Exodus 20:1-17, Philippians 3:4(b)-14, Matthew 21:33-46

Exodus 20:1-17

Philippians 3:4(b)-14

Matthew 21:33-46

“The Power of Love”

Communion

October 2, 2011

In his novel The Brothers Karamazov the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky relates a moving story of a Russian village and the daily lives of those who live there. 

In one moving scene a woman goes to talk with a priest about her problems with faith and not being sure that this life is not all there is.

 ”What if I’ve been believing all my life, and when I come to die there is nothing but Burdocks growing over my grave?

How can I prove it? How can I convince myself?” the woman asked.

 The priest thinks for a few moments — then responds:

“By the experience of active love.

Insofar as you advance in active love, you will grow surer of the reality of God and of the immortality of the soul.”

The power of active love.

That is what our faith is all about – the power of God’s active love in our lives – and the power of God’s call to each of us to have active love for Him and for all people. 

The power of God’s love.

Our call to worship for today was Exodus 20:1-17 – what we know as the 10 Commandments. These commandments have always been important – but have become a hot issue lately with some groups forming to bring them back into the public life  and other groups forming that are against any public show of religion.  From courthouses in Alabama to Washington state there are battles over the public display of the 10 Commandments. 

What should you make of – and how should you consider – the 10 Commandments?

            Are they laws “written in stone” by God — who will strike you down if you attempt to break them?

            Are they 10 laws meant to restrict what you do that have been handed down to by a God who is only interested in limiting your actions?

            Or – are they 10 rules for you to closely follow – - to keep track of your obedience to – - and to take great pride in your ability to follow – - while at the same time looking down on those you do not feel keep the Commandments as well as you  think you do?

            Actually, all these ways of interpreting the 10 Commandments are fairly prevalent. Some people see them as rules that restrict them and others see them as rules that cause them great pride when they feel they follow them better than others.  

            But – - wait a minute.

            Are there other options for interpreting the 10 Commandments – - and even other options for thinking about God?

Surely there must be.

            Let’s take another look at God giving the 10 Commandments to the Israelites and see if we can come up with another way to interpret them — and another way to think about God.

            When God gave the 10 Commandments God had just freed the people of Israel from slavery.  Through Moses God had worked miracles and mighty deeds that made clear God’s will for freedom for God’s people. 

            They had been freed by God – but now what?

            Should their freedom change how they live?

            Are they to live any differently because they have been freed from slavery by God?

            In a word, yes.

            The glorious fact that they had been freed from slavery by the power of God was to be the deciding factor in how God’s people lived. God had blessed them with their freedom, and in response to that blessing they were supposed to live their lives differently from others.    

            But – - how were they to live differently?

            At Mt. Siani they found out. 

            In the fire and the smoke and the quaking of that holy mountain they found out how God wanted them to live.

            They had been freed from slavery by their freeing – - life-giving God — and now they were to have undivided loyalty to God – - a loyalty that would not allow them to try to manipulate God by carving idols — or to take God’s Holy name lightly – - and that would require them to take a Sabbath day of rest out of every 7 days to remember and worship God. 

            They were also to live in a special relationship with others — honoring their parents — refraining from murder, adultery, stealing, lying and coveting — or doing anything else that might keep them from living in this special relationship with God and others. 

            The 10 Commandments were indeed commandments – - but they were not Commandments that restricted what the people could and could not do as much as they freed the people to do what God wanted them to do. The 10 Commandments freed the people to love – - to love God and to love others — to honor and respect and worship God and to treat others with love and honor and respect. 

            So — the 10 Commandments are commandments to love God and to love others.

            They are not commandments to restrict you from doing things or make you feel proud when you feel we are keeping them — they are instead commandments to love.

            You are commanded to love.

            You can feel the power of God’s love in your life – and share God’s love with others in powerful, active ways.

            The 10 Commandments are all about the power of God’s love.

            Jesus understood what the 10 Commandments were all about. 

            When he confronted the Jewish leaders who for centuries had thought that they were better than all others — and who used the Commandments as a measuring stick to see how much better they were than others — He made it plain that just having the Commandments – just being God’s people — just being in God’s vineyard, so to speak  – is not enough for the Kingdom of God. 

