Matthew 13:31-33
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
Matthew 13:44-52
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
The Parable of the Net
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
New and Old Treasures
51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
I once knew a man named Randy who was a partner in a management training company. He lived a upper middle class lifestyle with his wife and their two sons.
Randy had had some exposure to the Bible and Christianity in his teens while he was in a rock band. He once shared with me that he took a girl back stage to their bus one night, as he did most nights, and experienced something quite to the contrary of what he expected. Randy envisioned an evening of once again indulging his flesh but soon discovered that this girl was a Christian and wasn’t buying into any of his false promises and empty rhetoric. To appease her and to try to win her confidence he agreed to read the Bible with her. Randy couldn’t remember exactly what he read that night but when he heard the description of a sinner and the promise of a life free from sin he started to cry. He cried for the next six hours straight. That night he quit his rock band and returned to college.
When I met Randy that first encounter with the Word of God seemed to be lost in him. Sure he attended church with his wife and kids but there was no fire or passion in his profession of faith. Honestly I took him as one who had never actually died to himself since he seemed very proud of his income and his personal success and was unafraid to share how proud he was with anyone that would listen.
At the nagging of his wife Randy took a Christ based course, through their church, exploring false childhood paradigms. This course ripped open every wound that he had sought to cover up with his facade of personal success. Randy was again reminded of his sinfulness and failure to be what God had called him to be.
One night tearfully and painfully confessing to his wife all of his questionable business dealings and his flirtations with other women, his wife asked him, “What is it then that you think that God wants you to be?” He looked her in the eye and said, “I want to be a pastor.” Randy said that he felt like he had undone one button and a whole suite of heavy armor had fallen from him. He was completely unburdened and completely vulnerable.
Randy acted upon that experience solely relying upon faith. The partners at his firm though he was insane but they agreed to buy out his portion of the business over a two year period. This gave Randy and his family a monthly income for the next two years as he pursued his MA in Christian studies.
Every time it seemed like he or his family were in need of something it appeared to them through the caring and sacrifice of God’s saints. For instance they were running low on groceries and a friend of his showed up to his house with half of a deer to give them. He needed car repairs and someone from their congregation would slip him an envelope with just enough money to cover his expenses.
Today Randy has a very successful house church with several dedicated attendees. Both he and his congregants work to serve people in their neighborhood and city. They do simple things like mow their elderly neighbor’s lawn and more advanced things like supply free marriage counseling. They even find time to minister to the homeless.
Today we heard Jesus describe the Kingdom of Heaven as being like a mustard seed. The smallest of seeds planted and then grows into the largest plant in the garden. Once the tree is mature all different kinds of birds make their nests in it. I believe that just such a seed of faith was planted in Randy in his teenage years and when it reached fruition it drew to itself people of all walks of life. For instance one day Randy and I were walking through the flooded riverside homeless camps helping homeless folks rescue whatever they could of their possessions before it washed away. The very next day Randy and I had lunch in a private restaurant on the top of a building with corporate executives discussing how they could use Biblical principles in their management training classes. Randy truly attracted all kinds of birds indeed. As we heard in our reading today the leaven of faith slowly worked through the whole batch of dough.
We also heard Jesus talk about the Kingdom of Heaven as being a pearl or land with treasure buried on it. Randy is like both the pearl merchant and the land owner. He gave up all his worldly success and business possessions for the privilege of serving his Lord Jesus Christ through service to his neighbors. He surrendered all the things that gave him identity in this world so that he could be free to follow his God ordained calling.
Randy is also like the fisherman in our reading today who threw the net into the sea catching fish of every kind. We already discussed that through his constant witness my friend attracts all different kinds of people. But unlike the coming judgment Randy is not sorting fish rather he is being a witness to the fish that he catches. He is seeking to share the Word of God with the fish he catches so that the fish that are the right kind of fish will come to know their identity in Christ and go out into the sea and serve their fellow fish.
And finally, Randy is a scribe for Christ who like a house master that brings out all his treasures both what is old and new. In other words through his service and preaching Randy plants new seeds in the people that he comes into contact with as well as harvesting aged seeds that are now ripe and ready to be of service and fulfill their calling.
So today you heard of the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven and the coming of judgment. My friends if the seed of faith is planted in you and is growing than you should have no fear of the coming judgment because if that seed is in you then you are the right kind of fish. The fact that you are here now listening to my voice preach the Word of God is proof that that seed is within you therefore you are all the right kind of fish. I encourage you to go now and care for that seed of faith that has been planted in you and is growing into maturity. Come to church on Sundays, attend Bible studies, establish a daily time for prayer, and look for ways to serve your neighbor. Through these activities you will nourish your seed of a faith and come to know the freedom that my friend Bob found. The freedom of a Christian is to be what God created you to be and not what others expect you to be. Go and serve God in ways that make you happy and in ways you feel called by God to serve. I give you the permission to be free Christians, free to love, serve and forgive others. Not to earn the privilege of being the right kind of fish but because you are already the right kind of fish.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Romans 8:12-17
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
In our reading today St. Paul seems to have both good news and bad. The good news is that you are claimed as heirs with Christ because you are lead by the Spirit. You no longer belong to the flesh because the deeds of the flesh have been put to death. The context in the Greek tells us that the putting to death of the flesh is a continuing action. The death of the flesh is not just a onetime affair rather it is a daily dying. That is, of course, the bad news; the thought of daily dying to the desires of the flesh, the very desires that seem the most natural to you, and putting your faith in the leading of the Holy Spirit sounds like a tough act to perform. And it is. But St. Paul assures you that you are not to fear because the leading of the Spirit bears witness to the truth about your identity and the truth is that you are “children of God.”
You are children of God through faith; the gift of faith was bestowed upon you at your baptism. The very act of baptism is the claiming of a child for Christ. The imagery in baptism is much like the imagery Paul uses in Romans; the putting to death of the flesh and the rising to life as a new creation, claimed as a child of God thus the leading of the Spirit.
But there is even worse news then the death of your flesh in Paul’s message today; that news is the message that as Christ suffered you will be joined in His suffering so that you may be glorified with Him.
Are you suffering today? I know many who are. How do you make sense of Paul’s message that God knows that we must suffer as a child of God? I have decided that there is a divine conspiracy in the Christian message in our world today. The conspiracy states that, “If you are chosen to follow Jesus than all you’re suffering will cease and you will have every material possession that you desire. After all God wants you to be happy why wouldn’t he give you all the desires of your flesh?” What a load of garbage! That promise is empty and if you hang your faith on the conspiracy then you will be sorely disappointed.
Siddhārtha Gautama was the founder of Buddhism. Gautama was a prince and was kept within the gates of his palace all his life. One day he decided to take a walk outside his palace and say the suffering of the people. He saw the wretched conditions that the people of his time endured. He immediately renounced his throne, left his wife and children, and formed the Buddhist philosophy. This philosophy states that suffering is caused by desire and we you have no desire that you will not suffer. Well he was right. However I submit to you that it is exactly the sufferings that you endure that makes you who you are. Only a coward would avoid things like falling in love, having children, or preaching the gospel because there is a chance that in these events their heart might get broken.
The Christian identity is not an easy one. I fall short daily. Sometimes I scream at God, “I have had enough! I am done, I quit, if you want these freaking people then claim them yourself! This is not the life that I desire. This life is more pain that I can handle! I don’t want to even get up in the morning! Jesus, you have sold me a false bill of goods. I don’t care about eternal life when I must watch my family and friends suffer right here and now in the only reality that I know. Didn’t you go to the cross so that my sins would be forgiven? What is with this mess that I find myself in? I am so tired of being a maggot on a pile of poop, eating said poop to survive. I used to make an obscene amount of money and want for nothing financially. Why did you take that away? Why must I suffer the life of a maggot? Whyyyyyyyyyy?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry6udsW9leA
Then I hear Jesus softly responding to my lament, “I am not afraid of your pile of poop circumstances. I came into your world and suffered your fate so that you may have eternal life. I am omnipresent, present everywhere. Just as present in church on Sunday as in your pile of poop covered with maggots; I love you; you are a co-heir with me to the Father’s riches. This is your identity, a child of God forever and ever. Your circumstances do not define your identity; being claimed by me is what makes you who you are. You no longer live according to the flesh because you were baptized and I claimed you, I choose you to follow me not the other way around. And what seems like suffering is tearing you away from gratifying the desires of the flesh. That is all that you have known in this world. But these things that you feel make you hole yet are against my ways are in fact not good for you. You’re a father, you know that sometimes you must say no because you love your child not because you are punishing them.
I suffer with you, you are not alone! You are not a slave to this world, you are mine. You are free if only you would realize that the state of sin is the pile of crap and I came into that pile and ransomed you out for eternal life. For now though it is my will that you stay in that pile because I love you just as I love your neighbor and I have chosen you to call your neighbor to myself. Your bonds have been releases you are no longer a slave to sins of the flesh you are free because I have claimed you as a child of God. I claimed you at your baptism! YOU ARE MIN E Therefore regardless of your circumstances Your identity is in me.”
Understand that suffering the death of flesh functions as law in our lives. The law exists to make you aware that you are sinners and unable to obtain salvation on your own. The law can only accuse and put to death the sinner, until Jesus invades. Then the gospel promise comes in to your lives apart from the law but attested to by the law and the prophets. The gospel is delivered to you by a true, called and sent preacher that points to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and proclaims to you, “I have claimed you by the authority of Jesus Christ through faith.” Jesus accomplished for you what the law was powerless to do.
Earlier I played a video of lament, a video of a crushed sinner crying out to God for mercy; challenging Him, if you will, to come into that sinner’s life. I end today with another visual aid. The message of the gospel from a called and sent preacher, the message is fittingly entitled “Inheritance;” the very promise that delivered to you today in our reading.
PLAY VIDEO! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEisSxR2cps
Amen.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
In our reading today St. Paul seems to have both good news and bad. The good news is that you are claimed as heirs with Christ because you are lead by the Spirit. You no longer belong to the flesh because the deeds of the flesh have been put to death. The context in the Greek tells us that the putting to death of the flesh is a continuing action. The death of the flesh is not just a onetime affair rather it is a daily dying. That is, of course, the bad news; the thought of daily dying to the desires of the flesh, the very desires that seem the most natural to you, and putting your faith in the leading of the Holy Spirit sounds like a tough act to perform. And it is. But St. Paul assures you that you are not to fear because the leading of the Spirit bears witness to the truth about your identity and the truth is that you are “children of God.”
