A Review of Reading the Gospels Wisely

Our four Gospels are like stained-glass windows, which capture and refract the sun into different shapes and hues and images. Even a mighty cathedral would be unduly darkened and under-appreciated if illuminated only by one pinhole window, so too the intricacies and beauty of God’s revelation in Jesus the Christ deserve a flood of light from all four sides.

In the introduction to his book, Reading the Gospels Wisely (published by the Baker Academic, a division of Baker Books in Grand Rapids, Michigan) Jonathan Pennington’s doctoral supervisor, Richard Bauckham of St Andrew’s University writes,

“His concern is with helping Christians read the Gospels in a way that is faithful to the sort of texts they are… He invites us to read the four Gospels as history and theology – each as a narrative whole in its own right, as the climax of the great scriptural metanarrative, and as the keystone in the archway of the whole canon of Scripture. What is perhaps most distinctive in his approach is his concern for Christian virtue and discipleship.”

I believe that Pennington does a wonderful job of providing a rich and detail guide in learning how to read the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament. And I appreciate this book as both a Christ follower and a Christian minister.

In this twelve chapter book, Pennington lays out a case for calling the Christian Church to a greater study, understanding, and application of the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then he proceeds to make a solid case on why they need to be read well and then suggests a format of how to read them well.

This book is divided into three sections: Clearing Ground, Digging Deep, and Laying a Good Foundation; Building a House Through Wise Reading; Living in the Gospel House. In the first section, Pennington believes that the Gospels are “theological, historical, and aretological (virtue-forming) biographical narratives that retell the story and proclaim the significance of Jesus Christ, who through the power of the Spirit is the restorer of God’s reign.”  And in defining the Gospels this way he addresses the long standing debates within Biblical studies relating to the various schools of interpretation such as source-criticism and the like, the nature and literary genre of the Gospels, and  the important issue of witness. In the second section he lays out what he calls “a narrative analysis method for how to read the Bible” and in the third section he “drives home the point of the preceding ten chapters by discussing how to apply and teach the gospels” and he concludes with an “open-house invitation to enter into the richness of the fourfold Gospels.”

I acknowledge that it has been a while since I have read a book of such depth and it took me a while to get acclimated. But I am glad that I read it for this is a book if you are pastor or at least as serious student of the Bible that is worth your time. Pennington’s familiar knowledge of Biblical studies and the implications  of the major schools of thought serve as a back drop for the very deep and thorough case he makes for a great study and application of the Gospels.

There is much information that this short review cannot share in this space but I will point out a couple of things that have given me some fresh perspective in my reading and preaching of the Gospels:

The importance of testimony. As Pennington talks about the genre of the Gospels he comes to the conclusion that at their core they are testimony, written in light of Pentecost when clarity came to the hearts of the twelve disciples and others about what Jesus said and did.

The value of vertical reading over horizontal reading. This segment was very illuminating for me as I am currently walking the congregation I serve through the gospel of Mark. Pennington, while not fully dismissing reading horizontally across the four Gospels, i.e. the gospel harmony approach, encourages more vertical reading, reading the account within itself.

Reading the gospel as a story and telling it like a good story that it is. His personal story about being so focused on the Pauline epistles to the exclusion of the Gospels underscores his desire that the Gospels are read well and read as the revealing stories they are which continuously point to Jesus Christ.

I give this book a ‘great’ read rating.

Note: I receive a galley copy of the book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.

A Review of Reading the Gospels Wisely

Our four Gospels are like stained-glass windows, which capture and refract the sun into different shapes and hues and images. Even a mighty cathedral would be unduly darkened and under-appreciated if illuminated only by one pinhole window, so too the intricacies and beauty of God’s revelation in Jesus the Christ deserve a flood of light from all four sides.

In the introduction to his book, Reading the Gospels Wisely (published by the Baker Academic, a division of Baker Books in Grand Rapids, Michigan) Jonathan Pennington’s doctoral supervisor, Richard Bauckham of St Andrew’s University writes,

“His concern is with helping Christians read the Gospels in a way that is faithful to the sort of texts they are… He invites us to read the four Gospels as history and theology – each as a narrative whole in its own right, as the climax of the great scriptural metanarrative, and as the keystone in the archway of the whole canon of Scripture. What is perhaps most distinctive in his approach is his concern for Christian virtue and discipleship.”

I believe that Pennington does a wonderful job of providing a rich and detail guide in learning how to read the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament. And I appreciate this book as both a Christ follower and a Christian minister.

In this twelve chapter book, Pennington lays out a case for calling the Christian Church to a greater study, understanding, and application of the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then he proceeds to make a solid case on why they need to be read well and then suggests a format of how to read them well.

This book is divided into three sections: Clearing Ground, Digging Deep, and Laying a Good Foundation; Building a House Through Wise Reading; Living in the Gospel House. In the first section, Pennington believes that the Gospels are “theological, historical, and aretological (virtue-forming) biographical narratives that retell the story and proclaim the significance of Jesus Christ, who through the power of the Spirit is the restorer of God’s reign.”  And in defining the Gospels this way he addresses the long standing debates within Biblical studies relating to the various schools of interpretation such as source-criticism and the like, the nature and literary genre of the Gospels, and  the important issue of witness. In the second section he lays out what he calls “a narrative analysis method for how to read the Bible” and in the third section he “drives home the point of the preceding ten chapters by discussing how to apply and teach the gospels” and he concludes with an “open-house invitation to enter into the richness of the fourfold Gospels.”

I acknowledge that it has been a while since I have read a book of such depth and it took me a while to get acclimated. But I am glad that I read it for this is a book if you are pastor or at least as serious student of the Bible that is worth your time. Pennington’s familiar knowledge of Biblical studies and the implications  of the major schools of thought serve as a back drop for the very deep and thorough case he makes for a great study and application of the Gospels.

There is much information that this short review cannot share in this space but I will point out a couple of things that have given me some fresh perspective in my reading and preaching of the Gospels:

The importance of testimony. As Pennington talks about the genre of the Gospels he comes to the conclusion that at their core they are testimony, written in light of Pentecost when clarity came to the hearts of the twelve disciples and others about what Jesus said and did.

The value of vertical reading over horizontal reading. This segment was very illuminating for me as I am currently walking the congregation I serve through the gospel of Mark. Pennington, while not fully dismissing reading horizontally across the four Gospels, i.e. the gospel harmony approach, encourages more vertical reading, reading the account within itself.

Reading the gospel as a story and telling it like a good story that it is. His personal story about being so focused on the Pauline epistles to the exclusion of the Gospels underscores his desire that the Gospels are read well and read as the revealing stories they are which continuously point to Jesus Christ.

I give this book a ‘great’ read rating.

Note: I receive a galley copy of the book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.

 

Sunday Sermon: Preparing for a Journey

Scripture Passage – Mark 1:9-14

Description – The second message in a series through the Gospel of Mark during the Fall of 2012

I begin this morning by reading our main passage, Mark 1:9-14, let us hear and respond to the word of God this morning:

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being temptedby Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (NIV)

 

 Last week, I ‘unofficially’ started this series with a short walk through of Mark 1:1-8 and I shared with you the following ‘C’s’ that Rick Warren has put together to call the chapter study method for studying the Bible that we will use in this series. Here they are:

Caption                 Contents

Chief People           Choice Verse

Crucial Words         Challenges

Cross-Reference     Christ sightings

Central lessons              Conclusions

 

I will endeavor to include all of these elements in each message in this series but I probably will not necessarily identify them by name as I go through them. I encourage you to have a note pad or small note book with you each Sunday with these ‘C’s’ listed in it and discover what each of these ‘C’s’ mean to you.

I also shared a bit last week of history regarding Mark’s writing and two things are worth mentioning again. It is generally held that this gospel is the oldest of the gospel writings and was based on Mark’s time with Peter as he, Mark, was not one of the twelve disciples. And second, Mark focuses, as we shall see, on Jesus’ ministry and the idea of servant hood.

