directing traffic. Just then, he felt God telling him to go over to the officer and tell him that God loves him. The man ignored the call and kept walking. But after taking several steps on down the street, the man was overcome by the weight of his disobedience, and he turned around and walked back to the police office. Feeling a little foolish, he walked up to the officer and said, “Excuse me, officer, but God just told me to tell you that he loves you.”
The officer turned to look at the man with tears in his eyes and he spoke, “Last night, I prayed to God for the first time in many years, and I told him that if he were real, the least he could do was send someone to tell me that he was here for me.” The officer then called for a back up officer to take over for him, and he and the man talked for a bit. Then, that police officer prayed, right then and there, to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior.
A call was made, an excuse was given, but in the end, obedience won. Think about it, if that man had not turned around and walked back to that intersection, that police officer just may have never gotten the answer he was looking for. He may have never come to a saving faith in Jesus. He may have been a lost soul for all of eternity.
But, answering God’s call is hard, isn’t it? I’ll say. I had my own struggle with that for awhile myself. For those who do not know, I lost my husband seventeen years ago. My son was grown, and I was feeling restless and without a purpose. I began to pray to God, and I told him that I was willing to give myself to him in whatever capacity he wanted, and I really meant it. Then I waited to hear what that might be. And I waited. And I waited. And I kept praying. And I kept offering. And I kept waiting.
I kept myself busy enough. I was working, I was getting my undergrad degree, and I was active in my church. I taught Sunday school, I was a youth leader, I served on committees. Whenever our pastor would be out of the pulpit, I took my turn giving the message as a Lay Speaker. But I was waiting to see what God “really wanted me to do with my life.”
Then we got an interim pastor. She never heard me preach, but almost right away she made it a point to tell me she thought I was being called into the ministry. I laughed and said, no, not me. She just smiled and gave me a book to read when I had time. Then we got our next pastor. He never heard me preach, but almost right away he made it a point to tell me he thought I was being called into the ministry. I laughed again, but not quite as long this time.
Finally, I read the book. I began to wonder. But I was still waiting to hear something from God. I was still offering, I was still waiting, but God was silent. Or so I thought. Several conversations and a few months later, I was lamenting to my pastor that I thought I might actually be being called to ministry, but I wasn’t sure because I had not heard God speaking to me to tell me that’s what he wanted from me.
I will never forget what he said to me: “Sometimes God uses other people to tell you what you are not hearing him say.” Oh. You see, I had been making excuses without realizing it. I was waiting to hear God’s voice in the way that Jeremiah heard God, in the way Moses heard God, in the way so many others have heard God. I was expecting an audible voice telling me what to do.
What my pastor reminded me was that God can speak to us in any way he pleases, and sometimes his voice sounds a lot like the people around us. Sometime his voice sounds like two of my pastors, sometimes he sounds just like my mom, and sometimes he sounds like so many of my church family who had been encouraging me to pursue ministry for years. But, because I didn’t hear God in the way that I expected to hear him, I used the excuse that maybe this isn’t really what he wants me to do.
We are all quick to have excuses when God calls us. Oh, you thought God only called people like me who stand in the pulpit, or people who travel to other places and countries to teach others his word? Wrong. God calls ALL of us, each in our own way, each to our own purpose in his kingdom. That is why we are all here today. God called and we answered. But coming to church is not the extent of our call. It is just the beginning. Jesus outlined if for us in Matthew 28, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” That wasn’t just for the disciples who were with him that day. That directive was for all Christians in all times and places.
That doesn’t mean that we all have to pack our bags and hit the road, though. “Go, therefore,” means as you go along, as you follow your routine, as you go to work and school and the doctor’s office, and the dentist’s office, everywhere you go, make sure you are listening for God’s call. You never know when you may have to tell someone that God loves them. But when you get that call, and when you answer that call, a life may be changed and that just might have everlasting consequences.
I finally stopped making excuses and became obedient to God’s calling me to pastoral ministry. The moment I made the decision and made the phone call to my DS to start the process, I felt like a great weight had been lifted off me that I didn’t even realize I had. I bet Moses and Jeremiah and all the others felt the same way when they stopped making excuses, too. I bet you will, too.
Oh, and one more thing. Remember God’s promise to Jeremiah that he would go with him wherever he went, and he would give him the words to say? Yeah, that is still God’s promise to those whom he calls, even today. We heard him say it to Jeremiah and we are reminded again of that promise in Matthew’s gospel.
Jesus is with his disciples, and he is warning them that being one of his followers won’t always be easy. But Jesus reassures them, “When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
What is the number one reason people don’t tell others about Jesus? Because they are afraid they won’t know what to say. Talking to people about Jesus doesn’t require a lengthy speech or a deep theological knowledge. Sometimes it is as simple as saying, “God loves you. Would you like to know how much?” Don’t worry about the rest. If they say yes, God will be with you and will give you the words. He knows you and has called you. Now, no more excuses. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, how amazing to realize that you knew us before we were formed. You knew us and loved us from the very beginning. You have called us to come and follow you and to tell others about you, and you have promised to be with us and give us the words. Lord, help us to put aside our excuses and become obedient to your call, that we might share your story with others and help them come to know you through the saving grace of your son, Jesus. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84360/evangelism-by-tim-smith
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: I Knew You
Scripture: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.”
9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
Some weeks, when I sit down to write the sermon, I sit and ponder what to write. I ask, “What is God saying here that we need to know? What is he asking me to relay for him this week?” It might take awhile to put it all together. Honestly, sometimes, it can be a real struggle.
This week was not one of those weeks. In fact, this week was just the opposite. From the first few words, I felt like this passage was assaulting me with all the possibilities and thoughts that began rattling around in my head. How is it possible to read these words and think of about six other things all at the same time? I have no idea, but that is what it felt like. Some of those thoughts made it into today’s message so bear with me while I try to pull it all together.
We have arrived for our visit with Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, called by God to be a prophet to his people. God’s call to Jeremiah was pretty direct, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
In these words of introduction to Jeremiah, I hear the echoes of King David’s words in Psalm 139, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”
We don’t have to look far today to find the hope and the comfort in our scripture. It’s right there at the beginning. God told Jeremiah right away that he was known before he was born, the God had consecrated him for the purpose of being a prophet, of relaying God’s messages to God’s people.
What did Jeremiah think of all of this? His response: “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Why is it, when God calls, the first reaction is usually to make an excuse as to why the call cannot be answered? God says, “Jeremiah, I know who you are, I have known you since before you were formed and born, and I have a job that only you can do.” Jeremiah immediately says, “Sorry, I’m too young. You must want someone else.”
Moses may have been the best one to make excuses and arguments when God called him. God shows up one day in a burning bush, which catches Moses’ attention really fast. Then God tells Moses that he is sending him to Egypt to speak to Pharoah about letting the Israelites go free. Moses’ first excuse, “Who am I that I should go?” God says, “It’s okay because I will go with you.”
Moses’ next excuse, “They might not believe that I am working for you. What is your name?’ “I AM WHO I AM,” was the reply. Moses was still not convinced, “Listen, those people still might not believe me. What then?” So, God turned Moses’ staff into a snake and then back into a staff. Then God caused a skin disease on Moses’ hand and then cured it. “There,” God said, “if they won’t believe your words, show them these signs.”
Still, Moses was not convinced. “You may not know this about me, Lord, but I don’t speak too well. My words get mixed up sometimes and I speak too slow.” Once again, God had and answer. Once again, Moses wasn’t budging. “Lord, can’t you just send someone else, anyone else but me?”
If you are counting, that was five times Moses said no to God. We read that and think, “Whoa! How can someone say no to God?” But it happens. God calls; we make excuses. Jeremiah’s excuse of being too young didn’t change God’s mind any more than any of Moses’ excuses did in that time long before.
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’ for you shall go to all to whom I will send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” God is reassuring Jeremiah that he will not be sent out alone. God will go with him. God will tell him where to go. God will give him the words to say. God will protect him. All Jeremiah needs to do is follow God.
And that is the lesson for today. All we need to do is follow God. But do we? Think about a time when God called you. How did you respond? Did you ignore the message? Make an excuse? Answer and obey?
I read a story this week about a guy who was walking down the street in a large city and as he approached an intersection, he saw a police officer directing traffic. Just then, he felt God telling him to go over to the officer and tell him that God loves him. The man ignored the call and kept walking. But after taking several steps on down the street, the man was overcome by the weight of his disobedience, and he turned around and walked back to the police office. Feeling a little foolish, he walked up to the officer and said, “Excuse me, officer, but God just told me to tell you that he loves you.”
The officer turned to look at the man with tears in his eyes and he spoke, “Last night, I prayed to God for the first time in many years, and I told him that if he were real, the least he could do was send someone to tell me that he was here for me.” The officer then called for a back up officer to take over for him, and he and the man talked for a bit. Then, that police officer prayed, right then and there, to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior.
A call was made, an excuse was given, but in the end, obedience won. Think about it, if that man had not turned around and walked back to that intersection, that police officer just may have never gotten the answer he was looking for. He may have never come to a saving faith in Jesus. He may have been a lost soul for all of eternity.
But, answering God’s call is hard, isn’t it? I’ll say. I had my own struggle with that for awhile myself. For those who do not know, I lost my husband seventeen years ago. My son was grown, and I was feeling restless and without a purpose. I began to pray to God, and I told him that I was willing to give myself to him in whatever capacity he wanted, and I really meant it. Then I waited to hear what that might be. And I waited. And I waited. And I kept praying. And I kept offering. And I kept waiting.
I kept myself busy enough. I was working, I was getting my undergrad degree, and I was active in my church. I taught Sunday school, I was a youth leader, I served on committees. Whenever our pastor would be out of the pulpit, I took my turn giving the message as a Lay Speaker. But I was waiting to see what God “really wanted me to do with my life.”
Then we got an interim pastor. She never heard me preach, but almost right away she made it a point to tell me she thought I was being called into the ministry. I laughed and said, no, not me. She just smiled and gave me a book to read when I had time. Then we got our next pastor. He never heard me preach, but almost right away he made it a point to tell me he thought I was being called into the ministry. I laughed again, but not quite as long this time.
Finally, I read the book. I began to wonder. But I was still waiting to hear something from God. I was still offering, I was still waiting, but God was silent. Or so I thought. Several conversations and a few months later, I was lamenting to my pastor that I thought I might actually be being called to ministry, but I wasn’t sure because I had not heard God speaking to me to tell me that’s what he wanted from me.
I will never forget what he said to me: “Sometimes God uses other people to tell you what you are not hearing him say.” Oh. You see, I had been making excuses without realizing it. I was waiting to hear God’s voice in the way that Jeremiah heard God, in the way Moses heard God, in the way so many others have heard God. I was expecting an audible voice telling me what to do.
What my pastor reminded me was that God can speak to us in any way he pleases, and sometimes his voice sounds a lot like the people around us. Sometime his voice sounds like two of my pastors, sometimes he sounds just like my mom, and sometimes he sounds like so many of my church family who had been encouraging me to pursue ministry for years. But, because I didn’t hear God in the way that I expected to hear him, I used the excuse that maybe this isn’t really what he wants me to do.
We are all quick to have excuses when God calls us. Oh, you thought God only called people like me who stand in the pulpit, or people who travel to other places and countries to teach others his word? Wrong. God calls ALL of us, each in our own way, each to our own purpose in his kingdom. That is why we are all here today. God called and we answered. But coming to church is not the extent of our call. It is just the beginning. Jesus outlined if for us in Matthew 28, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” That wasn’t just for the disciples who were with him that day. That directive was for all Christians in all times and places.
That doesn’t mean that we all have to pack our bags and hit the road, though. “Go, therefore,” means as you go along, as you follow your routine, as you go to work and school and the doctor’s office, and the dentist’s office, everywhere you go, make sure you are listening for God’s call. You never know when you may have to tell someone that God loves them. But when you get that call, and when you answer that call, a life may be changed and that just might have everlasting consequences.
I finally stopped making excuses and became obedient to God’s calling me to pastoral ministry. The moment I made the decision and made the phone call to my DS to start the process, I felt like a great weight had been lifted off me that I didn’t even realize I had. I bet Moses and Jeremiah and all the others felt the same way when they stopped making excuses, too. I bet you will, too.
Oh, and one more thing. Remember God’s promise to Jeremiah that he would go with him wherever he went, and he would give him the words to say? Yeah, that is still God’s promise to those whom he calls, even today. We heard him say it to Jeremiah and we are reminded again of that promise in Matthew’s gospel.
Jesus is with his disciples, and he is warning them that being one of his followers won’t always be easy. But Jesus reassures them, “When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
What is the number one reason people don’t tell others about Jesus? Because they are afraid they won’t know what to say. Talking to people about Jesus doesn’t require a lengthy speech or a deep theological knowledge. Sometimes it is as simple as saying, “God loves you. Would you like to know how much?” Don’t worry about the rest. If they say yes, God will be with you and will give you the words. He knows you and has called you. Now, no more excuses. AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, how amazing to realize that you knew us before we were formed. You knew us and loved us from the very beginning. You have called us to come and follow you and to tell others about you, and you have promised to be with us and give us the words. Lord, help us to put aside our excuses and become obedient to your call, that we might share your story with others and help them come to know you through the saving grace of your son, Jesus. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84360/evangelism-by-tim-smith
august 14, 2022, pastor donna's sermon "yielding wild grapes"
August 14, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Yielding Wild Grapes
Scripture: Isaiah 5:1-7
I will sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield rotten grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
but heard a cry!
2
Oh, Isaiah, our hearts break for you for the weight of the message you have been tapped to
deliver to a wild and rebellious people. This is another week where the words are hard to hear
and we hope they aren’t intended for us, but only for those to whom Isaiah was speaking so long,
long ago.
The passage today starts off well. “I will sing for my beloved my love song concerning his
vineyard.” We anticipate soft words, a lyrical tune. We expect to hear whispered words of love, a
song of happiness. And we do – at first.
“My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it
with choice vines.” There was a lot of thought and planning that went into the preparation of this
vineyard. The perfect spot was chosen; a hill that would receive lots of sunshine, would accept
the needed rain but allow the excess to drain off so as not to rot the roots. The land had to be
cleared of rocks and stones so the ground could be tilled and worked to prepare it to accept the
cuttings, and even the selection of those cuttings was given much thought and consideration;
only the best varieties of plants were purchased, ones that would grow large, sweet grapes that
would yield an abundant harvest.
Building this vineyard really was a labor of love for the gardener. To protect the vineyard, he
built a watchtower in the center of the vineyard and hewed out a wine vat within the watchtower.
Now, I confess, I don’t know a lot about growing grapes, so I wondered what a watchtower was
3
for. I pictured a tall structure for someone to go up and look around to survey that year’s grape
crop, but that isn’t the only thing it is for.
The watchtower was a structure that was built in the middle of the vineyard and constructed of
thick stone with a lower and an upper floor. The lower floor was usually built of untreated stone
and due to the thickness of the stone, it remained cooler there than outside. This made it an ideal
place to store the grapes after the harvest. The cooler temperature ensured that the grapes didn’t
begin to ferment right away.
The upper floor was above ground, and it provided a place for the workers, and sometimes their
families, to stay during the harvest so they didn’t have to travel back and forth. Staying in the
vineyard during the harvest not only saved travel time, but it allowed the workers to keep a close
eye on the vineyard at a crucial time of the grape-growing season.
We can see how the one who built this vineyard that Isaiah is singing of has done so as an act of
love. He took the time to do it right, ensuring that the conditions were perfectly suited to reap an
abundant harvest of grapes. He had done the planning, he had done the planting, the watering,
the nurturing, and now he was ready to receive the reward. “He expected it to yield grapes, but it
yielded rotten grapes.”