            Unless you let the Commandments lead you to be open to God — loving and respecting God and loving and respecting all people — you are not living in the ways God calls you to live — no matter how good a person you are or how closely you keep the commandments.

If you do not let God lead you to love for Him and others — you are not living in the ways of God.

If you do not realize the power of God’s love – let the power of God’s love change your life – and share the power of God’s love with others – you are not living in God ‘s ways. 

            Living in God’s ways is not so much about strict obedience to the commandments as much as it is about the power of love.

            The tenants in Jesus’ parable thought they had it made there in the vineyard — so much so they did not care about the landlord’s servants or his son.  They didn’t let the privilege of being in the vineyard change them and their attitudes towards the landlord. 

            You see — having the love of God — having salvation — should change you – the powerful love of God should change you — and it should bring about a change in your attitudes – a change in your devotion to God – - and a change in the ways you share God’s love with others. 

            That’s the power of God’ s love

            God’s love can change who you are

            It can change how you relate to God

            It can change how you relate to others

            That’s what the 10 Commandments are all about – they are all about the power of love.

            Paul finally understood this.

            He thought his life was perfect until he met Jesus — and saw just how imperfect he was.  That’s when he began striving to live in love – the power of love – the power of love for God – and love for others. 

He finally discovered that his life was not meant to be spent feeling superior to others — but it was meant to be spent loving others.

 He finally understood that the 10 Commandments that he had taken such great pride in were actually commandments to love God — and to love others. 

            He finally experienced – and committed himself to sharing – the power of God’s love.

            Here’s that thing, friends — you can experience and share God’s active, powerful love with others.

            This is not easy – but God makes it possible.

Paul understood how difficult it was — and yet he let God strengthen him as he tried to live a life that shared God’s love with others.

            It is only when you let God’s love take root in you and grow in you that you can truly love others.

            Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart — soul — mind — and strength — and to love others as yourself. 

           

            So – the question for you to consider is:

            How much do you love?

            How much do you love God?

            How much do you love others?

            Do you let the active, life changing love of God work in your life?

Do your actions show God’s active, life changing love to others?

I found this on Facebook the other day and want to share it with you today:

When I say “I am a Christian”, I am not shouting “I am clean living”, I’m whispering “I was lost, but now I’m found and forgiven.”

I don’t speak of this with pride. I’m confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and need His strength to carry on.

I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

I’m not claiming to be perfect. My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.

I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon HIS name.

I’m not holier than thou, I’m just a simple sinner who received God’s good grace, somehow!

Friends – my prayer for you is that you remember the love of God – let that love touch you in a new way – and commit yourself again – or maybe for the first time — to living in and sharing with others the active, powerful love of God.

            I pray that you will learn again the power of God’s love. Amen.

Matthew 21:23-32

Actions Speak Louder

September 25, 2011

There once was a small community where everyone knew each other. There were very little secrets in the community – for everyone knew each other and pretty much knew everyone’s business. Everyone knew who went to the bars on Saturdays and who went to Church on Sundays. Everyone knew who was living a good “Christian” life and who was not. Everyone thought they knew who God was “smiling” on and who God was “frowning” on.   It was pretty simple to know who God was “smiling” on – all you had to do was go to Church and see who was there. These were the ones God was pleased with.  It was also pretty simple to know who God was “frowning” on – all you had to do was go to the bar and see who was there.  God was not pleased with them. 

 

            But there were some people who defied the easy description of who God was “smiling on” and who God was “frowning on”.    

 

            One man who defied the description was a man we’ll call Jeff Smith.

 

            Jeff was a member of the local church – but rarely attended. People knew that Jeff spent more time at the local bar that he did at Church. When he did attend Church he would be arrogant and rude to everyone. He always criticized everything –- from the music to the choir to the preacher. Jeff was a major contributor to the church – but it seemed to everyone that he thought his contributions gave him the right to “run the show” – so to speak – and he would threaten to “take his money elsewhere” if things were not done his way.  

 

            The members of the Church – and the minister – were not too fond of Jeff. In fact, they cringed whenever he did attend because they knew there would be trouble before the day was over.