So with all of this in mind, let us turn to our passage for today.

I have titled this message ‘Preparing for a Journey’ because as I read this passage I noticed that Jesus is moving around from place to place and He is yet to begin His public ministry for this is a time of preparation. The first verse of our text says “…Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan…” Then after He is baptized we read “At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days…” And after His wilderness experience we note at the end of our text “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God…”

Here is a map to illustrate where He went according to this passage. Galilee is in northern Israel and is named for the Sea of Galilee (which is rather a large lake in northeastern Israel on the borders today of Syria and Jordan and called the Sea of Tiberius). It is believed that Jesus met John about here along the Jordan River.

 And as for the wilderness, we can see in this view that it truly was wilderness and so Jesus could have gone in any direction. No wi-fi, Facebook, Twitter, nuttin’ but wilderness and wild animals! But then as we go on we read “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God…” we are led to understand that Jesus returns to Galilee which is where He begins His public ministry.

We will read of what happened to John in chapter 6 which by then is a look back at what happened to him because he was already dead by that point in Mark’s account. But here Jesus returns to Galilee and more specifically, Nazareth.

 Now here is a helpful chart many of you can find on the Internet. It is what is called a harmony (no, not eHarmony) chart. This is one helpful way to read the gospel accounts side by side as they appear or not appear in another gospel account. The four columns represent from left to right, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Notice that I have highlighted in red some events that John records that are believed to have occurred during this period of time. Of note is the cleansing of the temple which also is noted in the last week of Jesus’ life before His arrest and crucifixion.

There is also highlighted in blue the account in Luke 4:18-19 where Jesus enters His hometown of Nazareth and proclaims to have fulfilled the promise, found in Isaiah 61:1-2, that says

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

It created quite a stir when Jesus called them out for their lack of belief in Him as the Messiah.

So Jesus is on the move as He prepares for His public ministry, more of which is recorded in Matthew, Luke, and John than here at this time.

But not only is Jesus on the move, He is also being prepared for His public ministry in two ways -His public baptism and His 40 Days in the Wilderness – and this brings me to two observations.

First, John did not think that Jesus needed to be baptized. Why is that? It was because He was the perfect (and hence sin-less) Messiah. And yet Jesus was baptized. Why?

I do not recall this kind of Baptism in the Old Testament. There are hints at it with regard to ceremonial washing before entering the Tabernacle and, after that, the Temple. Naaman, the commander of the mighty Assyrian army during the days of Elisha the prophet, was immersed in the muddy Jordan River as a way to be healed from leprosy as we read in 2 Kings 5. But nothing seems to approach what we call baptism today. It was circumcision that was required for males in the Old Testament to be ‘clean’ and thus right with God.

And while Jesus was most likely circumcised (it is not specifically spelled out in Luke 2) He chose to be baptized I believe as a statement regarding a new way of expressing faithfulness to God. There is more to this issue of baptism but this is my point: Circumcision, something that Paul strongly argued against as the Christian faith grew and expanded, was no longer necessary. Confession of one’s sins and being baptized began to matter.

But Mark also, through and in the words of John the Baptist, writes of another baptism, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you withthe Holy Spirit,” records Mark in verse 8 of this chapter. This is a baptism that we encounter in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit, which Jesus told the disciples would come after Him, did come and the Christian church began, I believe, at this point.

The other observation I have from this passage regards the issue of preparation. In this passage Jesus is very, very close to beginning His public ministry which leads ultimately to His arrest, trial, death, and, praise God! His resurrection!

One way I look at this time of preparation is the gap, between Luke 2:52, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man,” and Luke 3:1-2, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

If we consider that Jesus was 12 years old when He was at the temple at the end of Luke 2, then it is very possible and even probable to assume that he was near to 30 in the beginning of Luke 3. And so we have 18 years of silence about Jesus.

There has been much conjecture over the years, really centuries, about what took place during that time. I would suggest this morning He was being a responsible man and working. He was also, I think, going to the Temple as He need to and worshipping the Lord. But there was a time of preparation in which it seems, more to us than perhaps Him, was vital and necessary to Him prior to the start of His public ministry.

How many of us would wait 18 years to begin something important? Well, we do in our time and culture – 18 years before one can vote, graduate from High School, become employed full-time, etc. Yet there is also other times of preparation – for marriage, for professional certification (certain trades, to practice law and medicine, to become a CPA), to become ordained.

These times of preparation are not a waste of time.

They are essential and vital to our life and even livelihood. They are also essential to our faith in Christ.

I know that for some of us the poem “Footprints in the Sand” is a great poem and one that gives us strength. There are moments when our footprints simple stop…and wait…on God. There are other moments when our time of preparation takes us far away from where we believe God is calling us.

 Let this illustration from the world of outer space give us some perspective. Some satellites orbit our earth like this – in an elliptical manner. The high point of the orbit, or when it is farthest away from the earth, is called the apogee. The low point of the orbit, or when it is closest to the earth, is called the perigee.

I think that the apogee is like a time of preparation when God’s will seems distant and unobtainable. It is like the farthest point in a race when the finish line seems the farthest away. It is like being in the wilderness when the temptation to give up is the strongest.

You have heard the saying, “Whom God calls, He equips.” It’s true! And sometimes that equipping, that preparation, takes time.

So this morning, I say to us, “Don’t give up.” There are beginnings, middles, and ends to our life and to our faith. Jesus had them, too.

Wait on the Lord. He does and He will act at the right time and right place. I know, I know, easier said than done.

But when Jesus was done with His time of preparation, His time of waiting, He announced…

“The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

And when we gather back together next Sunday and look at Mark 1:16-28, we will take those first steps with Jesus as He assembles a group of people who He will equip to journey far and wide and whose journeys shared this good news down through the generations to you and me.

As we conclude this morning we do so with a hymn that talks about journeying. It is an older hymn and it may a few expressions we don’t use or hear like ‘Heaven’s table-land.’ But it expresses an aspiration we need to have in our faith and life and that is this willingness, this focus, this commitment to journey forward and upward to a greater faith and life in Him. Let us sing it as our response to God this morning that we are willing to journey with Him through times of waiting. (The hynm was “Higher Ground” by Johnson Oatman, Jr and Charles H. Gabriel)

 

Amen

 

 

 

 

A Review of Andrew Byers’ Faith Without Illusions: Following Jesus as a Cynic-Saint

The brokenness of human misery before God may recede into bitterness, but healing comes when we bring our maladies to him and check into his healing ward. We do this not by avoiding him in disillusionment but by crying out to him from the depths and striving with all our might to grasp onto something hopeful from his hand.  Andrew Byers Faith Without Illusions, page 175-176

As a pastor who has been in full-time parish ministry for not quite 25 of the past 31 years, I have read books, attended seminars, and had numerous conversations, face to face and in writing, regarding those who either become disgruntled with the Christian faith and church or have been for quite some time whether having been a part of a church or not. Cynicism has never been in short supply just ask St Paul… and Jesus.

And Andrew Byers does, in a manner of speaking, as he addresses the issue of walking the line between despair and cynicism in a new book published by InterVarsity Press in 2011, Faith Without Illusions: Following Jesus as a Cynic-Saint.

He begins with a first person account of how  ”we fall into” cynicism with a grade school love story. He then goes on to state something that all of us know to be true, namely that, “cynicism often arises from painful disillusionment-when the rug gets violently jerked out from under us…” and then he turns to the focus of the book  ”What if we are disillusioned by the church- that one safe harbor of community on which Christians are told to rely on when all else comes crashing down? What if we become cynical toward the faith that is supposed to sustain us through all life’s trials?…what if the object of our disillusionment is…the God we worship?