You are children of God through faith; the gift of faith was bestowed upon you at your baptism. The very act of baptism is the claiming of a child for Christ. The imagery in baptism is much like the imagery Paul uses in Romans; the putting to death of the flesh and the rising to life as a new creation, claimed as a child of God thus the leading of the Spirit.
But there is even worse news then the death of your flesh in Paul’s message today; that news is the message that as Christ suffered you will be joined in His suffering so that you may be glorified with Him.
Are you suffering today? I know many who are. How do you make sense of Paul’s message that God knows that we must suffer as a child of God? I have decided that there is a divine conspiracy in the Christian message in our world today. The conspiracy states that, “If you are chosen to follow Jesus than all you’re suffering will cease and you will have every material possession that you desire. After all God wants you to be happy why wouldn’t he give you all the desires of your flesh?” What a load of garbage! That promise is empty and if you hang your faith on the conspiracy then you will be sorely disappointed.
Siddhārtha Gautama was the founder of Buddhism. Gautama was a prince and was kept within the gates of his palace all his life. One day he decided to take a walk outside his palace and say the suffering of the people. He saw the wretched conditions that the people of his time endured. He immediately renounced his throne, left his wife and children, and formed the Buddhist philosophy. This philosophy states that suffering is caused by desire and we you have no desire that you will not suffer. Well he was right. However I submit to you that it is exactly the sufferings that you endure that makes you who you are. Only a coward would avoid things like falling in love, having children, or preaching the gospel because there is a chance that in these events their heart might get broken.
The Christian identity is not an easy one. I fall short daily. Sometimes I scream at God, “I have had enough! I am done, I quit, if you want these freaking people then claim them yourself! This is not the life that I desire. This life is more pain that I can handle! I don’t want to even get up in the morning! Jesus, you have sold me a false bill of goods. I don’t care about eternal life when I must watch my family and friends suffer right here and now in the only reality that I know. Didn’t you go to the cross so that my sins would be forgiven? What is with this mess that I find myself in? I am so tired of being a maggot on a pile of poop, eating said poop to survive. I used to make an obscene amount of money and want for nothing financially. Why did you take that away? Why must I suffer the life of a maggot? Whyyyyyyyyyy?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry6udsW9leA
Then I hear Jesus softly responding to my lament, “I am not afraid of your pile of poop circumstances. I came into your world and suffered your fate so that you may have eternal life. I am omnipresent, present everywhere. Just as present in church on Sunday as in your pile of poop covered with maggots; I love you; you are a co-heir with me to the Father’s riches. This is your identity, a child of God forever and ever. Your circumstances do not define your identity; being claimed by me is what makes you who you are. You no longer live according to the flesh because you were baptized and I claimed you, I choose you to follow me not the other way around. And what seems like suffering is tearing you away from gratifying the desires of the flesh. That is all that you have known in this world. But these things that you feel make you hole yet are against my ways are in fact not good for you. You’re a father, you know that sometimes you must say no because you love your child not because you are punishing them.
I suffer with you, you are not alone! You are not a slave to this world, you are mine. You are free if only you would realize that the state of sin is the pile of crap and I came into that pile and ransomed you out for eternal life. For now though it is my will that you stay in that pile because I love you just as I love your neighbor and I have chosen you to call your neighbor to myself. Your bonds have been releases you are no longer a slave to sins of the flesh you are free because I have claimed you as a child of God. I claimed you at your baptism! YOU ARE MIN E Therefore regardless of your circumstances Your identity is in me.”
Understand that suffering the death of flesh functions as law in our lives. The law exists to make you aware that you are sinners and unable to obtain salvation on your own. The law can only accuse and put to death the sinner, until Jesus invades. Then the gospel promise comes in to your lives apart from the law but attested to by the law and the prophets. The gospel is delivered to you by a true, called and sent preacher that points to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and proclaims to you, “I have claimed you by the authority of Jesus Christ through faith.” Jesus accomplished for you what the law was powerless to do.
Earlier I played a video of lament, a video of a crushed sinner crying out to God for mercy; challenging Him, if you will, to come into that sinner’s life. I end today with another visual aid. The message of the gospel from a called and sent preacher, the message is fittingly entitled “Inheritance;” the very promise that delivered to you today in our reading.
PLAY VIDEO! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEisSxR2cps
Amen.
Woman at the Well
5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Deb’s story is a sad one. I first met her when she came to our church service. She was very scary looking with dark black hair and black painted fingernails. She tried to conceal her many tattoos but they rose up above the collar of her shirt and covered her hands. I wondered how to approach such a person. I wanted to be welcoming but I was skeptical of her motivations for attending our church. After the service I introduced myself to her and she began to cry and asked if I had time to visit with her.
I could hardly believe my ears when she told me that she was a high priestess of a satanic cult and she had come to our service because she was taught that evil spirits flee from people when they attended church services and she wanted to be available for those evil spirits to come and make a home in her. However that day she had heard the gospel of Jesus Christ preached that day in a way she had never heard it preached before and something as she put it, “had changed within her.”
Upon further visits with Deb we found out that she was the product of an affair that her father had had with the single woman who lived down the street from her family. Her step mother took her into their family but never gave her the attention and love that she needed. For instance one time the family went on a trip to Disney Land and she was left at home with a sitter.
On e time when she was 12 and was staying at a friend’s house it was discovered, while playing with a weggie board, that she had a deep connection with dark forces and an aptitude for black magic. The parents of her friend took her into their satanic cult and at the age of 13 she became a high priestess. She was so open and receptive to their group because it was the first and only time in her life that she felt accepted. They believed that they drew power from drinking the blood of children so she was the center piece of most of their rituals and was pierced several times. Deb was molested and abused but this she understood to be love and acceptance. She left home immediately to live with her friend’s family. Her parents didn’t even put up a fight. Her parents were glad that she was gone.
The cult consisted of some prominent people in her community who supplied her with a car, money, alcohol, drugs, and a place to live when she was old enough to live on her own. I think that they took better care of their priestesses than we do our pastors. That is kind of sad.
At any rate, she had found her way to our church and had felt the piercing of her heart by the Holy Spirit through the Words that were preached to her that day. She never went back to the cult again. Although they didn’t make it easy for her to leave; she has been shot at by cult members, beaten up by cult members, one Halloween we arranged for her to spend the night at a police station for her safety. Today she leads a children’s program at that church and has a love for Jesus Christ like I have never seen before.
In our reading today Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well around noon. It is important that it was noon because most people came for their water in the morning or evening. But this particular woman came at noon showing that she was outcast in the community and was making sure that she would not run into anyone else.
Like my friend Deb this woman was a product of her circumstances and not of her choices. Deb didn’t choose to be born in to an adulterous relationship; nor did she choose to be raised by a mother who resented her very presence. She didn’t choose the group that would show her affection and acceptance. These things were all results of her circumstances. Later in today’s story we find out that the Samaritan woman has had 5 husbands and they one that she is living with now is not her husband. At first we would think that this woman was promiscuous however in that time and culture women were powerless to divorce anyone for any reason. This means that she either buried 5 husbands or 5 husbands had divorced her or any combination of the two. She didn’t choose to lose her husband’s they rejected her. And because of the many times that she was rejected by husbands the society had rejected her as well. The Samaritan woman in today’s reading was truly a product of her circumstances and not her choices.
Like my friend Deb this Samaritan woman encountered Jesus and He spoke to her. Her, a Samaritan woman who had been rejected by her village; Deb a blood drinking Satanist rejected by her family; Jesus met them each in their everyday lives and spoke to them.
Can you imagine going to the well, an everyday activity, to get water in the hottest part of the day so that you don’t bump into anyone and then meeting this strange Jewish man who asks you for a drink? In shock you smart off to him saying, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” Then he says the strangest thing about having water that you drink of and will never thirst again; Jesus finding you in the everyday activities of live and giving you living water, faith that leads to eternal life. This is what the Samaritan woman and my friend Deb found. Jesus came to them in everyday life and delivered to them living water.
The image of flowing water is interesting in this passage. Jewish people recognize that flowing water cleanses a person. Jacob had given them a well to water their animals and themselves. This water sustained their life on earth but could only sustain them while here on earth; much like the law. God’s law functions on this earth to make us aware that we are sinners and cannot live up to Gods’ expectations. However we try to follow the law because it is a good way to live and it sustains us while we are here on earth. But it is only the living water; water that is flowing that cleanses a person and returns them acceptable to God; the flowing water of faith that comes from the hearing of the gospel preacher by a true preacher.
Both Deb and the Samaritan woman received this cleansing water and ran to tell everyone about their experience. Once a person has heard the gospel, really heard it, and the fountain of bubbling water of faith springs up inside them; their circumstances no longer dictate who they are. They are made new and have been given a new identity in Christ. Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit is now where they draw their identity from; regardless of their circumstances.
This is the living water that was poured over you at your baptism. This water cleansed you and now is bubbling up inside you. As you grow closer to Jesus the fountain overflows more and more. This water was given to you so that you would go and share it with all you come into contact with even in the most mundane of activities you are called to be preachers delivering the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of Jesus Christ. Our Savior, our redeemer, our Lord. And just like the Samaritan woman, you can leave your earthly vessel behind. She left her water jar at the well and ran off to tell everyone in the village the good news. Deb left her old life behind to follow Jesus. You can leave the current circumstances that you believe define you behind and return again to what really gives you identity, your baptismal promise that you have been claimed by Jesus Christ and you are a child of God no matter what your circumstances. This is your identity go and live freely in it.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Deb’s story is a sad one. I first met her when she came to our church service. She was very scary looking with dark black hair and black painted fingernails. She tried to conceal her many tattoos but they rose up above the collar of her shirt and covered her hands. I wondered how to approach such a person. I wanted to be welcoming but I was skeptical of her motivations for attending our church. After the service I introduced myself to her and she began to cry and asked if I had time to visit with her.
I could hardly believe my ears when she told me that she was a high priestess of a satanic cult and she had come to our service because she was taught that evil spirits flee from people when they attended church services and she wanted to be available for those evil spirits to come and make a home in her. However that day she had heard the gospel of Jesus Christ preached that day in a way she had never heard it preached before and something as she put it, “had changed within her.”
