This Is Good Ground

January 7, 2001

Joshua 3

One of things that some of you are beginning to know about me is my love of American Civil War history. Ken Burns’ wonderful multi-part series that appeared over a decade ago on PBS rekindled an interest in that period of history.

One of the things about the Civil war, and really any military conflict, is the ground upon which war is fought. In the movie Gettysburg, one of the frequently asked questions by the Union leaders as the battle was developing was “Is this good ground to fight a battle?” “Yes, this is very good ground.”

The ground also presented a concern to the Confederate side who failed to push the Union troops off the high ground which included a place called “Little Round Top.”

But what is true in military history is also true about biblical history. For just as geography has played an important role in the history of warfare, it has also played a role in God’s interaction with people and His plan of redemption throughout the history of humankind.

Some of these locations have through the centuries taken on spiritually symbolic meanings because they have to come represent certain types of life moments and choices.

This morning I want to highlight one such place with not just the hope and prayer that you will be encouraged to both imagine and realize the dream, the plan, that God has for you, and for us, but also with the goal of preparing us for the next eight weeks of study as we examine ways of overcoming barriers that keep you and I from experiencing the future God has for us.

This geographical feature is the Jordan River. It is not only an important life-giving feature as well as a past and present geographical boundary; it is also a place of spiritual significance at important moments in Biblical history.

One very important moment is Joshua 3. Now I am not going to read the entire chapter but will refer to certain segments today. As we walk through chapter 3, I will share three important facts that we need to remember about God’s purposes and plans for you and me.

In Joshua 1: 2-3, God says to Joshua, “Now that my servant Moses is dead, you must lead my people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you.”

Fact #1- When people in the Bible encountered God they did so at a place of significance in their lives.

The book of Joshua opens with a note of significance. Moses is dead. He had been Israel’s leader for many years.  Israel is in transition. A new leader is needed to take Moses’ position as leader. Joshua is that person.

But, it is also another significant time for the Israelites. 40 years had passed since their lack of trust and belief in God’s ability had kept them from entering the Promised Land across the Jordan that was now in their line of sight.

But, the Jordan River is not just Israelites’ entryway into the Promised Land; it is the doorstep into the future that God has for the them.

Let’s return to Gettysburg and those hot July days in 1863 for a moment. Those men in blue and gray, while influenced by geography, still had to make choices as the battle developed over those hot July days in 1863 as to how they would conduct the battle.

One of the key choices made was 20^th Maine’s bayonet charge in a desperate attempt to defend the extreme left of the Union line. They were running out of ammunition, and there were more and more confederate soldiers readying to attack. The commanding officer, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, made the decision to fix bayonets and charge the two Alabamian regiments that were attacking him.

The gallant charge is credited with saving the Union lines on July 2^nd and made Chamberlain a civil war legend. For if Little Round Top had fallen, the confederate forces could have entered the rear of the Union lines and the outcome could have been much different.

Fact #2 – People make history. But, history is also made as people encounter God at key places.

As we move into Joshua 3, a historical event of spiritual significance occurs for the Israelites because they are now obediently following God’s plan and ready to take possession of not just the land that they have been promised but also the future they had been promised.

We read in verse 5 of chapter three, ‘Make yourselves acceptable to worship the Lord, because he is going to do some amazing things for us.” And God did those amazing things right before their eyes.

For as we read in verses 15 – 17, the priests who were carrying the ark, stepped into the river, it stopped flowing to create dry ground. And they stood there in the middle of the Jordan until everyone had crossed over on dry ground.

As they walked across the Jordan, I wonder if any of them recalled the parting of the Red Sea which had occurred years before when their family members, with the Egyptian army hot on their trail, walked to freedom and deliverance on a dry seabed?

They had heard the story many times – it was a critical part of their history, their relationship with God, but they had never personally experienced anything like that – until now.

But, there was more history to be made, experienced, and written because God’s plan for humanity was involved in this crossing of the Jordan River.

Why?

Fact #3 – Our encounters, our history with God, have but one purpose – to become the people of God and to advance the Kingdom of God.

The crossing of the Jordan River was the completion of one chapter and the beginning of a new one – the book that was being written is God’s plan of redemption for you and me. Every person, every church, which proclaims the gospel is a part of this ongoing purpose.

This year, each one of us will have some rivers to cross. Each one of us will have points of significance, points of decision to make. Some of those points have to do with our relationship with God.

Some of those rivers will be ones that we have no control over. Some of them will be ones that we do have control over.

Some of those rivers will require us to make some sacrifices. It will require us to be inconvenienced.

Some of those rivers will involve our families, our jobs, our finances, and a whole host of other things that are important to us. Things that we will not have control over.

But some of those rivers will come as we walk with God and serve Him. They too will require some sacrifices, maybe big ones. They may involve our families, our friends, our finances, our work, our values, and our priorities. Things that we do have control over. They will require us to choose, as Joshua would challenge the Israelites, whom we will serve.

Rivers can be barriers or highways. It all depends your perspective and your values.

This was not the first time that the Israelites had stood on the threshold of the future that God had for them. 40 years earlier, they had had the opportunity to possess the Promised Land as we read in Numbers 13 – 15. But, they did not! They allowed fear and anxiety to grip them and they lost faith in God’s ability to do what He said He would do for them. God was grieved, God was angry with them and would not let them go in for another 40 years.

That was not God’s plan for them. He wanted them to possess that which He had already given to them – a home and a future as His people!

God has a plan for you! A good plan! A great plan! A plan that goes beyond your wildest dreams and hopes!

But, sometimes quite frankly we get afraid or we let sin into our lives and God’s plan for us is out of reach because there are barriers between God and us. Barriers that must be broken down before you can experience the great and glorious future that God has for you.

Breaking down those barriers requires joint participation with God. They require us to admit to their existence and surrender them to God. They require God’s help in overcoming them because they deal with our priorities, attitudes, belief, and habits. Barriers that require an inner change only God, with our cooperation, can make happen.

“How?” you might ask.

For some, letting go of a painful past is a way to break through to the future.

For another person, is to track or ‘see’ God at work in the everyday events of life.

For still another, it is to break out of a comfort zone, those safe places that often become walls and keep us from experience God’s great future.

Empowering our activities, all of our activities, with prayer is another way to break through the barriers that prevent us from having and experience God’s best.

Making God’s dreams our dreams is yet another way to overcome those barriers that have kept us from, as Jesus said, ‘having life more abundant.’

But, each of these barriers, and a few others we will look at, require a personal choice part. A choice to let go or a choice to give up that only you can make.

Do you want to experience the great future that God has for you? Do you want to be free from the burdens that God wants to take off and you keep hanging on to? Are you ready to cross your Jordan River and take possession of that which God wants you to have and experience and has already given to you?

It requires one thing – a willingness to let go and let God have his way. If you have willingness, even a willing to be willing willingness, then you have made the first step. God is with you and will help you.

(Tell Dave story and focus on the willingness to let go.)

The Past: Learning From or Running From?

January 14, 2001

How many of you are familiar with the Disney movie, The Lion King?

Let me share a brief summary of the storyline so that all of us can understand what I want to point out in a moment.

The Lion King is the story of a young lion named Simba and his life and family and friends. His best friend is a young lioness named Nala, his father is Mufasa, and his uncle is Scar.

Mufasa is the King, as the story opens and Simba, not Scar, becomes the next in line behind Mufasa. That does not sit well with Scar who devises a plan to get rid of both Mufasa and Simba.

Well the plan succeeds and Mufasa is killed by a stampede of wildebeests that is created by Scar’s three henchmen hyenas – Banzai, Shenzai, and Ed. Simba escapes death but is put to flight by Scar who blames Simba for his father’s death.

Simba runs for his life from the three hyenas and escapes death again when two new friends, Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog, rescue him from the desert heat.

Simba becomes friends with these two lovable creatures and one day encounters a lioness on the hunt for food and with Pumbaa in her sights. The lioness is Nala.

Well, Nala tells Simba about the condition of his family and pride and reveals in her comments of his place and authority as the real king that take Timon and Pumbaa by surprise.

Well Simba has some real soul searching to do as he wrestles with whether or not to return to his pride and attempt to take back his rightful place as King or spend the rest of his life being chased by the shadow of shame that haunts him.

He makes the decision to return and, with the help of his friends and family, takes back his rightful place as king and learns the truth that he is not responsible for the death of his father – his uncle Scar is responsible.

There is one other character that I have yet to mention, Rafiki, the wise baboon. Rafiki, in my opinion is the most spiritual character in the entire movie. He sees things and knows things and hears things and understands things that no one else does.

He is the first to discover, in a way that only someone like Rafiki can, that Simba is still alive. He confronts Simba after he is reunited with Nala with the truth that he still is Mufasa’s boy.

A hard and tumultuous struggle begins within Simba, and in one of the printed versions of the storyline, the following dialogue takes place between Rafiki and Simba.

“After a moment Rafiki joined him. “The weather. Very peculiar-don’t you think?” “Yeah. The winds are changing.” “Ah, change is good.” “Yeah, but it’s not easy. I know what I have to do, but going back means I’ll have to face my past. I’ve been running from it for so long.” “The past can hurt, but you can either run from it or learn from it.” Simba looked at Rafiki and smiled. Then he headed for the Pride Lands.”

One of the issues that is raised for me in this movie, is “how are you going to deal with your past?” Simba is presented with two ways to deal with his  – one is embodied in the message of Pumbaa and Timon ‘Hakuna Matata’ – no worries and the other is presented in the just mentioned segment with Rafiki. Simba tries both but only one brings the inner peace that he needs.

As I shared last week, we are starting on an 8 week journey that will helpfully and hopefully help you to dare to dream again God’s dreams for your life by breaking through the barriers that hold us back from experiencing the future that God has already given to us and waits to help us possess.

The first barrier concerns our past. It may be the hardest barrier to overcome because it is the most personal of the 8. But, just as God has helped the Israelites overcome their past, He stands willing and ready to help us overcome ours!!!