Focusing then on this last question, Byers takes us  into a review of what he calls “pop Christianity” which he claims makes us cynical and chapters related to the common themes found in his view and discussion of pop faith: Idealism, Religiosity, Experientialism, Anti-Intellectualism, and Cultural Irrelevance. Along the way, he challenges some very common view and assumptions that are part and parcel of common and wide spreading thinking across the Church such as “just follow your heart” when he reminds us that scripture reminds us that the “heart is deceitful.”

Then, as a solution, Byers offers “hopeful realism” and supports his solution with a walk through the Old and New Testaments as he draws line between cynicism and a hopeful realism based in God’s grace through Christ that does not side-step questions which come from hearts of disillusionment, pain and brokenness. Along the way he reminds the reader of the passionate angst of the Psalms and the anguished cry of the prophets which are ultimately sent God ward for resolve. And he makes a case that Jesus Christ himself had every opportunity to become a cynic because of the hostility and disillusionment that he faced as he walked this earth.

I, too, have been at times, a cynic of the faith and the church. And in my journey I have had to face the truth that my cynicism was based on some of the assumptions and views presented in this book. And what I like about this book is that Byers addresses the pain and the disillusionment I too felt and understood when the rug was pulled out from under me, by my own poor and flawed attitudes and choices, that had made me a disillusioned cynic.

If you are cynical about the “popular” claims of Christianity today and have found your faith wanting, I recommend this book. If you know someone who is dealing with doubt, despair, and cynicism, I recommend this book to you to share.

I rate this book a ‘great’ read.

Note: I bought the Kindle version of this book for my own personal reading and thought it worthy of a review.

 

Sunday Sermon: Mary and Martha Living

Image by craftapalooza via Flickr

Scripture Passage – Luke 10:38-41

Description – Third and final sermon in the series “Run! Don’t Walk!”

for audio of today’s message, click on this link 092511sermon

(Slide one) In our congregation there has been, and I am hearing there might be, some household moving going on.

And house moving is an exciting and, at certain points in the process, overwhelming experience. Points like packing, physically moving the boxes from one location to another, the closing and the like can get stressful.

But exciting as a new chapter in life gets started with new space and new neighbors and new… appliances!

(Slide two) 1950’s GE refrigerator commercial at

Pretty snazzy, uh? Well, what about this one?

(Slide three) 2008 LG refrigerator commercial at

Some of us here remember when a kitchen did not have the appliances we do today, nor the space! I have not been to a home show in a long time but when I walk through Lowe’s or Home Depot, I will often glance at the kitchens and they are impressive.

And whether it was the 1950’s or today, 2011, people, notably wives and moms, still have to cook and still have to grocery shop in the kitchen. And this brings me to the conclusion of this month’s series “Run! Don’t Walk!” where we go to visit two women, one who is in the living room and one who is the kitchen, “Doing it all by myself, thankyaverymuch!”

And most likely the kitchen is… outside.

At womeninthbible.net (http://www.womeninthebible.net/3.3.Clothing_housing.htm )

a sample sketch based on archeological evidence shows that cooking was done outdoors in an open setting and if the weather was good then all gathered outside. If the weather was bad the guests gathered inside while the cooking and preparation most likely went on… outside.

So with this in mind, let us read Luke 10:38-41:

As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.  Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.  But Martha was distracted by 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.”

 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!  There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Now I have a brief survey this morning for a point I want to make in a moment and here is the question:

(Slide four)

On a daily basis, who do you relate to more in this story, Martha or Mary?

How many say Mary? How many say Martha?

(How many this morning would like to relate Mary more often?)

We live in a Martha and Mary world. I think that I can safely say that Martha and Mary represent the two basic poles of several different things.

(Slide five a) There are the Marys: reflective, meditative, passive to one degree or another, and focused on people.

Then there are the Marthas: active, action oriented, always on the move, and focused on task accomplishment.

God in His infinite wisdom saw to it that both have populated the world. And the church needs both Marys and Marthas to accomplish God’s mission.

But is one better than the other?

How do all the Martha’s in the world feel about Jesus’ words? Do they feel bad for being so task oriented? Maybe they relate to Thomas the Disciple who had trouble believing that Jesus was resurrected until he saw Him first hand (no pun intended.) Maybe Thomas and Martha commiserated together at one point because they did not believe enough or they were too focused on task and they felt left out.

I want to re-read the main text for last month’s series, “Walk! Don’t Run!” which is Isaiah 40:31 and then tie some thoughts together regarding this issue of which way we are to live and who is right in this story.

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

The word ‘trust’ that appears at the beginning of this verse has been translated ‘wait’ and ‘hope’ in other translations. But the Hebrew word for trust, which is “kaw-vaw” and is spelled q-a-v-a-h means “to wait or look eagerly for; to lie in wait for; to wait for, linger for,” according to the good people at lifeway.com.

What I think God has wanted to say to us during these two months is “You have to wait for, you have to expect me, and me alone if you are going to soar, run, and walk. You cannot wait upon someone or something else to help you soar, run, and walk with me, you have to wait upon me.”

But when a family member is suffering…

When the words ‘you are being laid off’ are said…

When there is a big meal to prepare for and no one is helping…

When we pray to the Lord as honestly and earnestly as we can

And all we hear is silence…

Waiting upon God to act becomes very difficult. And yet that is what God calls us to do, wait for me.

How do we do that?

Well in our text for this morning we see that Mary simply chooses to do it. Notice that Martha welcomed Jesus into their home but Mary sat at his feet while Martha ran around getting the meal done.

To choose to wait upon the Lord is exactly that – a choice that we can make. It is up to us to wait upon the Lord. God can certainly, and does, get our attention but we can still choose to ignore Him.

Does this then mean that we should not be concerned about being active and involved and getting things done? No. The very mention of ‘soar,’ ‘run,’ and ‘walk’ implies action. The waiting upon the Lord is to gain the strength to soar, run, and walk.

Waiting has its place but so does action. Martha needed to lighten up and relax (and maybe let dinner burn). Jesus does not scold Martha for her desire to host Him but for the anxiety He saw at work “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!  But there would also come a time for Mary to act and act she did. (John 12:3 “Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jarof expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.”)

Stress is a spiritual killer. It can drain us of our love for God and others and our willingness to serve Him. Martha was stressing out. Mary was focusing in on Jesus.

And there are some tasks that simply need to be done. But there are other tasks that perhaps can wait, or be delegated to someone else, or simply let go and allowed to crash.

What was essential for Martha to do?

In the waiting upon the Lord we begin to let go of all that is unnecessary and embrace what is necessary and essential.

(Slide 6) So what does this mean for us today and this week?

For some, to practice waiting upon the Lord may mean a wholesale letting go of many involvements and functions. For others to practice waiting upon the Lord may mean giving up only one thing.

First and foremost what I believe we need to understand and believe this week is that, as Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us there is a season to everything and purpose under heaven for everything. There are seasons to soar, there are seasons to run, there are seasons to walk, and there is a season to wait.

I do not think Jesus was angry with Martha about her hospitality. I think that He genuinely appreciated it!

It was the anxiety and frustration her voice and demeanor that Jesus was concerned about. He wanted her to slow down, wait, and be with Him.

There is a rhythm to life that we cannot ignore. There is a time to soar, there is a time to run, and there is a time to walk. There is a time to wait.

For each of us this morning (and for those who read these words online) it is helpful and essential to step back and with the Holy Spirit’s, and really one other person’s, help to assess what changes we need to make.

Perhaps there is one change, a small one perhaps, that you need to make so that you are better positioned to sit at Jesus’ feet and gain the strength you need.

Maybe you need to make several changes. That will take time. Some commitments and tasks need to be finished by you before you let them go and others can be dropped immediately.

And for others, as contradictory as it might sound this morning, you need to pick up a new commitment. You have rested. You have waited upon the Lord. You are ready to get back in the game.

And let me suggest that to get back in the game does not mean you get involved in five or six different things all at once. You ask the Lord for direction in finding the involvements He would have you engage in. And I also would have us think that perhaps one of the ways we re-engage as God leads is to start a new ministry in your networks of family, work, and/or school outside the four walls of this building.