Upon further visits with Deb we found out that she was the product of an affair that her father had had with the single woman who lived down the street from her family. Her step mother took her into their family but never gave her the attention and love that she needed. For instance one time the family went on a trip to Disney Land and she was left at home with a sitter.
On e time when she was 12 and was staying at a friend’s house it was discovered, while playing with a weggie board, that she had a deep connection with dark forces and an aptitude for black magic. The parents of her friend took her into their satanic cult and at the age of 13 she became a high priestess. She was so open and receptive to their group because it was the first and only time in her life that she felt accepted. They believed that they drew power from drinking the blood of children so she was the center piece of most of their rituals and was pierced several times. Deb was molested and abused but this she understood to be love and acceptance. She left home immediately to live with her friend’s family. Her parents didn’t even put up a fight. Her parents were glad that she was gone.
The cult consisted of some prominent people in her community who supplied her with a car, money, alcohol, drugs, and a place to live when she was old enough to live on her own. I think that they took better care of their priestesses than we do our pastors. That is kind of sad.
At any rate, she had found her way to our church and had felt the piercing of her heart by the Holy Spirit through the Words that were preached to her that day. She never went back to the cult again. Although they didn’t make it easy for her to leave; she has been shot at by cult members, beaten up by cult members, one Halloween we arranged for her to spend the night at a police station for her safety. Today she leads a children’s program at that church and has a love for Jesus Christ like I have never seen before.
In our reading today Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well around noon. It is important that it was noon because most people came for their water in the morning or evening. But this particular woman came at noon showing that she was outcast in the community and was making sure that she would not run into anyone else.
Like my friend Deb this woman was a product of her circumstances and not of her choices. Deb didn’t choose to be born in to an adulterous relationship; nor did she choose to be raised by a mother who resented her very presence. She didn’t choose the group that would show her affection and acceptance. These things were all results of her circumstances. Later in today’s story we find out that the Samaritan woman has had 5 husbands and they one that she is living with now is not her husband. At first we would think that this woman was promiscuous however in that time and culture women were powerless to divorce anyone for any reason. This means that she either buried 5 husbands or 5 husbands had divorced her or any combination of the two. She didn’t choose to lose her husband’s they rejected her. And because of the many times that she was rejected by husbands the society had rejected her as well. The Samaritan woman in today’s reading was truly a product of her circumstances and not her choices.
Like my friend Deb this Samaritan woman encountered Jesus and He spoke to her. Her, a Samaritan woman who had been rejected by her village; Deb a blood drinking Satanist rejected by her family; Jesus met them each in their everyday lives and spoke to them.
Can you imagine going to the well, an everyday activity, to get water in the hottest part of the day so that you don’t bump into anyone and then meeting this strange Jewish man who asks you for a drink? In shock you smart off to him saying, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” Then he says the strangest thing about having water that you drink of and will never thirst again; Jesus finding you in the everyday activities of live and giving you living water, faith that leads to eternal life. This is what the Samaritan woman and my friend Deb found. Jesus came to them in everyday life and delivered to them living water.
The image of flowing water is interesting in this passage. Jewish people recognize that flowing water cleanses a person. Jacob had given them a well to water their animals and themselves. This water sustained their life on earth but could only sustain them while here on earth; much like the law. God’s law functions on this earth to make us aware that we are sinners and cannot live up to Gods’ expectations. However we try to follow the law because it is a good way to live and it sustains us while we are here on earth. But it is only the living water; water that is flowing that cleanses a person and returns them acceptable to God; the flowing water of faith that comes from the hearing of the gospel preacher by a true preacher.
Both Deb and the Samaritan woman received this cleansing water and ran to tell everyone about their experience. Once a person has heard the gospel, really heard it, and the fountain of bubbling water of faith springs up inside them; their circumstances no longer dictate who they are. They are made new and have been given a new identity in Christ. Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit is now where they draw their identity from; regardless of their circumstances.
This is the living water that was poured over you at your baptism. This water cleansed you and now is bubbling up inside you. As you grow closer to Jesus the fountain overflows more and more. This water was given to you so that you would go and share it with all you come into contact with even in the most mundane of activities you are called to be preachers delivering the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of Jesus Christ. Our Savior, our redeemer, our Lord. And just like the Samaritan woman, you can leave your earthly vessel behind. She left her water jar at the well and ran off to tell everyone in the village the good news. Deb left her old life behind to follow Jesus. You can leave the current circumstances that you believe define you behind and return again to what really gives you identity, your baptismal promise that you have been claimed by Jesus Christ and you are a child of God no matter what your circumstances. This is your identity go and live freely in it.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sermon delievered to The Crux a mission church plant in down town Minneapolis
“Justified by Faith”
Romans 4:20-25: “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
I once worked with a 52 year old homeless man named Ricky. Ricky was drunk 24/7 and was living under a bridge in downtown Des Moines when the shelter I was working for found him and invited him to come and see what we had to offer. He was a small man and the way he always looked at the ground and walked with his shoulders slumped forward made him appear even smaller and meek. It was obvious that he was broken and had no self confidence. Ricky was assigned to my case load and as a part of the program had to do a preliminary interview with me. I had a hard time hearing him as he stared at the ground and talked in a hushed tone. After several open ended probing questions Ricky looked me in the eye with a look of hate and anger that I had become familiar with in the ministry that God had called me to. “What the hell do you want from me?” He asked in a growling tone. “Just to get to know you man and find out if there is anything that I can do to help.” “You can’t help me I am worthless and beyond help. Are we finished? Can I go?” I explained to him that his stay was completely voluntary and I encouraged him to stay at the shelter for a month rent free and take a break from life. The residents were allowed to stay at the shelter during the day if they desired. Three meals a day were served at the shelter exclusively to the residents so they didn’t have to interact with anyone from the neighborhood if they didn’t desire to. Ricky took my advice and I left him alone for a couple of days.
One thing I noticed about Ricky was that he was no longer drinking and he wasn’t smoking. Attendance at chapel was required daily for the residents and I noticed that during this time Ricky’s eyes were glued to the preacher. After service one night I invited him into my office and asked him how he was getting along. He apologized for the way he talked to me during our first meeting and I explained to him that I was sure that it wasn’t me that he was angry with and whoever it was that he held such contempt for must have wronged him terribly. I assured him that he had every right to be angry with them. His feelings are valid, he gets to have feelings and he gets to be angry if that is how he feels.
Immediately he looked me in the eye and asked, “Pastor, can I share something with you?” “Sure,” I responded. “No I mean you can’t repeat anything I tell you; right?” “Not without your permission Ricky, as long as it isn’t illegal that is.”
Tears filled his eyes as he told me story after story of how he had been molested by his father form the time he was 6 until he was 10 and ran away from home. “My daddy told me that I existed on this earth for the sole purpose of gratifying him sexually and I was worthless otherwise. “Pastor” he said, “I believed my father; all these years I believed that I was worthless and that I had no further purpose on this earth. Until the day I took my last drink. I knew somehow it was my last and later that day I ran into the people from this shelter. These people I hardly knew came looking for me in the rain, through the mud, and under the bridge. They told me that My Father in heaven loved me and wanted better for me. I instantly became angry at my earthly father for not telling me about my other father. So I came here to find out who this father is. When I arrived I figured that there was something that you wanted from me. But you didn’t, you didn’t require anything from me. You just let me sit and try to figure out what was happening to me. Tell me about Jesus.” I am telling you about Ricky because it was this very chapter that we discussed that night; Roman’s chapter 4.
Today’s reading form Romans shows the faithfulness of Abraham. Verse 25 says, “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God.” I was admiring the faithfulness of Abraham all week as I read and reread this chapter pondering what message God was trying to communicate to me and share with you this evening. I wished that I could have had Abraham’s steadfast love and faith. He was even willing to sacrifice his son, the son of a promise from God. I could not bring myself to have such a faith. I get frustrated when funds are low or a class at school isn’t going my way. Let alone have God ask me to do something great and historic. I fail daily on such a simple level, how in the world could a human have such a faith as Abraham? The reality of becoming that faithful escaped me. To some degree I even started to question my call. If I can’t be faithful in the simplest of situations how can I truly be called to be a pastor? This thought kept spinning in my head all week.
Then I remembered Ricky and the conversation that we had had that night. You see Ricky’s earthly father had promised Ricky that he was worthless; an object to be used and then discarded. Ricky believed that promise, not because, he mustered up his own strength and got his free will in motion and believed. But because his father told him and he knew of no other authority figure and had no choice but to believe. I asked myself, “Does the promise made to us depend upon the promise receiver of the promise giver?” If stranger told Ricky that he was worthless, would it of had such an effect upon him? I think not. The validity of a promise and its effect upon our belief in that promise must therefore depend on who is making the promise.
That night, with Ricky, I went to Romans chapter 4 and its explanation of this event in Genesis 17. I reviewed with Ricky the events in order in which they occurred.
1. God made a promise to Abraham.
2. Abraham believed.
3. God declared Abraham righteous.
Abraham shouldn’t be congratulated for having enough faith. The validity of the promise is dependent upon the promise giver. God, the Creator of the Universe! God made the promise and Abraham, like Ricky, had no choice but to believe what his father had told him was true. Abraham’s faith wasn’t dependent upon his own works or how well he lived up t the law. Romans 4:9-11 states, “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,”
It wasn’t by Abraham’s own ability that he believed, it was because of who made the promise that he had no choice but to believe. It wasn’t that Abraham earned righteousness because he worked at his belief; it was because God declared him righteous that he was counted righteous. It was because God promised him that his descendants that believed, both circumcised, the nation of Israel, and the uncircumcised, the genitals or us, would be counted righteous that we are counted righteous. Not because we have the ability to believe on our own. Rather our faith and our response in faith to the promise of salvation depend on the promise giver. Our faith in Christ’s and our response to that promise is not a work but a gift from the Holy Spirit.
God promised Ricky that he belonged to Christ and his response to come and see wasn’t his own work but the working of the Spirit with in him. I assured Ricky that night that the fact that he was here was proof that Christ had claimed him and that he was not worthless.