 

            One day, though, the minister of this Church was out of town at a conference. He walked up to a group of men and introduced himself and told them what Church he served. 

 

            “Isn’t Jeff Smith a member of that Church?” one of the men asked.

The minister replied: “Yes, he is a member of the church.”

 

“He is a member, though not a particularly active member,” the minister added.

 

The other man then said something that shocked the minister: 

 

“I’ll always be indebted to him, me and a lot of people like me,” the man said.

“Indebted?” the minister said.

“Yeah’ the man replied — he is the one who paid for my education. My education and a lot of people like me. I worked in one of his businesses after school when I was in high school. My senior year in high school, I got a note from him. He hardly ever spoke to me when I would run into him at work – but his note said something like: ‘I want to help you with college. You get into the best college you can, and I will see you through.’ That was all. I got in a good college and he paid just about every cent of it. And I wasn’t the only one. I expect that he must have footed the bill for a couple of dozen young people in that town.”

“That’s hard to believe.” The minister replied – “I don’t think I have ever heard that of him.”

“I bet you never will.” the man continued. “He asked us not to tell anybody about his generosity. He said he didn’t want everybody beating on his door asking for a handout. I think the real reason is that he is, deep down, a genuinely humble person. I do know for sure that he has sure done a lot of good in his own quiet way,” the man said.

The man walked away  – as did the minister – but later the minister shared with a friend:

“I don’t know about you, but I find such generosity, coming from a person like Jeff, annoying. It is annoying to me when those people, those people who are not self-evidently good people, those people who are not active church people, turn out to be such undeniably good people. Jeff is doing more for others than many of the people in my church who act so good but are doing so little. He’s doing more than I am doing. What do you think God thinks about that?”

Good question, isn’t it?

What do you think God thinks about that?

Who is doing what God wants them  to do – the man who is obnoxious and rarely attends Church – but helps others – or the person who sits in Church – looks good – can talk all day about God – and looks like the model Christian – but does not do what God calls us to do?

Who is truly living the Christian life — the man who is obnoxious – but helps others – or the person who sits in church – looks good – can talk all day about God – looks like the model Christian – but does not do what God calls us to do?

The answer is fairly simple – isn’t it?

Of course the man who does things to help others is doing what God wants them to do more than the one who may look like the model Christian but does not have actions to back it up.

A fairly simple answer to a question – and yet one that we may not want to hear.

I don’t know about you – but I don’t like hearing that someone who does not appear to be a Christian – maybe an obnoxious person who tries to “run the church” – or maybe even the neighbor who never darkens the door of the church – or maybe even the man or woman on the street who is drunk or high on drugs most of the time – I don’t like hearing that God may “smile on them” more than God “smiles on” those of us who come to Church every Sunday.

You probably don’t like hearing it, either.

Maybe you’re thinking:

“What do you mean – these people who try to push people around – or try to impress others – or who have never darkened the door of the church – or who truly don’t look like ‘religious folks’ – might be doing God’s will better than we are?”

Unfortunately, when we become offended by ideas like these – we are very close to the thinking like many of the Pharisees who confronted Jesus in our scripture passage before us today and throughout the gospels.    

You see — the Pharisees thought that they were impressing God by their knowledge of God’s laws and their outward displays of piety and their long robes and prayer shawls. They were the “good church people” of Jesus’ day.  They thought that if they “looked the part” of a Godly person God would think they were Godly people – and would overlook the fact that they did not actually do anything God wanted them to do and even looked for ways around actually obeying God’s laws.

They thought that they were much better than – and God loved them much more than — the rabble – rouser named John or his cousin Jesus — who talked about God loving sinners – and even hung out with the worst sinners He could find. And when these sinners – these tax collectors – these prostitutes – and all kinds of other ne’er do wells said they had found God – had found religion – and began acting in ways that showed God to others – well, the Pharisees held them in suspicion and would have nothing to do with them.

The Pharisees were sure that God loved them better than “those people” – “those sinners” – and surely they would enter heaven before these repentant sinners ever would.

Not so fast – Jesus says.

      In our scripture passage for today, Jesus tells a story about a man with two sons. 