The Lord wants us to soar! The Lord wants us to run! The Lord wants us to walk! The Lord wants us to wait!

Let us do all four as God leads.

Amen

Sunday Sermon: Running With God

Image via Wikipedia

Scripture Passage – Colossians 3:12-17

Description – The second sermon in the series “Run! Don’t Walk!”

For audio link, go here 91811sermmon

(Slide one) When I was in college I made the track team my freshman year and I was kind of surprised that I had. I had not competed since my 8^th grade year of school and that was 5 years earlier. I ran only one meet that season, from what I recall, and my season came abruptly came to an end due to a knee injury.

I had strained my knee to the extent that I had trouble walking first thing in the morning. And my pride (and fear of being put on the disabled list) kept me from saying anything to the coach…

… until one of my teammates notice my limp and informed him.

And my season was done.

And I never competed again.

Fast forward about 20 years and a simple turn of my body sends pain shooting from that knee and a need for arthroscopic surgery becomes a reality. Which I choose to avoid because of insurance issues regarding the MRI my doctor ordered to determine the condition of my knee.

Every once in a while, my knee reminds me, now 13 years year later, that it is not healthy. I probably have not done the right thing in not having the surgery done, and, to paraphrase a famous commercial tag line, “I may have to pay later!” And my justifications may not hold up under the pain that may come one day requiring me to finally address the issue.

I draw a parallel in this story to our theme for this morning. Namely, if we are going to run with God, God has to develop, with our daily willingness, the kind of character and commitment described in our main text for this morning. For to ignore our character development as Christians, is to likewise keep us from running with God because to neglect allowing the traits and the commitments our main text for this morning indicates we need to have, will cause us to limp along and not run with God.

Last week we looked at the first eleven verses of Colossians 3 and I suggested that if were to soar with God, then we must let go of the baggage that Satan loves to have us keep carrying around, namely fear and shame, as well the sin that keeps us from soaring. This morning I want us to think about developing the character we need to have so that we can run with God and the reality that love must be a central motivation in running.

Our main text for this morning is Colossians 3:12-17 and I again want to read it from The Message. Please follow along with your Bibles as I read it:

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. (The MSG)

(Slide two) For a focus this morning I would have us remember this segment “And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.”

In the English language we have one word for love and it is love! And yet when we use the word we often have to define what we mean by love.

For example, to say “I love that dress” really means, “I like that dress.”

To say “I would love to take you out for dinner Pastor Jim,” means, “I would like to take you out for dinner Pastor Jim.” (And thank you!)

But to say “I love you with all my heart, honey” is something entirely different. Right? And to be even very honest in this day and age, some people say, “I love you” and they mean, “I want to go to bed with you.”

Biblical scholars have spoken of four different words that have meant love in the original language of the New Testament and each of them means a different kind of love. And so we need to ask, what kind of love is meant our main text for this morning?

In my research of three different studies of this passage they all say that the word for love is the translation of the Greek word ‘agape.’ And agape or “ah ga pay” is the highest expression of love there is. It is a love that is expressed in seeking the welfare and betterment of another whoever it is without regard to cost.

Last week I jumped the gun to today’s message when I talked about loving as “a foundational motive and practice in our lives.” Paul’s emphasis on love in this segment makes it clear how important love is to our faith and the work of our faith in a daily life.

Listen again to some of the opening phrases “dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.”  Paul, I believe, is painting a word picture of what love is and what love does. He does it here and he does it as well in 1 Corinthians 13 when he speaks of love in very practical terms.

It costs us to love like this. It costs us some power, it costs us some time, it costs us (at times) the “right to be right,” it costs us something… always.

But if we are to run with God, in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit, we must learn to love by being compassionate, kind, humble, disciplined, even-tempered, and the like. Love is central to the Christian faith and love must be central to each of us living out our faith.

Now people like to hear all this talk about love. It is good to love. It is fun to love. There is nothing like “getting the love on somebody!”

But what happens when the love we offer is not returned?

It happens, doesn’t it?

It happens in relationships, it happens in marriage, in our churches and in the ministry.

It happens to God. His love for us is rejected.

And we need to consider this issue of rejection as we consider this running with God. Jesus spoke clearly in the gospels about the fact that rejection of the disciple’s message would take place and they were to be prepared for it.

Such rejection tests our love and our motives for our love. Now this rejection goes on most notably in our romantic relationships. She likes him but he does not like her. He wants to be noticed by her and so he does things like send her roses and she promptly puts them in the trash while her girl friend wishes that he would notice her! Many songs have been written about this kind of dynamic and one recent hit has been Taylor Swift’s hit “You Belong To Me.”

(Slide three) In his book, Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments, Kent Keith makes his first paradoxical commandment this one: “People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.” He quotes Lucy in the Peanuts comic strip at beginning of the chapter regarding this commandment as saying, “I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand.”

We are all illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered at times. And yet. We.are.loved by God, deeply and profoundly loved by God. And to love someone who rejects our faith even with words and actions that are spiteful and even hateful, with the hope that one day they will accept God’s love and forgiveness is truly the love of which Paul is speaking in our text for this morning. Remember the prodigal son’s father. To run with God is to have a long distance love, a long distance perspective, and a long distance endurance that comes as we continuously submit to the leading and power of the Holy Spirit.

(Slide four) So what does all of this mean for us today and this week?

I suggest the following actions for us to take so that we can run with God:

1. Count the cost of following Christ. Dietrich Bonhoffer once wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Patrick Morley has remarked that we need to both add Christ to our lives and subtract sin out of it if we are to effectively live for and with the Lord. This morning I invite all of us to again seriously consider the cost of following Christ. It costs us everything to follow Christ, if we are going to run with Him.

2. Submit myself, daily, to the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Rick Warren wrote this past week on Twitter, “THRU YRS: [through the years]: The longer I walk in the Spirit, the more humble I am. The longer I walk in my strength, the more judgmental I am.” To love as God would have us love, and really commands us to love, requires the help of the Holy Spirit. This morning I ask, “How much of us does God the Holy Spirit have? Does He have all of us? Does He have all of us or are we holding back from Him? We cannot run with God very well, if we are holding back from being truly be surrendered to Him.

3. Determine how much of the character traits given in this passage are being revealed through me right now and which ones need to be better developed. Character development is a key part of our faith. The Lord expects us, as scripture states, to become more and more like Christ as we live.

This love which enables us to run with God is marked by compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Jesus exhibited all of these during His earthly ministry here on earth as He loved people. To love God, neighbor, and self and to help in the process of making disciples requires us to choose to love, even when it is hard and even when it is costly.

Such loving is hard to do. Jesus knew it because His love was rejected by many. And He knew that it would be hard for us as well. But, He also knew that we could not do it alone.

So then, the second half of our text reminds us that to love as Christ would have us love is achieved by being a part of the church and learning to love there as we work to love outside in our various communities and networks.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. (The MSG)

Paul is describing what is to take place in the gathered group of people known as the church and does take place and has taken place for over two thousand years. The church when it gathers together is to allow the peace of God to bring unity of purpose, direction, and mission. Thankfulness is an attitude that love uses to help us worship together as we study scripture and sing.

So…that… everything we do is to honor God.

What is described here is essential to running with God. And love both operates and exists in such a gracious environment.

There is a High School in our area that is legendary for its Cross Country program. They have often gone to the state championship.

One of the things that I notice about them is that they train together as a group. They run together. You never see one of their runners running alone. It is part of their ethos and it has worked.

The same holds true for a local church. We need to worship together. We need to study together. We need to pray together. We need to serve together. We need to love together.

How well do you love God and others these days?

Let us resolve to love well. Let us resolve to love deeply. Let us resolve to love obediently.