Remembering this I took my own advice and prayed for the gift of Abraham’s faith and stopped trying to muster it under my own power.
By the way Ricky completed the recovery program, reconciled with his wife and two sons and now lives with them. He shares his testimony with everyone who will listen. He has forgiven his earthly father not for his father’s sake but so that he can go on with life and be the father to his boys that he never had.
Romans 4:20-25: “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
I once worked with a 52 year old homeless man named Ricky. Ricky was drunk 24/7 and was living under a bridge in downtown Des Moines when the shelter I was working for found him and invited him to come and see what we had to offer. He was a small man and the way he always looked at the ground and walked with his shoulders slumped forward made him appear even smaller and meek. It was obvious that he was broken and had no self confidence. Ricky was assigned to my case load and as a part of the program had to do a preliminary interview with me. I had a hard time hearing him as he stared at the ground and talked in a hushed tone. After several open ended probing questions Ricky looked me in the eye with a look of hate and anger that I had become familiar with in the ministry that God had called me to. “What the hell do you want from me?” He asked in a growling tone. “Just to get to know you man and find out if there is anything that I can do to help.” “You can’t help me I am worthless and beyond help. Are we finished? Can I go?” I explained to him that his stay was completely voluntary and I encouraged him to stay at the shelter for a month rent free and take a break from life. The residents were allowed to stay at the shelter during the day if they desired. Three meals a day were served at the shelter exclusively to the residents so they didn’t have to interact with anyone from the neighborhood if they didn’t desire to. Ricky took my advice and I left him alone for a couple of days.
One thing I noticed about Ricky was that he was no longer drinking and he wasn’t smoking. Attendance at chapel was required daily for the residents and I noticed that during this time Ricky’s eyes were glued to the preacher. After service one night I invited him into my office and asked him how he was getting along. He apologized for the way he talked to me during our first meeting and I explained to him that I was sure that it wasn’t me that he was angry with and whoever it was that he held such contempt for must have wronged him terribly. I assured him that he had every right to be angry with them. His feelings are valid, he gets to have feelings and he gets to be angry if that is how he feels.
Immediately he looked me in the eye and asked, “Pastor, can I share something with you?” “Sure,” I responded. “No I mean you can’t repeat anything I tell you; right?” “Not without your permission Ricky, as long as it isn’t illegal that is.”
Tears filled his eyes as he told me story after story of how he had been molested by his father form the time he was 6 until he was 10 and ran away from home. “My daddy told me that I existed on this earth for the sole purpose of gratifying him sexually and I was worthless otherwise. “Pastor” he said, “I believed my father; all these years I believed that I was worthless and that I had no further purpose on this earth. Until the day I took my last drink. I knew somehow it was my last and later that day I ran into the people from this shelter. These people I hardly knew came looking for me in the rain, through the mud, and under the bridge. They told me that My Father in heaven loved me and wanted better for me. I instantly became angry at my earthly father for not telling me about my other father. So I came here to find out who this father is. When I arrived I figured that there was something that you wanted from me. But you didn’t, you didn’t require anything from me. You just let me sit and try to figure out what was happening to me. Tell me about Jesus.” I am telling you about Ricky because it was this very chapter that we discussed that night; Roman’s chapter 4.
Today’s reading form Romans shows the faithfulness of Abraham. Verse 25 says, “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God.” I was admiring the faithfulness of Abraham all week as I read and reread this chapter pondering what message God was trying to communicate to me and share with you this evening. I wished that I could have had Abraham’s steadfast love and faith. He was even willing to sacrifice his son, the son of a promise from God. I could not bring myself to have such a faith. I get frustrated when funds are low or a class at school isn’t going my way. Let alone have God ask me to do something great and historic. I fail daily on such a simple level, how in the world could a human have such a faith as Abraham? The reality of becoming that faithful escaped me. To some degree I even started to question my call. If I can’t be faithful in the simplest of situations how can I truly be called to be a pastor? This thought kept spinning in my head all week.
Then I remembered Ricky and the conversation that we had had that night. You see Ricky’s earthly father had promised Ricky that he was worthless; an object to be used and then discarded. Ricky believed that promise, not because, he mustered up his own strength and got his free will in motion and believed. But because his father told him and he knew of no other authority figure and had no choice but to believe. I asked myself, “Does the promise made to us depend upon the promise receiver of the promise giver?” If stranger told Ricky that he was worthless, would it of had such an effect upon him? I think not. The validity of a promise and its effect upon our belief in that promise must therefore depend on who is making the promise.
That night, with Ricky, I went to Romans chapter 4 and its explanation of this event in Genesis 17. I reviewed with Ricky the events in order in which they occurred.
1. God made a promise to Abraham.
2. Abraham believed.
3. God declared Abraham righteous.
Abraham shouldn’t be congratulated for having enough faith. The validity of the promise is dependent upon the promise giver. God, the Creator of the Universe! God made the promise and Abraham, like Ricky, had no choice but to believe what his father had told him was true. Abraham’s faith wasn’t dependent upon his own works or how well he lived up t the law. Romans 4:9-11 states, “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,”
It wasn’t by Abraham’s own ability that he believed, it was because of who made the promise that he had no choice but to believe. It wasn’t that Abraham earned righteousness because he worked at his belief; it was because God declared him righteous that he was counted righteous. It was because God promised him that his descendants that believed, both circumcised, the nation of Israel, and the uncircumcised, the genitals or us, would be counted righteous that we are counted righteous. Not because we have the ability to believe on our own. Rather our faith and our response in faith to the promise of salvation depend on the promise giver. Our faith in Christ’s and our response to that promise is not a work but a gift from the Holy Spirit.
God promised Ricky that he belonged to Christ and his response to come and see wasn’t his own work but the working of the Spirit with in him. I assured Ricky that night that the fact that he was here was proof that Christ had claimed him and that he was not worthless.
Remembering this I took my own advice and prayed for the gift of Abraham’s faith and stopped trying to muster it under my own power.
By the way Ricky completed the recovery program, reconciled with his wife and two sons and now lives with them. He shares his testimony with everyone who will listen. He has forgiven his earthly father not for his father’s sake but so that he can go on with life and be the father to his boys that he never had.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Article written for the Nation Association of Christian Ministers February News letter.
What are our actions saying to others that our words are not?
I was visiting a homeless outreach center in downtown Minneapolis last month and became engaged in a conversation with a man who had lost his job due to the recent recession. This center offers free medical care, a clothing room, three meals a day, and a place to shower, and a food pantry. They also have a window that opens from 2-4pm everyday where a person can go for help with rent, utilities, bus tokens, shoes, school supplies for children, and any number of specific needs. This particular man was looking for some financial assistance with his rent.
Before each meal about 150 homeless and impoverished folks gather to pray for God’s blessing. The founder of this ministry then proceeds to say, “God loves you and we love you and we will help you through this difficult time in your lives.” Then the children are served first as they sit at a table after which everyone else is allowed to get into line and gather their food.
To get specific individual help from the window a person is allowed to get into line at 1:30pm. Thirty full minutes before the window opens. Now, this kind lady just finished telling these folks that God loves them and that they are here to help them. But if a person gets in line for the window at 1:29pm or before one of two huge security guards, both about 6’ 7” and weighing about 300-350 lbs., escort them to the door and they are no longer allowed to return for the day.
I stood in line with my new found friend and his three children (8, 6, and 3 years old). His wife was still employed but didn’t make near enough to support a family of five and daycare was out of the question. “This in my first time here to get help,” he explained to me as if he were ashamed of his position in life. He stared at the ground as he explained to me how his church had offered to help them but he was too embarrassed to take their charity. A majority of Americans will not attend the church where they receive charity. My new friend explained that he had returned to school because the industry in which he had worked before was in terrible financial strain but the financial aid that was left over after paying tuition wasn’t enough to pay for all the medical bills, rent, car payment, insurance, groceries, books and school supplies that were needed each month.
If this man had any amount of pride and dignity left he lost it all as we watched the people standing next to us get thrown out by a female employee of this ministry because her kids were restless. We had been in line for two hours! How in the world can you expect young kids to stand in line, be quite, and not pick on each other for two hours?
Thrown out? What happened to God loves you, we love you, and we will help you through this difficult time? Not to mention the employee took it upon herself to scream at these children and tell them that they were rude undisciplined children. Undisciplined? They were all under the age of 6 I would guess; what does one expect? The actions of this ministry were in complete contrary to their words!
Please don’t misunderstand me; this ministry does a ton to help out people in need in Minneapolis. They offer more services and assistance in more areas than any other ministry or social service that I have ever seen; but at what cost? Must the people who are already stressed to the limit (studies show that those in poverty carry a stress load up to 75% greater than the those in middle and upper class families) sacrifice the remaining shreds of dignity and pride to get the help that they so desperately need? And in the name of Jesus no less! What are these people seeing from the followers of Jesus?
God’s law exists to make sinners aware that they are sinners and are in need of a Savior. (Roman 3:20 ESV “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”)
I understand “the law” to be any standard that God or the world puts on our lives. People in poverty are already at the point of being crushed by the law. They know that they do not live up to the standards of God or the world. So what should a disciple of Jesus do with a person whom they encounter that is being crushed by the law? Continue to apply the law? Continue to kick and beat an already crushed sinner? NO! A true disciple of Jesus Christ would know that they are the preacher sent to this person to deliver the gospel! (Romans 10:14-17 ESV “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”) And what is the gospel? Why Romans 3:20-22 ESV sums it up quite well “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
You can’t live up to the law under your own power! You are in need of a Savior! But that Savior has already arrived and His death on the cross for your sins and His resurrection so that you may have new life and be counted righteous in the eyes of God is already complete! He is Jesus Christ! Repent and believe the good news! It is not my intention to be Moses (the law giver) to this ministry. I am sure that they would not hear my teaching even if I offered it. I am called though to be a disciple of Christ and continue to look for where the law is crushing a sinner and deliver the gospel.
Look around you. Are there folks suffering in silence? Are they in need of the ultimate promise from our Lord? Do they need to hear this promise proclaimed in the midst of their despair? God gave us the law and it is just. But no one lives up to the law. (Romans 3:22b-23 ESV “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”) And through the law can only sin and death can result. Because under the law we are found guilty and through the disobedience to the law sin came into existence. But the law was not God’s last word to his chose people. There is another word; a word of promise. The gospel is God’s final Word to his beloved!