 

      He asks the first son to go to work in the vineyard, and the son said that he wouldn’t — but changed he mind and did —   

 

      He also asks the second son to go to work in the vineyard, and the second son said that he would – but didn’t

 

      One son said “No” but did “Yes” — and the other who said “Yes” but did “No”.

 

      “Which of the two did the will of his father?” Jesus asked. 

 

      Not such a hard question to figure out.

 

When Jesus asked the Pharisees that question – they correctly answered that the better son was the one who said “No” but then did what the father asked. 

 

      Maybe you parents will agree that you would prefer a son or daughter who finally did what you asked them to do over one who never did what you asked. Their talking back at first may not be exactly how you want them to respond, but you have to admit that it is better than the son or daughter who never does what you ask.

 

      Jesus told about these two sons to illustrate a point. 

 

      His point was that too many times we are too quick to jump to too simple a conclusion when it comes to judging between who is “good” and who is “bad” – who God “smiles on” and who God “frowns on”.

 

      The Pharisees were quick to differentiate between the “good” and the “bad”. 

 

      The “bad folks ”in the eyes of the Pharisees were the sinners – for example the tax collectors and prostitutes — lowlifes all.  God was not happy with the way they lived.  Tax collectors in that day cheated people – and well — I don’t have to tell you what prostitutes did.  But when John the Baptist and then Jesus came preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” their preaching touched the hearts of many of these sinners – these “bad” people — and they repented.  Some of the tax collectors quit cheating and began following Jesus. Some of the prostitutes quit what they were doing and began to follow Jesus. Many of the tax collectors and prostitutes responded to John’s and Jesus’ preaching because they realized they were in the wrong – realized that they needed to live differently – and realized that they needed to repent and change the direction of their lives.  And they did! They repented!  They lived differently! They changed the direction of their lives!

 

      But who were the “good folks” in eyes of the Pharisees? These were the “religious folks” – the best of which were the Priests — the Scribes — and the  Pharisees. They heard John the Baptist and Jesus, too – but many of them, when they heard John and Jesus say  ”Repent!” — thought he was just talking to the “bad folks” – the sinners.  

     

      They did not consider the fact that they were talking to them, and so they never repented. They never repented because they didn’t think that they needed repentance.  They thought of themselves as God’s faithful sons.  They thought that they were doing everything that they needed to be doing.  But they weren’t.  They made a great show of religion, but their hearts were far from God.  John called them a “brood of vipers”  — Jesus called them hypocrites. 

 

      So Jesus told this story of the two sons to drive home the point that the tax collectors and sinners who repented were way ahead of the great religious men and women who failed to repent.  He wanted them to see that just looking the part of the religious person – just giving “lip service” to God without really acting in God’s ways – was not impressing God at all.  

 

      Jesus told this story to let the religious folks who thought they were so “good” know that they needed to repent just like the tax collectors and prostitutes that they thought were so “bad” — and just like everyone else – needed to repent. Jesus told this story to let them know that – - if they did not repent and act in God’s ways – the “bad people” — tax collectors and prostitutes and other sinners — who did repent would enter heaven – and they would not.

 

      Now – let’s return to that question you might have had a few minutes ago:

“What do you mean – these people who try to push people around – or try to impress others – or who have never darkened the door of the church – or who truly don’t look like ‘religious folks’ – might be doing God’s will better than we are – — better than you are — better than I am”?

Friends — what I mean is this.  Actions speak louder.

I mean that – if you think you are better off than someone who is the worst sinner you can think of just because you come to church and sing and pray and listen for one hour a week – but don’t let it change who you are or how you live, you are sadly mistaken.

I mean that – if you think you are better than others simply because you come to church – but you don’t truly do what God calls you to do – you are no more obedient to God than the son in Jesus’ parable who said would do what the father asked – but didn’t do it.

The son who originally said “no” – but then did what the father asked – turned out to be obedient.  The son who originally said “yes” – but did not do what the father asked – turned out to be disobedient.

Their actions spoke louder.

And Jesus says that the sinners who originally say “I don’t need God” – but end up repenting and living in God’s ways get into heaven before the religious people who act like they are so good – who say they will do what God told them to do — but do not do God’s will.