I cannot help, as I conclude, to remember the words of English Olympic runner Eric Liddell, a man who passionately loved God and who would die in a Japanese concentration camp in World War 2 in China where he had gone to serve as a missionary. In the film Chariots of Fire that tells in part his story of running for God as well as with Him we find  his sister Jenny, who thought running to be a bit foolish one day questioning his motives for running and thought that preparing for the mission field was more important, ask her brother why he ran. He replied. “Jenny, when I run, I feel His pleasure!”

When you run with God do you feel His pleasure?

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.  And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. (NLT)

Amen

Sunday Sermon: Living By Faith

Image via Wikipedia

Scripture Passage – 2 Corinthians 5:7

Description – The second sermon in a three part series on “Walking With and Just Not For God.”

For an audio link to this sermon in its entirety click on this link 82111sermon

One of the things said about Walt Disney was that while he did not live to see the opening of Disney World in Florida, he did it “see” it. He “saw” it because he had seen it in his mind, he had envisioned it years before.

They called Walt Disney a visionary.

Visionaries are not always liked. They are often mocked because they see things not as they are but as they could be.

When I think of things like the telephone, now morphed into cell phones; when I think about the computer, morphed first into a desktop that has changed the way we work, then to laptops, and now to what are called tablets, and even smartphones, the initial visions offered were mocked and thought to be impractical.

And yet… millions and millions of people have enjoyed Disneyland for over 50 years and Disney World for 40! And they now can visit that famous mouse in Paris and Tokyo and soon, Shanghai! And we can communicate and work over vast distances now in ways that were once the purview of science fiction writers!

       In this second sermon of the series,” Walk! Don’t Run!” we are moving to the New Testament and 2 Corinthians 5:7 which says “For we live by believing and not by seeing.”

Walking by faith requires us to be visionary like Walt Disney. It requires us to “see” with eyes of faith.

To believe in God, to trust in God, to believe and practice the Christian faith, is to take a great risk and to be very courageous. We live for something that we cannot see… right now. There is more to life than what we experience with our senses.

This is where we need to see that the ‘walk’ of our faith is vitally important. For it is in the ‘walking,’ which I call the experience of faith, that we truly experience the Lord.

How then do we walk by faith and not by sight?

    To live and walk by faith requires a constant action of choosing to live and walk confidently, hopefully, and expectantly in the Lord.

Walking confidently in Christ is the alternative to walking with bitterness, resentment, and just the plain ol’ grumps.

To live hopefully is to live in the reality that God’s will, WILL be done one day. There will be a renewal and end to things that are wrong on this earth.

We live ‘hopefully’ in the light of God’s presence today and His coming tomorrow. We live hopefully in the power of the gospel to change our lives and the lives of others.

In Psalm 5:3 we read, “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

We live in an age of great expectations (though Charles Dickens though so 150 years as well!)

I googled ‘great expectations’ and found that there is a dating website named ‘Great Expectations’ (and what expectations they probably are!)and a blog post of seven years ago by a man named Seth Godin who writes some interesting and insightful things.

This particular blog post was interestingly entitled “The Curse of Great Expectations.”

He begins with writing about benchmarking and how beneficially it is in many areas of life. But he goes on to say this:

“…benchmarking is terrific. Benchmarking is the reason that cars got so much better over the last twenty years. Benchmarking has the inexorable ability to make the mediocre better than average, and it pushes us to always outperform.

But it stresses us out. A benchmarked service business or product (or even a benchmarked relationship) is always under pressure. It’s hard to be number one, and even harder when the universe we choose to compare our options against is, in fact, the entire universe.”

(Source: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2004/05/the_curse_of_gr.html)

I suggest this morning that perhaps our expectations are the greatest reasons we struggle with our walk with God.

Our expectations must be rooted in the belief that God will ultimately bring about what is good and right and just in His time and way and not ours.

Walking by faith and not by sight is often a walk in the dark because, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13, we see things through a glass darkly right now. We don’t see the whole way to the end. In fact, we sometimes can’t see the next step!

Believing and trusting in God brings a greater hope and fulfillment to our lives more than just getting by. I really think that we are perhaps in the very beginnings of a profound revival and even awakening because I think we have come to the end of our consumerist way of life! Now we still need jobs and we need people to make things, but has anyone considered that we are where we are because have so much stuff that we are stuffed? And what has it brought us?

Be encouraged today no matter what we are experiencing today.

We are not home yet.

There is more to life than what. We. See.

Let us keep walking by faith in a God who has forgiven us and who sees the entire road that we must walk with and in Him.

Amen.

Establishing Your Hope In Christ

Scripture Passage – 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Description – Third in the initial 2011 Series

The second presentation of this sermon was prefaced by a skit that appears after this sermon.)

(Slide one) One of the most interesting photos of our planet is this one taken in November 2000 by NASA. It is picture of what the earth looks like at night. (Source: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html)

(Slide two) Here is North America taken in 2008. Notice the amount of night time light that covers our country. Notice Hawaii and Alaska on the lower and upper left of the picture as a very interesting contrast. Hawaii is well lit up like the lower 48 where as Alaska is mainly dark due, in part, to geography and distance.

(Source:http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_397.html)

(Slide three) Now here is another picture that I found even more interesting. This is a picture created from data put together just last month by an intern in the data engineering department at Facebook. It is a very clear picture of the connections from a sample of 10 million Facebook users.

Now I am not going to share how he mathematically came up with this graph as I would get lost in describing it! But what he saw, and what I think we all see, is the connectedness between people around the world.

It is a map that truly represents an even more closely connected world.

(Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=469716398919)

We live in a more intimately connected world. For some of us, that is a scary thought. We value our privacy and we value our space. And we don’t care to close to a larger number of people.

For others of us though, we see many possibilities about the Christian message of forgiveness and second chances through Christ. We get excited about the potential for sharing the message of hope in some new ways.

Let me also share some more word pictures with you as we continue this morning. Word pictures that I believe will help us remember this message of hope.

(Slide four) The first is the image of a GPS unit. I remember when I started seeing a compass on the windshield of a car (mine has an electronic one embedded in the mirror) and thought that it was cool. Now there are these wonderful units that, depending on the price tag, can give you very detailed information about where you are and that they do not have to be on the dash board either. The new generation of smart phones currently in existence has such capability!

I want us to think about a GPS unit as helping us find our hope in Christ. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. We must find and keep following Christ if our hope is to be strong and solid.

(Slide five) The second image is a bridge and more specifically the piers underneath the bridge.

(Slide six) On August 1, 2007 the westbound bridge of I-35W between St Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota that spanned the Mississippi River, collapsed. A report on the collapse by the National Transportation Safety Board released in January 2008 indicated that a metal plate “too thin to serve as a junction of several girders,” was to blame. While designed for a 40 year life cycle, the addition of extra weight, added over the years, to the bridge caused it to finally give way with tragic results.

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/washington/15bridge.html)

I want us to think about the piers of a bridge as an image of establishing our hope in Christ. Jesus, in the parable of the wise man and the foolish man, reminds us in Matthew 7:24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.”

Other things that we build our hope on, families, friends, work, even the church, often give way and leave us grasping and gasping for hope while sitting in a pool of frustration, despair, and even anger. The Lord understands this and wants to help us get back up and moving forward with our hope established in Him.

Finding our hope in Christ is one thing but establishing it is another. I am reminded of what James says at the opening of his New Testament letter about the challenge of establishing one’s faith in Christ.

If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.

This is not just true of wisdom but of hope, joy, even love. The ability to hope in the face of fear, pain, even death, is not a normal human thing.  Now while I think there are personalities who are naturally optimistic true optimism is rooted in the character of God.

How then do we establish our hope in Christ?

Let me again read our main text for this morning and then offer three suggestions on how we establish our hope.

But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?  For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished!  And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.

But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.

Believing that this resurrection has taken place is very important. But then how do we live on this great Christian truth? How do we live like resurrected and hopeful people?

(Slide seven) Pastoral colleague Larry Wilson in a blog post, “New Ways to Talk About Jesus,” offers three ways that I think can help us establish our hope in Christ and live like a resurrected person.