Wait a minute. Let me rephrase that last paragraph. God stands willing to help us overcome those parts of our pasts that keep us from embracing the future that He has for us.

Last week I shared the story of the Israelites who stood on the threshold of the future that God had already given to them. They carried a lot of stories with them into the Promised Land. Those stories were a part their history, their past. Why were they important to remember? They were important to remember because they would serve as reminders of God during the future that Israel and her people would experience.

One such story that they would carry with them is a story about the past and whether or not you choose to run from it or learn from it. It takes up 13 chapters of Genesis, basically the last 13 chapters of that book, and is the story of Joseph and his brothers.

When Joseph faces his brothers for the first time in chapter 42, he has to make a decision about his painful past and those who made it painful. Forgive and begin to let go or hang on and get back at them.

Joseph ultimately choose to forgive and begin to let go and as we read chapters 42, 43, 44, and 45 we see a process of letting go of the past and allowing God to have His way.

When Joseph meets his brothers as recording in chapter 42 he treats them harshly. He accuses them of being spies, arrests and imprisons them for three days, then tells them that all but one of them will be allowed to go free and return home with their grain only to bring their youngest brother back.

But, he also hears their cries of pain from their past, though they don’t know he speaks their language. He hears his name spoken by them and the troubled ness of their souls as they link the trouble they are in to his death.

But, Joseph can’t bear to hear more and so He leaves their presence for a moment and weeps. Why? Maybe he struggles between letting go of the past and forgiving or hanging onto the past and pay his brothers back for what they did to him.

Well he lets all of them, except Simeon go free with grain. And in their presence, ties Simeon up. Maybe it was the way he was tied up years before as they stood and watched.

But, then he does something interesting. He secretly has their money placed back in their sacks of grain, at the top of the sack, where they discover it on the journey home and which creates further fear in them and their father Jacob.

More time passes. Simeon sits in Egypt where Joseph might have seen him every day. I wonder how hard it was for Joseph to sit there day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, perhaps, and see his brother in the same situation that he had been in. I wonder if there were moments of wanting to release him and kill him.

As we move into chapter 43, the famine grows worse and finally Jacob relents and allows them to take Benjamin with them back to Egypt in the hopes of more grain and getting back Simeon and Benjamin.

They return to Joseph who meets his younger brother for the first time. Once again, he removes himself from their presence as we ready in Genesis 43:30 as is “overcome with emotion for his brother and wanted to cry.” Why?

Maybe it was perhaps the joy of seeing him for the first time. Maybe Joseph was growing tired of keeping his identity a secret. Maybe he was wearying of wanting revenge and instead was thinking about his father and maybe even was beginning to think that God brought this whole situation about for their good, for their survival as he would say in a few chapters.

Well he releases them to go back but has his silver cup placed in Benjamin’s grain sack and has them stopped and searched. Well, for the brothers it was another bad situation. This time their second youngest brother was in dire straights.

What was going to happen to them? What was the Egyptian now going to do to them?

Joseph, as we read in verse 17, makes Benjamin his slave. But, then Judah steps forward and makes a statement that I think forces Joseph to make a decision about what is going to do with his past. I am going to read both Judah’s statement starting with verse 11 of chapter 44 and concluding with Joseph’s response up to verse 8 of chapter 45:

(READ THE PASSAGE)

Two sentences stand out in that segment. “Joseph could stand it no longer.”

I think he couldn’t stand it in two ways: 1. He couldn’t stand the emotional strain of keeping his identity hidden. 2. He couldn’t stand to keep holding on to his past.

The second phrase is “God has sent me here to keep you and your families alive so that you will become a great nation.” These brothers share the same father but not the same mother. Joseph understands that their lineage is part of a great nation. That is confirmed in Matthew 1:2 where we read Jesus family tree and see Jacob, his father’s name and Judah, his brother name listed in that verse.

But that’s quite a statement to make about your painful past isn’t it? How many people do you know could say that about their painful past? “God sent me here to keep you alive!”

I think that Joseph made the decision to let go of his painful past the moment he revealed his identity to his brothers. And the brothers began to let go of their painful past the moment that both the acknowledged the truth about Joseph in chapter 42 and when Judah made his statement in chapter 44.

What about you this morning? Are you willing to let go of your painful past? Are you tired of looking over your shoulder and seeing the shadows of shame and guilt, of sorrow and despair, of anger and resentment right behind you?

That song that Susan sang earlier was a song that came to my mind in the days just after the building, which housed my former congregation, burned on December 6, 1999. It helped me to mourn and grieve the loss of a place that had seen Jonathon and Daniel dedicated to God, numerous youth activities, discussions, and events my ordination service, and many other memories take place.

That song is a song of hope. It is a song that says that the past does not have to keep us from getting back up and moving forwarding into the future that God has for us. It is a song that says to us, God brings good out of the terrible, peace out of the trouble, hope out of the hopelessness.

I would again remind you this day, God has a future for you. But, for you to start embracing that future, you have to let go of your painful past and allow God to bring healing out of the ashes of sin and disobedience, out of the dust of disappointment, out of the fog of failure.

As we conclude this morning, we are going to listen to Crystal Lewis’ wonderful rendition of Beauty From Ashes.

If you are tired of carrying the burden, the pain, the loneliness of your past, I invite you to let it go, give it to God, and let Him heal you, forgive you, restore you so that you can begin to possess the future that he already has for you. I will not say that it will be easy or an overnight event, but I do believe that you will never regret doing it.

Looking For God

January 21, 2001

A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were

excessively mischievous. They were always getting

into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief

occurred in their town, their sons were probably involved.

The boys’ mother heard that a clergyman in town had

been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if

he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, but asked

to see them individually. So the mother first sent her 8-year-old in the morning, with the older boy to see the clergyman

in the afternoon.

The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat

the younger boy down and asked him sternly, “Where is

God?” The boy’s mouth dropped open, but he made no

response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open,

wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in

an even sterner tone. “Where is God?”

Again the boy made no attempt to

answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even more

and shook his Finger in the boy’s face and bellowed,

“WHERE IS GOD?”

The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran

directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the

door behind him. When his older brother found him in

the closet, he asked, “What happened?”

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, “We

are in BIG trouble this time, dude. God is missing -

and they think WE did it!”

Where is God? That’s a question that many people are asking today. And not just people who are ‘out there’ but also those who are ‘in here.’ Today, in spite of all of the wealth and opportunities, options and abilities, there is a searching for an inner peace; an inner hope and assurance. People are looking for God or some spiritual experience to help them deal with the inner aspects of life that none of our modern conveniences and technologies offer us. How then, do we find and see God today?

Today is the second of an eight Sunday study designed to help us overcome the barriers and obstacles that keep us from possessing and experiencing the future that God has for us. We began our study last week with perhaps the hardest barrier to overcome – a painful past. We reviewed the story of Joseph and his brothers and looked on as we saw how they dealt with their past and its pain. We also saw them make a decision to let go of that pain and embrace one another and move into the future that God had for them.

Today we look at another barrier or obstacle that I would also call a challenge – tracking God’s involvement in the everyday. I don’t know about you, but there are days I find it a challenge to see God’s involvement myself. There are bills to pay, kids to feed and clothe, conflicts to resolve, decisions to make, a schedule to keep, and on and on and on. It is easy to loose sight of God, isn’t it? And our culture sure doesn’t help us keep track of Him, does it?

And yet at the same time we live in a culture that is so hungry for a spiritual experience. Just look at some of the TV programs that deal with the spiritual dimension of life – Touched By Angel, X-Files, Dark Angel and others. Some look at the dark side others look at the light side. Books on various spiritual issues are the hot items. There is a great interest in spiritual matters that we cannot ignore.

But the Christian faith offers not just a spiritual experience or a spiritual solution but a hope. A hope in a God that cares, that is personal, that wants to have a personal relationship with us, and who has a future for us. But, the challenge is to have faith and hope in this God that we cannot see or touch or smell. How do we experience, how do we encounter God? How do we ‘track’ God in the everyday experiences of life?

We really can’t ‘track’ God per se. God is spirit and He simply does not leave physical evidence lying around that says, hereeers God.

And yet there is evidence of God all around us isn’t there? Evidence that makes God credible in the everyday events of life in ways that assure us of God’s presence and work in the world. It’s spiritual evidence. We see it in a life that has been changed in a way that cannot be verified any other way other than God has been invited in to do some important interior redecorating and redesigning.

There is also the evidence of circumstances that cannot be described any other way such as a financial gift from an unlikely source that provides help in a critical time. Or an unsolicited offer for help during a critical time crunch. Or have a coming together of thoughts and ideas during a time of planning and dreaming without conscious effort.

But, what keeps us from seeing God at work and tracking his involvement in the everyday? What are the barriers to clearly comprehending God’s movement and action in our lives and the lives of those we care about? That’s the question I think a lot of us are asking these days. We don’t have difficulty accepting the reality of God. We have difficult accepting the reality that God cares for and works in, through, and around us on daily basis.

I am currently reading a book that touches on this barrier to dreaming God’s dreams and possessing the future that he has for us. Written by Philip Yancey, it is called Reaching For The Invisible God: What Can We Expect To Find? . I recommend it for your reading and growth.

On the back cover is this statement, “Life with God doesn’t always work like we thought. High expectations slam against the reality of personal weaknesses and unwelcome surprises. And the God who we’ve been told longs for our company may seem remote, emotionally unavailable.

Is God playing games? What can we count on this God for? How can we know? How can we know God?

This relationship with a God we can’t see, hear, or touch – how does it really work?”

We can resonate with those thoughts can’t we? We often, perhaps more than we care to admit, have doubts not about God but about His ability to work on our behalf. We also have doubts about our relationship with God. Is it working? Does it work? Is it making a difference? Some of us often wonder, is this all of this believing, praying, serving, giving, worshipping, doing, and going that we say is a part of Christianity, is it really true? Does it work? What good is it?