So beloved, go now into the world and proclaim the good news to the suffering and hurting. Be disciples of Jesus (delivers of the gospel) and not bringers of the law (disciples of Moses).
I was visiting a homeless outreach center in downtown Minneapolis last month and became engaged in a conversation with a man who had lost his job due to the recent recession. This center offers free medical care, a clothing room, three meals a day, and a place to shower, and a food pantry. They also have a window that opens from 2-4pm everyday where a person can go for help with rent, utilities, bus tokens, shoes, school supplies for children, and any number of specific needs. This particular man was looking for some financial assistance with his rent.
Before each meal about 150 homeless and impoverished folks gather to pray for God’s blessing. The founder of this ministry then proceeds to say, “God loves you and we love you and we will help you through this difficult time in your lives.” Then the children are served first as they sit at a table after which everyone else is allowed to get into line and gather their food.
To get specific individual help from the window a person is allowed to get into line at 1:30pm. Thirty full minutes before the window opens. Now, this kind lady just finished telling these folks that God loves them and that they are here to help them. But if a person gets in line for the window at 1:29pm or before one of two huge security guards, both about 6’ 7” and weighing about 300-350 lbs., escort them to the door and they are no longer allowed to return for the day.
I stood in line with my new found friend and his three children (8, 6, and 3 years old). His wife was still employed but didn’t make near enough to support a family of five and daycare was out of the question. “This in my first time here to get help,” he explained to me as if he were ashamed of his position in life. He stared at the ground as he explained to me how his church had offered to help them but he was too embarrassed to take their charity. A majority of Americans will not attend the church where they receive charity. My new friend explained that he had returned to school because the industry in which he had worked before was in terrible financial strain but the financial aid that was left over after paying tuition wasn’t enough to pay for all the medical bills, rent, car payment, insurance, groceries, books and school supplies that were needed each month.
If this man had any amount of pride and dignity left he lost it all as we watched the people standing next to us get thrown out by a female employee of this ministry because her kids were restless. We had been in line for two hours! How in the world can you expect young kids to stand in line, be quite, and not pick on each other for two hours?
Thrown out? What happened to God loves you, we love you, and we will help you through this difficult time? Not to mention the employee took it upon herself to scream at these children and tell them that they were rude undisciplined children. Undisciplined? They were all under the age of 6 I would guess; what does one expect? The actions of this ministry were in complete contrary to their words!
Please don’t misunderstand me; this ministry does a ton to help out people in need in Minneapolis. They offer more services and assistance in more areas than any other ministry or social service that I have ever seen; but at what cost? Must the people who are already stressed to the limit (studies show that those in poverty carry a stress load up to 75% greater than the those in middle and upper class families) sacrifice the remaining shreds of dignity and pride to get the help that they so desperately need? And in the name of Jesus no less! What are these people seeing from the followers of Jesus?
God’s law exists to make sinners aware that they are sinners and are in need of a Savior. (Roman 3:20 ESV “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”)
I understand “the law” to be any standard that God or the world puts on our lives. People in poverty are already at the point of being crushed by the law. They know that they do not live up to the standards of God or the world. So what should a disciple of Jesus do with a person whom they encounter that is being crushed by the law? Continue to apply the law? Continue to kick and beat an already crushed sinner? NO! A true disciple of Jesus Christ would know that they are the preacher sent to this person to deliver the gospel! (Romans 10:14-17 ESV “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”) And what is the gospel? Why Romans 3:20-22 ESV sums it up quite well “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
You can’t live up to the law under your own power! You are in need of a Savior! But that Savior has already arrived and His death on the cross for your sins and His resurrection so that you may have new life and be counted righteous in the eyes of God is already complete! He is Jesus Christ! Repent and believe the good news! It is not my intention to be Moses (the law giver) to this ministry. I am sure that they would not hear my teaching even if I offered it. I am called though to be a disciple of Christ and continue to look for where the law is crushing a sinner and deliver the gospel.
Look around you. Are there folks suffering in silence? Are they in need of the ultimate promise from our Lord? Do they need to hear this promise proclaimed in the midst of their despair? God gave us the law and it is just. But no one lives up to the law. (Romans 3:22b-23 ESV “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”) And through the law can only sin and death can result. Because under the law we are found guilty and through the disobedience to the law sin came into existence. But the law was not God’s last word to his chose people. There is another word; a word of promise. The gospel is God’s final Word to his beloved!
So beloved, go now into the world and proclaim the good news to the suffering and hurting. Be disciples of Jesus (delivers of the gospel) and not bringers of the law (disciples of Moses).
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sermon About Zechariah From Luke 1 delivered to The Crux 12/6
There once was a small town in Iowa which was being inflicted by a drought. The crops were drying up fast and they need rain in the worst way. So the local pastor decided to call for a prayer meeting on a Wednesday night. The whole congregation showed plus some others from the town. The pastor took the pulpit and said, “Every one of you go home and sit in judgment upon yourselves and when you really believe come back.” An elderly woman in the front row stood up and said, “But pastor we have filled the church to pray for rain, why are you sending us home?” The Pastor answered, “Because not one of you brought an umbrella.”
Zechariah in today’s reading is a lot like these people in the Iowa small town. Zechariah had prayed and prayed for a son and when an angel of the Lord appears and tells him his prayer has been answered he questions the angel and demands proof.
Zechariah was a temple priest. Luke calls he and his wife Elizabeth “righteous and blameless in all the commandments and status of the Lord.” Luke was a physician and an educated man. We can tell by the style of Greek that he used. Luke was also a companion of St. Paul on some of his missionary journeys and he collected the information for his gospel from several sources. This is the only use of this particular form of righteousness in Greek in Luke’s gospel. This would lead me to believe that Luke didn’t take this description of them as a Godly declaration about them rather the idea that they were righteous and blameless must have been what those who knew them thought of them. So they were well thought of in the community.
It is interesting that Zechariah and Elizabeth are described as righteous and blameless and yet in the nest verse we find out that they are barren which was considered a curse from God. This contrast reminds me that while we are servants of the Lord here on earth we are all both saint and sinner.
What seemed to be a curse for this couple in the end would be a blessing. Their advanced age and Elizabeth’s barrenness was the perfect setting to get the attention of God’s people whom he was about to call unto Himself. You see there hadn’t been a prophet in Israel for at least 500 years. And God was about to come to His creation incarnate in the man Jesus Christ. The scriptures had promised a fore runner, and Elijah if you will that will announce the arrival of the Messiah. John’s birth to a barren woman of advanced age was his first sermon to a people hungry for guidance and looking for a Savior.
At any given time, historians tell us, there were 20,000 temple priests and only 56 of them were selected by the casting of lots to officiate in the temple. So for Zechariah to be chosen to offer the incense sacrifice was a great honor. Especially if he was of advanced age his chances were running out.
So Zechariah enters the temple and the Holy of Holies alone. You might remember from the days of Moses when a Levite entered the temple they tied a rope around his foot so if he messed up the sacrifice and God struck him dead they could pull him out without any further loss of life. I bring this up to give you the idea of fear and trembling that Zechariah must have been feeling as he entered the space where only few in history were allowed by God to go.
Gabriel appears to Zechariah and tells him that his prayers have been answered, his barren wife is about to give birth to a son who will be great before the Lord and he will turn many of his people to the Lord and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit and the power of Elijah he will prepare a people for the Lord. Not to shabby of a commission for an only child.
Zechariah answers in with questions. He did a little better then Abraham who fell to the ground laughing that God told him that a 99 year old woman would give birth. You see a short 1500-2000 years ago God had made this same promise to Abraham and it came true. But just like we are today Zechariah was human and he couldn’t see any rational way that this could happen. But God doesn’t always operate in the rational, he is God he can do whatever he pleases. Just by speaking he created the universe is helping and elderly couple conceive a child really that much of a stretch?
An angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah and delivers a promise from the Creator of the Universe that his prayers are to be answered and he will have a son and a miraculous one at that; a son that will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. And Zechariah demands proof, Luke 1:18, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
As the reader of the story don’t you just want to say, “Hey Zach, my man, there is an angel of the Lord in front of you; does this happen every day? Come on dude something fantastic and beyond all human reason is happening here. Do a little more listening and a lot less talking.”
But Zechariah being a stubborn human not carrying an umbrella while he prays for rain, messes with the bull and gets the horns. Zechariah gets what he is looking for a sing as proof he is struck mute until the naming of the child. Mute until he fulfills the angel’s commission of him to name the child John; which in Hebrew is pronounced Yochanan and means “The Lord has shown favor.”
So Elizabeth becomes pregnant and she recognizes right away that this is a gift from God. However she does a curious thing she hides her pregnancy for five months. Perhaps she is afraid that her neighbors down at the local Templeabiou Coffee would gossip as to the Father of the child. “Zechariah hasn’t been able to perform in this way in the past maybe she took things into her own hands,” they might spew their poison. Or perhaps it is just too good to be true for her. After all it wasn’t like she was the one in the presence of an angel of the Lord.
I don’t think the reality of the child and his importance hit Elizabeth until Mary’s visit and her child leaped in her womb and she was filled with the Spirit. It wasn’t her human reason that brought this miracle to reality for her it was the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Possessing the Holy Spirit must a contagious thing because then Mary becomes filled and sings praises to God.
When John is born there is no more doubt and no more fear there, as the angel has promised joy; joy for this elderly couple and joy for their neighbors. Everyone realizes that the birth of this child was truly an act of God.
Jewish boys were circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. This is also the day that they name the child and everyone thought that this child would be named after his father. But Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, and Zechariah, still mute from his doubt, refused to question God again and the boy was named John. And Zechariah was cured.
Three things that we can learn from the account of the birth of John the Baptist; first when God makes you a promise it will be fulfilled regardless of what your human reason and experience tells you. And second, when you pray for something, pray expecting that it will be done for you. Our God is a God that chooses to work through every day people like Zechariah and Elizabeth and you and me to accomplish His will on earth. The Creator of the universe seeks to have a relationship with His creation in which they will trust and work with Him for the well being of our neighbor.
Zechariah in today’s reading is a lot like these people in the Iowa small town. Zechariah had prayed and prayed for a son and when an angel of the Lord appears and tells him his prayer has been answered he questions the angel and demands proof.