(Source: http://www.lawrencewilson.com/2011/01/new-ways-to-talk-about-jesus.html )

First, he says ‘testimonies of life change’ are one way that can create hope. He says “everyone loves a story of life transformation. When people see the good news at work in the lives of others, they will become interested in the source of that power. If our lives are different, our words will have greater authority.”

One of the biggest news stories so far is about the homeless man with the golden voice, Ted Williams. A video of him was placed on You Tube and job offers started coming in to him including an offer with the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team! Now he does have a problem with alcohol and has decided to enter rehab. But what if someone would not have held out some hope to him on a Columbus Ohio freeway? Would he have gotten a chance at rehab or would he still be on the street? Here is a chance for a man, who has a problem, to turn around. He has been given hope.

What about us? Do others see a fresh work of God in you and me? Do they see a difference in us that creates an interest in what we are about? Does the way we live give others hope?

The establishment of our hope in Christ must lead to visible and honest evidence of life change in our current circumstances. Even in the midst of pain and failure. I think that one question we need ask ourselves is this, “Am I more pessimistic than I used to be or am I more hope-full?”

The second way we can establish our hope and live like resurrected people is through ‘acts of compassion.’ Notes Wilson, “from a human perspective, the remarkable thing about the life of Christ is that he sacrificed himself for others. Many people, even those of other religions, respect that about Jesus. When we follow his example, people notice. Feeding the hungry, caring for at-risk children, helping.”

How are you and I caring for others outside of our family, our friends, even our church family? I know that schedules are tight and when work is available we work and we have necessary responsibilities for family.

And I know that there continue to be acts of caring that no one knows about because you are doing it for the Lord. And that is ok. But a key way that hope is evidenced in our lives is through simple acts of caring offered in love and respect. We are all called to be Good Samaritans.

Finally, Pastor Wilson offers hope itself as evidence of our resurrection living. He notes, “The world is not a hopeful place. While many in our society enjoy a high standard of living, they feel that their lives lack meaning. Our sense of hope, purpose, and confidence about the future are appealing qualities…While people may be less willing to listen when we talk about Christ, they are likely to take notice when we live like him.”

Are we more hopeful or less hopeful these days? I know that there is a strong feeling that this world is on borrowed time. But is it cause for long faces and despair? Or is it cause for a hope that is rooted not in our circumstances but in a God who transcends and redeems us through the circumstances?

Our hope in Christ must be rooted in this resurrection that has changed the possibilities for us now and not just in the hereafter!

We are in the last days, (have been since Jesus ascended back to the Father) but should that make us full of gloom and doom or full of hope!

So what does this mean for us this day? How do we handle the loss of hope in things, in people, in causes, and in the past that causes us to stand stuck in grief, anger, rage, and feeling hope-less?

I suggest to us this morning that hope is not wishful thinking but faith-full action based on God’s redemptive work and His character.

Which one of these three things might be of help to you and me in grounding our hope in Christ? What is the first step you and I need to take in partnering God in making it happen?

Let me suggest the first step – the willingness to re-open ourselves to God and address the hardest thing for us to surrender to Him for that is where our hope, and our faith, is thin.

Is it in finances?

Is it with our work?

Is it with a family situation?

Is it with our health?

Is it with our personal faith?

The late Henri Nouwen wrote, “Trust is the basis of life. Without trust, no human being can live. Trapeze artists offer a beautiful image of this.
Flyers have to trust their catchers. They can do the most spectacular doubles, triples, or quadruples, but what finally makes their performance spectacular are the catchers who are there for them at the right time in the right place.

Much of our lives is flying. It is wonderful to fly in the air free as a bird, but when God isn’t there to catch us, all our flying comes to nothing. Let’s trust in the Great Catcher.”

Do you trust God with every area of your life? Hope needs trust because part of hoping in someone or something is that there is a level of trust present for such hope to exist.

What is the Holy Spirit saying you to this morning about your hope? Respond in obedience as you need to respond. Amen.

Today’s Skit

(Note: The copyright of Star Trek to its various entities is hereby acknowledged and respected.)

Star Trek: Eslaf of Krod

Kirk (offstage): Captain’s Log, Stardate 4557.9. The Enterprise is in orbit around the planet Gamma Blutarski 7, a Class M planet supporting humanoid life. Our sensors have detected a large source of power emanating from below the planet’s surface. I am beaming down to the surface with Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and Lt. Uhura to contact the natives and investigate.

(Transporter sound effect is heard. Characters walk on stage.)

Spock (scans with tricorder): Captain, the power source we detected seems to be coming from this direction.

Tesol: You appear to be strangers to our land. Greetings! I am Tesol, of the land of Krod.

Kirk: Greetings. We are … visitors from far away. Our scientific instruments have detected a great source of power and we have come to learn about it.

Tesol: Ahhh, you have sensed the power of Eslaf.

Uhura: Eslaf?

Tesol: Eslaf. The one who protects us and guides us. The one who holds our hope for the future.

Uhura: And it is Eslaf’s power we are detecting?

Tesol: Yes. Eslaf’s power surrounds us all.

Spock: That would be highly illogical, since the power we detect seems to be centered behind this rock face.

Tesol: Your instruments must be mistaken. Eslaf surrounds us all.

Spock: It is highly unlikely that the tricorder readings are in error. In additional to power generation, I am detecting noise and vibrations from what appear to be a vast network of machinery below this planet’s surface.

Tesol: But Eslaf surrounds us all. Eslaf cannot be a … a…. (collapses)

McCoy (examining Tesol, looks at Kirk): He’s dead, Jim.

Kirk: Dead? From what?

McCoy: Some kind of implant in his brain. It caused a cerebral hemorrhage and killed him.

Kirk: But… why?

Spock: I believe we will find the answers we seek behind this rock face.

Kirk: All right then, calibrate your phasers to vaporize the rock.

(Crew fires phasers.)

Uhura: It’s a … computer of some kind.

Spock: Lieutenant Uhura, can you decipher these symbols sufficiently to determine where I could plug my tricorder in to retrieve data from this machine?

Uhura: There appears to be a data port over there.

Spock: Similar to broadband technology from Earth’s 21st century. Quite primitive, but I should be able to interface it with my tricorder.

(Computer noises are heard. Other crew members look at Spock.)

Spock: Fascinating.

Kirk: What is it, Spock?

Spock: Just as I suspected, Captain. This is Eslaf.

McCoy: You mean to tell me these people are worshipping an overgrown iPod?

Spock: A crude analogy, Doctor. Eslaf was apparently built centuries ago to ease the life of this planet’s inhabitants through climate control, waste management and other functions. Over time the people of this planet lost the knowledge used to create and maintain Eslaf and instead treated it as a deity.

Kirk: We need to do something. These people are worshipping a… a machine. There’s no hope – no future – in that. Their god is nothing but a bunch of crude circuits. We need to take it off-line somehow.

Spock: That would be a violation of Starfleet’s Prime Directive of non-interference in other cultures, Captain.

McCoy: That’s never stopped him before…

Spock: Besides, Doctor, how different are these people from your fellow earthmen who worship things that give them no eternal hope? Human history is full of those who have given their lives over to wealth, power and other pursuits that only resulted in temporary fulfillment.

Kirk: I suppose I can’t argue with your Vulcan logic, Mr. Spock. Hopefully these people will find true hope to cling to before it’s too late. (Takes out communicator. Crew all stands up straight.) Kirk to Enterprise. Beam us up, Scotty.

The Cost of Freedom

John 8:31-32

Description – July 3, 2005 Communion Meditation

In yesterday’s News-Sun, there was an article on page A9 entitled, “After 35 years in prison, man finds freedom frustrating.”