4
This is where the love song ends, with this abrupt and unexpected downturn. As we might say,
this is where things went south. The singer’s voice is silenced in grief and now, another voice is
now heard, and we recognize this voice as that of the vineyard planter – the voice of God.
God is speaking directly to the people of Judah, especially those in Jerusalem, and by his words
we realize that they are the vineyard. The vineyard is used as a parable to capture their attention,
to help them understand what God is trying to say to them, what he is trying to teach them. I read
somewhere that parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings, and that is certainly true of
this one today
“What more could I have done for you?” God asks. “Since I did everything required, and did it
with much care and nurturing, who is to blame for the rotten fruit that has come from these
vines?” In essence, God is pointing out to his people that he has done his part, he has kept every
promise he has made to them. God is the one who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. God is
the one who provided for them for forty years of wandering in the wilderness. God is the one
who fought for them in battles where their small army defeated greater forces. It is God who has
remained faithful when his people have not.
The people who should be faithful and thankful for all they have and from where it came, instead
have chosen to pretend they don’t need God. They have chosen their fake idols over true love,
they have chosen their rebellious, wild ways over living the abundant life that is God’s plan for
5
them. Frustrated by their attitude, heart broken by their resistance, God speaks directly to his
people and lays out the consequences of their actions.
“I will remover the hedges that protect this vineyard and it will be destroyed; I will break down
the wall and it will be trampled.” The hedge of protection that God has put around his people
will be removed, leaving them open and vulnerable to attack from outsiders. When that happens,
then the land will become a wasteland. The vines will no longer be pruned, the ground will no
longer be hoed, the vines will become overgrown and entangled with briers. The grapes will be
wild grapes instead of cultivated grapes.
We may ask ourselves why it matters what kind of grapes they become. Grapes are grapes, right?
Yes and no. Yes, grapes are grapes to some extent, but wild grapes are much different from their
cultivated cousins. Wild grapevines can become invasive and detrimental to their surroundings.
These vines grow up trees and become so thick that their leaves block the sunshine from
reaching the leaves of the host tree, resulting in stunted growth for the tree.
In winter, snow can cling heavily to the vines which adds weight to the tree branches and the
extra weight can sometimes cause the branches to break off, leaving the tree exposed to the
elements and further hurting the tree. Then there are the grapes themselves. Wild grapes are
smaller and typically less sweet than cultivated grapes which makes them less appealing. They
are not what the gardener is looking for when he or she goes to collect the harvest.
6
God’s people have become like the wild grapes, unappealing to the gardener. They will be left to
go their own way, do their own thing, but they will have to pay the price for their stubbornness.
Unlike some of the parables we find in the Bible, the meaning of this parable is not hidden. We
do not need to ponder its significance or wonder at its message. We plainly see it in the closing
lines. “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his
cherished garden; he expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!”
Will God’s people see themselves in this parable and change their ways? That is the hope that we
find in Isaiah’s words. All is not yet lost if they do, but the choice is theirs. God has done his part
– above and beyond. He is a patient and loving God, but there comes a time when bad behavior
can no longer be tolerated.
Remember when the prophet Nathan went to King David and told him about the wealthy
landowner who took the only lamb of a poor farmer for his sacrifice? David was angry at the
injustice that was being done to the poor farmer. That was exactly the reaction that Nathan
wanted from David. He wanted him to see the injustice, and in his anger want to make it right.
Then, Nathan explained that David himself was the wealthy landowner and Uriah, the husband
of Bathsheba was the poor farmer.
7
If Nathan had simply confronted David about his sin, David may well have hardened his heart
against Nathan. He may have refused to listen to him, he may have given many excuses and
continued to be blinded about his own responsibility in the situation. The story that Nathan told
David helped Davis see his sin, admit it, and ultimately repent to God for it.
This is Isaiah’s objective here today. To get the people to see the vineyard and the gardener as
one of their own. They would have understood the work and the care that went into the building
and nurturing of this vineyard, and they would have agreed with the gardener’s plans to let it be
destroyed when it failed to produce a fruitful harvest after all that the gardener had done. Then,
when they understood that they were the vineyard and came to see their actions were the cause of
the destruction, Isaiah hoped they might do as David did, see their sin, admit their sin, repent,
and turn back to God.
I’ve heard it said that the Old Testament was not written to us, as Christians, but it was written
for us, nonetheless. If Israel was the vineyard in this story when it was first told by Isaiah, I
believe the Church is the vineyard today, making this passage as relevant to us as it was to the
people in Jerusalem.
We belong to God. He had adopted us into his family through the atoning blood of his son Jesus,
the one who died for our sins. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are given the privilege of
being called a Child of God. But then what? What does that mean for us? Do we just go on living
our lives as though nothing has changed? No, absolutely not. If we did that, we would be nothing
8
more than wild grapes when God wants us to be cultivated grapes whose fruit is sweet and
abundant.
The message is the same as we have been hearing throughout this series. We are to live a life that
is pleasing to God and that proves our transformation in Christ by the fruit we produce. We are
doing our best here to produce good fruit. There is evidence in the life of this church, which is
her people, but we can never rest on what we have done before. We must keep focusing on what
we are currently doing while also staying open for future opportunities to faithfully follow God
and serve his people. We must keep our eyes and ears and our hearts open to the suffering of
God’s people. We must continue to share Jesus with others so they, too, can become a child of
God living a transformed life, which is the only path to true freedom in this life, and in the next.
We can do this – together we can – with God we can. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for making a way to allow us to be a part of your family.
Thank you for sending Jesus to us and for us. May we live a life, as a follower of Jesus, and as
his Church, that is pleasing to you; a life that bears good fruit for your kingdom, today,
tomorrow, and forever. AMEN.
9
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchtower_(agricultural)#:~:text=The%20temperature%20inside
%20the%20structure,to%20their%20home%20each%20day.
Https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-20-
3/commentary-on-isaiah-51-7-10
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Yielding Wild Grapes
Scripture: Isaiah 5:1-7
I will sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield rotten grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
but heard a cry!
2
Oh, Isaiah, our hearts break for you for the weight of the message you have been tapped to
deliver to a wild and rebellious people. This is another week where the words are hard to hear
and we hope they aren’t intended for us, but only for those to whom Isaiah was speaking so long,
long ago.
The passage today starts off well. “I will sing for my beloved my love song concerning his
vineyard.” We anticipate soft words, a lyrical tune. We expect to hear whispered words of love, a
song of happiness. And we do – at first.
“My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it
with choice vines.” There was a lot of thought and planning that went into the preparation of this
vineyard. The perfect spot was chosen; a hill that would receive lots of sunshine, would accept
the needed rain but allow the excess to drain off so as not to rot the roots. The land had to be
cleared of rocks and stones so the ground could be tilled and worked to prepare it to accept the
cuttings, and even the selection of those cuttings was given much thought and consideration;
only the best varieties of plants were purchased, ones that would grow large, sweet grapes that
would yield an abundant harvest.
Building this vineyard really was a labor of love for the gardener. To protect the vineyard, he
built a watchtower in the center of the vineyard and hewed out a wine vat within the watchtower.
Now, I confess, I don’t know a lot about growing grapes, so I wondered what a watchtower was
3
for. I pictured a tall structure for someone to go up and look around to survey that year’s grape
crop, but that isn’t the only thing it is for.
The watchtower was a structure that was built in the middle of the vineyard and constructed of
thick stone with a lower and an upper floor. The lower floor was usually built of untreated stone
and due to the thickness of the stone, it remained cooler there than outside. This made it an ideal
place to store the grapes after the harvest. The cooler temperature ensured that the grapes didn’t
begin to ferment right away.
The upper floor was above ground, and it provided a place for the workers, and sometimes their
families, to stay during the harvest so they didn’t have to travel back and forth. Staying in the
vineyard during the harvest not only saved travel time, but it allowed the workers to keep a close
eye on the vineyard at a crucial time of the grape-growing season.
We can see how the one who built this vineyard that Isaiah is singing of has done so as an act of
love. He took the time to do it right, ensuring that the conditions were perfectly suited to reap an
abundant harvest of grapes. He had done the planning, he had done the planting, the watering,
the nurturing, and now he was ready to receive the reward. “He expected it to yield grapes, but it
yielded rotten grapes.”
4
This is where the love song ends, with this abrupt and unexpected downturn. As we might say,
this is where things went south. The singer’s voice is silenced in grief and now, another voice is
now heard, and we recognize this voice as that of the vineyard planter – the voice of God.
God is speaking directly to the people of Judah, especially those in Jerusalem, and by his words
we realize that they are the vineyard. The vineyard is used as a parable to capture their attention,
to help them understand what God is trying to say to them, what he is trying to teach them. I read
somewhere that parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings, and that is certainly true of
this one today
“What more could I have done for you?” God asks. “Since I did everything required, and did it
with much care and nurturing, who is to blame for the rotten fruit that has come from these
vines?” In essence, God is pointing out to his people that he has done his part, he has kept every
promise he has made to them. God is the one who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. God is
the one who provided for them for forty years of wandering in the wilderness. God is the one
who fought for them in battles where their small army defeated greater forces. It is God who has
remained faithful when his people have not.
The people who should be faithful and thankful for all they have and from where it came, instead
have chosen to pretend they don’t need God. They have chosen their fake idols over true love,
they have chosen their rebellious, wild ways over living the abundant life that is God’s plan for
5
them. Frustrated by their attitude, heart broken by their resistance, God speaks directly to his
people and lays out the consequences of their actions.
“I will remover the hedges that protect this vineyard and it will be destroyed; I will break down
the wall and it will be trampled.” The hedge of protection that God has put around his people
will be removed, leaving them open and vulnerable to attack from outsiders. When that happens,
then the land will become a wasteland. The vines will no longer be pruned, the ground will no
longer be hoed, the vines will become overgrown and entangled with briers. The grapes will be
wild grapes instead of cultivated grapes.
We may ask ourselves why it matters what kind of grapes they become. Grapes are grapes, right?
Yes and no. Yes, grapes are grapes to some extent, but wild grapes are much different from their
cultivated cousins. Wild grapevines can become invasive and detrimental to their surroundings.
These vines grow up trees and become so thick that their leaves block the sunshine from
reaching the leaves of the host tree, resulting in stunted growth for the tree.
In winter, snow can cling heavily to the vines which adds weight to the tree branches and the
extra weight can sometimes cause the branches to break off, leaving the tree exposed to the
elements and further hurting the tree. Then there are the grapes themselves. Wild grapes are
smaller and typically less sweet than cultivated grapes which makes them less appealing. They
are not what the gardener is looking for when he or she goes to collect the harvest.
6
God’s people have become like the wild grapes, unappealing to the gardener. They will be left to
go their own way, do their own thing, but they will have to pay the price for their stubbornness.
Unlike some of the parables we find in the Bible, the meaning of this parable is not hidden. We
do not need to ponder its significance or wonder at its message. We plainly see it in the closing
lines. “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his
cherished garden; he expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!”
Will God’s people see themselves in this parable and change their ways? That is the hope that we
find in Isaiah’s words. All is not yet lost if they do, but the choice is theirs. God has done his part
– above and beyond. He is a patient and loving God, but there comes a time when bad behavior
can no longer be tolerated.
Remember when the prophet Nathan went to King David and told him about the wealthy
landowner who took the only lamb of a poor farmer for his sacrifice? David was angry at the
injustice that was being done to the poor farmer. That was exactly the reaction that Nathan
wanted from David. He wanted him to see the injustice, and in his anger want to make it right.
Then, Nathan explained that David himself was the wealthy landowner and Uriah, the husband
of Bathsheba was the poor farmer.
7
If Nathan had simply confronted David about his sin, David may well have hardened his heart
against Nathan. He may have refused to listen to him, he may have given many excuses and
continued to be blinded about his own responsibility in the situation. The story that Nathan told
David helped Davis see his sin, admit it, and ultimately repent to God for it.
This is Isaiah’s objective here today. To get the people to see the vineyard and the gardener as
one of their own. They would have understood the work and the care that went into the building
and nurturing of this vineyard, and they would have agreed with the gardener’s plans to let it be
destroyed when it failed to produce a fruitful harvest after all that the gardener had done. Then,
when they understood that they were the vineyard and came to see their actions were the cause of
the destruction, Isaiah hoped they might do as David did, see their sin, admit their sin, repent,
and turn back to God.
I’ve heard it said that the Old Testament was not written to us, as Christians, but it was written
for us, nonetheless. If Israel was the vineyard in this story when it was first told by Isaiah, I
believe the Church is the vineyard today, making this passage as relevant to us as it was to the
people in Jerusalem.
We belong to God. He had adopted us into his family through the atoning blood of his son Jesus,
the one who died for our sins. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are given the privilege of
being called a Child of God. But then what? What does that mean for us? Do we just go on living
our lives as though nothing has changed? No, absolutely not. If we did that, we would be nothing
8
more than wild grapes when God wants us to be cultivated grapes whose fruit is sweet and
abundant.
The message is the same as we have been hearing throughout this series. We are to live a life that
is pleasing to God and that proves our transformation in Christ by the fruit we produce. We are
doing our best here to produce good fruit. There is evidence in the life of this church, which is
her people, but we can never rest on what we have done before. We must keep focusing on what
we are currently doing while also staying open for future opportunities to faithfully follow God
and serve his people. We must keep our eyes and ears and our hearts open to the suffering of
God’s people. We must continue to share Jesus with others so they, too, can become a child of
God living a transformed life, which is the only path to true freedom in this life, and in the next.
We can do this – together we can – with God we can. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for making a way to allow us to be a part of your family.
Thank you for sending Jesus to us and for us. May we live a life, as a follower of Jesus, and as
his Church, that is pleasing to you; a life that bears good fruit for your kingdom, today,
tomorrow, and forever. AMEN.
9
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchtower_(agricultural)#:~:text=The%20temperature%20inside
%20the%20structure,to%20their%20home%20each%20day.
Https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-20-
3/commentary-on-isaiah-51-7-10
August 7, 2022 Pastor Donna's sermon "Learn to do good"
August 7, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Learn to Do Good
Scripture: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls
or of lambs or of goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more!
13 Bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation--
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove your evil deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;
17 learn to do good;
seek justice;
rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.
18 Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
will they become like wool?
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land,
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
We’ve spent our time with Hosea, and we leave him now to continue the work God has called him to do, and to work out his family problems in private. We are stopping by this week to visit Isaiah and we will hang out here next week, also. Isaiah has a lot to say to the people of God in Judah during the years of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
Today’s passage was likely written after the Assyrian ruler, Sennacherib, had invaded Judah in 701 BC which was when Hezekiah was King of Judah. You can learn about that time in Isaiah chapters 36-37 and 2 Kings 18-19. The city of Jerusalem is still standing after this invasion, but it is isolated from other surrounding cities which were destroyed, and it is to Jerusalem that Isaiah’s message from God is directed.
Isaiah’s words are not gentle and comforting for what the people have had to endure from the Assyrians as we might hope for them to be after such a time as they have been through. No, the words he speaks today are meant to cut directly to the heart of the people, to call them out on something that they are doing. God wants to talk about their worship practices.
You know the message isn’t going to go well when it begins with being called “rulers of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah.” We remember those cities from the time of Abraham and Lot, how God caused fire and brimstone to rain down upon those cities and destroy everything and everyone because of the atrocious sins of the way they were living.
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” God asks. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats.”
Now, wait, we wonder, isn’t that exactly what God had told them to do way back in the day? Weren’t they supposed to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to God as part of their worship, as part of the Law? Of course, the answer is yes. This is a practice that God himself had instituted when he gave the Law to Moses while the Israelites were in the wilderness. So, what’s changed?