The actions speak louder.

Who gets into God’s kingdom first?

The sinners who originally say “I don’t need God” – but end up repenting and living in God’s ways – — or the religious people who act like they are so good – who say they will do what God tells them to do — but do not do God’s will?

The answer is obvious – but threatening. It’s the people who actually do God’s will who enter the kingdom – not the ones who say they will do it but don’t. It’s the sinners who know they need to repent and follow God who get into God’s kingdom – not the “good people” who think they have not need to repent.

Yea – just acting like you are going to do God’s will – looking good and playing the part – isn’t enough.  You have to actually do it.

Yea – the actions speak louder. Amen.

Psalm 91

Psalm 91

What We’ve Learned From 9/11 (10^th anniversary of World Trade Center Attack)

September 11, 2011

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?
Were you in the yard with your wife and children
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Risin’ against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger, in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?

            So sings Allan Jackson about the events of September 11, 2001 – ten years ago today – what we now simply refer to as ‘9/11”. 

            If you are over the age of – say – 18 – and maybe even younger – you remember where you were on “that September day” 10 years ago – September 11, 2001.  

Do you remember where you were – what you were doing — and what you felt on “9/11” when you first heard about the attack on the World Trade Center?

I was driving to the Church after an early morning breakfast meeting with some other ministers in a nearby town and listening to the news on National Public Radio when they interrupted a story – I don’t remember what the story was — with the breaking news that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

“That’s strange” I thought. Little did I know what the rest of the morning would hold.

  By the time I reached the Church office they were reporting the second plane had crashed into the South Tower and that these were not just small private planes – but large passenger jets. I kept the radio on as I tried to get some work done – and heard the reports of other planes crashing into the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, the crash of the towers of the World Trade Center, and all the other stories that seemed to occur simultaneously that day.  By mid – morning  I was on the telephone and computer checking on my nieces husband who was in New York City on a business trip — my niece in Washington –  and the daughter of a church member who lived in New York City.  By noon I was talking to other ministers and planning a community prayer service for that night.  

Like most of you, I am sure, I was torn by many feelings that day –  confusion that turned to anger, shock, and a feeling of how unfair it was.  The question: “Where is God?” was voiced by man y people that day, and I believe many others may have thought that question – even if they did not give voice to it.
Yea – where were you – what were you doing – what were your thoughts – your feelings – your fears – your anger “when the world stopped turning on that September day” – as Allan Jackson sings?

Once we knew who was responsible for the attacks on 9/11 many people cried for revenge – others cried that we had to bring those responsible for planning the attacks to justice — and many demanded that something had to be done to ensure that these types of attacks never happen again.     

Ten years later, the attacks we now know as “9/11” continue to shape our lives.

Our country became embroiled in a war in Afghanistan the following month in an attempt to put an end to Al Queda – the terrorist group that planned the ‘9/11” attacks and other terrorist acts throughout the world. 10 years later Osama Ben Laden, the head of Al Queda at the time “9/11” and mastermind behind the attacks, has finally been killed by our troops — but our troops remain in Afghanistan and continue to die.  

A year and a half after “9/11” – in March of 2003 — our country entered into a second war in Iraq to keep the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from invading other countries and using the weapons of mass destruction we thought he had . Even though not many weapons of mass destruction were found and Hussein was captured and executed – we are continue to be at war in Iraq and our troops continue to die.

 I am sure you all will agree with me that – while the invasions and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq may have been necessary – they have not made the world a safer place. Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein may be dead, but others continue to wreak terror in the world.

Our lives have been changed by the events of “9/11”. Air travel is certainly not what it used to be.  I can remember being able to jump out of my car at the Greensboro airport – rush to my plane – board – and be in the air in 30 minutes. With Florence being a smaller airport I am sure you can remember the same. Not any more. Security is tighter. Most people are glad to go through the tightened security that helps make sure our flights are safer, but it truly makes travel more difficult.

Even our daily lives have been changed by the events of ‘9/11”.  We tend to watch the news on TV with a heightened sense of fear and not knowing what will happen next.  Yes, there were terrorist attacks before “9/11”, but since then we tend to feel that we are more vulnerable and another such attack could happen at any time.