It was the story of Georgia resident Junior Allen. Allen was arrested, charged, and sentenced 35 years ago for stealing a black-and-white television from an elderly woman in North Carolina. He was 30 at the time. He is now 65 and is struggling to find literally his identity as he has gone back and forth from Georgia to Alabama in search of a birth certificate that would enable him to get a driver’s license and become a productive citizen.

“It’s like I never existed,” Allen says.

229 years ago, a group of men from various backgrounds, were seeking to help a group of colonies find a new identity as a new nation. They were seeking to be free from an oppressive situation. They decided to form a new government and a new nation that would make freedom, in the context of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” a key value of our existence. This freedom would require sacrifice on the part of those men. Some would serve as soldiers and be captured in battle. Some would give large amounts of their wealth for the cause of freedom and never get it back. Yet, they gave and they served and they put their names on a document that would begin a new chapter in human history.

Their commitment was costly. We are the recipients of their commitments and sacrifice. Have we done justice to their vision and their sacrifice?

We celebrate and give thanks to God for freedom that we enjoy this day and this weekend. However, I remind us that we still must pay the cost of freedom and we must still willingly accept the responsibility of freedom if it is to work the way it was originally intended.

We also on this day remember another freedom, one that I think is far more important than political freedom. (As important as political freedom is today.)

It is a freedom that has existed longer than democracy has existed. It is a freedom that has endured and overcome oppression, torture, death, ridicule, and whole host of other things that cannot snuff it out. It is the freedom from sin! It is spiritual freedom! It is the freedom that Jesus Christ made possible through His death and resurrection! It is forgiveness of all our sins!

Our text for this morning reminds us of this freedom. Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my people if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The truth of which Christ spoke and which God, through divine inspiration that is recorded in the Bible has made clear to humankind, is a liberating truth that those who have heard and responded to by faith has transformed their lives in ways large and small.

Verse 32 reminds us of this liberation. We are also reminded of it in the Gospel stories of Zaccheus, Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, and elsewhere. They are stories of people who met Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of humankind, who changed their lives by changing their hearts through love and forgiveness.

God’s truth does set us free! Praise the Lord! We are able to live without guilt and shame. Our past can be dealt with and we can live in the present and future hope that is our through Jesus Christ! Amen? AMEN!

Yet we also need to remember the first half of our text because it provides a framework in which our “freedom” thrives for freedom without boundaries creates anarchy – political and otherwise. One word reminds us of this framework – obedience.

You are truly my disciples says Jesus if you keep obeying my teachings. Salvation freedom continues and deepens as we ‘keep obeying’ what scripture and the Holy Spirit teach us.

Jesus, as the text says, is speaking to those who have already believed in him. However, salvation freedom comes through both belief in Christ and a continuous obedience to His teachings. To say I believe in Jesus is one thing, to live it is another thing. Freedom comes from doing both.

How do we maintain our political freedom? There are several ways we maintain our freedom:

1. By obeying the laws
2. By being responsible citizens
3. By getting involved in our community
4. By voting
5. By serving our country in various ways

How do we maintain our spiritual freedom? There are several ways:

1. Bible study and prayer
2. Church attendance
3. Finding our place of ministry in the church
4. Serving in the community in some way
5. Having an accountability partner
6. Sunday School
7. Paying attention to our emotions
8. Honest and regular confession of our sins

This brings us to communion.

As we prepare for communion, I ask each of us this morning to allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and minds and confess what we need to confess to God as an important way we continue to obey the teachings Jesus speaks of in our text.

Freedom is costly. We are reminded of that down through the history of our nation as we remember the sacrifices of those who have continued to keep our freedom alive.

Freedom is demanding. There have been challenges to our freedom through our history. Some have been foreign and some have been domestic.

The same holds true for our spiritual freedom. For the Grace and Love of God to take root in our lives, we have to keep obeying, keep believing, and keep trusting the Lord.

For just as disregarding our obligations and responsibilities as citizens weakens our political freedom, so does our disobedience and failure to maintain our relationship with Christ, weaken our spiritual freedom. Neither freedom can afford to be neglected.

I am grateful for the freedom I have in this county. I want to be a more responsible citizen however because I believe that my freedom is deepened through my participation in my community.

I am also grateful for the freedom that Christ has brought to me through the salvation and forgiveness of sin. I want to be a more committed follower because I believe that my spiritual freedom is deepened through a continuing and honest confession of my sins and shortcomings.

We thank God this morning for the freedom we have in the United States of America and we thank God for the life that God has given to us through his Son, Jesus Christ. As we experience communion this morning, let us give thanks to God! Amen.

Sources: “After 35 years in prison, man finds freedom frustrating.” Kendallville News-Sun, Saturday, July 2, 2005, page A9

Show me your commitment … through trials and temptations

James 1:1-18

Description – The second of a series through the book of James

Soon after we returned from vacation last Sunday the boys were on the computer playing baseball. (The game was a father’s day gift to me and they let me play occasionally.)

One of the things that I have heard over the years about good pitching and good pitchers is that they have a variety of pitches and they learn how to move the ball around the strike zone.  However, a good pitcher also learns how to mix up his pitches so that the hitter is kept off balance with the hope and the goal that the batter strikes out.

There are several kinds of pitches used in baseball. There are two kinds of fastballs, called the two-seam and four-seam because the pitcher holds the stitched seams in his fingers two different ways. Another pitch is a called a change-up because it changes speed as it approaches the batter. A good change up will have the batter swinging well before the ball gets to the plate because it dramatically slows down.

Finally, there is a curve ball. A good curve ball ‘curves’ suddenly when you least expect it. And, like the changeup, will have you swinging through the air and hitting perhaps nothing.

As I watched the boys play (I also served as umpire when they started getting upset with one another), I noticed that one of the computer pitchers had a mean curveball and the one who controlled that pitcher had the hitter at his mercy. The pitch was used on a regular basis.

Has life thrown you a curve ball lately? If it has, you are not alone! But as followers of Jesus Christ, as we allow the Lord to strengthen and mature our faith through difficult and challenging circumstances and to help us stay away from the temptations that arise from within, we show the world our faith, hope, and commitment in Jesus Christ!

In a recent article from Christianity Today.com songwriter and author, Michael Card reminds us of the four ‘successive curve balls’ that Job had thrown his way. There were the three ‘curve balls’ of financial destruction as Job’s wealth was taken away in a string of attacks on his property and possessions. Then a final ‘curve ball’ of tremendous pain came through the tragic death of every one of his children.

Card notes, “Everything a person could imagine losing, Job lost. He was the target of practically every sort of pain and loss a human being can know. He was the successful businessman who experienced sudden and total financial ruin. He was the AIDS patient, hopeless and beyond all cures, full of sores, abandoned by his friends. He was the victim of a senseless terrorist attack. He was the parent who lost not one but all of his children in one unthinkable catastrophe.”

But Card goes on to point out that while Job “made the motions of entering into mourning” he did something unexpected, “he fell to the ground in worship.” Here is what is said in Job 1 verses 20 through 22:

“Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground before God. He said,

“I came naked from my mother’s womb,

and I will be stripped of everything when I die.

The Lord gave me everything I had,

and the Lord has taken it away.

Praise the name of the Lord!”

In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

Why did Job worship God in the midst of all the pain and grief? Why didn’t he, as his wife suggested, ‘curse God and die?’

He worshipped God in the midst of great loss because he was a man of great faith and confidence in the Lord. I believe that we can say with a good deal of confidence that ‘Job showed what he had’ during the deep trial of loss and the refusal to turn away from a quiet confidence in God and toward the great temptation to ‘curse God and die.’

Job illustrates the opening of the book of James. He shows what he had within himself when faced with terrible tragedy and loss – a strong faith and ability to grow in the midst of terrible pain.

We need to first look at verse 5 and following because it forms a foundation, upon which the ability to preserve, as Job demonstrates and how that assurance and confidence is described in verses 2 through 4, is built.