The people have changed. Many are still following the letter of the Law, but the thing is, God requires not rote worship but loving worship. The new moon festivals and the sabbath days were to be observed as a show of heartfelt worship of the God who provides for all their needs, but now, the people either don’t practice these rites for the right reasons, or they don’t bother practicing them at all. God is tired of it. He is over their half-hearted attempts to appease him with their words and their actions but refusing to engage their hearts in what they are doing. What God wants is for his people to worship with integrity and genuine desire for relationship with him.
If we read this passage through quickly, it is easy to assume that God is wiping out the whole worship system that he had created. After all, we hear him say, “Trample my courts no more! Bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me.”
And then he says, “Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.”
Is God rejecting worship? Has he grown tired of it all and desires it no more? No. It isn’t worship that God is carrying the burden for, it is how the people are worshiping. I don’t mean the style of worship. God doesn’t care if the Israelites chose a contemporary or traditional style of worship, he doesn’t care if there is a choir or a praise band or not – the elements and style of worship all are pleasing to God – if they come from the heart. But Israel was no longer pouring out their hearts to God; they were going through the motions at best.
Look carefully at what God is saying through Isaiah: “I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity,” and, “your hands are full of blood.” God wants his people to get back to real worship and he gives them instructions for how to do that: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes.”
In other words, stop caring only about what you can get from others, stop taking advantage of the disadvantaged, see what wrongs need to be made right, start caring about, and for, the least, the lost, and the lonely. Clean the dust and the dirt and the cobwebs from your hearts, open your eyes, and SEE how your actions are creating separation between people and separating you from God.
I appreciate how Pastor Michael Ruffin puts the situation in his commentary: “Acts of worship, even if performed correctly and abundantly, cannot compensate for the mistreatment of people, especially of the weak and oppressed.” In other words, to use an expression we have all heard – worship is about quality, not quantity.
God’s call to his people, through the words of Isaiah, is to wash themselves – not just go take a shower but wash themselves from the inside out. Start with the heart, purify the heart and the outer actions will then align with God’s call to quality worship. Again, God gives the people the ways in which this can be done.
“Cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.” These directives were also given to the people when they were given the Law, but they were not practicing this way of living. By the way they treated others, they were not showing love for their neighbors, and they were not showing love for their God.
Now that God has laid it all out, now that he has pointed out how his people were living unjustly and has given them an alternative way to live, God issues an invitation to come back to him. “Come now, let’s argue this out,” says the Lord. Other versions say, “Let’s settle this matter,” or “Let’s settle this.” This isn’t about actually arguing or negotiating, it’s about seeing the error of their ways, recognizing those errors as wrong, and working to do better. This is God’s invitation to repentance for his people, to restore them and give them another chance to change their ways.
“Right now,” God says, “your sins run red with blood, but you have a chance to turn them white as snow.” If this is the path that God’s people choose to take, they will once again enjoy the blessing of the land. But God is not one to coerce – the people can decide for themselves – turn and be blessed – or continue and be destroyed.
It seems like an easy decision, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t choose box “A” – turn and be blessed? No one wants to be destroyed. But there is a catch here – remember, God knows the heart of his people and their choice is not “pretend to do better but not really do it,” the option is “turn away from sin and turn to God.” This must be genuine, a true change of heart which proves a transformed life.
If you haven’t already guessed by now, Isaiah’s words are just as valid for us as readers as it was for those to whom they were originally spoken. We have to ask ourselves, “What is our worship like?” Why do we come to church? Is it to see our friends, to hear the music or listen to the sermon? Is it to catch up on all the stuff that happened over the week? Is it because this is just what is expected of us on Sunday morning? Is our heart truly in it?
We should be coming to church, not because we have to, but because we want to. We should be here each week eager to praise God and seek his presence in community with our brothers and sisters. We should be excited that we get to come to church, not grumbling because we have to. Then, when we get here, our focus should be on God, not on ourselves.
Worship is a time of praise, song, prayers, word, and sacraments to and for our God. Out of that worship should come the fruit of transformed lives – fellowship, sacrifice of time, talent, and tithes, outreach to those who are in need, justice for the oppressed, defense of the widow and the orphan, learning ways we can cease to do harm, finding new ways to do good, scattering seeds of kindness, sharing the love of God.
When we commit ourselves to God’s preferred way of worship, we never know where the fruit of our faithfulness might lead us. Sometimes it is a blessing for one person, sometimes it becomes a series of changed lives for many people over several years.
That was the case for a man named Abbe Pierre in 1949. Pierre was approached by a man named Georges after being released from prison. Ready to start a new life, Georges found that his family didn’t want him to come around; they asked him to leave.
Georges, homeless, unemployed, and considering suicide, asked Pierre for help. He never expected the response he got – “Could you help me?” Pierre asked. Pierre had been reaching out to help homeless mothers and their children as much as he could, and the needs were starting to overwhelm him. He could use some help in his ministry. Pierre thought that perhaps Georges could better turn his own life around by first serving those who were even less fortunate than he was.
The plan worked. Georges became the first person, later called “companion” in the Emmaus communities that Pierre founded based on the transformation he had seen in Georges. Those who needed help were asked to help still others in varied ways.
Georges later said of Pierre, "Whatever else [Abbe Pierre] might have given me -- money, home, somewhere to work -- I'd have still tried to kill myself. What I was missing, and what he offered, was something to live for." Out of those words came the unofficial motto of the Emmaus Communities: “give the poor a reason to live, not just things to live on.”
Because Pierre lived a life of serving others as the fruit of his faithful worship, lives have been changed, people have been helped, dignity has been restored. Pierre found a way to learn to do good in a world that can so easily be bad.
God doesn’t want out platitudes, our reluctant worship, or our selfish motives. God wants us to see others, he wants us to change lives, he wants us to make our world better, and he wants us to do this because we first understand that all we have comes from him and that knowledge then motivates us to worship with genuineness and integrity this God whom we love and who inspires us to then learn ways to do good. It’s a beautiful circle with God at the center. May we all choose to be a part of it together. AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, you ask that we worship you fully, truly, honestly, but sometimes we lose our focus. We let the world give us priorities and we turn away from you. Help us to give our hearts to you, Lord. Help us to turn away from the distractions and whatever stands between us and worship. And as we learn to focus more on you and worship you, let the fruit of that worship show in the ways we will learn to do good for others in your name. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Margaret Visser, The Gift of Thanks, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009, p. 373. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Way to Glory, 8/13/2011
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-19-3/commentary-on-isaiah-11-10-20-5
Call to Worship:
L: Is worship a charade; is prayer a game?
P: May our worship be authentic, our prayers heartfelt.
L: With God’s help we will cease to do evil,
P: We will fight oppression and care for the orphans and widows.
L: We will bless others because God has first blessed us,
P: We will honor God with our lives, our words, our love.
ALL: AMEN.
Hymn: 357 Just as I Am, Without One Plea
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Learn to Do Good
Scripture: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls
or of lambs or of goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more!
13 Bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation--
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove your evil deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;
17 learn to do good;
seek justice;
rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.
18 Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
will they become like wool?
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land,
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
We’ve spent our time with Hosea, and we leave him now to continue the work God has called him to do, and to work out his family problems in private. We are stopping by this week to visit Isaiah and we will hang out here next week, also. Isaiah has a lot to say to the people of God in Judah during the years of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
Today’s passage was likely written after the Assyrian ruler, Sennacherib, had invaded Judah in 701 BC which was when Hezekiah was King of Judah. You can learn about that time in Isaiah chapters 36-37 and 2 Kings 18-19. The city of Jerusalem is still standing after this invasion, but it is isolated from other surrounding cities which were destroyed, and it is to Jerusalem that Isaiah’s message from God is directed.
Isaiah’s words are not gentle and comforting for what the people have had to endure from the Assyrians as we might hope for them to be after such a time as they have been through. No, the words he speaks today are meant to cut directly to the heart of the people, to call them out on something that they are doing. God wants to talk about their worship practices.
You know the message isn’t going to go well when it begins with being called “rulers of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah.” We remember those cities from the time of Abraham and Lot, how God caused fire and brimstone to rain down upon those cities and destroy everything and everyone because of the atrocious sins of the way they were living.
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” God asks. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats.”
Now, wait, we wonder, isn’t that exactly what God had told them to do way back in the day? Weren’t they supposed to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to God as part of their worship, as part of the Law? Of course, the answer is yes. This is a practice that God himself had instituted when he gave the Law to Moses while the Israelites were in the wilderness. So, what’s changed?
The people have changed. Many are still following the letter of the Law, but the thing is, God requires not rote worship but loving worship. The new moon festivals and the sabbath days were to be observed as a show of heartfelt worship of the God who provides for all their needs, but now, the people either don’t practice these rites for the right reasons, or they don’t bother practicing them at all. God is tired of it. He is over their half-hearted attempts to appease him with their words and their actions but refusing to engage their hearts in what they are doing. What God wants is for his people to worship with integrity and genuine desire for relationship with him.
If we read this passage through quickly, it is easy to assume that God is wiping out the whole worship system that he had created. After all, we hear him say, “Trample my courts no more! Bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me.”
And then he says, “Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.”
Is God rejecting worship? Has he grown tired of it all and desires it no more? No. It isn’t worship that God is carrying the burden for, it is how the people are worshiping. I don’t mean the style of worship. God doesn’t care if the Israelites chose a contemporary or traditional style of worship, he doesn’t care if there is a choir or a praise band or not – the elements and style of worship all are pleasing to God – if they come from the heart. But Israel was no longer pouring out their hearts to God; they were going through the motions at best.
Look carefully at what God is saying through Isaiah: “I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity,” and, “your hands are full of blood.” God wants his people to get back to real worship and he gives them instructions for how to do that: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes.”
In other words, stop caring only about what you can get from others, stop taking advantage of the disadvantaged, see what wrongs need to be made right, start caring about, and for, the least, the lost, and the lonely. Clean the dust and the dirt and the cobwebs from your hearts, open your eyes, and SEE how your actions are creating separation between people and separating you from God.
I appreciate how Pastor Michael Ruffin puts the situation in his commentary: “Acts of worship, even if performed correctly and abundantly, cannot compensate for the mistreatment of people, especially of the weak and oppressed.” In other words, to use an expression we have all heard – worship is about quality, not quantity.
God’s call to his people, through the words of Isaiah, is to wash themselves – not just go take a shower but wash themselves from the inside out. Start with the heart, purify the heart and the outer actions will then align with God’s call to quality worship. Again, God gives the people the ways in which this can be done.
“Cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.” These directives were also given to the people when they were given the Law, but they were not practicing this way of living. By the way they treated others, they were not showing love for their neighbors, and they were not showing love for their God.
Now that God has laid it all out, now that he has pointed out how his people were living unjustly and has given them an alternative way to live, God issues an invitation to come back to him. “Come now, let’s argue this out,” says the Lord. Other versions say, “Let’s settle this matter,” or “Let’s settle this.” This isn’t about actually arguing or negotiating, it’s about seeing the error of their ways, recognizing those errors as wrong, and working to do better. This is God’s invitation to repentance for his people, to restore them and give them another chance to change their ways.
“Right now,” God says, “your sins run red with blood, but you have a chance to turn them white as snow.” If this is the path that God’s people choose to take, they will once again enjoy the blessing of the land. But God is not one to coerce – the people can decide for themselves – turn and be blessed – or continue and be destroyed.
It seems like an easy decision, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t choose box “A” – turn and be blessed? No one wants to be destroyed. But there is a catch here – remember, God knows the heart of his people and their choice is not “pretend to do better but not really do it,” the option is “turn away from sin and turn to God.” This must be genuine, a true change of heart which proves a transformed life.
If you haven’t already guessed by now, Isaiah’s words are just as valid for us as readers as it was for those to whom they were originally spoken. We have to ask ourselves, “What is our worship like?” Why do we come to church? Is it to see our friends, to hear the music or listen to the sermon? Is it to catch up on all the stuff that happened over the week? Is it because this is just what is expected of us on Sunday morning? Is our heart truly in it?
We should be coming to church, not because we have to, but because we want to. We should be here each week eager to praise God and seek his presence in community with our brothers and sisters. We should be excited that we get to come to church, not grumbling because we have to. Then, when we get here, our focus should be on God, not on ourselves.
Worship is a time of praise, song, prayers, word, and sacraments to and for our God. Out of that worship should come the fruit of transformed lives – fellowship, sacrifice of time, talent, and tithes, outreach to those who are in need, justice for the oppressed, defense of the widow and the orphan, learning ways we can cease to do harm, finding new ways to do good, scattering seeds of kindness, sharing the love of God.
When we commit ourselves to God’s preferred way of worship, we never know where the fruit of our faithfulness might lead us. Sometimes it is a blessing for one person, sometimes it becomes a series of changed lives for many people over several years.
That was the case for a man named Abbe Pierre in 1949. Pierre was approached by a man named Georges after being released from prison. Ready to start a new life, Georges found that his family didn’t want him to come around; they asked him to leave.
Georges, homeless, unemployed, and considering suicide, asked Pierre for help. He never expected the response he got – “Could you help me?” Pierre asked. Pierre had been reaching out to help homeless mothers and their children as much as he could, and the needs were starting to overwhelm him. He could use some help in his ministry. Pierre thought that perhaps Georges could better turn his own life around by first serving those who were even less fortunate than he was.
The plan worked. Georges became the first person, later called “companion” in the Emmaus communities that Pierre founded based on the transformation he had seen in Georges. Those who needed help were asked to help still others in varied ways.
Georges later said of Pierre, "Whatever else [Abbe Pierre] might have given me -- money, home, somewhere to work -- I'd have still tried to kill myself. What I was missing, and what he offered, was something to live for." Out of those words came the unofficial motto of the Emmaus Communities: “give the poor a reason to live, not just things to live on.”
Because Pierre lived a life of serving others as the fruit of his faithful worship, lives have been changed, people have been helped, dignity has been restored. Pierre found a way to learn to do good in a world that can so easily be bad.
God doesn’t want out platitudes, our reluctant worship, or our selfish motives. God wants us to see others, he wants us to change lives, he wants us to make our world better, and he wants us to do this because we first understand that all we have comes from him and that knowledge then motivates us to worship with genuineness and integrity this God whom we love and who inspires us to then learn ways to do good. It’s a beautiful circle with God at the center. May we all choose to be a part of it together. AMEN.
PRAYER: Holy God, you ask that we worship you fully, truly, honestly, but sometimes we lose our focus. We let the world give us priorities and we turn away from you. Help us to give our hearts to you, Lord. Help us to turn away from the distractions and whatever stands between us and worship. And as we learn to focus more on you and worship you, let the fruit of that worship show in the ways we will learn to do good for others in your name. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Margaret Visser, The Gift of Thanks, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009, p. 373. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Way to Glory, 8/13/2011
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-19-3/commentary-on-isaiah-11-10-20-5
Call to Worship:
L: Is worship a charade; is prayer a game?
P: May our worship be authentic, our prayers heartfelt.
L: With God’s help we will cease to do evil,
P: We will fight oppression and care for the orphans and widows.
L: We will bless others because God has first blessed us,
P: We will honor God with our lives, our words, our love.
ALL: AMEN.
Hymn: 357 Just as I Am, Without One Plea
7/31/2022 pASTOR DONNA'S SERMON "cORDS OF kINDNESS"
July 31, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Cords of Kindness
Scripture: Hosea 11:1-11
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up in my arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks,
I bent down to them and fed them.
5 They shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword rages in their cities;
it consumes their oracle priests
and devours because of their schemes.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim,
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall go after the Lord,
who roars like a lion;
when he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the west.
11 They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt
and like doves from the land of Assyria,
and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.