Now you might be shocked that I, a pastor, would say such things from the pulpit and admit to the existence of such things. But they are there, they lie just below the surface and they will rise up every now and then and block us from tracking God’s involvement.  I think that before we can make the decision to track God’s involvement in the everyday we need to address a few of these barriers that make it difficult to do so.

One of these barriers perhaps is one that we may have admitted to privately, perhaps to another person, but never out loud in public. And yet it is one that we wrestle with, feel guilty and ashamed about, and may be even fear that it is a terrible sin.

It is the barrier called disappointment.

Have you ever experienced disappointment in your life? I don’t know too many people that have avoided disappointment. In fact, I don’t know anyone who has.  We are disappointed on many fronts in life – with family, friends, work, our favorite sports team, government, the church, and, if we are really honest, sometimes we are disappointed with God.

Disappointment is one of the issues in the life of Jonah the prophet. Jonah was told by God to go to Nineveh and preach the message of judgment to its residents. He, of course, tells God no by running in the opposite direction. Well, as the story goes, Jonah becomes fish bait when he is thrown overboard from the ship he is on during a violent storm that he says is evidence of God’s displeasure with his disobedience.

He survives this situation and lives again to see dry land. Again God tells him to go to Nineveh and this time he does. He delivers the message, and as we read in chapter 3 they repent. This is much to the disappointment of Jonah who by his comments in chapter 4 feels that the Ninevites deserve the punishment of God.

Listen to the opening verses of chapter 4: “This change of plans upset Jonah and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it. . . . Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive because nothing I predicted is going to happen. The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

Jonah expected God to act a certain way. He admits in 4:2 that he knew God could easily change His plan of sending judgment and destruction because of His love and compassion. But then he says, ‘nothing I predicted is going to happen.’ He predicted and expected destruction. But the people earnestly repented of their ways and so God did not send judgment and destruction.  Well Jonah became angry at and disappointed with God. And Jonah was a prophet of God. Who else besides a prophet would have such a clear ability to track God’s involvement in the everyday affairs of life?

If we are going to track God’s involvement in the everyday of life, we have to acknowledge and let go of our disappointments. Our disappointment affects and influences our ability to track God because our spiritual vision becomes blurred by disappointment.  We begin looking at the disappointment rather than at God.

The solution? Take a long, hard, and prayerful look at your expectations. This will take time. It will be a challenge. Some expectations will have to go. Some will have to be lowered. Some will have to be raised.

Don’t do this alone. Find someone who can help you process this area of your life and can hold you up in prayer. The value of a partner in this regard is invaluable.

There’s another barrier that we need to examine that can keep us from tracking God’s involvement in the everyday. It too is just below surface. It too ties in with expectations and disappointments, but from a slightly different angle. This barrier is the unwelcome surprises spoken of on the cover notes of Yancey’s book that I have mentioned.

What are unwelcome surprises? An unexpected or tragic death. Cancer. A chronic illness that comes out of nowhere and slows us down. Divorce papers in the mailbox. A sudden injury that seemed preventable. An angry outburst that quickly shatters a friendship. A revelation of a secret life that affects the physical, spiritual, mental, and social health and well being of others.

They are the landmines that can lame us for a short and intense period of time or for the rest of our days on earth. They are unexpected and they challenge our faith and our assumptions about God and His character. The tempt us to look down at the raging waters, like Peter did, and start sinking into fear, anger, and bewilderment when we see them rise up around us.

These unwelcome surprises can, and do, create barriers that make it hard for us to track God in the everyday. They force us to ask the ‘why’ question. ‘Why God did this have to happen to me?” “Why God did you allow this to happen?” “Why God didn’t you stop me from doing this?”

The book of Job is a book about unwelcome surprises and our responses to them as well as other important life issues. Job is hit with the loss of his family, his possession, and his health in quick succession.

Then he has friends who sit with him and tell him, and we need to have some respect for these well-meaning friends, that he, Job, has done something wrong to deserve this punishment. Tell us what it is and confess it to God!

But, Job has not done anything wrong. He maintains his innocence. But, depression sets in and Job laments his life. In the end God speaks and neither Job nor his friends, can answer God’s questions that He addresses to them. God is behind it all. He allows it for some purpose.

Like Job, his wife, and his friends, unwelcome surprises in life come quickly and suddenly and we begin to make all sorts of assumptions about life, good and evil, personal choice, and God. Assumptions that make it hard to believe that God is good and fair and just and available to us at a moment’s notice.

What is the solution to this barrier? Passion.

Passion Jim? Passion.

Listen to Philip Yancey explain why. “As I look back over the giants of the faith, all had one thing in common: neither victory nor success but passion. An emphasis on spiritual technique may well lead us away from the passionate relationship that God values above all. . .the Bible emphasizes a relationship with a Person, and personal relationships are never steady state.

God’s favorites responded with passion. .  . Yet never did they wholly give up on God, and never did God give up on them. God can handle anger, blame, and even willful disobedience. One thing, however, blocks relationship: indifference. . .

From the spiritual giants of the Bible, I learn this crucial lesson about relating to an invisible God: What ever you do, don’t ignore God. Invite God into every aspect of life. For some Christians, the times of Job-like crisis will represent the greatest danger. How can they cling to a faith in God who appears unconcerned and even hostile? Others, and I count myself among them, face a more subtle danger. An accumulation of distractions – a malfunctioning computer, bills to pay, an upcoming trip, a friend’s wedding, the general busyness of life – gradually edges God away from the center of my life. Some days I meet people, eat, work, make decisions, all without giving God a single thought. And that void is far more serious than what Job experienced, for not once did Job stop thinking about God.”

Busyness – a big barrier to tracking God in the everyday of life. Maybe, the biggest barrier of all. We do get too busy for God and like a submarine that ends up in the deep beyond what it’s hull is designed for, we collapse upon ourselves and our dreams and hopes are crushed beneath a weight of care and worry that we do not need to bear.

Solution? Let go. Simplify your life. Let Christ, not your social calendar or community expectations or your family history, shape your identity. Ask God to help you develop a passion for Him that exceeds any other passion in your life.

God is present in the everyday. Don’t let your disappointments, those unexpected surprises, or the busyness of life keep you from tracking Him. He wants to be found and He wants to find you. Look for God in the disappointments of life. He is there.  The disappointment may be a detour in a new direction – His direction, His dream, His future for you. Look for God in the unexpected surprises of life. He may be right in front of you waiting for you to stand still long enough so you can hear Him whisper your name and know that He is God and cares for you.  Look for God in the busyness of life. He maybe in the person you sit across the dinner table from or the co-worker in the next cubicle or in the driver in front of you, or the neighbor who is trying to get rid of the ice on the roof.

He is there even when we cannot see Him or when circumstances challenge not just our faith but also our assumptions about Him. For as it is written in the New Testament, we walk by faith and not by sight.

When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River to possess both the Promise Land and the Promised Future, something interesting happened. In Joshua 5, we read that manna, a daily source of food in the desert provided by God, stopped coming.  Why? Because the Israelites were now able to grow food or gather adequate supplies and not have to depend on manna.

As I pondered that passage, I wondered if the cessation of manna created a crisis for some Israelites. They had relied on the manna for 40 years. Every morning when they awoke, there it was. Now, it was gone; never to return.

They were in new territory; they were experiencing a new history. They had to create new ways of daily living. They were out of their comfort zones. How would they deal with their anxieties in this new place?

We will look at the challenges of leaving our comfort zones next week. But, let me suggest this to you this morning: all the Israelites would have to do is look around at what God had given to them, what He had promised them and what He had delivered to them – and let Him open their eyes to see the bounty before them – and they would then know that God was present right there with them.

This morning, maybe you are looking for God because of a situation that you don’t know how to handle or have the resources for. Maybe you are looking for God because of an unwelcomed surprise that you are not sure is going to turn out well. Maybe the failures of the past have caused you to look down and not around and not up. God wants to be found by us. He wants to find us. He wants to have a personal relationship with us.

Take a look around. Go ahead; look around, . . . do you see God at work? I do.

Amen.

“God Says So”

January 26, 2001

The sociologist on an African jungle expedition held up her camera to take pictures of the native children at play. Suddenly the youngsters began to yell in protest. Turning red, the sociologist apologized to the chief for her insensitivity and told him she had forgotten that certain tribes believed a person lost his soul if his picture was taken. She explained to him, in long-winded detail, the operation of the camera. Several times the chief tried to get a word in, but to no avail.

Certain she had put all the chief’s fears to rest, the sociologist then allowed him to speak. Smiling, he said, “The children were trying to tell you that you forgot to take off the lens cap.”

On a different slant President Franklin Roosevelt made these comments sometime during his long tenure in office as our President: “Since becoming President, I have come to know that the finest Americans we have abroad today are the missionaries of the Cross. I am humiliated that I am not finding out until this late day the worth of foreign missions and the nobility of missionaries. Their testimony in China, for instance, during the war there, is beyond praise. Their courage is thrilling and the fortitude heroic.” That’s quite a compliment isn’t it?

What do you think of when you think of missions? Strange sounding names and odd diets? Tales of voodoo and native religions? Dry presentations?

Jesus told the disciples’ as recorded in the final chapter, chapter 28, of Matthew’s gospel, to GO.

Go make disciples – Go make responsible believers.

Go baptize them – Go help them publicly confess their commitment to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Go teach them – Go help them understand how to follow me and what it means to follow me.

Then in Acts 1 he gives them guidelines for that going by reminding them of what they are to become – witnesses – persons who know first hand what it means to be changed from the inside out in Acts 1:8 “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

One of the barriers to dreaming God’s dream and possessing the future He has for you and me is that God is interested not just in 111 S Oak St, not just in Kendallville, not just in Noble County, not just in the state of Indiana, not just in the United States of America, not just in North American, but in the entire world. And God’s vision includes people whose names we do not yet know in this area but also people whose names we do not yet know over there in a country in whose language we do not speak or understand.