 Yea – where were you – what were you doing – what were your thoughts – your feelings – your fears – your anger “when the world stopped turning on that September day”?

The events of September 11, 2001 have truly changed our lives – and our world. 

            So – 10 years later – I think we need to look at what we have learned from “9/11”?

            Some suggested after “9/11” that God was mad at America and that God sent the planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the ground in Pennsylvania to “teach us a lesson” – to “wake us up” – to shock us and bring us to our knees and bring us back to Him.  While it is true that – in many ways – our actions do not please God and we do not live in His ways and many times we need to be shocked into turning back to God – much like “hitting a mule over the head with a 2×4” – I don’t believe that the “9/11” attacks were sent from God – or that the planes were hurled at America by God.

            What can we learned from “9/11”?

            Here are 3 things I would suggest we can learn from the events of September 11, 2001:

            First — We can learn that God is with us in all situations of our lives.

            Second — We can learn that God loves us and gives us the ultimate victory in life and over death in Jesus Christ.

            Third — We can learn that God calls us to share His love with others as we tell them about God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ and reach out to them with actions of love and compassion.

             In the chorus of the song I quoted a few moments ago Allan Jackson sings: 

I’m just a singer of simple songs
I’m not a real political man
I watch CNN but I’m not sure I can tell
you the difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love

Yea — faith — hope — and love are indeed some good things God has given us – and the greatest is love. God’s love is the greatest thing He has given us – and the greatest thing we can share with others.

So – what can we learn about faith – hope – and love from “9/11”?

First – we can learn that God is with us in all situations of our lives.

This is a deep Biblical truth that we all need to remember – especially in the hard, difficult, trying, emotional, and tragic times of our lives.  It does not matter how hard things get – how trying things get – how hard things tug on our emotions – or how tragic situations can become – God is with us. There is no situation that can happen to us that can take us away from the love and presence and care of God. 

Scripture is clear about this. Paul is clear about this in Romans 8:38-39 when he writes:

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing is big enough – bad enough – terrifying enough – or tragic enough to keep God away from us. God is with us – in all the situations we have to face in our lives.

Psalm 91that I read a few minutes ago is another of the clear promises of God’s presence in our lives. Listen again to verses 3-6:  

³ Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.

            As a twenty year pilot of a B-24 bomber in the European theater of World War II in 1940 my dad flew many missions over German occupied territory. With every mission the Germans sent fast fighter planes to shoot down his slow B-24 – especially when it was loaded down with bombs – and would shoot anti – aircraft guns to shoot his B-24 out of the sky. Every mission was a terrifying experience and quite an emotional load for a young 20 year old from Rock Hill, SC. Dad shared with me many times as I was growing up that he always kept a small Bible tucked in his flight jacket – and before every mission he flew he would do was read Psalm 91. It reminded him that God was with him – even as he faced the “fowlers snare” or the “deadly pestilence” – or in his case the flack from anti aircraft guns or the gunfire from a speeding Focke-Wolfe fighter plane.     

            One of the lessons we can learn from “9/11” is that God is with us in all situations of our lives.

            Tragic, earth shattering, life shattering, terror – filled events like “9/11” can  cause us to wonder if God is with us. When we look at such destruction and death – especially when those who died were completely innocent civilians – we might wonder if God is with us in these times.  The problem with this is that – especially in events like “9/11” when people are plotting to strike terror in our hearts — we give them the victory and a feeling that they have accomplished their goal if we lose our faith in God. That’s what they want us to do! They want to take our minds off the truth that God is with us and make us wonder and doubt about God’s presence – because they know that if they can get us to wonder and doubt about God’s presence in our lives in these situations – we might start wondering about God’s presence in our lives in other situations also.

            In events like “9/11” and all the tragic events that may happen in your life – and all the wonderful and blessed events in your life – never forget that God is with you  – all the time – in every situation. 

            God’s presence with us in every situation of our lives is indeed one thing we can learn from “9/11”.

            A second thing we can learn is that God loves us and gives us the ultimate victory in life and the ultimate victory over death through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

            The salvation and eternal life that God gives us through our faith in Christ is the greatest victory we can experience. 