I am reading a book by Michael Beck called Painting with Ashes. Michael was a speaker at this year’s Annual Conference and this book is his story of how he went from drug addict to pastor. He doesn’t hold back anything just to make himself look better, but instead; Michael reveals the dark, ugly truth of his journey from brokenness to wholeness in Christ.
At one point in his story, he speaks about his relationship with his grandmother. His grandparents had adopted and raised Michael, but his grandfather died unexpectedly while Michael was still pretty young. As young teen, Michael was introduced to the drug scene and soon thereafter, he began to be a drug dealer, providing large quantities to his distributers and selling to individuals right out of his grandma’s house.
Grandma begged and pleaded with Michael to stop, but he refused. She prayed for him daily, but nothing changed. Finally, Michael, as do many rebellious teenagers, gave Grandma an ultimatum; either he continued to run his drug business out of her house, or he would leave and find his own place.
Now, many of us would tell Grandma that she should have said good- bye and good riddance, and we shake our heads when we learn she didn’t follow our advice. You see, Grandma had suffered through several losses in her life and her fear of losing Michael and being left all alone drove her to allow Michael to continue his illegal activities in her home.
Grandma never gave up on Michael, though. Even as the lines of customers reached from Michael’s bedroom through the house to the front porch, Grandma would sit in her chair in the living room, reading her bible and praying for Michael and all the others who became his regulars. She just loved him too much to give up.
That is where God is in today’s scripture. We have skipped over a lot of what has happened to Hosea in the previous chapters. I told you that Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was constantly in conflict. Gomer would leave and go back to her old lifestyle, then she would return for a while, but eventually she would leave again. Eventually, her life would spiral so far downward that Hosea would have to rescue her from being sold as a slave by buying her back for himself.
In that action, Hosea fully understood how far Israel had fallen from following God. God’s love was so great for his people that he would take them back whenever they turned away from following all their false gods and returned to him.
Today, we hear God’s lament for his people, and it echoes with the heartbreak that was heard in Michael’s grandmother’s prayers for him.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and offering incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.”
God is heartbroken at how Ephraim, meaning Israel, has turned out. He remembers the days long ago when he brought them out of Egypt, how he saved them from the oppression of slavery to the Egyptians. He longs to once again gather the people to himself, to hold them in his arms as one holds a precious infant. God wants them to remember that he is the one who led them through the wilderness for forty years, when their clothes and their sandals never wore out. He wants them to remember that it was God who gave them manna to eat and brought water from the rocks when they were thirsty.
God’s love is so much greater than these people realize or remember, but unlike Michael’s grandmother, God cannot allow Israel to continue to live a life that is not good for them. They have turned their backs on the one who can love them and provide for them, and they have turned to false gods made of stone, wood, and metal – gods who have no life in them, who cannot provide for them, who do not love them as their own.
So, God gives Hosea a prophesy to warn the people: “They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword rages in their cities; it consumes their oracle priests and devours because of their schemes. My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.”
The day will come, Hosea tells them, when they will return to living under the rule of a foreign king once again. Assyria will conquer them, and they will serve the Assyrian king, and they have brought it all on themselves by breaking their covenant to serve only God.
Today, we often call this “tough love.” Tough love is hard. Sometimes it gets ugly. When we step up and put our foot down by setting boundaries for our children or other loved ones, we get to bear the brunt of their rebelliousness. We become the target of their anger; we are the one on whom they spew their hateful, hurtful words. We are painted as the “bad guy” in their life. It’s hard, isn’t it?
We want to be the one they love, the one they turn to for help, the one they know they can trust, but sometimes, in order to protect ourselves and for the benefit of others, we need to be strong enough to be the bad guy. Anyone who has raised teenagers knows this feeling at least once in their lives.
For me, it happened when I was planning a business to trip to Orlando. My husband and I had been struggling with our son for quite a while over doing his homework – he thought it was optional, his teachers did not. His test grades were always high, but his overall grades suffered because of his refusal to turn in his work.
The deal was made that any grade on his grade card before the trip that was lower than a “C” meant he would not go to Florida with us. The time for the trip approached. We were leaving on a Sunday; grade cards came home on a Friday. The list of exam grades was all As and Bs; but with no homework, his overall grades contained one D and one F. He would not be able to go.
It was a hard decision, but warnings had been given, the results on that grade card were entirely up to him. The weekend was awful. He was angry at me for sticking to my word, I was upset that he hadn’t tried at least a little bit to do the dang homework. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was to drop my kid off at my mom’s on Sunday and leave for Florida without him.
As I think about that time, I cannot imagine how much more God’s heart broke at having to discipline his own people in the way that he did. He had tried many times and through many prophets to warn them. He had given them many chances to turn their lives around, to leave their worship of false gods and to return to him. Sometimes they would do just that, but it never lasted; they would once again fall away and turn back to their idols, forgetting the God who loved them.
Our God is a God who keeps his word and he had to do that for his people to really learn who he was. He would allow his children to be returned to slavery, this time through the Assyrians, but he would not completely destroy them. And so, we hear the cry of his heart:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.”
God has decided to do what he needs to do to discipline his children, but it will be up to them whether they learn from their experience. We cannot coerce our children to change their hearts. We can discipline, we can love, we can pray, but ultimately, what they do and how they live is up to them.
Michael’s grandma waited patiently for Michael to come to his senses and turn back to God. My son never became proficient at doing that homework, but he never again had a grade card with such low grades. And God knows there will be a day when Ephraim, Israel, will once again return to him. They will not live in exile forever. “They shall go after the Lord, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.”
God is the same today. He loves us and he wants only what is best for us, but he allows us to make our own choices, our own decisions. God calls us to himself, but he will not coerce us to come. He wants us to want to come to him of our own free will so that we will know his love is genuine, and he will know the same of us.
We are warned that life without God is a life of slavery to sin and death, but through God, through his son, Jesus, we have been given the gift of leaving that life behind. We have been given a second chance – or maybe a third or a fourth. God will give us as many chances as it takes as he waits for us to come to him and live for him. For as long as we breathe, we can turn to God, and he will take us in.
It took Michael many years of trying and failing to live a life of faithfulness to God, but today, he does just that. His story echoes in many of our own lives as we remember how we have come to be here today. The roads may have been different, but we all have struggled on our journey, we may have slipped up, we may have walked away, we may have even given up, but God doesn’t quit on us. He keeps waiting, patiently waiting, and when we do turn back to him, we notice that his arms are open, and he beckons us to come to him.
There is a hymn that pleads, “Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken, bind us together with love.” That is God’s desire. His love is not oppressive but liberating, his love is not fickle but infinite. God wants to bind us together into a family – his family – a family bound together with cords made of kindness and love, mercy, and grace. Will we accept the invitation? AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, we want to be bound up together in your cords of kindness. We want to experience your mercy and grace and feel your love. Forgive us, Lord, when we act like the Israelites in Hosea’s time, when we turn away from you instead of to you, when we refuse to follow you, when we are in need of discipline. Help us to see you, arms open wide, beckoning us to come back, to be loved, to be included, to be your children once more. Thank you for your faithfulness when we have none, thank you for your love even when our actions are unlovable. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Cords of Kindness
Scripture: Hosea 11:1-11
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up in my arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks,
I bent down to them and fed them.
5 They shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword rages in their cities;
it consumes their oracle priests
and devours because of their schemes.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim,
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall go after the Lord,
who roars like a lion;
when he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the west.
11 They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt
and like doves from the land of Assyria,
and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.
I am reading a book by Michael Beck called Painting with Ashes. Michael was a speaker at this year’s Annual Conference and this book is his story of how he went from drug addict to pastor. He doesn’t hold back anything just to make himself look better, but instead; Michael reveals the dark, ugly truth of his journey from brokenness to wholeness in Christ.
At one point in his story, he speaks about his relationship with his grandmother. His grandparents had adopted and raised Michael, but his grandfather died unexpectedly while Michael was still pretty young. As young teen, Michael was introduced to the drug scene and soon thereafter, he began to be a drug dealer, providing large quantities to his distributers and selling to individuals right out of his grandma’s house.
Grandma begged and pleaded with Michael to stop, but he refused. She prayed for him daily, but nothing changed. Finally, Michael, as do many rebellious teenagers, gave Grandma an ultimatum; either he continued to run his drug business out of her house, or he would leave and find his own place.
Now, many of us would tell Grandma that she should have said good- bye and good riddance, and we shake our heads when we learn she didn’t follow our advice. You see, Grandma had suffered through several losses in her life and her fear of losing Michael and being left all alone drove her to allow Michael to continue his illegal activities in her home.
Grandma never gave up on Michael, though. Even as the lines of customers reached from Michael’s bedroom through the house to the front porch, Grandma would sit in her chair in the living room, reading her bible and praying for Michael and all the others who became his regulars. She just loved him too much to give up.
That is where God is in today’s scripture. We have skipped over a lot of what has happened to Hosea in the previous chapters. I told you that Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was constantly in conflict. Gomer would leave and go back to her old lifestyle, then she would return for a while, but eventually she would leave again. Eventually, her life would spiral so far downward that Hosea would have to rescue her from being sold as a slave by buying her back for himself.
In that action, Hosea fully understood how far Israel had fallen from following God. God’s love was so great for his people that he would take them back whenever they turned away from following all their false gods and returned to him.
Today, we hear God’s lament for his people, and it echoes with the heartbreak that was heard in Michael’s grandmother’s prayers for him.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and offering incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.”
God is heartbroken at how Ephraim, meaning Israel, has turned out. He remembers the days long ago when he brought them out of Egypt, how he saved them from the oppression of slavery to the Egyptians. He longs to once again gather the people to himself, to hold them in his arms as one holds a precious infant. God wants them to remember that he is the one who led them through the wilderness for forty years, when their clothes and their sandals never wore out. He wants them to remember that it was God who gave them manna to eat and brought water from the rocks when they were thirsty.
God’s love is so much greater than these people realize or remember, but unlike Michael’s grandmother, God cannot allow Israel to continue to live a life that is not good for them. They have turned their backs on the one who can love them and provide for them, and they have turned to false gods made of stone, wood, and metal – gods who have no life in them, who cannot provide for them, who do not love them as their own.
So, God gives Hosea a prophesy to warn the people: “They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword rages in their cities; it consumes their oracle priests and devours because of their schemes. My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.”
The day will come, Hosea tells them, when they will return to living under the rule of a foreign king once again. Assyria will conquer them, and they will serve the Assyrian king, and they have brought it all on themselves by breaking their covenant to serve only God.
Today, we often call this “tough love.” Tough love is hard. Sometimes it gets ugly. When we step up and put our foot down by setting boundaries for our children or other loved ones, we get to bear the brunt of their rebelliousness. We become the target of their anger; we are the one on whom they spew their hateful, hurtful words. We are painted as the “bad guy” in their life. It’s hard, isn’t it?
We want to be the one they love, the one they turn to for help, the one they know they can trust, but sometimes, in order to protect ourselves and for the benefit of others, we need to be strong enough to be the bad guy. Anyone who has raised teenagers knows this feeling at least once in their lives.
For me, it happened when I was planning a business to trip to Orlando. My husband and I had been struggling with our son for quite a while over doing his homework – he thought it was optional, his teachers did not. His test grades were always high, but his overall grades suffered because of his refusal to turn in his work.
The deal was made that any grade on his grade card before the trip that was lower than a “C” meant he would not go to Florida with us. The time for the trip approached. We were leaving on a Sunday; grade cards came home on a Friday. The list of exam grades was all As and Bs; but with no homework, his overall grades contained one D and one F. He would not be able to go.
It was a hard decision, but warnings had been given, the results on that grade card were entirely up to him. The weekend was awful. He was angry at me for sticking to my word, I was upset that he hadn’t tried at least a little bit to do the dang homework. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was to drop my kid off at my mom’s on Sunday and leave for Florida without him.
As I think about that time, I cannot imagine how much more God’s heart broke at having to discipline his own people in the way that he did. He had tried many times and through many prophets to warn them. He had given them many chances to turn their lives around, to leave their worship of false gods and to return to him. Sometimes they would do just that, but it never lasted; they would once again fall away and turn back to their idols, forgetting the God who loved them.
Our God is a God who keeps his word and he had to do that for his people to really learn who he was. He would allow his children to be returned to slavery, this time through the Assyrians, but he would not completely destroy them. And so, we hear the cry of his heart:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.”
God has decided to do what he needs to do to discipline his children, but it will be up to them whether they learn from their experience. We cannot coerce our children to change their hearts. We can discipline, we can love, we can pray, but ultimately, what they do and how they live is up to them.
Michael’s grandma waited patiently for Michael to come to his senses and turn back to God. My son never became proficient at doing that homework, but he never again had a grade card with such low grades. And God knows there will be a day when Ephraim, Israel, will once again return to him. They will not live in exile forever. “They shall go after the Lord, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.”
God is the same today. He loves us and he wants only what is best for us, but he allows us to make our own choices, our own decisions. God calls us to himself, but he will not coerce us to come. He wants us to want to come to him of our own free will so that we will know his love is genuine, and he will know the same of us.
We are warned that life without God is a life of slavery to sin and death, but through God, through his son, Jesus, we have been given the gift of leaving that life behind. We have been given a second chance – or maybe a third or a fourth. God will give us as many chances as it takes as he waits for us to come to him and live for him. For as long as we breathe, we can turn to God, and he will take us in.
It took Michael many years of trying and failing to live a life of faithfulness to God, but today, he does just that. His story echoes in many of our own lives as we remember how we have come to be here today. The roads may have been different, but we all have struggled on our journey, we may have slipped up, we may have walked away, we may have even given up, but God doesn’t quit on us. He keeps waiting, patiently waiting, and when we do turn back to him, we notice that his arms are open, and he beckons us to come to him.
There is a hymn that pleads, “Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken, bind us together with love.” That is God’s desire. His love is not oppressive but liberating, his love is not fickle but infinite. God wants to bind us together into a family – his family – a family bound together with cords made of kindness and love, mercy, and grace. Will we accept the invitation? AMEN.
PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, we want to be bound up together in your cords of kindness. We want to experience your mercy and grace and feel your love. Forgive us, Lord, when we act like the Israelites in Hosea’s time, when we turn away from you instead of to you, when we refuse to follow you, when we are in need of discipline. Help us to see you, arms open wide, beckoning us to come back, to be loved, to be included, to be your children once more. Thank you for your faithfulness when we have none, thank you for your love even when our actions are unlovable. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
7/24/2022 PASTOR DONNA'S SERMON "pITY ON THE HOUSE"
July 24, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Pity on the House
Scripture: Hosea 1:2-10
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Anyone here like the Marvel movies? The Avengers, Captain America, Thor and the rest? I do. I haven’t seen the newest Thor movie yet, but I have seen the earlier ones and I noticed a theme that runs through them that might be easy to miss in the chaos of destruction and the thrill of saving the world. That theme is love – not just the romantic love between Thor and Jane Foster, not just Thor’s love for earth and its people – but Thor’s love for his family, even – and especially – his love for his brother Loki.
Let’s face it, Loki is not easy to love. He’s the quintessential bad guy, always looking for ways to be the king of some world or realm, always betraying Thor whenever he gets a chance. But Thor truly loves his brother, not because he doesn’t see him as he is, not because he doesn’t recognize Loki’s diabolical nature. Thor loves Loki in spite of all that, simply because he is his brother. Even knowing Loki is adopted doesn’t bother Thor – they are brothers and that is all that matters.
That’s what I was thinking of this week when I read the beginning of Hosea. This is truly a testament to the love God has for his people. It’s also a testament of the love Hosea has for God, that he would be so obedient as to defile himself by marrying a prostitute, simply because God told him to do so. That is a strong faith, my friends, and a strong love.