In Romans 9:13-15 we read:

(READ THE PASSAGE)

The history of the Christian faith is filled with people who responded to the call to become world class Christians and did so in the midst of great cost to themselves and others. Here are just a few:

Matthew Culbertson gave up his commission in the United States Army to become a missionary. At Shanghai (this was in the late 1800’s) he did valiant service during the Taiping riots. A minister said to him, “Culbertson, if you were at home, you might be a major general.” The missionary replied: “Doubtless I might; men whom I taught at West Point are major generals today.”

And then went on to say this: “But I would not change places with one of them. I consider there is no post of influence on earth equal to that of a man who is permitted to preach the Gospel.”

Dr. R.A. Jaffery, the co-founder of the Alliance Bible Seminary in Hong Kong, who went to South China as a missionary, well over a century ago. He suffered from a weak heart, even as a young man, and also had diabetes. Nevertheless, Dr Jaffery began his day at 4 a.m. After his personal devotional time, he began writing articles in Chinese for the religious magazine of which he was the editor. He even designed a special desk that could be pulled over his bed to save his strength.

After some thirty years in Hong Kong, he was called to Vietnam to pioneer the Alliance work there. The church that he began had membership of more than sixty thousand Christians when he left for Indonesia, where he pioneered another ministry.

He was obedient to the call on his life until his death in a Japanese prison camp.

Some of you maybe saying, “so what, Jim? These men are ancient history.” Let me tell you about a young lady who was graduated with a degree in Mathematics and, if I remember correctly, computer science.

Her degree would have allowed her to find a very good position with probably just about any company she chose. The money would have been great and probably the position would have been secure. But, God had other plans.

She served for a year or two as a youth pastor in a Church of God congregation in Budapest, Hungry. Then she returned to pursue a master’s degree from our School of Theology in Anderson.

Then God directed her to a place called KIST, Kima International School of Theology in western Kenya.  Where she now serves. Her name is Tammie Tregellas.

Susan, the boys, and I have been privileged to have Tammie in our home. We pray for Tammie in Kenya just about every night. Here is one who answered God’s call to ministry in a far away place as a single person to cultures far different from the one in the small Kansas town she was raised in.

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?

One of the barriers that we must overcome if we are going to dream God’s dream for us is to become concerned and involved with God’s mission and work beyond our own borders. How do we do that?

There are several ways to overcome this barrier:

1. Be willing to go. To be a missionary today means more than just preaching and teaching the gospel.

Nurses and doctors are needed in areas of the world that have very little healthcare. Teachers are needed to teach missionary children. Technical people are needed to fix and maintain computers, airplanes, laboratory equipment, and a whole host of other things needed to help proclaim the gospel.

And you don’t have to go for your entire life. Many individuals have gone for a summer or month or a year or two.

Such individuals help out the career missionaries in very helpful ways. Church groups, often several churches together, go for 10 – 14 days to help with construction projects or seasonal events such as VBS or other types of ministries.

2. Put a face to missions. Ministry has a human face. Just look around the sanctuary this morning. I don’t see any robots or druids or non-humans around. I see people. We are in the people business. People are the reason that we are here.

Out in the foyer this morning are around 60 prayer cards. They are the prayer cards for our career and special assignment missionaries that are currently or will be serving on the mission field. They have left home to serve abroad or in areas of this country that are far different that where they have lived.

Select one, take it home, post in a prominent place, and pray for that person or family. Send them a Christmas card. Remember their birthdays. E-mail them if possible. Let them know that you are praying for them. It will make a difference.

We also need to work as a congregation in this area as well and I have three suggestions:

1. Let’s consider a work camp experience with another congregation to either an area of this country where we have a mission or another part of the world.
2. Let’s have a mission’s conference sometime within the next year and publicly support some specific missionaries.
3. Let’s consider developing a sister congregation partnership with an overseas Church of God congregation.

The command to Go and make disciples is our primary mission. We have a responsibility to be involved in that mission.

When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and took possession of the future that God had for them, it was part of God’s plan for us, for you, for me.

It was necessary for the Israelites to occupy the Promised Land because it was there that Jesus would be born, arrested, tried, crucified, and resurrected so that we would have the opportunity to hear the gospel and make a decision to follow Jesus Christ.

We have a similar responsibility. To Kendallville, Noble County, the state of Indiana, the United States of America, all of North America, and the entire world. We have been called to Go and make disciples. Amen.

“Jim Plays the Piano”

February 4, 2001

Twenty years ago, I was beginning a relationship with a young lady that I really thought was going to be my wife. The first date for _____  and I was to a revival service at her church just a few miles down the road from her home and out in what seemed the middle of the Illinois prairie.

Well, within a few minutes, it became apparent that there was no pianist for the service. A plea went out to the congregation, ‘Is a pianist present?’

_____  spoke up, “Jim plays the piano!” It was the first time I had ever been in this church. I did not know any of these people. They did not know me. I hadn’t played for a service in several years. I was unsure if I could play well enough for the service.

I agreed to play and the service went on. I was out of my comfort zone in this situation. But, I took a risk, and got involved and I know that wonderful Baptist congregation appreciated my participation.

What did I feel and experience during those moments of being out of my comfort zone? Well for one – FEAR!! I was scared to death! VERY UNCOMFORTABLE! All eyes fixed on me and I was very self- conscious. ANXIETY! I was anxious about my ability to perform in this environment. Every one of us has moments like this, and we will have more of them.

On this third Sunday of our journey of discovering and doing something about barriers to overcome as we dream God’s dream again, we face a universal experience – moving out of our comfort zone.

This morning, we have two individuals who will share ways of getting out of comfort zones. Their comments relate to two important aspects of our church’s purpose as well as our theme of daring to dream God’s dream and pursue the future that He has for you. One person is a member of our congregation and the other is a guest of mine this morning. I will introduce both of them in a few moments.

Two stories out of the New Testament serve as our texts this morning, 1 Corinthians 12: 4 – 7 and 27, and Matthew 5:13-16. They correspond respectively to two important aspects of our congregational mission as defined in our purpose statement: First, finding and doing our ministry in the church and second, finding and doing our mission in the world.

Now before I read the first text I want to share an insightful thought that was e-mailed me to me a couple of years ago. It is titled; It depends on whose hands it’s in.

A basketball in my hands is worth about $19. A basketball in Michael Jordan’s hands is worth about $33 million It depends whose hands it’s in¼

A baseball in my hands is worth about $6. A baseball in Mark McGuire’s hands is worth $19 million. It depends whose hands it’s in…..

A tennis racket is useless in my hands A tennis racket in Venus Williams’ hands is a Wimbledon Championship. It depends whose hands it’s in…..

A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal. A rod in Moses’ hands will part the mighty sea. It depends whose hands it’s in…..

A sling- shot in my hands is a kid’s toy.  A sling -shot in David’s hand is a mighty weapon. It depends whose hands it’s in…..

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches.  Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God’s hands will feed thousands. It depends whose hands it’s in…..

Nails in my hands might produce a house. Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands will produce salvation for the entire world.

It depends whose hands it’s in…..

As we continue this morning, I want us to keep in mind this statement: “In our hands have been placed an assignment to serve both in the church as member of the body of Christ and on mission in the world as salt and light. In our lives have been placed abilities and gifts that are to be used both within the church and out in the world.”

But one of the realities of church life is that there are problems and challenges and the New Testament contains several such problem situations and solutions to those problems. One is located in the book of I Corinthians.

The problem is really an attitude that says, “They matter but I don’t because they have the ability to do such and so and I don’t.” Paul, the first Christian missionary instructs them in what’s important about these gifts. We read a part of that instruction in I Corinthians 12: 4-7 and verse 27.

(READ THE PASSAGE)

When we profess faith in Jesus Christ and choose to receive forgiveness of our sins, we are given spiritual gifts to be used as part of our ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. These gifts, and this is the important part, are to be used for ministry to benefit the entire church. They a part of the tool bag for followers of Jesus Christ.

But, they require us to get out of some comfort zones to discover and start using them. That is a part of our church’s purpose and our first speaker _____  is going to share what it has been like to get out of his comfort zone and discover God’s future as our youth leader.

______  SHARES (Then do the honoring)

Each one of us has a place of service in the ministry of this church. To discover that ministry requires us to begin a process of discovery and testing to determine how God has gifted us, what our ministry passions and interests are, and where God wants us to be in light of all of that.

But, God also wants us involved in a mission to the world. The Christian faith has been designed to give away, to share. It is a message of second chances, of hope, of a God that cares about us and wants us to have a life worth living in the here and now.

But, that requires us to get involved outside the walls of this facility and involved in the hopes, dreams, disappointments, and fears of people out there who need to know and experience God’s forgiveness and transformation. This mission requires us to identify community needs and seek God’s direction in what needs He has called us to meet and how we are to meet them. That’s where our second passage, and our second speaker, comes in.

When Jesus gathered his first followers together, He sat them down on a mountainside and told them some very important things. Things that are recorded in Matthew chapters 5 – 7.

One of those important things he told them is symbolized as salt and light. We read about them in Matthew 5: 13-16.

(READ THE PASSAGE)

Salt and light are really simple things. They are everyday things. We are using one – light right now. They make a difference in our lives. We notice when they are not there.

Salt brings flavor to our lives and makes us thirsty. Salt represents our character, being transformed by God in such a manner that it creates a desire in other persons to want what we have. Light brings visibility to our lives. It helps us to see clearly. Light represents the purity and power of God that chases away the darkness and it confusion and terror.

Living as salt and light creates an impression in other person’s minds and hearts. But, to make that impression requires being in places and spaces in people’s lives where they are. You see salt and light is in lots of places – homes, work, the neighbors, the school, basically anywhere people gather for something. People need salt and light in their lives. We, as followers of Christ, are that salt and light. But it requires us to get our of our comfort zones.

And that is where ______ comes in. ____  is the area director of Junior Achievement. JA is an organization whose mission is to educate our children about the world of work.

Last fall, as I was introducing myself to community persons, _____ was one of those that I introduced myself to. I had an acquaintance with JA several years ago through one of the high school students who had been a member of a previous congregation was involved in JA.