Zechariah was a temple priest. Luke calls he and his wife Elizabeth “righteous and blameless in all the commandments and status of the Lord.” Luke was a physician and an educated man. We can tell by the style of Greek that he used. Luke was also a companion of St. Paul on some of his missionary journeys and he collected the information for his gospel from several sources. This is the only use of this particular form of righteousness in Greek in Luke’s gospel. This would lead me to believe that Luke didn’t take this description of them as a Godly declaration about them rather the idea that they were righteous and blameless must have been what those who knew them thought of them. So they were well thought of in the community.
It is interesting that Zechariah and Elizabeth are described as righteous and blameless and yet in the nest verse we find out that they are barren which was considered a curse from God. This contrast reminds me that while we are servants of the Lord here on earth we are all both saint and sinner.
What seemed to be a curse for this couple in the end would be a blessing. Their advanced age and Elizabeth’s barrenness was the perfect setting to get the attention of God’s people whom he was about to call unto Himself. You see there hadn’t been a prophet in Israel for at least 500 years. And God was about to come to His creation incarnate in the man Jesus Christ. The scriptures had promised a fore runner, and Elijah if you will that will announce the arrival of the Messiah. John’s birth to a barren woman of advanced age was his first sermon to a people hungry for guidance and looking for a Savior.
At any given time, historians tell us, there were 20,000 temple priests and only 56 of them were selected by the casting of lots to officiate in the temple. So for Zechariah to be chosen to offer the incense sacrifice was a great honor. Especially if he was of advanced age his chances were running out.
So Zechariah enters the temple and the Holy of Holies alone. You might remember from the days of Moses when a Levite entered the temple they tied a rope around his foot so if he messed up the sacrifice and God struck him dead they could pull him out without any further loss of life. I bring this up to give you the idea of fear and trembling that Zechariah must have been feeling as he entered the space where only few in history were allowed by God to go.
Gabriel appears to Zechariah and tells him that his prayers have been answered, his barren wife is about to give birth to a son who will be great before the Lord and he will turn many of his people to the Lord and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit and the power of Elijah he will prepare a people for the Lord. Not to shabby of a commission for an only child.
Zechariah answers in with questions. He did a little better then Abraham who fell to the ground laughing that God told him that a 99 year old woman would give birth. You see a short 1500-2000 years ago God had made this same promise to Abraham and it came true. But just like we are today Zechariah was human and he couldn’t see any rational way that this could happen. But God doesn’t always operate in the rational, he is God he can do whatever he pleases. Just by speaking he created the universe is helping and elderly couple conceive a child really that much of a stretch?
An angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah and delivers a promise from the Creator of the Universe that his prayers are to be answered and he will have a son and a miraculous one at that; a son that will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. And Zechariah demands proof, Luke 1:18, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
As the reader of the story don’t you just want to say, “Hey Zach, my man, there is an angel of the Lord in front of you; does this happen every day? Come on dude something fantastic and beyond all human reason is happening here. Do a little more listening and a lot less talking.”
But Zechariah being a stubborn human not carrying an umbrella while he prays for rain, messes with the bull and gets the horns. Zechariah gets what he is looking for a sing as proof he is struck mute until the naming of the child. Mute until he fulfills the angel’s commission of him to name the child John; which in Hebrew is pronounced Yochanan and means “The Lord has shown favor.”
So Elizabeth becomes pregnant and she recognizes right away that this is a gift from God. However she does a curious thing she hides her pregnancy for five months. Perhaps she is afraid that her neighbors down at the local Templeabiou Coffee would gossip as to the Father of the child. “Zechariah hasn’t been able to perform in this way in the past maybe she took things into her own hands,” they might spew their poison. Or perhaps it is just too good to be true for her. After all it wasn’t like she was the one in the presence of an angel of the Lord.
I don’t think the reality of the child and his importance hit Elizabeth until Mary’s visit and her child leaped in her womb and she was filled with the Spirit. It wasn’t her human reason that brought this miracle to reality for her it was the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Possessing the Holy Spirit must a contagious thing because then Mary becomes filled and sings praises to God.
When John is born there is no more doubt and no more fear there, as the angel has promised joy; joy for this elderly couple and joy for their neighbors. Everyone realizes that the birth of this child was truly an act of God.
Jewish boys were circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. This is also the day that they name the child and everyone thought that this child would be named after his father. But Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, and Zechariah, still mute from his doubt, refused to question God again and the boy was named John. And Zechariah was cured.
Three things that we can learn from the account of the birth of John the Baptist; first when God makes you a promise it will be fulfilled regardless of what your human reason and experience tells you. And second, when you pray for something, pray expecting that it will be done for you. Our God is a God that chooses to work through every day people like Zechariah and Elizabeth and you and me to accomplish His will on earth. The Creator of the universe seeks to have a relationship with His creation in which they will trust and work with Him for the well being of our neighbor.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Sermon delievered to Waldorf College Football Team 08/23
I once knew of a little boy growing up in Iowa. He had a wild spirit and a loving heart; a heart so big that he needed a big body to contain it. Yep he was the fat kid and he was bullied and beaten mercilessly by his peers. Why did they hate him so much? He had such a loving heart and just wanted to be accepted; he just wanted to live up to whatever standard that his peers were holding him up too. But he didn’t know the standards nor could he find it within himself to live up to them.
As this boy approached high school he discovered that under the layers of fat laid a strong foundation for weight lifting. He out bench pressed everyone in his freshman class. As a freshman he was bench pressing 265 lbs. This gained him some attention and notoriety. For the first time in his life he thought he had found the standard that his peers wanted him to live up to; the more weights he lifted the angrier he got at himself for not being perfect and this sent him on a quest for physical perfection. He then discovered that he had a talent for wrestling. Every time he walked on the wrestling mat he envisioned one of his childhood bullies as his opponent. His many victories gained him more acceptances from his peers and the ones that didn’t accept him he either physically intimidated or wrote them off as losers and destroyed them verbally.
There isn’t anything that he would not do to win a wrestling match. He gouged eyes; he twisted parts of boys that shouldn’t be twisted, one of his opponents was carried off the mat on a stretcher with broken ribs. What happened to that big heart? Had it turned black in the face of competition and an attempt to live up to a standard that is understood in our society today but is never spoken of or written down anywhere?
His senior year he stood 5’ 9” and weighed 195lbs and boasted an 8% body fat. He squatted well over 600lbs and bench pressed 475lbs. He visited Veterans’ Auditorium in Des Moines twice in a quest for the title of Iowa State Wrestling Champion. But he was never satisfied. He could never live up to the goals he set and he could never fulfill the standards that he felt society wanted him to fulfill. He got angrier and angrier and his heart got blacker and blacker. He would physically assault boys in school for simply wearing white shoes. He wasn’t really angry after all; he was actually scared! He was scared that if he lost too many matches that people would see the he really was still the loser of his youth and everything he worked for would count as nothing. You see anger is never an emotion by itself; it is always covering up an inferior emotion.
His senior year he got hurt in practice of all places and placed 6th in the state tournament. 6th place behind 5 guys he had beaten earlier in the year. How could this happen? How could he let his loser self fail in front of thousands of people? He never stepped on a mat again and as far as I know has never returned to watch or take part in the Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament after that 6th place finish.
He graduated from high school and his wrestling career was over. How can he be justified now? What can take the place of wrestling and weightlifting to gain the respect and acceptance of his peers? I will give you a hint she was 5’ 1, blond and weighted 105 lbs. Sure, this was it. Growing up his uncles, his brother, and his friends all bragged about the babes they seduced. He would gain a reputation as a ladies’ man with this new girlfriend and then he would be good enough.
But this boy wasn’t the only one who thought that this girl hung the moon. She liked attention from men all men and she found another lover and left him rejected and empty. He was crushed and he went off to college a train wreck waiting to happen.
College offers many things to a broken hearted boy looking to escape from reality. But the most important thing it offered was beer! This young man found out that if he could stay drunk then he could numb the pain and drown out the feelings of insecurity. He lived on the 12th floor of a dormitory. Now I am not saying that his living arrangements were the cause of his problem, however no one on that floor made the honor roll if you know what I mean. The inevitable happened he left school and married the next girl he met.
She was a pretty gal and came from a good family. But he was way too focused upon himself and his own misery to pay any attention to her needs. He got a job as a loan office for a finance company and wasn’t making very much money but he liked the power it gave him. His thirst for money and power increased as these seemed to be the things that gained him acceptance now. With his experience in finance he took a job as a finance manager in a car dealership. At 23 years of age he was making over $100k a year. His financial success allowed him to be drunk on the best beers and wines the world had to offer. He had not yet gotten over the defeat of his past and he found a few other damaged souls in the world who made a lot of money and drank enough beer to fill a swimming pool to share in his misery.
Well his wife got into the party lifestyle and in his constant absence she fell for another man and divorced him. Their divorce was final on the day of their three year anniversary. Again he was crushed, rejected and defeat and no amount of money could make him whole again; his depression persisted and his drinking increased.
There was a hot young gal whose father was a salesman at the dealership where he worked. He started to pursue her with a vengeance. This girl is the hottest thing that ever walked the face of the earth. I have seen pictures boys this chick is smoking. With his new found negotiating skills he convinced her to lower her standards and marry him. They lived the party life together. If they wanted to fly to Jamaica for the weekend they would, regardless of the cost, money was not an obstacle. But then their lifestyle started to outspend their income. They were making over $100k/year but living like they made over $200k. Debt started to pile up as the pressure to perform to make the commission to cover the payments increased. As the pressure built the drinking increased and I think you know where this is leading.
The 911 attacks were a sad and shocking time for all Americans but it killed the car business. This boy moved his wife and 2 small children to a bigger city with a bigger dealership in hopes of outrunning the debt of their current life style. But after the 911 attacks he ended up taking a $100K/year pay cut and they lost everything. They lost their house, their cars, and their credit rating, everything except each other. Again trying to live up to impossible standards had taken their toll on this boy.