I believe, even though Hosea married Gomer because God had told him to, that he came to love this woman in spite of her past. Let’s face it, this was a risky love that Hosea was pursuing. A love that will persevere through both the good times and the bad times. A love that others might look at and wonder why he bothers. A love that does not give up even when Gomer disregards that love and returns to her previous lifestyle.
Do we have someone like that in our life? Someone who has loved us no matter what we have done, no matter what we have said, no matter how many times we have hurt them? Is there someone in our lives whom we love enough that we refuse to give up on them, no matter what? If we can say yes to either or both of these questions, then we get a glimpse of what God is asking Hosea to do when he sends him out to marry a woman who will make it hard to love.
This was Hosea’s introductory call into the ministry of being a prophet. Kind of feels like jumping off the deep end, doesn’t it? No easy prophesy to convey to the people as a learning curve, just the directive to go out and marry a prostitute. It’s important to remind ourselves here that Hosea is not being punished by God – instead God is using Hosea to show the people how God himself sees them and their own infidelities.
Professor Pamela Scalise teaches us that those who would hear Hosea’s message and witness his obedience to God would have been the men who were heads of families, of clans, and even national leaders. God’s message, through Hosea, would have been meant for them to see themselves as both the children and the wife; as ones who had prostituted themselves before other gods and as children of those who had done so before them.
God’s accusation of these people was intentionally offensive because he wanted them to be shocked into seeing themselves as how they had become. It was a wake-up call in the hopes that recognition would lead to repentance.
So, Hosea marries Gomer, and all seems to go well at first, so they started their family. The first child was a boy. God said, “Name him Jezreel.’ This was a name that the people would associate with bloodshed – a name they knew from their history.
Next came their baby girl. God chose her name to be Lo-ruhamah – not loved. Our heart breaks when we hear that name, doesn’t it? How can this tiny baby not be loved? But, we ask, how can one not love God? Ahh, perhaps that was his point then.
Not long after little Lo-ruhamah was on solid food, along comes the next child – another boy. Again, God chooses his name; this one is to be named Lo-ammi: “you are not my people, and I am not your God.” Again, our heart breaks a little when we hear this, and we are reminded that when we had visited with Amos, he had prophesied that there would be a time coming when there would be a famine – a time when there would be no word from God. A time when God’s people would seek for God but not be able to find him. What God told through Amos he is showing through Hosea.
This is another week where the reading is hard. Another week where we wonder where the good news is, where the hope is in the words and actions of the prophet we visit as he carries out God’s directives. But, as always, if we search for it, we will find it.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. God has used words to reach out to his people. He has spoken through his prophets, but his people are no longer willing to listen. So, God calls Hosea to radical action – to SHOW his people how they are, what they are doing. Hosea could tell them another story using words, but instead, God calls Hosea to tell his story by how he lives.
We all have a story to tell. Remember, I asked if anyone had someone who had loved them or someone you have loved no matter what? If we had the time, we might invite everyone to tell that story, and in the telling, we would sympathize with the heartbreak and celebrate the triumphs. But, of all who hear our stories, who among us would feel the heartbreak the deepest, who would thrill to the victories the most? It would be the ones whose experiences most closely matched the storytellers.
When we have experienced our own hard times, we can better understand what others are going through. When we have emerged through those hard times into the light, we can more readily encourage those who are still on their journey, we can celebrate with them a little more exuberantly. What we have lived helps us see what others are living.
God has called Hosea to tell the Israelites, through his own experiences, how God sees them. This is a radical love that God is pouring out on his people. If they wouldn’t listen to words, perhaps some will see with their eyes and turn back to God. Hosea’s story becomes more authentic because he is living it himself. Hosea isn’t telling God’s story to God’s people simply by using words – he is living the story in real time, in real life.
Sadly, after the birth of their third child, Gomer leaves Hosea. She breaks her marriage vows and returns to her former lifestyle. She lusted after the material things that she could gain from other men – rich food, fine clothes, jewels, money. She reveled in this life for a time, but finally, reality set in and Gomer realized she was not living in the way she should. She came to her senses and returned to her husband, and Hosea took her back because he loved her.
In the closing verses of today’s scripture, we begin to feel the love God has for his people, this love that will not let him give up on them, no matter what. He gives them a glimpse of what is to come when they finally admit they have sinned and fallen away, and they finally turn back and worship him as their One, True God:
“Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
Just as Gomer finally returned to her husband, the nations of Israel and Judah will come together and return to God. They will once again love him as their ancestors did long ago. And in that day, the names of Hosea’s children will be changed. Instead of Lo-ammi, he will be Ammi – my people – and instead of Lo-ruhamah, she will be Ruhamah – pitied. And in those days, God will say, “You are my people,” and they will say, “You are my God.”
Gomer would eventually leave Hosea again, but she would come back, and he would take her in, and it would happen again and again. I think it is easy for us to judge Gomer. She had everything she needed at home, yet she kept throwing it all away and running back to a sinful way of living. I think it’s also easy for us to judge Hosea. Why would he keep taking her back? She clearly was incapable of returning his love in any real, lasting way. She was a selfish person who didn’t care for her husband or her kids; he should have closed the door in her face and told her to get lost.
Friends, before we judge either of these people too quickly, let’s take another look. God may have been using Hosea’s situation as a way to reach the Israelites, but I believe he is using Hosea’s story to reach us today.
We are Gomer. We are the ones who come to God and profess our love one day but then turn our backs the next. Then we come back, say we are sorry, beg for forgiveness, and ask to be let back in the house. And God, in his love, opens that door wide and welcomes us back. All is good for a while, but then we slip up and we slip away, returning to the places we never should have been in the first place. We run away again. But God will have pity on us when we once again come to our senses and knock on the door, asking for another chance, promising to be better this time, asking for forgiveness once again.
God’s love is greater than our sin. That is the good news we need to hear. God loves us and wants us to be a part of his family. How do I know that? Because God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins so that we can live with him for all of eternity. That is certainly a radical love. Thank God for his love. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, your love for us is radical. That you could love us even when we turn away from you is amazing, but we thank you, Lord, that you never give up on us. We thank you that when we come to our senses and come back to you, you welcome us with open arms. Lord, we don’t deserve it, but we are so grateful for it. Now, help us to share the good news of your love with others. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17-3/commentary-on-hosea-12-10-5
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Pity on the House
Scripture: Hosea 1:2-10
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Anyone here like the Marvel movies? The Avengers, Captain America, Thor and the rest? I do. I haven’t seen the newest Thor movie yet, but I have seen the earlier ones and I noticed a theme that runs through them that might be easy to miss in the chaos of destruction and the thrill of saving the world. That theme is love – not just the romantic love between Thor and Jane Foster, not just Thor’s love for earth and its people – but Thor’s love for his family, even – and especially – his love for his brother Loki.
Let’s face it, Loki is not easy to love. He’s the quintessential bad guy, always looking for ways to be the king of some world or realm, always betraying Thor whenever he gets a chance. But Thor truly loves his brother, not because he doesn’t see him as he is, not because he doesn’t recognize Loki’s diabolical nature. Thor loves Loki in spite of all that, simply because he is his brother. Even knowing Loki is adopted doesn’t bother Thor – they are brothers and that is all that matters.
That’s what I was thinking of this week when I read the beginning of Hosea. This is truly a testament to the love God has for his people. It’s also a testament of the love Hosea has for God, that he would be so obedient as to defile himself by marrying a prostitute, simply because God told him to do so. That is a strong faith, my friends, and a strong love.
I believe, even though Hosea married Gomer because God had told him to, that he came to love this woman in spite of her past. Let’s face it, this was a risky love that Hosea was pursuing. A love that will persevere through both the good times and the bad times. A love that others might look at and wonder why he bothers. A love that does not give up even when Gomer disregards that love and returns to her previous lifestyle.
Do we have someone like that in our life? Someone who has loved us no matter what we have done, no matter what we have said, no matter how many times we have hurt them? Is there someone in our lives whom we love enough that we refuse to give up on them, no matter what? If we can say yes to either or both of these questions, then we get a glimpse of what God is asking Hosea to do when he sends him out to marry a woman who will make it hard to love.
This was Hosea’s introductory call into the ministry of being a prophet. Kind of feels like jumping off the deep end, doesn’t it? No easy prophesy to convey to the people as a learning curve, just the directive to go out and marry a prostitute. It’s important to remind ourselves here that Hosea is not being punished by God – instead God is using Hosea to show the people how God himself sees them and their own infidelities.
Professor Pamela Scalise teaches us that those who would hear Hosea’s message and witness his obedience to God would have been the men who were heads of families, of clans, and even national leaders. God’s message, through Hosea, would have been meant for them to see themselves as both the children and the wife; as ones who had prostituted themselves before other gods and as children of those who had done so before them.
God’s accusation of these people was intentionally offensive because he wanted them to be shocked into seeing themselves as how they had become. It was a wake-up call in the hopes that recognition would lead to repentance.
So, Hosea marries Gomer, and all seems to go well at first, so they started their family. The first child was a boy. God said, “Name him Jezreel.’ This was a name that the people would associate with bloodshed – a name they knew from their history.
Next came their baby girl. God chose her name to be Lo-ruhamah – not loved. Our heart breaks when we hear that name, doesn’t it? How can this tiny baby not be loved? But, we ask, how can one not love God? Ahh, perhaps that was his point then.
Not long after little Lo-ruhamah was on solid food, along comes the next child – another boy. Again, God chooses his name; this one is to be named Lo-ammi: “you are not my people, and I am not your God.” Again, our heart breaks a little when we hear this, and we are reminded that when we had visited with Amos, he had prophesied that there would be a time coming when there would be a famine – a time when there would be no word from God. A time when God’s people would seek for God but not be able to find him. What God told through Amos he is showing through Hosea.
This is another week where the reading is hard. Another week where we wonder where the good news is, where the hope is in the words and actions of the prophet we visit as he carries out God’s directives. But, as always, if we search for it, we will find it.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. God has used words to reach out to his people. He has spoken through his prophets, but his people are no longer willing to listen. So, God calls Hosea to radical action – to SHOW his people how they are, what they are doing. Hosea could tell them another story using words, but instead, God calls Hosea to tell his story by how he lives.
We all have a story to tell. Remember, I asked if anyone had someone who had loved them or someone you have loved no matter what? If we had the time, we might invite everyone to tell that story, and in the telling, we would sympathize with the heartbreak and celebrate the triumphs. But, of all who hear our stories, who among us would feel the heartbreak the deepest, who would thrill to the victories the most? It would be the ones whose experiences most closely matched the storytellers.
When we have experienced our own hard times, we can better understand what others are going through. When we have emerged through those hard times into the light, we can more readily encourage those who are still on their journey, we can celebrate with them a little more exuberantly. What we have lived helps us see what others are living.
God has called Hosea to tell the Israelites, through his own experiences, how God sees them. This is a radical love that God is pouring out on his people. If they wouldn’t listen to words, perhaps some will see with their eyes and turn back to God. Hosea’s story becomes more authentic because he is living it himself. Hosea isn’t telling God’s story to God’s people simply by using words – he is living the story in real time, in real life.
Sadly, after the birth of their third child, Gomer leaves Hosea. She breaks her marriage vows and returns to her former lifestyle. She lusted after the material things that she could gain from other men – rich food, fine clothes, jewels, money. She reveled in this life for a time, but finally, reality set in and Gomer realized she was not living in the way she should. She came to her senses and returned to her husband, and Hosea took her back because he loved her.
In the closing verses of today’s scripture, we begin to feel the love God has for his people, this love that will not let him give up on them, no matter what. He gives them a glimpse of what is to come when they finally admit they have sinned and fallen away, and they finally turn back and worship him as their One, True God:
“Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
Just as Gomer finally returned to her husband, the nations of Israel and Judah will come together and return to God. They will once again love him as their ancestors did long ago. And in that day, the names of Hosea’s children will be changed. Instead of Lo-ammi, he will be Ammi – my people – and instead of Lo-ruhamah, she will be Ruhamah – pitied. And in those days, God will say, “You are my people,” and they will say, “You are my God.”
Gomer would eventually leave Hosea again, but she would come back, and he would take her in, and it would happen again and again. I think it is easy for us to judge Gomer. She had everything she needed at home, yet she kept throwing it all away and running back to a sinful way of living. I think it’s also easy for us to judge Hosea. Why would he keep taking her back? She clearly was incapable of returning his love in any real, lasting way. She was a selfish person who didn’t care for her husband or her kids; he should have closed the door in her face and told her to get lost.
Friends, before we judge either of these people too quickly, let’s take another look. God may have been using Hosea’s situation as a way to reach the Israelites, but I believe he is using Hosea’s story to reach us today.
We are Gomer. We are the ones who come to God and profess our love one day but then turn our backs the next. Then we come back, say we are sorry, beg for forgiveness, and ask to be let back in the house. And God, in his love, opens that door wide and welcomes us back. All is good for a while, but then we slip up and we slip away, returning to the places we never should have been in the first place. We run away again. But God will have pity on us when we once again come to our senses and knock on the door, asking for another chance, promising to be better this time, asking for forgiveness once again.
God’s love is greater than our sin. That is the good news we need to hear. God loves us and wants us to be a part of his family. How do I know that? Because God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins so that we can live with him for all of eternity. That is certainly a radical love. Thank God for his love. AMEN.
PRAYER: Loving God, your love for us is radical. That you could love us even when we turn away from you is amazing, but we thank you, Lord, that you never give up on us. We thank you that when we come to our senses and come back to you, you welcome us with open arms. Lord, we don’t deserve it, but we are so grateful for it. Now, help us to share the good news of your love with others. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17-3/commentary-on-hosea-12-10-5
7/17/2022 pastor donna's sermon "living in a bitter day"
July 17, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Living in a Bitter Day
Scripture: Amos 8:1-12
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, “Amos, what
do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me,
“The end has come upon my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer.
3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day,”
says the Lord GOD;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!”
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier
and practice deceit with false balances,
6 buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
9 On that day, says the Lord GOD,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
2
I will bring sackcloth on all loins
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.
Amos has extended the invitation to stay another week so here we are. This week
Amos speaks hard words. Some might say even harsh words. These are words that no
one wants to hear – and no one really wants to have to say. But the truth sometimes is
hard. Sometimes hearing the unbridled truth is what it takes to wake us up from the
lethargy we seem to fall into in our overworked, hectic lives.
Let’s face it – at the end of the day, after work and chores and errands, after kids and
families, and all the rest – what we really want is just to veg in front of the TV or spend
time on our devices so that we can close ourselves off from everything that is “out there”
pulling us in too many directions, overloading our senses, overwhelming our strength.
We’re tired, we’re sapped, and we’re vulnerable.
That is why it is so hard to listen for the word of God and so hard to take time to look up
and out to see what is around us. We are afraid if we see something we might have to
do something. But today’s scripture once again calls us to look up and around, not just
at what we see in our own neighborhood, but what we see in the world. Ouch! Are we
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up to that? Can we really muster up the wherewithal to do that? With God’s strength we
can.
This seeing that God is asking us to do through Amos is a deeper seeing. Here’s an
example of deeper seeing. God asked Amos, “What do you see?” and this time the
answer was, “A basket of summer fruit.” What do we picture when we hear that? A
beautiful, lush display of ripened fruit, juicy and waiting to be eaten. Have you ever
bought a package of beautiful strawberries at the supermarket and when you got home
discovered that some of the ones on the bottom had rotted? We didn’t see deeply
enough to see the spoilage, we only saw the beautiful attraction on the outside, the part
we like to see.
As Rev. Dr. Derek Weber writes, “God asks Amos, who then asks us, to look deeper.
What is underneath our wealth, our comfort, our excess? Who is suffering, who is
hurting, who is decaying like a basket of summer fruit” that is beautiful to the eye but
spoiled underneath?