Two weeks ago I shared with you a bit of the controversy regarding the book of James that took place in early church history. I noted that Martin Luther had trouble with the book because of the very open link between faith and works that concerned Luther because of his fear of ‘salvation by works’ instead of ‘salvation by faith’ as the way to a right relationship with God through Christ.

However, the book of James did become an accepted part of the ‘canon’ or ‘authorized books’ of scripture prior to Luther’s views. James is a practical book written by the half-brother of Jesus who became the first pastor of the church in Jerusalem.

And the very practical ness of James is seen in these opening verses when there are moments we need to be reminded of some plain truths about life and God and sin and suffering. They are concerns that people bring to pastors, both in those days and in these days, on a regular basis.

Faith is a critical element to our life and relationship with God and much is said about faith in the Bible especially in Hebrews 11:

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.

It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance.

…It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

But what kind of faith does James write of in his book? A faith in action. A faith of action. A faith that is told in the stories of those written of in Hebrews 11.

Now, verses 5 through 8 do not directly speak of faith, but they strongly imply faith. Wisdom that the Bible teaches is about the ability to make the right decision at the right time with God’s help and according to God’s will.

And verse 5 makes clear that God wants to give us wisdom; He wants to tell us what He wants us to do. However, such wisdom requires a faith that believes God no matter what, no matter when, no matter how.

Faith is what calms the soul storms spoken of in verse 6: “But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” But what kind of faith makes this possible?

Well verses 2 through 4 tell us:

‘Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.’

Now it may seem at first glance that James is nuts! ‘How can anybody be joyful when trouble comes?’ ‘Why is it important for us to develop endurance?’

Let me suggest an answer this morning: Our relationship with the Lord is more like a 26-mile marathon than a 100-meter dash. (I just wonder sometimes if the reason people drop out of not just the church but the faith has to do with a failure to help people learn to think and act like a distance runner and not a sprinter and develop the spiritual endurance and stamina needed to keep going forward. Some might call it spiritual burnout.)

The endurance of which James speaks is an endurance that comes from letting God help us grow up in our faith because our spiritual endurance is essential for the kind of faith that asks and believes when God speaks! Therefore, to answer the question “What kind of faith is necessary to navigate the soul storms of life and have the steady assurance to clearly hear God’s voice?” the answer is a healthy and maturing faith.

Now you might be thinking, “Jim, I don’t have this kind of faith, I would like to have it, but I don’t have it. I have the kind of faith that screams, “Run Forest, run!” when difficult times come after me.”

I have two responses to that statement. First, look at the wording of verses 2 through 4. The language used is a language of process, journey, and action. Yes, a level of stability and growth is implied but a total 100% completeness is not.

In other words, James, who is a believer of many, many years when he wrote this letter as well as a pastor who had practically heard and seen it all, knew that nobody had arrived to the place called perfection. He knew that those, to whom he wrote, were still learning how to deal with difficulties and uncertainties in life. But he also knew that God wanted to bring them into a greater faith, a greater life, and a greater future in the Lord!

My second response is this: the choice between growing in our faith and life in Christ or not continues to be a choice throughout our lives. Every time a trial or testing comes our way, we have a choice of how we are going to respond.

And the choice is between two courses of action: Choice number 1. Ask God to help you get through it, learn from it, and grow by it. Choice number 2. ‘Run from it!”

The consequence of choice number one is victory and maturity. The consequence of choice number two is defeat and misery. Which do you want? More important, what does the Lord want for you? There are implications to both choices.

I think that Job knew the implications of both choices and he made the choice to remain faithful to the Lord. But that decision came (and this is part of my second response) because down through the years Job kept making many little decisions to let God help him grow and learn through other difficulties. That is probably why God spoke so highly of him to Satan in the opening chapters of Job.

Job was a wise and aware person. We read of this wisdom and awareness throughout the book of Job as he refused to accept his friends’ views that he had done something wrong to deserve his losses.

I started this morning talking about pitching but now I want to us to focus our attention on the batter. He stands in the box and he has to figure out what the pitcher is going to throw to him.

He probably has the benefit of a scouting report that has told him and his teammates a great deal about how the pitcher operates. However, at this particular moment, the pitcher is in control for one very good reason, he has the ball.

A lot goes through a hitter’s mind when he stands there looking at a ball that sometimes comes at him at 95 miles per hour. Not a lot of time to decide what to do. What kind of a pitch is it? Fastball, slider, or curve ball? A split second decision is made by the batter in the box.

Batters have a lot to deal with, just as pitchers do. They have the pressure to perform, they have several thousand people suggesting to them they could do better from the stands than the batter’s box, and they have their successes and failures going around in their heads.

It is interesting to note that there are batters that can hit against an All-star, Hall of Fame pitcher year after year with no problem, but whiff right and left to a rookie during an entire course of one season. Or vice versa.

Which leads me to the latter half of James 1 in which James writes about the inner ‘curve balls’ that are thrown our way on a regular basis. They are the curve balls of warped and sinful desires; of temptation; of sin itself that comes out of nowhere within the desires deep within us. And they are as devastating as external tragedy itself.

Job, I believe, was aware of this. And because of the choices, large and small, over the years that he made which kept him walking closely with the Lord, he had learned how the ‘inner man’ worked.

I believe that it is safe to say that Job never felt the pressure of temptation to give up and ‘curse God’ as much as he did when the news of his kids’ tragic death hit his soul. I also think that Job resisted the temptation to blame God for the tragedy when voices all around him gave credence to that very possibility.

Let’s hear from the middle of verse 13 to verse 15 again: “no one who wants to do wrong should ever say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else either. Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires. These evil desires lead to evil actions, and evil actions lead to death.”

Please hear the Lord plainly this morning: “I don’t tempt you. Satan does that. I test you but I don’t tempt you.”

God created us with many legitimate needs that He wants to fulfill in the right ways. Satan knows what those needs are and he comes along and tempts us to fulfill those needs in a different way.  Hence, the inner battle that rages within us between right and wrong.

James has more to say about this battle of desires a few chapters away and we will look at that in a few weeks, but for now, we need to understand that Satan and his forces will throw things into our minds or use circumstances to tempt us away from the Lord. This is one reason why Paul wrote what he did in Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” (Ties in perfectly with verses 2 through 4 doesn’t it?)

So, the batter has two kinds of curveballs to think about during the game: The outer physical curveball coming at him at around 80 to 85 miles per hour and the inner curve ball coming at him from within that attempts to get him to doubt and swing recklessly.

Can you relate to that picture? I can. Really, we all can.

How do we then successfully connect?

1. By making a choice to trust and obey the Lord. Such a choice will help us to tap into the power of the Spirit who will make very clear to us the will of the Lord and provide us with the power to walk through the challenges that life and Satan throw at us.
2. To ask God to help us recognize our weak spots, our weak moments, and our weak emotions.

All of us have ‘hot buttons’ that when pushed create turbulence within us and can lead us to doubt and give into temptation. What are your hot buttons? You need to know them.

There are also ‘weak moments’ that come at certain times during the day or month or year. Certain dates or holidays that have events attached to them that allow doubt, anger, fear, or other emotions to engulf us and challenge our faith and confidence in the Lord. When are your weak moments? You need to identify them.

Finally, there are certain emotions that cause us problems. Some of us are tripped up by fear that comes out of nowhere as we encounter a situation or person that we don’t know how to handle. Anger causes some of us to lash out when we are threatened or don’t get our way. Depression sets in when a sudden change of events happens and we are rendered helpless. What are those emotions? You need to acknowledge them.

God wants us to live victoriously! He wants us to live in the power and joy and peace of His spirit. He wants us to grow and mature and be strong in Him.

As followers of Jesus Christ, as we allow the Lord to strengthen and mature our faith through difficult and challenging circumstances and to help us resist the temptations that arise from within, we show the world our faith, hope, and commitment in Jesus Christ!

My hope and prayer this day is that it will be true of all of us. Amen.

Source: Michael Card The (Broken) Heart of Worship located at www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2005/004/5.28.html