______ comes to share briefly share about JA as one way to be salt and light in a world that needs it because work is a spiritual issue and this is one way to get involved with a group of people who need quality people surrounding them at a critical point in their lives.

_____, it’s nice to have you, welcome, and come and share.

____  SHARES

JA represents the many community needs that we are called to be involved in as God leads us. I am going to give one hour a week in March to share with 7th graders at Kendallville Central Middle School about the world of work.

It is taking me out of my comfort zone. I have worked with middle school students but not in that way. It has been a long time since I have been in a classroom. The subject is important because we are called to honor God in our work. But I am going to be in a new environment and I am going to be learning some new things about others and myself.

I have been saying for most of this month that God has a future for you. He does. But God has a future for everyone and He needs us to help make that future possible. That’s why he gave the great commission of making responsible and maturing followers of Christ to people and not something else. But, it requires us to get out of some comfort zones and move forward with God’s help and guidance. He won’t let us down.

1. 1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. 2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.
How did you do?
Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:
1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.
6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Easier? The lesson? The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones
with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care. And, I might add who came out of some comfort zones to do so.

This morning I am challenging you to step out of your comfort zones and begin to find your ministry in this church and your mission in the world. Are you willing? Are you ready to do so?

What does it require? A willingness to move forward, to take a risk, to maybe even fail along the way, a willingness to consider new ideas about a believers’ role in the church. A willingness to discover how God has gifted you and discover what your passions are and discover how all of it fits together.

Ready to go? Then let’s go forward! Amen!

Narrowing The Cause

The seminary that I attended and graduated from, and which I visited a few weeks ago for a seminar, is called Asbury Theological Seminary. It is named for Francis Asbury, who was sent to America from England, not long after the Revolutionary War, by John Wesley, considered the founder of the Methodist movement, which became the basis of the Methodist church both in England and here in America.

Wesley was an ordained minister of the Anglican Church, the Church of England, who encountered God, after many years of searching, one evening in 1738, after already serving for several years as an Anglican Vicar or Minister. His conversion experience, and his telling of that experience, however, caused him to lose favor with church authorities, and forced him into open air preaching on horseback all across the British Aisles.

One of things about Wesley was that he was a very well educated man. He was trained at Oxford University, one of the leading universities of the world. But, he ended up preaching to Welsh coalminers, of whom I am a descendant, to the rough street people of London, and to the working classes all across England.

God used John Wesley and there were many conversions to Christ during his ministry. One historian has credited the “Methodist Movement,” the nickname for the group that Wesley organized and led, as a major reason that England was spared from the terrible political revolution that engulfed France in the late 1700′s.

Wesley was a very insightful person. He was a very practical person. To him the Christian faith was very practical and that view led him to experiment in various fields – such as medicine – to help bring people to Christ. Wesley was also a person of strong opinions. And yet he said some amazing things about the subject of “opinions.”

“I am sick of opinions. Give me a humble, gentle lover of God and man – a man full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality or hypocrisy. Bigotry is too strong attachment to our own creed of opinion.

How unwilling men are to allow anything good in those who do not agree with them in all things. We must not narrow the cause of God to our own beliefs but rejoice in goodness wherever it appears.”

We must not narrow the cause of God to our own beliefs.

We live in a time when the word “intolerance” is used freely and practiced often. The recent Senate hearing on our new Attorney General, John Ashcroft, is one of many examples.

It seems that the dialogue that we need to have in our national life now lays across a minefield that has been created by an attitude that “narrows” the cause of freedom to a set of propositions that all must adhere to. To disagree is to invite a heap of scorn on one’s head and labels of intolerant, evil, bigoted, planted on your public persona. Such scorn and labeling, I would remind us comes from both sides of the political spectrum.

The same holds true, unfortunately, in the church. I recently was talking with a fellow Christian and we discussed several issues related to this “narrowing” of the faith. As we did so, I said to him, and I say to us this morning, “is it any wonder that so many people look at us and say, “If that’s what it means to be a Christian, then I don’t want to be one!”

This “narrowing of the faith” this “narrowing of the cause of God” has a shorthand name – prejudice.

Prejudice is a word that is emotionally charged. To be labeled prejudicial is a very woundful thing. And yet, if we are really honest, all of us have prejudice.

Andre Gide has said that prejudices are the props of civilization. History supports his statement in many ways. For instance, after the invention of the telescope, many followers of Aristotle positively refused to look through it because it threatened the overthrow of their master’s doctrines and authority.

In a more humorous vein, there is the story of tour guide who took a group through Nashville, Tennessee and pointed out highlights about the battle of Nashville during the civil war.

As he went along he pointed out different places where the confederates, often at great odds, resisted the union efforts. After several moments of this, someone spoke up and asked, “Didn’t the Yankees win anything in the battle of Nashville?” The bus driver replied, “Not while I’m the driver of the bus, they didn’t.”

Last week Corey did something that we often need to do, define terms. Do you remember what he did? He defined “comfort” and “zone” in attempt to understand what is meant by the term.

Here is one definition of “prejudice” – to cause to have opinions formed without due knowledge or examination.” One of the related words in this definition really helps us to be clear about prejudice – prejudge.

One of the barriers to the future that God has for us is our prejudice. Why? Our prejudices keep us from seeing the future, the God of the future, God’s plan for the future, and God’s working in the future.

Scripture contains several stories that deal directly and indirectly with prejudice. One story that could be examined with prejudice in mind, and one that I gave serious thought to studying today, is the story of Jonah.    A case could be made that Jonah was prejudice toward the Ninevites and did not think that they deserved a second chance. Jonah could also have been prejudice in another way – toward God and how he, Jonah, thought God should act.

But, there is another passage, this one in the New Testament, which more clearly illustrates the barriers that prejudice place before us and can keep God’s plans and purposes from happening. It is located in Acts 10.

This is a very important chapter in the book of Acts. It is important because nothing less than the spread of Christianity is at stake.

The chapter opens with the introduction of Cornelius, a Roman army officer. Cornelius is described in verse 2 as ” a devout man who feared the God of Israel, as did his entire household. He gave generously to charity and was a man who regularly played to God.”

One day however, he encounters an Angel of God in a vision. Stunned and afraid, he nervously asks in response to his name be said aloud, “What is it?”

I have to wonder at this point, “Why did the angel of God visit Cornelius?” How many days, weeks, months, maybe even years, had Cornelius been praying before this angel appears before him? “What, too, was his purpose in appearing before Cornelius?” What was God up to?

Well, the angel directs Cornelius to send two of his servants to get Peter who is in Joppa, about 30 miles away. No interstate highways or nice four lane state highways on this trip. So the journey would take at least 24 hours and the text would confirm that possibility as we read in verse 3 that the angel appears about 3 PM and that in verse 9 as Cornelius’ servants near Joppa, that Peter has his vision.

What a vision it was! It is noon. He, as was the Jewish practice, entered into prayer. Peter falls into a trance. Why did he? Was it a blood sugar thing? It was close to lunch and the text says in verse 10 that he was hungry.

God was present and he was preparing Peter for a major appointment with someone that was very different from him but who was seeking God just like he was. In fact, God was preparing the still young church for a major step into the future that He had for it.

We read about that vision in verses 11 and 12. It was sheet that held animals of all kinds. Animals, as Peter would say in verse 14, that he was forbidden to eat by “our Jewish laws.”

I wonder what Peter felt during those moments. Fear? Disgust? Anxiety? Anger? Maybe all of those things.

Now dreams are interesting experiences. They excite us. They confound us. They trouble us. They confuse us.

Peter, as verse 17 says, was “perplexed.” He was confused. He was unsure what the dream meant. Have you ever woken up from a dream and been in a state of mental uncertainty? You’re half way between conscious and unconscious. That’s an interesting place to be.

Let’s read verses 17-19 in its entirety – “Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the mend sent by Cornelius found the house and stood outside at the gate. They asked if this was the place where Simon Peter was staying. Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him,” Three men have come looking for you. Go down and go with them without hesitation. All is well, for I have sent them.”

The vision was a means to get Peter ready for this encounter – it represented the barriers, the prejudice, and the bias, which Peter had to overcome, before he could go with the assurance of God to a very important meeting with someone that he had been taught he should never associate with. The Holy Spirit has brought Peter to place where he is ready; he is open like he has never been before. Why? Let’s read on.

As we read verse 22 and forward, introductions are made and reasons for the inquiry are revealed. “A holy angel instructed him [Cornelius] to send for you so you can go to his house and give him a message.”

Two days later, Peter and Cornelius meet. Cornelius is overwhelmed with the visitor’s arrival and falls to ground before him in worship. Peter, as we read in verse 26, tells him to get up because “I am a human being like you.” Quite frankly, for Peter to say this is a big deal. Peter was still very much Jewish and part of the majority in that location. But the Holy Spirit has been working on Peter bringing him to say in verse 28 some very profound and very honest things that can help us understand the power that prejudice can having in blocking, in narrowing the work of God.

Peter told them, “You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to come into a Gentile home like this. But God has shown me that I should never think of anyone as impure.”

From that point forward redemption for all of humanity become a possibility. The Israelite thread of Christian history becomes woven into the tapestry of the rest of the world. God’s plan, God’s future, which included us sitting here at Oak and Mitchell Streets in Kendallville, Indiana on Sunday, February 11, 2001, is on its way to become a reality. God’s desire to have us back is now a possibility.

Jesus did not die for only a certain group. He died for all of us. His mission, our mission, is to tell others, like Peter did in Cornelius’ home that day, of Jesus and what he did for them no matter who or what they are. But, there is also something else that happened as well.

As Peter tells his story we read in verse 44, the Holy Spirit comes and falls on “all who had heard the message” and as we read in verse 45, “The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles, too.”

As further evidence of God’s plan, the Holy Spirit becomes available to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and accepts Him as the Son of God and His forgiveness of sins. No longer is God’s spirit only active in a certain group. The Holy Spirit is a part of every believer’s life!

In this early history of the church, there was a very real danger of what Wesley called “the narrowing of the cause of God” taking place. The issue was over what was acceptable and what was unacceptable as measured by a set of laws and rituals that were outdated and inconsistent with life, message, and actions of Jesus Christ.