Lest we begin to think this is only a 21 st century problem, let’s remember our scripture:
“Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying,
‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so that we
may offer wheat for sale?’”
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Even in Amos’ day people we too busy to care about others on a regular basis. The new
moon festivals and the sabbath breaks were a time to endure as they waited to get back
to “real life” where business could go back to being as usual, where trades could
resume, where blinders could be put on and life could rush right by. And how do we
know they had little care for others?
Hear this proof: The people have said, “’We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel
heavier and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy
for a pair of sandals and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’”
What kind of practices are these? Dirty, deceitful practices that go against what God
would have. These people have devised ways to cheat others, their scales are out-of-
balance to their good and the others’ misfortune, they are willing buy another person for
a few pieces of silver or a pair of sandals. And who is going to notice if there is dirt and
debris mixed in with that wheat – go ahead and sweep it up off the floor and sell it
anyway. Is this how we are supposed to treat people?
“But wait,” you say, “we don’t do any of those things. We don’t measure with any scale,
let alone an imbalanced one, we don’t sell wheat off the floor, and we certainly don’t buy
people!” And you are right. That is not how we conduct ourselves today. Times have
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changed and many ways of doing business and just living day to day are different now
from Amos’ time. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our own ways of cheating others
and taking advantage when we know we shouldn’t
Have we ever made our children younger than they really were just to get a discount at
a restaurant or to save on admission to an amusement park? Have we ever said, “We
can do such and such because everyone else does,” even though we know it is wrong?
Have we ever written a check when we know there was no money in our account? Have
we ever peeked at someone’s phone when they accidentally left it on, or opened
someone else’s mail?
We are an inventive and creative people and the ways we use those gifts can be for the
better or for the worse. Most of us can surely confess that we have done both better and
worse. Why do we do the things that we know are wrong? Because we think we can get
away with it, that no one will really be harmed, that no one will even notice. But God
notices. That’s the thing we forget – God is omniscient – he sees everything and knows
everything – even when we don’t think so.
That is what has happened to the children of Israel in Amos’ time. They have forgotten
about God. They have forgotten that even when they don’t think about him or
acknowledge him, he is still with them. He sees all and knows all – and he is not happy
with them. And God tells Amos, “’The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely, I
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will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and
everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and
sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?’”
If you are a parent, or even if you have ever been around children for any length of time,
you know that sometimes they don’t listen well. We tell them over and over not to run in
the house, to clean their room, to not hit their brother or sister, to not ride their bikes in
the road, but inevitably, they do something they are not supposed to do, and we must
discipline them. We don’t like it, they don’t like it, but it is necessary for their safety and
their development as a decent human being.
That is where God is in today’s passage. He loves the Israelites beyond measure, and
he wants to give them all the good things they need and want, but they have broken the
rules too many times and as a loving father, he must discipline his children. He doesn’t
want to have to do this, they are not going to like it when he does, but it is for their own
benefit that it must be done.
God tells Amos the plan. He tells Amos exactly what to expect when the day of
discipline comes: “’On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your
songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.’”
7
Put your spiritual imaginations to work and picture how hard it is for God to bring this
punishment to his people. Imagine the broken heartedness this causes, the deep grief
that God feels. This isn’t what he wants to do. When God says, “I will make it like the
mourning for an only son and the end of a bitter day,” I believe he means for both Israel
and for himself. When we have had to punish our own children, don’t we feel awful for
it? Doesn’t our heart break? Don’t we live that day as a bitter day right along with them?
Wouldn’t God, as the loving father that he is, feel the same?
And as if that weren’t enough, God continues by warning that, “‘The time is surely
coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They
shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking
the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.’”
Today’s passage began with the picture of abundance – a basket of summer fruit,
bounty from the rich, fertile land that Israel was at that time. But it ends with famine –
not a famine of food and or water, but a famine of something even more important and
vital for life – the absence of the word of God. God has been speaking to his people
through his prophets since the time of Moses, but now, in their willful sinfulness, God
will be silent to his people.
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With no food or water, a body will perish, but without God, the soul will perish. Which is
the more detrimental to us, which is more devastating?
We know that Amos’ prophesy came to be. The Assyrians conquered the Northern
kingdom of Israel, many died, many others taken captive. Those who were left wore
sackcloth and shaved their heads as a sign of mourning. Where there had once been
singing in the temple there was now only wailing and lamenting, and the feasts that had
been seen as an obstacle for business were now neither a time of rest and worship, nor
a time of enduring to get back to business as usual – they were simply another occasion
to remember and mourn for what was.
Israel had committed many sins in their time, but what was it that God had found in
them here to cause this much punishment? God’s own words, through Amos, tell that it
was their sin of oppressing of the poor and the needy by using means of economic
exploitation. They put profits ahead of people by cheating, by committing fraud, and by
enslaving those who were poor to the point that it will make the very land tremble. It was
God’s love and compassion for such as these whom Israel did not, and would not, see
as people of value, that caused Israel’s destruction.
As we go about our daily lives, as we try to keep up with all the demands on our time,
we simply cannot allow ourselves to succumb to the temptation to keep our heads down
and our eyes closed to the world around us. God is still calling us to look up and around
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and see the poor, the needy, the vulnerable, to see them as people worthy of love and
valued by God. And once we see them, then we are called to minister to them in
whatever way we have means to do so.
Friends, I confess that there are days when I feel like we are headed toward that same
fate as the Israelites. It feels like we are fast becoming a society where we are in danger
of God once again becoming silent. Who will stand in the gap for us? Who will reach out
and show the love of God to those who are in need? It is up to us, to all of us,
individually and collectively to say “I will do it.”
In the introduction to this series, I warned you that there would be some words that
would be hard to hear, and I know this week is one of those times. I also said that I was
praying that we would be able to hear the hope and the love that could be found, even
in those hard words, and I believe this week we surely can find both. Even though I
have only been here a couple of weeks, I already see how this church finds ways to
stand in the gap for those who are in need, I have witnessed how seriously God’s
directive to care for his people is taken, I have seen the outpouring of love and feel the
hope that fills this church body.
I have seen people reaching out, inviting me to go with them to visit the shut-ins, I have
seen back-packs being filled with food for families who live without enough to eat, I have
heard how people have worked to build a house for a family who needed a safe place to
10
live, how children are being taught the word of God through Bridge Builders, how many
different groups are invited to use this building to meet, how bicycles were provided to a
refugee family, how prayers were offered, and how love was shared.
We are certainly not without our own struggles, but friends, when we choose to put
aside our own tendencies to hide from the world, when we find ways to affect the lives
of others for their benefit and for God’s glory, then I know he sees and is pleased. May
we never stop trying to bear one another’s burdens, may we never stop living as gap-
fillers for God, may we never have to live in a time when God is silent. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to stand in the gap for
you to the ones who need our help. May we seek to spread your love through the
ministries you call us to provide. Help us to keep our heads up and our eyes and hearts
open that we might see where we can be of assistance to all because all are worthy of
love and valued by you. May we bear one another’s burden’s and increase your
kingdom here on earth as we await the return of your precious son, Jesus Christ.
AMEN.
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References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Call to Worship:
L: As God asked Amos, now he asks us,
P: “What do we see?”
L: We see distractions, divisions, dissension,
P: We see the fruit we produce by the way we live.
L: Then let us worship our God, and be a witness of the gospel,
P: Let us produce good fruit that will benefit others
ALL: And honor God. AMEN.
Hymn: 61 Come, Thou Almighty King
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE:
OBJECT: 2 bags of quarters – 1 with $3 in all quarters, 1 with a few nickels replacing
some of the quarters.
Lesson – It isn’t right to cheat – God is watching all that we do and we should not take
advantage of others even if we think we can get away with it.
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Living in a Bitter Day
Scripture: Amos 8:1-12
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, “Amos, what
do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me,
“The end has come upon my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer.
3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day,”
says the Lord GOD;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!”
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier
and practice deceit with false balances,
6 buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
9 On that day, says the Lord GOD,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
2
I will bring sackcloth on all loins
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.
Amos has extended the invitation to stay another week so here we are. This week
Amos speaks hard words. Some might say even harsh words. These are words that no
one wants to hear – and no one really wants to have to say. But the truth sometimes is
hard. Sometimes hearing the unbridled truth is what it takes to wake us up from the
lethargy we seem to fall into in our overworked, hectic lives.
Let’s face it – at the end of the day, after work and chores and errands, after kids and
families, and all the rest – what we really want is just to veg in front of the TV or spend
time on our devices so that we can close ourselves off from everything that is “out there”
pulling us in too many directions, overloading our senses, overwhelming our strength.
We’re tired, we’re sapped, and we’re vulnerable.
That is why it is so hard to listen for the word of God and so hard to take time to look up
and out to see what is around us. We are afraid if we see something we might have to
do something. But today’s scripture once again calls us to look up and around, not just
at what we see in our own neighborhood, but what we see in the world. Ouch! Are we
3
up to that? Can we really muster up the wherewithal to do that? With God’s strength we
can.
This seeing that God is asking us to do through Amos is a deeper seeing. Here’s an
example of deeper seeing. God asked Amos, “What do you see?” and this time the
answer was, “A basket of summer fruit.” What do we picture when we hear that? A
beautiful, lush display of ripened fruit, juicy and waiting to be eaten. Have you ever
bought a package of beautiful strawberries at the supermarket and when you got home
discovered that some of the ones on the bottom had rotted? We didn’t see deeply
enough to see the spoilage, we only saw the beautiful attraction on the outside, the part
we like to see.
As Rev. Dr. Derek Weber writes, “God asks Amos, who then asks us, to look deeper.
What is underneath our wealth, our comfort, our excess? Who is suffering, who is
hurting, who is decaying like a basket of summer fruit” that is beautiful to the eye but
spoiled underneath?
Lest we begin to think this is only a 21 st century problem, let’s remember our scripture:
“Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying,
‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so that we
may offer wheat for sale?’”
4
Even in Amos’ day people we too busy to care about others on a regular basis. The new
moon festivals and the sabbath breaks were a time to endure as they waited to get back
to “real life” where business could go back to being as usual, where trades could
resume, where blinders could be put on and life could rush right by. And how do we
know they had little care for others?
Hear this proof: The people have said, “’We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel
heavier and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy
for a pair of sandals and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’”
What kind of practices are these? Dirty, deceitful practices that go against what God
would have. These people have devised ways to cheat others, their scales are out-of-
balance to their good and the others’ misfortune, they are willing buy another person for
a few pieces of silver or a pair of sandals. And who is going to notice if there is dirt and
debris mixed in with that wheat – go ahead and sweep it up off the floor and sell it
anyway. Is this how we are supposed to treat people?
“But wait,” you say, “we don’t do any of those things. We don’t measure with any scale,
let alone an imbalanced one, we don’t sell wheat off the floor, and we certainly don’t buy
people!” And you are right. That is not how we conduct ourselves today. Times have
5
changed and many ways of doing business and just living day to day are different now
from Amos’ time. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our own ways of cheating others
and taking advantage when we know we shouldn’t
Have we ever made our children younger than they really were just to get a discount at
a restaurant or to save on admission to an amusement park? Have we ever said, “We
can do such and such because everyone else does,” even though we know it is wrong?
Have we ever written a check when we know there was no money in our account? Have
we ever peeked at someone’s phone when they accidentally left it on, or opened
someone else’s mail?
We are an inventive and creative people and the ways we use those gifts can be for the
better or for the worse. Most of us can surely confess that we have done both better and
worse. Why do we do the things that we know are wrong? Because we think we can get
away with it, that no one will really be harmed, that no one will even notice. But God
notices. That’s the thing we forget – God is omniscient – he sees everything and knows
everything – even when we don’t think so.
That is what has happened to the children of Israel in Amos’ time. They have forgotten
about God. They have forgotten that even when they don’t think about him or
acknowledge him, he is still with them. He sees all and knows all – and he is not happy
with them. And God tells Amos, “’The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely, I
6
will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and
everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and
sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?’”
If you are a parent, or even if you have ever been around children for any length of time,
you know that sometimes they don’t listen well. We tell them over and over not to run in
the house, to clean their room, to not hit their brother or sister, to not ride their bikes in
the road, but inevitably, they do something they are not supposed to do, and we must
discipline them. We don’t like it, they don’t like it, but it is necessary for their safety and
their development as a decent human being.
That is where God is in today’s passage. He loves the Israelites beyond measure, and
he wants to give them all the good things they need and want, but they have broken the
rules too many times and as a loving father, he must discipline his children. He doesn’t
want to have to do this, they are not going to like it when he does, but it is for their own
benefit that it must be done.
God tells Amos the plan. He tells Amos exactly what to expect when the day of
discipline comes: “’On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your
songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.’”
7
Put your spiritual imaginations to work and picture how hard it is for God to bring this
punishment to his people. Imagine the broken heartedness this causes, the deep grief
that God feels. This isn’t what he wants to do. When God says, “I will make it like the
mourning for an only son and the end of a bitter day,” I believe he means for both Israel
and for himself. When we have had to punish our own children, don’t we feel awful for
it? Doesn’t our heart break? Don’t we live that day as a bitter day right along with them?
Wouldn’t God, as the loving father that he is, feel the same?
And as if that weren’t enough, God continues by warning that, “‘The time is surely
coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They
shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking
the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.’”
Today’s passage began with the picture of abundance – a basket of summer fruit,
bounty from the rich, fertile land that Israel was at that time. But it ends with famine –
not a famine of food and or water, but a famine of something even more important and
vital for life – the absence of the word of God. God has been speaking to his people
through his prophets since the time of Moses, but now, in their willful sinfulness, God
will be silent to his people.
8
With no food or water, a body will perish, but without God, the soul will perish. Which is
the more detrimental to us, which is more devastating?
We know that Amos’ prophesy came to be. The Assyrians conquered the Northern
kingdom of Israel, many died, many others taken captive. Those who were left wore
sackcloth and shaved their heads as a sign of mourning. Where there had once been
singing in the temple there was now only wailing and lamenting, and the feasts that had
been seen as an obstacle for business were now neither a time of rest and worship, nor
a time of enduring to get back to business as usual – they were simply another occasion
to remember and mourn for what was.
Israel had committed many sins in their time, but what was it that God had found in
them here to cause this much punishment? God’s own words, through Amos, tell that it
was their sin of oppressing of the poor and the needy by using means of economic
exploitation. They put profits ahead of people by cheating, by committing fraud, and by
enslaving those who were poor to the point that it will make the very land tremble. It was
God’s love and compassion for such as these whom Israel did not, and would not, see
as people of value, that caused Israel’s destruction.
As we go about our daily lives, as we try to keep up with all the demands on our time,
we simply cannot allow ourselves to succumb to the temptation to keep our heads down
and our eyes closed to the world around us. God is still calling us to look up and around
9
and see the poor, the needy, the vulnerable, to see them as people worthy of love and
valued by God. And once we see them, then we are called to minister to them in
whatever way we have means to do so.
Friends, I confess that there are days when I feel like we are headed toward that same
fate as the Israelites. It feels like we are fast becoming a society where we are in danger
of God once again becoming silent. Who will stand in the gap for us? Who will reach out
and show the love of God to those who are in need? It is up to us, to all of us,
individually and collectively to say “I will do it.”
In the introduction to this series, I warned you that there would be some words that
would be hard to hear, and I know this week is one of those times. I also said that I was
praying that we would be able to hear the hope and the love that could be found, even
in those hard words, and I believe this week we surely can find both. Even though I
have only been here a couple of weeks, I already see how this church finds ways to
stand in the gap for those who are in need, I have witnessed how seriously God’s
directive to care for his people is taken, I have seen the outpouring of love and feel the
hope that fills this church body.