One day driving home from a party this young man heard God say to him that he could no longer live this way. He took that message seriously and left the car business to start over. But something was different he could not get this God’s message out of his head. He spent the next nine months reading every Christian book he could get his hands on. He consumed about 2-4 books a week. And read the Bible in three months. But his thirst for learning was never quenched. His pastor friends started to send men to him that had addictions and financial difficulties just like he had had. He felt a great kinship with these men and took a great joy in understanding their problems and giving them hope. He confessed all the sins of his past to his wife and she forgave him as she saw that something was different about him. He decided that he was being called to be a pastor in Christ’s church so he applied for school and his wife went to work full time.
Grand View College admitted him on a probationary period. You see he had completed his AA degree but he completed it with a 1.97 GPA. At Grand View if you come in with an AA degree your GPA starts over and all the core classes are not required. He spent the next two years studying Religion and Philosophy and worked as a chaplain part time at a homeless shelter in Des Moines.
He came to realize that only one thing kept him from ending up like these men at the shelter was that his wife took him back and forgave him. She became the example of Christ’s unconditional love in his life.
After two short years this boy graduated magna-cum-laude from Grand View College, now Grand View University, with a BA in Religion and Philosophy. With his graduation status and being inducted into three national honor societies he earned a full academic scholarship to Luther Seminary in St. Paul MN.
The boy who once tried to gain his own righteousness under his own power is now dead. If you haven’t figured it out yet that boy was me and he died; but he has now been resurrected as the man you see before you today. You see that is our baptismal vows Romans 6:4 says:
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Your “self life” must be put to death and a new creation must be resurrected if you are to be counted as righteous before God.
What does it mean to be righteous? Webster’s Dictionary defines it two ways:
1. acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin
2. : morally right or justifiable b : arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality
Webster’s definition makes it sound like there two different kinds of righteousness; 1 right before God according to His law and 2 right in human society or social morality. I would agree with Webster’s on this, I believe that there are two kinds of righteousness. However I name them by how we receive them. There is passive righteousness and active righteousness.
Passive righteousness is what we receive from God due to Christ’s finished work on the cross. This type of righteousness is like Webster’s first definition. We are right before God not because of how we lived our lives or how well we lived up to God’s divine law but because Jesus did it for us. No person can live up to God’s law to the extent that it will gain them salvation before God. Romans 3:20 says:
Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
Romans 5:20 says:
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
God’s divine law doesn’t exist as a path to earn your way into heaven. It is not some ladder upon which you climb your way up to God under your own strength and your own ability. As a matter of fact as Romans 3:20 says it doesn’t justify you it makes you aware that you are unjustifiable. The only way to earn this kind of righteousness is to be completely passive in your actions and have faith in Jesus and his finished work FOR YOU on the cross. Faith not works saves a person. Faith not works is what makes you righteous in God’s sight. It is not based upon how many games you win, it is not how many beers you can drink and still walk back to the dorm, it is not based upon how many A’s you get school, it’s not based on how many chicks that you talk into sleeping with you! It is a supernatural righteousness that is given to you as a free gift if you only believe and trust that in God's one and only Son sent to die for your sins. This I submit to you is the most important righteousness a person can posses. For this righteousness is eternal and can never be taken away from God’s chosen believers.
If I am counted righteous before God by being completely passive and cannot earn anything by being moral then why should I be moral? Why shouldn’t I just believe in Jesus and do whatever I want? The more I sin the more he forgives me right? And isn’t more grace better?
These are good questions. Why behave yourself if God will forgive you for being naughty? The book of James 2:26 says:
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Out of passive righteous comes active righteousness. A person that has been given the faith in Jesus that saves them for eternity cannot help but desire to perform this kind of righteousness. Active righteousness is like Webster’s second definition. It is the righteousness of your life while you exist on earth. This righteousness is important because it fulfills what Jesus commanded. Jesus said love you neighbor as you love yourself. This active righteousness exists not to gain your way in to heaven rather it exists for the service of and the fulfillment of your neighbors needs. After you have received passive righteousness your only purpose on this earth is for active righteousness. Have you ever wondered why when someone is given faith in Jesus that saves them for eternity they don’t just disappear into heaven? Well here is why, they stay here to live out their life in service to their neighbor. This can take on many forms. Working as a grocery store carry out boy is serving your neighbor. Changing your child’s diaper is serving your neighbor. Ethically selling your friend a car at a fair price is serving your neighbor. Drawing the plans for a building that will house people is serving your neighbor. Walking a girl safely back to her dorm from a party when she has had too much to drink is serving your neighbor. You see there are activities that are God’s work that we perform each day for His people and don’t even realize it. I would even go as far as to say that playing football is God’s work. It provides entertainment for the crowd. It gives the linemen a chance to block for the back field. It gives the defense the chance to keep the other team from scoring so that the offense can get the ball back and so on and so on. Active righteousness does not save you but those who are saved act righteously. God will complete His work for His people through you whether you believe it or not. And in life there are consequences for not acting righteously.
For instance: let’s say that a salesman overcharges a customer for a good or service. This is not acting in a righteous way and can result in a law suit or the customer may never buy from them again. One time non-repeat customers does keep you in business very long. Let’s say that your friend ticks you off and so you go and spew evil words about him to those around you. This is not only breaking the 8th commandment it also may get back to your friend and affect your friendship. Let’s say that in a fit of hormones you cave casual sex with a girl drunk at a party. That girl could get pregnant and you have not only affected one life but three. Or else you could get some disease and things will start falling off you. Well that is what my mother told me anyway.
How does one obtain this passive righteousness that leads to active righteousness one may ask? We look again to the Bible for the answer, Romans 10:17 says:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Faith that gives passive righteousness comes from the hearing of the Word of Christ preached to you by a true preacher, one who is sent by God and one who speaks with authority. Before you today stands a true preacher that is speaking to you with this authority. Not an authority of my own, you have been told of my past transgressions, rather an authority that is given by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. In the Words I have spoken to you today concerning righteousness the Holy Spirit has been delivered to you and is at work within you as we speak putting to death your flesh and creating a new creature.
Now I know that all this seems like a tall order. You might be asking yourself, “How can I ensure that I will act righteous for the rest of my life? How will become this person of integrity that God is calling me to be?” Relax; you can’t perfectly adhere to righteous action under your own power. If you could then Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come, Galatians 2:21 says:
"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
Let me get you started on the road to being a person of integrity who posses passive righteousness and acts righteously. First it doesn’t start with comparing yourself to anyone else in the world. It starts with you believing God’s promise that your sins are forgiven on account of His son Jesus Christ. Then it’s simply doing the next right thing. Whatever situation crosses your paths after you leave here today, do the right thing. How will I know what is the right thing you might ask? God’s law is written on your heart, you know what is right and wrong. If you don’t ask one of your coaches I am sure they would be glad to guide you. So let me give you a for instance: you leave here today and you are tempted to turn to your team mate and say, “What was that dude talking about man, or who is he to tell me how to live my life, or That guy is full of what I shoveled in the horse barn, or my grandfather’s favorite, That guy was as worthless as tits on a boar man!” Doing any of these would not only be breaking the eighth commandment it would be proving that you do not have ears to hear what God is saying to you. Besides it would terribly detrimental to my fragile ego.
What I am saying guys is that you were all called here to Waldorf to compete together as a team. That is not an easy task and you may not want to love and serve your teammates and coaches all the time. But God has called you here for His purpose not yours. And all that He asks is that you believe His promise to you of forgiveness of your sins on account of His Son Jesus Christ and then go and do the next right thing; and then the next, and then the next. And when you realize that you do not have the power to do any of this under your own power, pray and ask Him to give it to you.
You see I spent the first 30 years of my life trying to make it count for something through active righteousness. I wasted the first 30 years of my life trying to make it count for something through active righteousness. And it wasn’t until I failed at every attempt and had every material thing stripped from me that I believed in God’s promise and then my life and my active righteousness counted because it made a difference in the lives of my neighbors.
May the peace of the risen Christ be with you all and thank you for giving me this chance to tell my story.
As this boy approached high school he discovered that under the layers of fat laid a strong foundation for weight lifting. He out bench pressed everyone in his freshman class. As a freshman he was bench pressing 265 lbs. This gained him some attention and notoriety. For the first time in his life he thought he had found the standard that his peers wanted him to live up to; the more weights he lifted the angrier he got at himself for not being perfect and this sent him on a quest for physical perfection. He then discovered that he had a talent for wrestling. Every time he walked on the wrestling mat he envisioned one of his childhood bullies as his opponent. His many victories gained him more acceptances from his peers and the ones that didn’t accept him he either physically intimidated or wrote them off as losers and destroyed them verbally.
There isn’t anything that he would not do to win a wrestling match. He gouged eyes; he twisted parts of boys that shouldn’t be twisted, one of his opponents was carried off the mat on a stretcher with broken ribs. What happened to that big heart? Had it turned black in the face of competition and an attempt to live up to a standard that is understood in our society today but is never spoken of or written down anywhere?
His senior year he stood 5’ 9” and weighed 195lbs and boasted an 8% body fat. He squatted well over 600lbs and bench pressed 475lbs. He visited Veterans’ Auditorium in Des Moines twice in a quest for the title of Iowa State Wrestling Champion. But he was never satisfied. He could never live up to the goals he set and he could never fulfill the standards that he felt society wanted him to fulfill. He got angrier and angrier and his heart got blacker and blacker. He would physically assault boys in school for simply wearing white shoes. He wasn’t really angry after all; he was actually scared! He was scared that if he lost too many matches that people would see the he really was still the loser of his youth and everything he worked for would count as nothing. You see anger is never an emotion by itself; it is always covering up an inferior emotion.
His senior year he got hurt in practice of all places and placed 6th in the state tournament. 6th place behind 5 guys he had beaten earlier in the year. How could this happen? How could he let his loser self fail in front of thousands of people? He never stepped on a mat again and as far as I know has never returned to watch or take part in the Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament after that 6th place finish.
He graduated from high school and his wrestling career was over. How can he be justified now? What can take the place of wrestling and weightlifting to gain the respect and acceptance of his peers? I will give you a hint she was 5’ 1, blond and weighted 105 lbs. Sure, this was it. Growing up his uncles, his brother, and his friends all bragged about the babes they seduced. He would gain a reputation as a ladies’ man with this new girlfriend and then he would be good enough.
But this boy wasn’t the only one who thought that this girl hung the moon. She liked attention from men all men and she found another lover and left him rejected and empty. He was crushed and he went off to college a train wreck waiting to happen.