Since that early history the church has always had to do battle with the tendency to want to “narrow” the cause of God. What is the cause of God? “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” And “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciple to obey all the commands that I have given you.” That is the cause of God. It is about lives being changed. Relationships being reconciled to God and to others.

But, we are always a few steps away from “narrowing the cause” of God and one of the main ways that we do so is when we let our prejudices rather than the Holy Spirit guide our decisions, choices, and attitudes. That is wrong.

For us to possess the future that God has for us personally and congregationally, we need to let go of those attitudes that keep us from seeing the future, the God of the future, God’s plan for the future, and God working in the future. Let’s be obedient to the Lord today and yield to the Holy Spirit, as we need to so that we do not narrow the cause of God that He has called us to forward in this, the 21^st century. Amen.

The Danger of Letting God Go By

February 28, 2001

Luke 10:38-42

(Enter from left side of platform in apron carrying pots, pans, phone receiver, and pen. Have “ringers” ring-ring, three times, first time – mom, second time – pastor with a request, third time – God)

Have you become too busy to pray, to seek God? Do you find that your schedule and the demands of that schedule has become a barrier to the future, the plan that God has for you? If you do, do you wonder what can be done about?

I struggle with busyness as well and sometimes I have discovered that the only thing that I can do in overcoming this barrier is to let go (drop all but one of the pots and pans) of many things and hang onto the one thing that helps me refocus on my personal relationship with God – prayer. (Remove apron)

Aren’t we also glad God doesn’t have voice mail?  Most of us have now learned to live with “voice mail,” as a necessary part of our daily lives.

But have you ever wondered what it would be like, if God decided to install voice mail?

Imagine praying and hearing the following: Thank you for calling Heaven.

For English, Press 1,

For Spanish, Press 2,

For all other languages, press “O.”

Please select one of the following options:

Press 1 for Requests

Press 2 for Thanksgiving

Press 3 for Complaints

Press 4 for all other inquires

I am sorry; all of our angels and saints are busy helping other sinners right now. However, your prayer is important to us and we will answer it in the order it was received. Please stay on the line. If you would like to speak to:

God, Press 1

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In this sixth Sunday of our journey of discovering God’s plan and God’s future for us, we must confront a barrier that is a constant challenge and quite frankly, in my opinion, a social badge of honor – busyness.

I am not talking about involvement or commitment. The Bible is clear that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be involved in helping to fulfill the great commandment of loving God and others and the great commission of making disciples. These commitments, these involvements, require prayer. We cannot honor or fulfill them without being connected to God through prayer. Prayer is the power link to helping these commandments become reality.

What I am talking about is over involvement and overcommittment. I am speaking of a busyness that misses the point of our faith – a transformed life. A person who places a ladder on a wall and climbs up to the top, peers over the edge, and discovers, that the ladder is leaning on the wrong wall, characterizes such a life.

The Christian faith and life is not about busyness, but about faithfulness. It is not about filling our lives and calendars but about a fulfillment that satisfies.

As we survey our cultural landscape I think that is safe to say that there are several motivators, several fuels, to our busyness. Two obvious ones are fear and anxiety. But there is another fuel, one that is often driven by fear and anxiety, it is called significance.

Another word for importance is significance. There is a drive in us to be significant, to make a difference. We want to make a difference. We want to count for something. We want to be remembered as making a contribution to something or for something.

I see this tremendous need, this tremendous drive and hope in wanting to be significant, to be important, illustrated in a story that I received sometime ago.

Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street kid was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it.

“Is this your car, Mister?” he asked. Paul nodded. “My brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was astounded. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing? Boy, I wish…” He hesitated. Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.

“I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brother like that.”

Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, and then impulsively he added, “Would you like to take a ride in my automobile?” “Oh yes, I’d love that.”

After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes aglow, said, “Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?” Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again.

“Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked. He ran up the steps.

Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to the car.

“There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And some day I’m gonna give you one just like it…then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”

Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.

When I reread this story this week in the context of today’s message, I saw two sources of significance at work. One located his significance in what he had and the other located his significance in what he was.

I also noticed that busyness played a great role in one life than in the other one and that this busyness was challenged as he heard and observed a significance coming from an entirely different source.

I truly believe that this desire, this drive, for significance is God-given. It is one of the things that make us different from the rest of creation. We want to count. We want to matter. We want to make a difference in life.

The important question becomes, “How do we get significance and where do we find significance?” This is where prayer enters in because prayer, real and honest prayer to God, can help us located the true source of significance and keep busyness from controlling us. This “significance source” is found in a relationship and there is a Biblical story that illustrates this truth.

It is located in Luke 10:38-42 and it involves Jesus and two dear friends of His – Mary and Martha.

(READ THE TEXT)

Busyness is not a 21^st Century problem. It has always been a problem and we see it illustrated in this passage.

Mary and Martha illustrate the two basic ways many people approach life. Some are like Mary; laid back and easy going. They do what they have to do but other things are more important to them and they enjoy those things more.

Others are like Martha. They are driven and full of energy. Sitting around drives them crazy. They get involved and off they go!

Jim, are you saying that being committed to or involved in something is wrong? No, I’m not.   What I am saying and is that busyness or over commitment or over involvement can place us in danger of letting God go by.

In this passage we see that

Jesus himself has come to Mary and Martha’s. God is visible and humanly present in their home.

He is on His way to Jerusalem, not His final journey there, to be sure, but He is traveling and stops to visit them.

I wonder if Martha greeting Him with her arms full of pots and pans? Could she have dropped them when she saw Him, and the 12 twelve disciples as well, coming down the road? Dropped them not in joy but in shock? Here are 13 extra persons for dinner. How would you feel?

The text does not seem to give evidence of that kind of a response. In fact, the text says, “Martha welcomed them into her home.” Martha wanted them there.

But, the problem, and the source of tension in Martha’s heart are indicated in verse 40 and 41: “But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

Jesus Christ himself is in her very presence. He is standing right in front of her. I don’t know about you, but I would love to exchange places with Martha.

But, Martha is too worried, too busy perhaps? about dinner. She is in danger of letting God go by because she is involved in the wrong kind of way. She is committed to the wrong objective.

Jesus’ words in verses 41 and 42 are shock to Martha and to a lot of people, “you are so upset about all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it – and I won’t take it away from her.”

What is that one thing? That one thing that Jesus said Mary has discovered?

It is a relationship with God. And that is where prayer comes in. If we want our lives to count, to be significant, prayer is a very important and primary way to live that kind of life. Why? Because it is prayer that can help us stay away from the wrong kind of busyness that forces us onto a treadmill of larger and larger expectations that can take us farther and farther away from God.

In the opening paragraph of his book Too Busy Not To Pray, Bill Hybels says, “From birth we have been learning the rules of self-reliance as we strain and struggle to achieve self-sufficiency. Prayer flies in the face of those deep-seated values. It is an assault on human autonomy, an indictment of independent living. To people living in the fast lane, determined to make it on their own, prayer is an embarrassing interruption.”

If we dare to dream again and embrace God’s dreams for us, prayer must become an embarrassing interruption.

It must interrupt us in the throws of temptation. It must embarrass us when we think that we are able to do it all alone. It must challenge us when we start to seek a short cut in our fear and impatience that would end up leading us to a dead end.

Martha was in danger of letting God go by. We face the same danger – individually and congregationally.

Jesus had more for Martha that what she imagined. He wanted her to dream and realize the Father’s dream for her. God had a big plan, a wonderful plan, and a magnificent plan for Martha. But Martha was too busy; she was over committed to something that from Jesus’ point of view was not significant. She was focused on the wrong thing.

We face the same danger. There are so many choices for us. There are so many things crying out for our time, money, and loyalty.

Now many are worthy and important. But, they can suck us into to franticness of mind and soul that lead us away from God and His plan, His future, for us. There are plenty of things to keep us busy. There are a few things that will keep us fulfilled, as God would have us be.

For us to dream God’s dream and possess the future that He has for us, that is possible only through prayer and not a frantic busyness that causes us to lose sight of God.

As we pray, as we seek God’s purposes and will for us, we can begin to understand what God wants. And then, we are able to focus on what He requires of us and not the hundreds and thousands of other things that clamor for our attention.

I close this morning with this question; “If Jesus came to your house today, what room would he find you in?” Amen.

A Dominating Dream

February 25, 2001

Matthew 25:14-16

Charlie Brown is at bat. STRIKE THREE.  He has struck out again and slumps over to the bench. “Rats! I’ll never be a big-league player. I just don’t have it! All my life I’ve dreamed of playing in the big leagues, but I know I’ll never make it.”

Lucy turns to console him. “Charlie Brown, you’re thinking too far ahead. What you need to do is set yourself more immediate goals.”

He looks up, “Immediate goals?”

Lucy says, “Yes. Start with this next inning when you go out to pitch. See if you can walk out to the mound without falling down!”

Someone has described determination as the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then just eat one of the pieces.

Determination is a highly valued character trait that is again and again talked about at many levels of life and which so many of us trying to develop and maintain.

Probably this is nowhere as clear as in sports. Think of determination – and the late Dale Earnhart comes to mind. Whether you liked him or not, he was a determined competitor who made his mark on auto racing here in America.

One of things behind Dale Earnhart’s success and his determination was his dream to be a successful racer.  He grew up in a family where racing was a part of life.

In one of the interview clips aired on ESPN last Sunday night following the announcement of his death at last week’s Daytona 500, he made this paraphrased statement, “While other guys in high school were focused on football or another sport, I came home from school, changed clothes and headed down to the track to see what was going on.”

Many of us have people in our lives we admire for the determination they display in their life. We have family members, friends, co-workers, and schoolmates who despite physical or other kinds of impairments inspire us, and sometimes shame us, with their grit and determination.

Behind their determination is a dream that fuels their motives, plans, and goals

God has dreams for us. He has a dream for you and He has a dream for me. One of His biggest dreams is that we have a right relationship with Him through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that comes when we acknowledge or confess the sins, the wrongs that we have done.