I have seen people reaching out, inviting me to go with them to visit the shut-ins, I have
seen back-packs being filled with food for families who live without enough to eat, I have
heard how people have worked to build a house for a family who needed a safe place to
10
live, how children are being taught the word of God through Bridge Builders, how many
different groups are invited to use this building to meet, how bicycles were provided to a
refugee family, how prayers were offered, and how love was shared.
We are certainly not without our own struggles, but friends, when we choose to put
aside our own tendencies to hide from the world, when we find ways to affect the lives
of others for their benefit and for God’s glory, then I know he sees and is pleased. May
we never stop trying to bear one another’s burdens, may we never stop living as gap-
fillers for God, may we never have to live in a time when God is silent. AMEN.
PRAYER: Great Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to stand in the gap for
you to the ones who need our help. May we seek to spread your love through the
ministries you call us to provide. Help us to keep our heads up and our eyes and hearts
open that we might see where we can be of assistance to all because all are worthy of
love and valued by you. May we bear one another’s burden’s and increase your
kingdom here on earth as we await the return of your precious son, Jesus Christ.
AMEN.
11
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
Call to Worship:
L: As God asked Amos, now he asks us,
P: “What do we see?”
L: We see distractions, divisions, dissension,
P: We see the fruit we produce by the way we live.
L: Then let us worship our God, and be a witness of the gospel,
P: Let us produce good fruit that will benefit others
ALL: And honor God. AMEN.
Hymn: 61 Come, Thou Almighty King
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE:
OBJECT: 2 bags of quarters – 1 with $3 in all quarters, 1 with a few nickels replacing
some of the quarters.
Lesson – It isn’t right to cheat – God is watching all that we do and we should not take
advantage of others even if we think we can get away with it.
7/10/2022 Pastor Donna's Sermon "What Do you see?"
July 10, 2022
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: What Do You See?
Scripture: Amos 7:7-17
This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a
plumb line in his hand. 8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A
plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“See, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer;
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has
conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his
words. 11 For thus Amos has said,
‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there,
and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a
temple of the kingdom.”
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and
a dresser of sycamore trees, 15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said
to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 “Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore thus says the LORD:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”
2
Last week, the prophet Elisha taught us to listen to God, even when we didn’t understand the
reason behind his instructions. This week we are going to stop by for a visit with Amos, who
says, not just listen, but look around and see what God wants us to know.
We hear this same plea today in various forms. We are becoming a society of people who never
look up, out, or around. We are too busy peering down at what we are holding in our hands: our
phones or our tablets. The world that we hold in our hands is vast and captivating, but at the
same time, it is also narrow and confining. When we only look down, our vision is confined to
what we see on the screen, and we can’t see the broader picture of the world around us that is
teeming with life. We can’t see the needs of the world or hear the cries of distress, so we can’t
see that there is a place where we are called to minister to the least, the lost, and the lonely. We
don’t notice when we are veering off the straight and narrow way that God has prepared for us.
Now, I’m not saying that technology is a bad thing. There are many good things that come from
having and using our phones and tablets. We can communicate with others instantly even when
they are across town, around the world, or just upstairs. We can look up useful information (or
trivial information) in a quick second, we can learn new languages or new skills, we can shop or
take a class, or read a book. Our devices are not, in themselves, either bad or good, but it is up to
us to use them in a good way, in a balanced way.
That is why I like Amos’s lesson of the plumb line. I’m not sure how often a plumb line is used
today. Most people I know use a level instead, but before levels were invented, with their
3
bubbles that could determine whether something was level or straight, a plumb line was the tool
of choice. Why is it important to make sure what we are building is straight? Think of a wall, or
the side of a building. If it were to be built out of plumb, meaning not straight, it wouldn’t be a
safe structure.
When a building leans too far in one direction, it is in danger of toppling over. It is no good for
what it is intended and needs to be torn down. That was the message God gave Amos to pass on
to the people of Israel. They had gotten to leaning too far in one direction, and they were no
longer good for what they were intended. They were no longer following God because they were
out of plumb.
Today’s passage takes place at Bethel. Bethel plays a prominent role in the lives of many of the
Old Testament people. Abraham built an altar there as he was passing through to Egypt and
revisited it again later. Jacob, on the run from his brother, encounters God at Bethel. This is
where Jacob dreamed of the ladder set up on earth that reached to heaven where angels were
going up and coming down, where God introduced himself to Jacob and renewed his promise to
give the land to his people while making a promise to be with him always. Genesis 28:18-19 tells
us, “So, Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and
set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the place Bethel.” This was a place
that was revered by the Israelites for many years.
4
But then, Jeroboam I changed all that. He chose not to follow God and God’s ways. He had two
golden calves made and he set up a place of worship in the north and in the south – and the
southern place was in Bethel. This Jeroboam also began to appoint his own priests and instituted
a new festival for the people to celebrate the gods “who brought you up out of the land of
Egypt.” Israel is beginning to lean; they are no longer plumb straight, as God showed Amos in
his vision.
Now, this Jeroboam, the second king with that name, has followed the first Jeroboam’s ways. He
has continued promoting worship in the high places, he has turned the people away from God,
and he has appointed his own priests, including Amaziah, who hears Amos’ prophesy from God:
“See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will spare them no longer; the
high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I
will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amaziah doesn’t like what Amos has to say so he goes to the king and makes an indictment
against Amos based on rumors, misrepresentations, and outright lies. Then Amaziah goes back to
Amos and tells him to get out of town and never come back. “We don’t need a seer in this
place,” he says, “This is the king’s sanctuary and a temple of the kingdom. Take your words
elsewhere or else.”
Amos is quick to deny being a prophet; he is just a simple herdsman and a dresser of sycamore
trees and quite happy at that. But you see, when God gives you a vision and tells you to share it,
5
then that is what you do. Amos IS a prophet, but he wants to make sure Amaziah knows he isn’t
the kind of prophet Amaziah is used to – Amos won’t make up pretty lies to make the king and
the people feel good – he will only speak the truth – God’s truth, no matter what. Amos will
choose to stand straight for God – plumb straight.
Amaziah, the out-of-plumb false priest would pay the price for his accusations about. and to,
Amos. He didn’t get God’s message to look up and see what was around him. He failed to notice
that God, not those idols he worshiped, was in control. And God showed Amaziah what a hard
heart and harsh words against one of God’s chosen prophets would get him, and what
disobedience to God would cost.
God gave Amos another prophesy, this time it wasn’t only for the people of Israel, but also for a
person of Israel – for Amaziah himself. “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
Therefore, thus says the Lord:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the
sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and
Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”
Amaziah didn’t want to see the truth in Amos’ prophesy. He didn’t want to believe that God
would have any say in what happened to Israel and its people. But just because we don’t want to
6
see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Amos’ prophesy did
come to pass. Amaziah and his family were wiped out, and Israel was led off into a seventy-year
period of captivity. They had become too out of plumb to be corrected in any other way.
As a builder works at building a wall or a house, he doesn’t simply make sure the first row or
side is plumb and then forget about the rest. He must continually check to see that each part of
the building is level, square, plumb.
Friends, in our lives, we need to continually do the same. We must, over and over again, hold
ourselves against God’s plumb line and ask ourselves, “What do we see?’ and then we need to
also ask God, “What do you see?”
If our answer doesn’t match up with God’s, then we might just be getting out of plumb, and as a
good builder will know, getting straightened out now is so much easier than waiting until later,
or by waiting too long, we may find that we must be torn down to be corrected at all. No one
wants that. So, what do you see? Are you straight with God? Are you plumb straight? I pray so.
AMEN.
PRAYER: God of grace and mercy, help us to see ourselves clearly enough that when we start to
become out of plumb in your eyes, as measured by your standards, that we will seek your will
and recommit ourselves to you in order to get back where we need to be. Lord, thank you for
7
your patience with us when we start to lean, prevent us from going too far, and keep us coming
back for a remeasure when needed. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: What Do You See?
Scripture: Amos 7:7-17
This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a
plumb line in his hand. 8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A
plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“See, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer;
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has
conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his
words. 11 For thus Amos has said,
‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there,
and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a
temple of the kingdom.”
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and
a dresser of sycamore trees, 15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said
to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 “Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore thus says the LORD:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”
2
Last week, the prophet Elisha taught us to listen to God, even when we didn’t understand the
reason behind his instructions. This week we are going to stop by for a visit with Amos, who
says, not just listen, but look around and see what God wants us to know.
We hear this same plea today in various forms. We are becoming a society of people who never
look up, out, or around. We are too busy peering down at what we are holding in our hands: our
phones or our tablets. The world that we hold in our hands is vast and captivating, but at the
same time, it is also narrow and confining. When we only look down, our vision is confined to
what we see on the screen, and we can’t see the broader picture of the world around us that is
teeming with life. We can’t see the needs of the world or hear the cries of distress, so we can’t
see that there is a place where we are called to minister to the least, the lost, and the lonely. We
don’t notice when we are veering off the straight and narrow way that God has prepared for us.
Now, I’m not saying that technology is a bad thing. There are many good things that come from
having and using our phones and tablets. We can communicate with others instantly even when
they are across town, around the world, or just upstairs. We can look up useful information (or
trivial information) in a quick second, we can learn new languages or new skills, we can shop or
take a class, or read a book. Our devices are not, in themselves, either bad or good, but it is up to
us to use them in a good way, in a balanced way.
That is why I like Amos’s lesson of the plumb line. I’m not sure how often a plumb line is used
today. Most people I know use a level instead, but before levels were invented, with their
3
bubbles that could determine whether something was level or straight, a plumb line was the tool
of choice. Why is it important to make sure what we are building is straight? Think of a wall, or
the side of a building. If it were to be built out of plumb, meaning not straight, it wouldn’t be a
safe structure.
When a building leans too far in one direction, it is in danger of toppling over. It is no good for
what it is intended and needs to be torn down. That was the message God gave Amos to pass on
to the people of Israel. They had gotten to leaning too far in one direction, and they were no
longer good for what they were intended. They were no longer following God because they were
out of plumb.
Today’s passage takes place at Bethel. Bethel plays a prominent role in the lives of many of the
Old Testament people. Abraham built an altar there as he was passing through to Egypt and
revisited it again later. Jacob, on the run from his brother, encounters God at Bethel. This is
where Jacob dreamed of the ladder set up on earth that reached to heaven where angels were
going up and coming down, where God introduced himself to Jacob and renewed his promise to
give the land to his people while making a promise to be with him always. Genesis 28:18-19 tells
us, “So, Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and
set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the place Bethel.” This was a place
that was revered by the Israelites for many years.
4
But then, Jeroboam I changed all that. He chose not to follow God and God’s ways. He had two
golden calves made and he set up a place of worship in the north and in the south – and the
southern place was in Bethel. This Jeroboam also began to appoint his own priests and instituted
a new festival for the people to celebrate the gods “who brought you up out of the land of
Egypt.” Israel is beginning to lean; they are no longer plumb straight, as God showed Amos in
his vision.
Now, this Jeroboam, the second king with that name, has followed the first Jeroboam’s ways. He
has continued promoting worship in the high places, he has turned the people away from God,
and he has appointed his own priests, including Amaziah, who hears Amos’ prophesy from God:
“See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will spare them no longer; the
high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I
will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amaziah doesn’t like what Amos has to say so he goes to the king and makes an indictment
against Amos based on rumors, misrepresentations, and outright lies. Then Amaziah goes back to
Amos and tells him to get out of town and never come back. “We don’t need a seer in this
place,” he says, “This is the king’s sanctuary and a temple of the kingdom. Take your words
elsewhere or else.”
Amos is quick to deny being a prophet; he is just a simple herdsman and a dresser of sycamore
trees and quite happy at that. But you see, when God gives you a vision and tells you to share it,
5
then that is what you do. Amos IS a prophet, but he wants to make sure Amaziah knows he isn’t
the kind of prophet Amaziah is used to – Amos won’t make up pretty lies to make the king and
the people feel good – he will only speak the truth – God’s truth, no matter what. Amos will
choose to stand straight for God – plumb straight.
Amaziah, the out-of-plumb false priest would pay the price for his accusations about. and to,
Amos. He didn’t get God’s message to look up and see what was around him. He failed to notice
that God, not those idols he worshiped, was in control. And God showed Amaziah what a hard
heart and harsh words against one of God’s chosen prophets would get him, and what
disobedience to God would cost.
God gave Amos another prophesy, this time it wasn’t only for the people of Israel, but also for a
person of Israel – for Amaziah himself. “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
Therefore, thus says the Lord:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the
sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and
Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”
Amaziah didn’t want to see the truth in Amos’ prophesy. He didn’t want to believe that God
would have any say in what happened to Israel and its people. But just because we don’t want to
6
see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Amos’ prophesy did
come to pass. Amaziah and his family were wiped out, and Israel was led off into a seventy-year
period of captivity. They had become too out of plumb to be corrected in any other way.
As a builder works at building a wall or a house, he doesn’t simply make sure the first row or
side is plumb and then forget about the rest. He must continually check to see that each part of
the building is level, square, plumb.
Friends, in our lives, we need to continually do the same. We must, over and over again, hold
ourselves against God’s plumb line and ask ourselves, “What do we see?’ and then we need to
also ask God, “What do you see?”
If our answer doesn’t match up with God’s, then we might just be getting out of plumb, and as a
good builder will know, getting straightened out now is so much easier than waiting until later,
or by waiting too long, we may find that we must be torn down to be corrected at all. No one
wants that. So, what do you see? Are you straight with God? Are you plumb straight? I pray so.
AMEN.
PRAYER: God of grace and mercy, help us to see ourselves clearly enough that when we start to
become out of plumb in your eyes, as measured by your standards, that we will seek your will
and recommit ourselves to you in order to get back where we need to be. Lord, thank you for
7
your patience with us when we start to lean, prevent us from going too far, and keep us coming
back for a remeasure when needed. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-
7/3/2022 Pastor Donna's Sermon "wash and be Clean"!
July 3, 2022
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Wash and Be Clean
Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high
favor with his master because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man,
though a mighty warrior, suffered from a skin disease. 2 Now the Arameans on one of
their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served
Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is
in Samaria! He would cure him of his skin disease.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his
lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, “Go,
then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets
of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter
reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him
of his skin disease.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and
said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of
his skin disease? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he
sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that
he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and
chariots and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him,
saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you
shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for
me he would surely come out and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and
would wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease! 12 Are not Abana and
Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash
in them and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants
approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do
something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to
you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times
in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the
flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
2
The idea of summer conjures up thoughts of long, lazy sun-filled days. Front porch
sitting, iced tea or lemonade sipping, visiting with neighbors, kids playing outside until
dark, backyard BBQ kind of days. Maybe even family vacation days. Summer is a great
time to plan a trip, a journey to a new destination – or a revisit of a familiar place where
we might notice something new.
This summer series is a journey of sorts. We are going to visit a few books from the Old
Testament and spend time with some of God’s people – some of the prophets of old.
We will listen to the words of Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea. Words that
might seem harsh to the people to whom they were spoken, but we will see how there
was love behind the warnings, the disciplines, the corrections. My prayer throughout this
series is that we all find the hope that can be gleaned from the lives of the prophets, that
we will learn from the lessons they gave the people, that we will see God at work then,
and now, and draw closer to him as disciples on our own faith journey.
Today, we begin the first leg of our journey with Elisha and the story of Naaman.
Naaman was a captain in the army under the king of Aram. He was a mighty warrior
who had helped his country win many battles, but Naaman suffered from a skin disease
of which there was no cure. As luck would have it – or as God had planned it –
Naaman’s wife had a servant girl who had been captured on a raid of Israel. When the
3
servant girl learned of Naaman’s problems, she approached her mistress and told her of
the prophet who lived in Israel who would be able to cure this skin disease.