College offers many things to a broken hearted boy looking to escape from reality. But the most important thing it offered was beer! This young man found out that if he could stay drunk then he could numb the pain and drown out the feelings of insecurity. He lived on the 12th floor of a dormitory. Now I am not saying that his living arrangements were the cause of his problem, however no one on that floor made the honor roll if you know what I mean. The inevitable happened he left school and married the next girl he met.
She was a pretty gal and came from a good family. But he was way too focused upon himself and his own misery to pay any attention to her needs. He got a job as a loan office for a finance company and wasn’t making very much money but he liked the power it gave him. His thirst for money and power increased as these seemed to be the things that gained him acceptance now. With his experience in finance he took a job as a finance manager in a car dealership. At 23 years of age he was making over $100k a year. His financial success allowed him to be drunk on the best beers and wines the world had to offer. He had not yet gotten over the defeat of his past and he found a few other damaged souls in the world who made a lot of money and drank enough beer to fill a swimming pool to share in his misery.
Well his wife got into the party lifestyle and in his constant absence she fell for another man and divorced him. Their divorce was final on the day of their three year anniversary. Again he was crushed, rejected and defeat and no amount of money could make him whole again; his depression persisted and his drinking increased.
There was a hot young gal whose father was a salesman at the dealership where he worked. He started to pursue her with a vengeance. This girl is the hottest thing that ever walked the face of the earth. I have seen pictures boys this chick is smoking. With his new found negotiating skills he convinced her to lower her standards and marry him. They lived the party life together. If they wanted to fly to Jamaica for the weekend they would, regardless of the cost, money was not an obstacle. But then their lifestyle started to outspend their income. They were making over $100k/year but living like they made over $200k. Debt started to pile up as the pressure to perform to make the commission to cover the payments increased. As the pressure built the drinking increased and I think you know where this is leading.
The 911 attacks were a sad and shocking time for all Americans but it killed the car business. This boy moved his wife and 2 small children to a bigger city with a bigger dealership in hopes of outrunning the debt of their current life style. But after the 911 attacks he ended up taking a $100K/year pay cut and they lost everything. They lost their house, their cars, and their credit rating, everything except each other. Again trying to live up to impossible standards had taken their toll on this boy.
One day driving home from a party this young man heard God say to him that he could no longer live this way. He took that message seriously and left the car business to start over. But something was different he could not get this God’s message out of his head. He spent the next nine months reading every Christian book he could get his hands on. He consumed about 2-4 books a week. And read the Bible in three months. But his thirst for learning was never quenched. His pastor friends started to send men to him that had addictions and financial difficulties just like he had had. He felt a great kinship with these men and took a great joy in understanding their problems and giving them hope. He confessed all the sins of his past to his wife and she forgave him as she saw that something was different about him. He decided that he was being called to be a pastor in Christ’s church so he applied for school and his wife went to work full time.
Grand View College admitted him on a probationary period. You see he had completed his AA degree but he completed it with a 1.97 GPA. At Grand View if you come in with an AA degree your GPA starts over and all the core classes are not required. He spent the next two years studying Religion and Philosophy and worked as a chaplain part time at a homeless shelter in Des Moines.
He came to realize that only one thing kept him from ending up like these men at the shelter was that his wife took him back and forgave him. She became the example of Christ’s unconditional love in his life.
After two short years this boy graduated magna-cum-laude from Grand View College, now Grand View University, with a BA in Religion and Philosophy. With his graduation status and being inducted into three national honor societies he earned a full academic scholarship to Luther Seminary in St. Paul MN.
The boy who once tried to gain his own righteousness under his own power is now dead. If you haven’t figured it out yet that boy was me and he died; but he has now been resurrected as the man you see before you today. You see that is our baptismal vows Romans 6:4 says:
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Your “self life” must be put to death and a new creation must be resurrected if you are to be counted as righteous before God.
What does it mean to be righteous? Webster’s Dictionary defines it two ways:
1. acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin
2. : morally right or justifiable b : arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality
Webster’s definition makes it sound like there two different kinds of righteousness; 1 right before God according to His law and 2 right in human society or social morality. I would agree with Webster’s on this, I believe that there are two kinds of righteousness. However I name them by how we receive them. There is passive righteousness and active righteousness.
Passive righteousness is what we receive from God due to Christ’s finished work on the cross. This type of righteousness is like Webster’s first definition. We are right before God not because of how we lived our lives or how well we lived up to God’s divine law but because Jesus did it for us. No person can live up to God’s law to the extent that it will gain them salvation before God. Romans 3:20 says:
Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
Romans 5:20 says:
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
God’s divine law doesn’t exist as a path to earn your way into heaven. It is not some ladder upon which you climb your way up to God under your own strength and your own ability. As a matter of fact as Romans 3:20 says it doesn’t justify you it makes you aware that you are unjustifiable. The only way to earn this kind of righteousness is to be completely passive in your actions and have faith in Jesus and his finished work FOR YOU on the cross. Faith not works saves a person. Faith not works is what makes you righteous in God’s sight. It is not based upon how many games you win, it is not how many beers you can drink and still walk back to the dorm, it is not based upon how many A’s you get school, it’s not based on how many chicks that you talk into sleeping with you! It is a supernatural righteousness that is given to you as a free gift if you only believe and trust that in God's one and only Son sent to die for your sins. This I submit to you is the most important righteousness a person can posses. For this righteousness is eternal and can never be taken away from God’s chosen believers.
If I am counted righteous before God by being completely passive and cannot earn anything by being moral then why should I be moral? Why shouldn’t I just believe in Jesus and do whatever I want? The more I sin the more he forgives me right? And isn’t more grace better?
These are good questions. Why behave yourself if God will forgive you for being naughty? The book of James 2:26 says:
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Out of passive righteous comes active righteousness. A person that has been given the faith in Jesus that saves them for eternity cannot help but desire to perform this kind of righteousness. Active righteousness is like Webster’s second definition. It is the righteousness of your life while you exist on earth. This righteousness is important because it fulfills what Jesus commanded. Jesus said love you neighbor as you love yourself. This active righteousness exists not to gain your way in to heaven rather it exists for the service of and the fulfillment of your neighbors needs. After you have received passive righteousness your only purpose on this earth is for active righteousness. Have you ever wondered why when someone is given faith in Jesus that saves them for eternity they don’t just disappear into heaven? Well here is why, they stay here to live out their life in service to their neighbor. This can take on many forms. Working as a grocery store carry out boy is serving your neighbor. Changing your child’s diaper is serving your neighbor. Ethically selling your friend a car at a fair price is serving your neighbor. Drawing the plans for a building that will house people is serving your neighbor. Walking a girl safely back to her dorm from a party when she has had too much to drink is serving your neighbor. You see there are activities that are God’s work that we perform each day for His people and don’t even realize it. I would even go as far as to say that playing football is God’s work. It provides entertainment for the crowd. It gives the linemen a chance to block for the back field. It gives the defense the chance to keep the other team from scoring so that the offense can get the ball back and so on and so on. Active righteousness does not save you but those who are saved act righteously. God will complete His work for His people through you whether you believe it or not. And in life there are consequences for not acting righteously.
For instance: let’s say that a salesman overcharges a customer for a good or service. This is not acting in a righteous way and can result in a law suit or the customer may never buy from them again. One time non-repeat customers does keep you in business very long. Let’s say that your friend ticks you off and so you go and spew evil words about him to those around you. This is not only breaking the 8th commandment it also may get back to your friend and affect your friendship. Let’s say that in a fit of hormones you cave casual sex with a girl drunk at a party. That girl could get pregnant and you have not only affected one life but three. Or else you could get some disease and things will start falling off you. Well that is what my mother told me anyway.
How does one obtain this passive righteousness that leads to active righteousness one may ask? We look again to the Bible for the answer, Romans 10:17 says:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Faith that gives passive righteousness comes from the hearing of the Word of Christ preached to you by a true preacher, one who is sent by God and one who speaks with authority. Before you today stands a true preacher that is speaking to you with this authority. Not an authority of my own, you have been told of my past transgressions, rather an authority that is given by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. In the Words I have spoken to you today concerning righteousness the Holy Spirit has been delivered to you and is at work within you as we speak putting to death your flesh and creating a new creature.
Now I know that all this seems like a tall order. You might be asking yourself, “How can I ensure that I will act righteous for the rest of my life? How will become this person of integrity that God is calling me to be?” Relax; you can’t perfectly adhere to righteous action under your own power. If you could then Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come, Galatians 2:21 says:
"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
Let me get you started on the road to being a person of integrity who posses passive righteousness and acts righteously. First it doesn’t start with comparing yourself to anyone else in the world. It starts with you believing God’s promise that your sins are forgiven on account of His son Jesus Christ. Then it’s simply doing the next right thing. Whatever situation crosses your paths after you leave here today, do the right thing. How will I know what is the right thing you might ask? God’s law is written on your heart, you know what is right and wrong. If you don’t ask one of your coaches I am sure they would be glad to guide you. So let me give you a for instance: you leave here today and you are tempted to turn to your team mate and say, “What was that dude talking about man, or who is he to tell me how to live my life, or That guy is full of what I shoveled in the horse barn, or my grandfather’s favorite, That guy was as worthless as tits on a boar man!” Doing any of these would not only be breaking the eighth commandment it would be proving that you do not have ears to hear what God is saying to you. Besides it would terribly detrimental to my fragile ego.
What I am saying guys is that you were all called here to Waldorf to compete together as a team. That is not an easy task and you may not want to love and serve your teammates and coaches all the time. But God has called you here for His purpose not yours. And all that He asks is that you believe His promise to you of forgiveness of your sins on account of His Son Jesus Christ and then go and do the next right thing; and then the next, and then the next. And when you realize that you do not have the power to do any of this under your own power, pray and ask Him to give it to you.
You see I spent the first 30 years of my life trying to make it count for something through active righteousness. I wasted the first 30 years of my life trying to make it count for something through active righteousness. And it wasn’t until I failed at every attempt and had every material thing stripped from me that I believed in God’s promise and then my life and my active righteousness counted because it made a difference in the lives of my neighbors.
May the peace of the risen Christ be with you all and thank you for giving me this chance to tell my story.
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