But He has other dreams for us as well. He wants us to live life more abundantly. He wants us to experience a peace that goes beyond description and certainly beyond what passes for peace in this culture. He wants us to find meaning and purpose in this life through serving and following Him day in and day out. God has a dream for us.

But, we also have dreams for God. We have expectations about God and how He is going to do for us. And while we live in a time and place, in which we cheer and applaud people who achieve a quality of life through determination brought about by great dreams, and which only a few generations ago would have been impossible, we also live in a time where there are a lot of selfish dreams as well.

One of the challenges to living out the Christian faith is dealing with dreams that really are not God’s dreams. They are really are our dreams although we may dress them up in spiritual clothes and proclaim them to be from Him.

This challenge is a challenge that we will always struggle with because it is a part of our fallen human nature, which is very self-centered from the start. To dream God’s dream for us, to possess the future that He desires to give us – a good future, a future in which our welfare is of high importance to Him, we have to let go of our selfish dreams and be willing to dream God’s dreams.

On this next to last Sunday of our journey toward again dreaming God’s dream, we must acknowledge, examine, test, and let go of our most dominate dreams. Failure to do so will keep us from letting God’s dreams for us become our dreams as well.

There are many examples in scripture of letting our dreams get in the way of God’s dreams. One of the first is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve is tempted to dream of life as being like God. When she decides to do so her dream, and that of Adam as well, becomes a nightmare that warps the entire human race as sin enters the world.

Then there is Abraham and Sarah. Even after God tells Abraham that he is going to become a father to a great number of people, and Abraham believes Him, Sarah takes matters into her own hands and tries to fulfill the dream in her way only to make matters worse.

There are other stories in scripture in which a self-centered dream creates problems and movement away from God. But, there is one story that features a dream that is perhaps the most demanding and dominating dream from the human side of scripture.

It shows the dark side of human nature. This dream lurks in the shadows. In fact, it lurks in the shadows of Jesus’ life and ministry.

This dream dominates the one in whose mind and soul it takes shape. I believe that it creates a growing anger and disappointment with Jesus as time goes by and then helps to facilitate His arrest, “trial,” and death by crucifixion.

This dream is hard to define because we have to somewhat read between the lines of scripture without reading more than what needs to be there.  But in order to define and understand it as a dream that, while used by God to accomplish the greatest dream of all, the dream, the hope, the will of God for the forgiveness of sins, we must first look at the actual fulfillment of it. A fulfillment that turns tragic.

What is this dream, a dream that is self-centered, a dream that dominates the mind and heart of the one who attempts to carry it our? It is the dominating dream of Judas Iscariot and its fulfillment in his betrayal of Jesus.

This morning we read one account of his betrayal that is located in Matthew 26:14 – 16.

(READ THE TEXT)

Why did Judas betray Jesus?

In reading Luke 22 we find that Judas meets with the leading priests and devises a plan to betray Jesus without creating a riot and does so with a substantial remuneration.

In reading John 12, we find a comment on Judas in verse 6 “he was a thief who was in charge of the disciples’ funds, and he often took some for his own use.”

In reading Mark 14 we find that Judas was promised a great reward and so he began to look for a way to betray Jesus.

All of the gospel writers therefore mention Judas’ betrayal and most of the accounts mention the financial aspects of Judas’ betrayal. Some of the accounts mention that Satan enters Judas and this ‘entering’ makes Judas seek to betray Jesus.

Therefore it would seem that greed was the main reason that Judas betrayed Jesus. In other words, Judas was not, as we often say, “sold out to Jesus.” He “sold Jesus out!” But, why did Judas do so? He had a dream that included Jesus but it was not God’s dream.

Have you ever been betrayed, sold out by someone close to you? It is very, very painful, isn’t it?

For some reason, greed became a motivator in Judas’ heart and dreams. We do not have full and clear scriptural evidence for the reasons why this is so, but some of the Bible scholars who have spent many years studying these passages have ideas for the betrayal beyond the clearly stated reasons in the texts.

One has suggested that Judas decided on this course of action in order to force Jesus to use His power and bring the Kingdom of God into existence on earth. This parallels the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 to use His power to get food. We simply do not know the reasons why, other than greed and a whole host of other motivations, hidden to us, but simply a part of human nature, Judas betrayed Jesus.

But, there was an expectation on the part of Judas for something from Jesus. Judas had a dream. Maybe it was a political dream. Maybe it was a desire for Jesus to establish His kingdom on earth and overthrow the Romans.

Or maybe it was that Judas saw Jesus not as the Son of God, but a great social reformer who could make a greater impact. Judas perhaps had great dreams of being part of a great and highly public reform movement if for no other reasons than to line his own pockets.

But, the bottom line is that Judas’ dream was not God’s dream and the result was tragic. Suicide was the result.

God has a dream for you, for me, for us. It is the best in the world because it is God’s dream. And His dream is the perfect dream because His ways are perfect, they are right, they are good, they love and they are what we truly need.

But, they are also demanding of us. They require us to give up our dreams, our goals and make His dreams, our dreams.

What is your most dominating dream at this point in life? Is it God’s dream for you? How can we know?

Here are several ways to seek to know:

1. Does my dominating dream line up with the Bible? God has given us the Bible to know how to live His way. It is a written record of God’s dream for humanity. We must place our dominating dream beside our personal study of scripture and check it out very carefully. This takes time.
2. Have I shared it with spiritual mature persons who have asked me hard questions about it? “Hey, Jim, that’s a lot to ask!” you say. Yes, it is. But, I have learned over the years that when Susan and I have, independent of one another, found ourselves in agreement on major decisions, that to us has been God’s confirmation. I have learned over the years, to listen to Susan, because I believe that God lets her in on some important things. This is not the case in every situation to be sure, but I have discovered asking for God to confirm leadings and directions through other spiritually mature individuals helps to confirm whether or not these ‘dreams’ are from the Lord.
3. Does my dominating dream draw me closer to or lead me away from God? This is a hard one to often determine. However, if we use the first two means previously mentioned, then it may make the answer to this question very clear.

God has a dream for you. He wants to show it to you. It is part of His larger will for your life. But, are you willing to give up your biggest dream for His?

I am reminded of the story told by the previous president of Asbury Seminary, Dr. David McKenna.  Nearly 50 years ago, he was a student at Asbury. He however did not feel a call to the ministry per se, but to college teaching and administration. However, he felt he needed to attend ATS as part of his education.

During his time as a student he sat in a chapel session and heard a missionary from India speak, JT Seamands, who was to become a professor at Asbury later on. As Seamands spoke, McKenna began to feel the movement of the Holy Spirit in his heart to the point that he was now wrestling with whether or not God was calling him to the mission field.

A struggle ensued in McKenna’s mind and heart for a period of time. He had a dream of being in college administration. He believed that to be his calling.

He finally came to the decision where he was willing to go to the mission field if that is what God’s dream was for him. When he placed himself in God’s hands, he soon had a confirmation that college administration was truly God’s will for him.

Dr. McKenna went on to be the president of Spring Arbor College in Michigan, Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, and Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky.

God reconfirmed David McKenna’s dream of college administration only after he let go of it and allowed God’s dream to be his dreams.

God has a dream for you. God has a dream for us. Are we willing to let go of our dreams that block us from not just dreaming, but experiencing God’s dreams? I pray that we can. Amen.

Make Butter

March 4, 2001

2 Corinthians 6:8-10

Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl,

One was an optimistic soul;

But the other took a gloomy view,

“I shall drown,” he cried, “and so will you.”

So with a last despairing cry,

He closed his eyes and said, “Good-bye”

But the other frog, with a merry grin,

Said, “I can’t get out, but I won’t give in!”

I’ll swim around till my strength is spent.

For having tried, I’ll die content.”

Bravely he swam until it would seem

His struggles began to churn the cream.

On top of the butter at last he stopped

And out of the bowl he happily hopped.

What is the moral? It’s easily found.

If you can’t get out – keep swimming around!

One of the great novels of English literature contains the memorable sentence, “They were the best of times, they were the worst of times.”

We can say the same thing about this time in history. There are incredible things happening that allow us to live longer and live better.

Even though we are in a bumpy job market, there are more jobs available than ever before. Our standard of living, though not shared equally by everyone, is nonetheless the highest in human history.

We have more opportunities to learn and study than ever before. I went to a college in Illinois that is a member of the Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities. While I was a student the Coalition had one study program, a semester in Washington, D.C. Now they have ten which allows you to study in places like China, Russia, the Middle East, and Latin America, or if you are interested in making a difference for the better in the entertainment industry, one that allows you to spend a semester at the Los Angeles Film Studies center. I am a might bit jealous.

But, we also live in the time of Columbine, of hate crimes, of workplace violence, of domestic violence, and a host of other serious problems. We have lost our moral compass, many columnists have written, and we are at odds with one another over how to find our way back.

Which view of our times do you take? “What a great time to be alive!” or “Where is it all going to end?”

As we conclude our journey this morning of understanding how we can “Dare to Dream Again” by breaking through barriers that hold us back, we come again to another important decision; “Are we going to major on the Good News or the bad news?”

Some time back a colleague and I were talking about God’s grace and how we both struggle with its offer to us when we seem to be looking up at our dungeon escape hatch much like Joseph did before his brothers sold him into slavery.

My friend said to me something that has stuck with me ever since, “Grace is rooted in reality.”

Yes these are tough and difficult times as we face personal and social problems that seem insurmountable. But, God’s grace, God’s favor, God’s mercy is rooted in the reality of the human condition. And that is Good News!

How then are we going to respond to the life and times that we currently live in? Are we going to naively draw on our great American optimism or are we going to retreat into a cocoon of despair and pray for the second coming to happen sooner than later?

Once again scripture offers us guidance as to how to respond in our times. We turn to read the words of one who saw the good along with the bad as he sailed, walked, ran, and rode throughout the Mediterranean world and shared the Good News as being possible through and beyond the bad news.