Of course, the wife told her husband, and Naaman went right to the king and relayed
what had been said. As he had hoped, the king gave Naaman permission to go to Israel
to seek this cure and he even wrote a letter of recommendation to the king of Israel on
Naaman’s behalf.
Naaman made his preparations to leave, taking with him gifts for the king including ten
talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing, the letter from
the king, and his faithful servants. Full of hope, Naaman went to see the king of Israel,
handed him the letter, and waited for instructions. Imagine his surprise when the king,
upon reading the letter, suddenly tore his clothes in a panic and accused the king of
Aram of using Naaman to trick him and pick a fight. Poor Naaman, all he wanted was to
find a cure for his leprosy, but now what?
The prophet Elisha heard what was happening at the king’s palace and sent word to the
king, “Don’t panic, don’t worry. Send him to me and he will learn there is a prophet in
Israel.” So, Naaman and his contingent went to Elisha’s. They stopped at the gate, and
Naaman was told by a messenger to go wash himself in the Jordan River seven times
and he would become clean and healed. That seems easy enough, doesn’t it? Maybe
too easy? Naaman thought so. He became angry. He was ticked that Elisha himself
4
didn’t bother coming to the door but sent a messenger, and then he was even more
ticked that he was told to just go jump in a river – seven times! Surely there should be
more to this healing than that!
Sometimes what seems too easy makes us uneasy. Betty Crocker can attest to that. In
the 1950s, General Mills created a new cake mix and launched it under the Betty
Crocker line. This boxed mix had everything needed to make a cake except water. It
was a great concept – just add water, mix, bake, eat, and enjoy. Sales should have
been through the roof. They weren’t.
Puzzled, the execs conducted some market research to see why the product wasn’t
selling. What they discovered surprised them – people were concerned that the product
was too easy to use. It was so simple and yet so good that the women felt guilty for
serving it to their family and their guests. They didn’t want to give the false impression
that they had worked so hard to make the cake that they simply refused to buy the cake
mix. So, General Mills reworked the cake mix so that the cakes would need to have
water and an egg added to the mix.
It worked. the extra step made people feel better about having to “work” at making the
cake – the guilt was gone – and sales skyrocketed.
5
Naaman would have been one of the people who would have preferred the extra step
necessary to make the cake. Bathing in the Jordan river seven times just wasn’t
enough. Why the Jordan? Why not any random river in his own country? How was this
supposed to work anyway? Leprosy was a serious disease – there was no cure for it,
and it led to a painful end. Water? The Jordan? Seven times? That was it? Seriously?
Absolutely not! Naaman, in his anger, must have thought this was a joke and he was
having no part of it. He was heading home, angry, frustrated, confused, and still a leper.
But God intervened through Naaman’s servants. “What could it hurt?” they asked. They
pointed out that if Naaman had been given a difficult task he would have set to
accomplish it right away. He expected difficulty, he expected a challenge, but why not
try the directions as given, why not give the simple plan a chance?
Naaman finally listened and went to the Jordan and immersed himself in the water.
Seven times he dipped himself below the surface and after the last time, his skin was
restored; he was healed! What a miracle! I can only imagine the celebration that ensued
when they all noticed that Naaman no longer showed signs of leprosy, but now had the
smooth skin of a young boy.
I love the story of Naaman, but I can’t help but think about how his expectations almost
caused him to live with leprosy and all its issues instead of choosing to be healed and
6
whole once again. There are so many people in the world who are more like Naaman
than they realize.
Friends, God offers us the most perfect wholeness through Jesus Christ. All we have to
do is accept the gift by believing in him. That’s it. Only, we don’t understand how such a
magnificent gift can be given so easily. We think there must be more to it than that. We
are willing to work for this gift, jump through all the right hoops to win the gift, do
whatever it takes to get this gift, add the egg to the cake mix to receive this gift, but
really, all we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is really that
simple.
Naaman was healed and he knew that healing had come through God. He vowed after
that to worship the One, True God, to offer sacrifices to only him, and to remember what
he had done for him.
We humans like to complicate things because we think that makes the end result more
valuable somehow. God wants to make coming to him as easy as possible so that
everyone has the same opportunity to do so. The apostle Paul reminds us of that in his
second letter to the Ephesian church, “For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no
one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
7
Elisha told Naaman to go to the Jordan and wash himself seven times and he would be
clean. The blood of Jesus was shed for us that we might be washed and made clean by
his death on the cross. It was there that he took on all our sins so that we would not
have to be punished for them. Then the gift was extended, in his resurrection, to include
eternal life for all who accepted the offer to wash and be clean. Sometimes it really is
the simple answer that is the best answer after all. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, forgive us when we try to make difficult what you made easy.
Help us to remember that your offer of salvation through your son, Jesus Christ, is a
free gift, available for the asking, and help us to accept it with grateful hearts that
welcome you into our lives. May we share the good news of your gift in this world so
that others might also come to accept the gift that we have been given. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-box/201401/creativity-lesson-
betty-crocker
8
Call to Worship:
L: God’s healing love is available to all,
P: To Jew and Gentile, man and woman, rich and poor.
L: God’s loving mercy is poured out on us,
P: Let us accept this gift with open hearts.
L: We will rejoice in this gracious gift that is given,
P: Given freely, given abundantly to all who accept.
ALL: Hallelujah! AMEN.
Prelude:
Hymn:
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE:
Let’s play a game. Anyone ever heard of the game Simon Says? Ok, we are going to
play that, but we are going to change it to Elisha Says because Elisha is the prophet we
are going to hear from today. I will tell you all something to do, and if I say, “Elisha
Says,” then you do it, but if I don’t say “Elisha Says,” then you don’t. Ready?
Elisha says, touch your eyebrow.
Elisha says touch your toes.
Jump one time.
Elisha says give yourself a high five.
Spin in a circle.
Elisha says put your hand on your head, jump on one foot, and stick out your tongue.
Some of those instructions were pretty silly, weren’t they? Well, this summer we are
going to be reading about some of the prophets. Do any of you know what a prophet is?
(A person who hears a message from God and shares that message with others)
Sometimes the message God gives through the prophets seems a little strange and we
wonder what in the world is God thinking! But the important thing we remember is that
God is so much smarter than we are, and he does things differently from how we might
do them. And guess what? His plan is always better than ours.
Today we are going to learn about a guy named Naaman who had a skin disease that
no doctor could cure. So Naaman went to see Elisha the Prophet, and Elisha told him to
go wash in the Jordan River seven times.
9
That seems silly, doesn’t it? If no doctor could cure him, how would jumping in a river
help? But God was at work and so, even tho it sounded silly, Naaman did what Elisha
said, and he was healed!
Imagine if Naaman had said, “this is too silly” and didn’t do what Elisha told him to do.
He would never have been healed. God told Elisha what to tell Naaman, and Naaman
did what he was told even though is sounded like a crazy plan. But God’s plan was to
cure Naaman all along – it’s a good thing Naaman could play a good game of Elisha
Says!
Rootstown
Series: Prophet Margins
Message: Wash and Be Clean
Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high
favor with his master because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man,
though a mighty warrior, suffered from a skin disease. 2 Now the Arameans on one of
their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served
Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is
in Samaria! He would cure him of his skin disease.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his
lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, “Go,
then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets
of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter
reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him
of his skin disease.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and
said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of
his skin disease? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he
sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that
he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and
chariots and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him,
saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you
shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for
me he would surely come out and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and
would wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease! 12 Are not Abana and
Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash
in them and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants
approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do
something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to
you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times
in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the
flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
2
The idea of summer conjures up thoughts of long, lazy sun-filled days. Front porch
sitting, iced tea or lemonade sipping, visiting with neighbors, kids playing outside until
dark, backyard BBQ kind of days. Maybe even family vacation days. Summer is a great
time to plan a trip, a journey to a new destination – or a revisit of a familiar place where
we might notice something new.
This summer series is a journey of sorts. We are going to visit a few books from the Old
Testament and spend time with some of God’s people – some of the prophets of old.
We will listen to the words of Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea. Words that
might seem harsh to the people to whom they were spoken, but we will see how there
was love behind the warnings, the disciplines, the corrections. My prayer throughout this
series is that we all find the hope that can be gleaned from the lives of the prophets, that
we will learn from the lessons they gave the people, that we will see God at work then,
and now, and draw closer to him as disciples on our own faith journey.
Today, we begin the first leg of our journey with Elisha and the story of Naaman.
Naaman was a captain in the army under the king of Aram. He was a mighty warrior
who had helped his country win many battles, but Naaman suffered from a skin disease
of which there was no cure. As luck would have it – or as God had planned it –
Naaman’s wife had a servant girl who had been captured on a raid of Israel. When the
3
servant girl learned of Naaman’s problems, she approached her mistress and told her of
the prophet who lived in Israel who would be able to cure this skin disease.
Of course, the wife told her husband, and Naaman went right to the king and relayed
what had been said. As he had hoped, the king gave Naaman permission to go to Israel
to seek this cure and he even wrote a letter of recommendation to the king of Israel on
Naaman’s behalf.
Naaman made his preparations to leave, taking with him gifts for the king including ten
talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing, the letter from
the king, and his faithful servants. Full of hope, Naaman went to see the king of Israel,
handed him the letter, and waited for instructions. Imagine his surprise when the king,
upon reading the letter, suddenly tore his clothes in a panic and accused the king of
Aram of using Naaman to trick him and pick a fight. Poor Naaman, all he wanted was to
find a cure for his leprosy, but now what?
The prophet Elisha heard what was happening at the king’s palace and sent word to the
king, “Don’t panic, don’t worry. Send him to me and he will learn there is a prophet in
Israel.” So, Naaman and his contingent went to Elisha’s. They stopped at the gate, and
Naaman was told by a messenger to go wash himself in the Jordan River seven times
and he would become clean and healed. That seems easy enough, doesn’t it? Maybe
too easy? Naaman thought so. He became angry. He was ticked that Elisha himself
4
didn’t bother coming to the door but sent a messenger, and then he was even more
ticked that he was told to just go jump in a river – seven times! Surely there should be
more to this healing than that!
Sometimes what seems too easy makes us uneasy. Betty Crocker can attest to that. In
the 1950s, General Mills created a new cake mix and launched it under the Betty
Crocker line. This boxed mix had everything needed to make a cake except water. It
was a great concept – just add water, mix, bake, eat, and enjoy. Sales should have
been through the roof. They weren’t.
Puzzled, the execs conducted some market research to see why the product wasn’t
selling. What they discovered surprised them – people were concerned that the product
was too easy to use. It was so simple and yet so good that the women felt guilty for
serving it to their family and their guests. They didn’t want to give the false impression
that they had worked so hard to make the cake that they simply refused to buy the cake
mix. So, General Mills reworked the cake mix so that the cakes would need to have
water and an egg added to the mix.
It worked. the extra step made people feel better about having to “work” at making the
cake – the guilt was gone – and sales skyrocketed.
5
Naaman would have been one of the people who would have preferred the extra step
necessary to make the cake. Bathing in the Jordan river seven times just wasn’t
enough. Why the Jordan? Why not any random river in his own country? How was this
supposed to work anyway? Leprosy was a serious disease – there was no cure for it,
and it led to a painful end. Water? The Jordan? Seven times? That was it? Seriously?
Absolutely not! Naaman, in his anger, must have thought this was a joke and he was
having no part of it. He was heading home, angry, frustrated, confused, and still a leper.
But God intervened through Naaman’s servants. “What could it hurt?” they asked. They
pointed out that if Naaman had been given a difficult task he would have set to
accomplish it right away. He expected difficulty, he expected a challenge, but why not
try the directions as given, why not give the simple plan a chance?
Naaman finally listened and went to the Jordan and immersed himself in the water.
Seven times he dipped himself below the surface and after the last time, his skin was
restored; he was healed! What a miracle! I can only imagine the celebration that ensued
when they all noticed that Naaman no longer showed signs of leprosy, but now had the
smooth skin of a young boy.
I love the story of Naaman, but I can’t help but think about how his expectations almost
caused him to live with leprosy and all its issues instead of choosing to be healed and
6
whole once again. There are so many people in the world who are more like Naaman
than they realize.
Friends, God offers us the most perfect wholeness through Jesus Christ. All we have to
do is accept the gift by believing in him. That’s it. Only, we don’t understand how such a
magnificent gift can be given so easily. We think there must be more to it than that. We
are willing to work for this gift, jump through all the right hoops to win the gift, do
whatever it takes to get this gift, add the egg to the cake mix to receive this gift, but
really, all we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is really that
simple.
Naaman was healed and he knew that healing had come through God. He vowed after
that to worship the One, True God, to offer sacrifices to only him, and to remember what
he had done for him.
We humans like to complicate things because we think that makes the end result more
valuable somehow. God wants to make coming to him as easy as possible so that
everyone has the same opportunity to do so. The apostle Paul reminds us of that in his
second letter to the Ephesian church, “For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no
one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
7
Elisha told Naaman to go to the Jordan and wash himself seven times and he would be
clean. The blood of Jesus was shed for us that we might be washed and made clean by
his death on the cross. It was there that he took on all our sins so that we would not
have to be punished for them. Then the gift was extended, in his resurrection, to include
eternal life for all who accepted the offer to wash and be clean. Sometimes it really is
the simple answer that is the best answer after all. AMEN.
PRAYER: Father God, forgive us when we try to make difficult what you made easy.
Help us to remember that your offer of salvation through your son, Jesus Christ, is a
free gift, available for the asking, and help us to accept it with grateful hearts that
welcome you into our lives. May we share the good news of your gift in this world so
that others might also come to accept the gift that we have been given. AMEN.
References
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/prophet-margins
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-box/201401/creativity-lesson-
betty-crocker
8
Call to Worship:
L: God’s healing love is available to all,
P: To Jew and Gentile, man and woman, rich and poor.
L: God’s loving mercy is poured out on us,
P: Let us accept this gift with open hearts.
L: We will rejoice in this gracious gift that is given,
P: Given freely, given abundantly to all who accept.
ALL: Hallelujah! AMEN.
Prelude:
Hymn:
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE:
Let’s play a game. Anyone ever heard of the game Simon Says? Ok, we are going to
play that, but we are going to change it to Elisha Says because Elisha is the prophet we
are going to hear from today. I will tell you all something to do, and if I say, “Elisha
Says,” then you do it, but if I don’t say “Elisha Says,” then you don’t. Ready?
Elisha says, touch your eyebrow.
Elisha says touch your toes.
Jump one time.
Elisha says give yourself a high five.
Spin in a circle.
Elisha says put your hand on your head, jump on one foot, and stick out your tongue.
Some of those instructions were pretty silly, weren’t they? Well, this summer we are
going to be reading about some of the prophets. Do any of you know what a prophet is?
(A person who hears a message from God and shares that message with others)
Sometimes the message God gives through the prophets seems a little strange and we
wonder what in the world is God thinking! But the important thing we remember is that
God is so much smarter than we are, and he does things differently from how we might
do them. And guess what? His plan is always better than ours.
Today we are going to learn about a guy named Naaman who had a skin disease that
no doctor could cure. So Naaman went to see Elisha the Prophet, and Elisha told him to
go wash in the Jordan River seven times.
9
That seems silly, doesn’t it? If no doctor could cure him, how would jumping in a river
help? But God was at work and so, even tho it sounded silly, Naaman did what Elisha
said, and he was healed!
Imagine if Naaman had said, “this is too silly” and didn’t do what Elisha told him to do.
He would never have been healed. God told Elisha what to tell Naaman, and Naaman
did what he was told even though is sounded like a crazy plan. But God’s plan was to
cure Naaman all along – it’s a good thing Naaman could play a good game of Elisha
Says!