That person is Paul, who wrote a substantial portion of the New Testament. His statements in 2 Corinthians 6:8-10 can help us major on the Good News in the midst of the bad and begin to dream God’s dream once again.

(READ THE PASSAGE)

In the course of his journeys Paul was shipwrecked, beaten, stoned, jailed, and harassed. All for proclaiming a gospel of forgiveness and second chances. A message that majored on the Good News and not the bad news.

Paul “made butter” in those circumstances because the grace he proclaimed was rooted in reality. If we are going to dream God’s dreams for us again, if we are going to trust God and one another for the future that he has for us, and if we are going to let go of the barriers that keep us from that future, then, rooted in the reality of God’s grace, we are going to have to major on the Good News and not the bad, we are going to have to make butter.

This passage of scripture helps us to see and understand how to make butter in spite of circumstances and situations that seem hard to not just accept but over come as well.

Paul made butter because his confidence and trust was in God and His message and ability. The message Paul proclaimed was simply about Jesus Christ and His saving grace.

Paul’s ego was not tied up in the message. His ego was given up to God. This surrender made it easier for Paul to major on the Good News because it was not dependent upon his performance and ability but on God’s.

So many problems are created by egos that are larger than the RCA dome. The world, I would remind us, does not rise and fall on us. Thank God!

As I read these words, I sense a serenity and a peace that comes from a surrendered soul who is sure of Himself because of what His God has done to him as well as for him.

Another way Paul broke down barriers and dreamed God’s dream is that he was able to keep in mind the reason for his circumstances. He was where he was because he was doing the right thing.

That is not often the case for us. We are often where we are because we have done, or focused on, the wrong thing. This has been painfully illustrated in the lives of many professional athletes who have ended up on the bottom instead of at the top.

Paul stayed steady even during those “heart aching” times because he knew that he was right where he was supposed to be.

Paul also made butter because while he experienced the emotions of joy, sorrow, frustration, and sadness, he knew that these were entryways into a greater depth of living.

So often we stop dead in our tracks when our emotions overwhelm us. It almost as if we don’t have or make time to allow our feelings to teach us something important about our actions, priorities, and choices. Emotional pain is not given a chance to run its course, in the right kind of way, and so we carry it around or it comes out in acts of violence.

Paul seems to give evidence in this passage that he does not let the emotional pressure of his mission stop him cold. That is one of the ways we major on the Good News – we acknowledge and accept the emotional ups and downs of life – and we give them to God to help us grow forward.

I am concerned these days that those of us who say that we are Christians in the traditional and Biblical sense of the word, have become defensive and disillusioned. I fear that we have spent so much energy on the bad news that it seems as if the Good News we say we believe has become like a foreign language to us.

The Good News is based not on techniques, political alliances, or seminars, it is based on the awesome, overwhelming power of God to change us in ways that nothing else can. But, I fear that we have forgotten that in our quest for security and comfort, success and fame, and peace and quiet.

These are exciting times to be alive. I feel like I was made for this time in history. There are so many interesting and fascinating things to do and, quite frankly, to have.

But, I am afraid that the human soul is in bad shape. We have so much. But we are hurting so deep.

We can communicate around the world at the click of a mouse, yet we sit silent, and even exhausted, at the dinner table a few inches away from our families.

I am reminded of a song that illustrates this dynamic of life. Recorded a few years ago by the contemporary Christian group Big Tent Revival, it says a great deal about the difference between majoring on the Good News and majoring on the bad news.

Song: Two Sets of Jones’

The one couple survived because they majored on the Good News. The other couple did not because they majored on news that turned out to be bad news. Which is true for you? Amen.

Learning To Live A Life

March 11, 2001

While on a trip to Switzerland, an America businessman was watching a Swiss clockmaker carving the case of an ornate cuckoo clock. As the businessman watched the clockmaker carve out the case, he was astounded at his slow rate of progress. The businessman finally said, “My good man, you’ll never make much money that way.” “Sir,” the clockmaker replied, “I’m not making money, I’m making cuckoo clocks.”

What are you making these days – a living or a life?

We begin today a three-week study on stewardship that will end on April 1st with One Great Day of Giving of which you will hear more about next Sunday.

Stewardship – what is it? What does it mean? It is one of those ‘religious’ words that we like to use and yet it is a very important principle in our lives no matter what we do or who we are. Here is one definition of what it means to be a steward -one actively concerned with the direction of the affairs of an organization.

One of the assumptions we make about stewardship is that it is always and exclusively about money and that is not true. This definition of steward is broad in its scope because a steward, whom we could today call a manager, must concerned about all aspects of an organization not just money.

God has given to us three tools that we are to use if we are to live a life as a good steward, a good servant, and a good manager of Jesus Christ.  Those three tools are – time, treasures, and talent. They are the means that God gives us to make not just a living but a life.

And I would remind us today that the bottom line for us as both a person of Jesus Christ as well as the people of Jesus Christ is not financial but spiritual. “Why?” you might ask. Stewardship is about the choices we make because of who we are – our character in other words.

Jesus spoke several times in the gospel about stewardship and about being good stewards. He did so because God is concerned about what kind of character we are developing because our character is a very clear demonstration about our commitments and values. Our character testifies, if you will, about what we really believe.

How do you spend, how do you use your time? How do you spend, how do you use your treasure? How do you spend, how do you use your talents? The answer to these questions will help us determine what kind of stewardship we demonstrate in our lives.

Today, we are looking at our stewardship of time. Now compared to talents and treasures, all of us have the same amount of time – we each have 24 hours in the day. Some of us have more treasure than others and some of us have more talents than others. But, we all have the same amount of time.

How do you spend your time?

How much time do you spend on family life, financial management, personal growth, physical health/fitness, social life, spiritual life/growth, and work? I know that we are different places in our lives and some of you are saying what social life?  And work? I gave that up years ago!

(OVERHEAD UP)

Tne of the biggest challenges many people face is time management. In fact, millions of dollars are spent every year on time management seminars, books, and tools in order to help a person better manage their time.

( OVERHEAD UP)

Here is a web page from one such organization. They offer a lot of products, services, and publications to help us better manage our lives. They use terms like balance and principles, and personal effectiveness in their marketing. But, do they work. This particular company offers some personal calendars that some of my friends have used. They like them. But, they still struggle with time management. They still struggle with life management.

Here are some statistics from recent Gallup Polls on how we spend our time:

(OVERHEAD UP)

This one is from an August 4, 1999 poll:

• The Average American to Spend 13 Days Vacationing This Summer.
• From two different polls – one in May 1998 and one in May 2000 indicates that of those surveyed who drive themselves to work; the time has increased by 2 minutes. Average driving time in 1998 was 24 minutes compared to 26 minutes in 2000.
• A yearly poll asks, “In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in your personal life?” This past January of those who were satisfied was 85 percent. The lowest recorded was in July 1979 at 79 percent.
• Finally here is another poll that is done at least yearly regarding Bible reading. The most recent is October 2000 when 16% said they read the Bible daily, 21% weekly, 12% monthly, 10% less than monthly, and 41% rarely or never. The highest percentage of daily reading was in November 1990 when 17% said they did so, 23% weekly, 13% monthly, 25% less than monthly, and only 20% rarely or never.

What would be your response to these surveys?

Recorded in Matthew 25:1 – 13 is a story from Jesus toward the end of His life and ministry that is about time. It is the story of the 10 bridesmaids.

READ THE PASSAGE

Jesus uses a very familiar custom of that day to educate His audience on the need to be prepared in light of the final coming of God’s kingdom.

The custom He is referring to deals with the travel of the bridegroom and his party to the brides’ home to get her to complete the yearlong engagement, by returning to his home where the marriage feast was held and the marriage is formally recognized.

The ten women are a part of the group that is prepared to return to the bridegroom’s home and be a part of the celebration. But, as we note in verse 2, five are wise and five are foolish.

Five take the time to make sure that their lamps are ready to be used and the other five don’t. And as the time comes for the bridegroom’s arrival the foolish five aren’t ready. They are left behind because they did not take the time to be prepared. Why? Is it because they did not think that the bridegroom would come when he did? Is it because they thought other things were more important?

This passage clearly illustrates Jesus’ statement regarding humanity’s readiness in light of His return. And this overshadowing reality of Christ’s return brings a very important perspective on stewardship.

It brings an eternal perspective. One which should make us think about the long-term implications of how we spend our time in either creating a living that comes and goes over the course of time or a life that will be judged worthy of God saying to us, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Earlier I noted that the web page that I showed mentioned the issue of balance. That is very important in our stewardship of time and is where I struggle in my use of time.

I get into this ‘either/or’ attitude about so many things in life. I have learned over the years that many things are not ‘either/or’ but ‘both/and.’ There is only one important ‘either/or’ and that is ‘either we give ourselves totally over to God through His saving grace or we don’t.’

(OVERHEAD UP)

Stewardship is about balance. Good stewardship of our lives is about making time for these seven important areas of our lives. They are all important. They are a part of being God’s steward. God’s manager. God’s servant.

Which reminds me of a very important point. Jesus speaks of God’s kingdom in the passage that we have read this morning. Now, we are responsible for own lives and actions. But, if we have made the choice to follow God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then we are stewards; we are managers, of God’s kingdom. And like working for someone else, there are certain expectations present.

God expects us to be involved in the ministry of a local church. He has given us gifts and talents, which we will look at in two weeks, and as part of the stewardship of our lives, expects us to identify, develop, and use them as members of His family.

“If you had a bank, writes Robert G. Lee, that credited your account each morning $86,400, that carried no balance from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and finally every morning cancelled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent – of course?

Well, you have such a bank and its name is ‘time.’ Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off – as lost – whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries no balances. It allows no balances. It allows no overdrafts. Each day the bank named ‘time’ opens a new account with you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits the loss is yours.”

Take off your watches and hold them up. If you have a personal calendar get it out and hold it up. We all have the same amount of time.

If we are going to exercise good stewardship then we must give our time back to God and ask for His help in using it in the ways that will advance His kingdom and His purpose.