            This is another deep Biblical truth that we all need to remember – especially in the hard, difficult, trying, emotional, and tragic times of our lives. The tragedies that occur in our lives – the hard things we have to face every day – the things we struggle with – even the most tragic and gut wrenching things we have to face – do not have the last word if we believe in Christ. If we have faith in Christ, God has the last word – and God’s last word is “I love you. I am here for you. I will save you.”

            Again — the verses we looked at in Romans 8 a few moments ago remind us that nothing can separate from God or keep God from having the last word or His saving action in our lives. The Psalmist reminds us of this in Psalm 91:14-15:

¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. ¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

            Of course, this does not mean that God will always save us in a physical way. This does not mean that we will never die. This does not mean that folks who want to hurt us can’t hurt us emotionally or physically – or that folks can not even kill us.  We will die.  Things will hurt us. People can and do and will continue to hurt us emotionally and sometimes physically – and they can indeed kill us. The Biblical truth, though, is that – if we believe in Christ – the emotional pain and physical pain we might experience in life does not have the last word – and even death does not have the last word. No – God has the last word — and God’s word is love eternal life and salvation. If we have faith in Christ then we have the victory in all the circumstances of life — and even in death.

            The first line of our denomination’s Brief Statement of Faith says:

                        In life and in death we belong to God.

            This means that God is watching over us – sustaining us in our lives – and redeeming us in our death.

            How do you get that assurance that God is with you – in life and in death? You get it by having faith in Christ and making Him your savior. If you do this, you have the assurance of God’s presence – God’s love – and God’s victory over all situations in life – and even over death.   

            In events like “9/11” and all the tragic events that may happen in your life – even when something like an illness or someone threatens your life – never forget that you belong to God — and that even death can’t put on end to that!

            Three things we can learn from “9/11”:

            First –   God’s is with us in every situation of our lives. 

            Second — God loves us and gives us the ultimate victory in life and the ultimate victory over death through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

            The third thing we can learn is that God calls us to share His love with others as we tell them about God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ and reach out to them with actions of love and compassion. 

            We can share God’s news that He is with us at all times – and that the only real hope anyone can have in life and in death is the salvation God gives us through Christ.  We can share this with others through our words as we tell them about God’s love and the offer of salvation.  We can help others prepare for the “9/11”s in their lives – the tragedies and the sufferings and even their impending death – by telling them how they can have the salvation and hope we have in life and death – and inviting them to come to a saving relationship with Christ.  We commissioned our Sunday School teachers earlier in today’s service.  How wonderful it is to have such loving and caring folks to help our children and adults learn more about Christ and more about God. Let’s all take every opportunity we can to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.  

            We can also share God’s love and the tremendous truth that God is with us in all situations of our lives by reaching out to others with the love of God. We can do this all the time – but we can be especially attentive to the needs of others as they go through the hard times in their lives and celebrate the joys of their lives. People are in need all around us. All around us people are hurting and need to know that God is with them.

            “9/11” was a tragedy – an act of terrorism. There had never been an event on American soil from which so many people died at the same time. But as tragic and horrific as it was there are stories after stories after stories of brave folks who risked their own lives to help others. God calls us to reach out to others in times of tragedy – and at all times.

            So – here are 3 of the many things I would like to suggest we can learn from “9/11”:

            First — We can learn that God is with us in all situations of our lives.

            Second — We can learn that God loves us and gives us the ultimate victory in life and over death in Jesus Christ.

            Third — We can learn that God calls us to share His love with others as we tell them about God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ and reach out to them with actions of love and compassion. 

            As Allan Jackson sings:

But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love

Amen.

Romans 13:8-14

Romans 13:8-14

Who Are You Putting On?

September 4 2011

            When the alarm clock wakes me on most mornings I am up and in the shower – then after a devotional time and breakfast I dress for the day and go to Gregg’s Store for the Community Devotional Group – then I’m off to whatever work or meetings I have for the day.  What clothes I put on in the morning depends upon what I am doing that particular day – if I am working in the office and visiting folks I might wear dress slacks and a knit shirt – or if the weather is cool a button down collar long sleeve shirt – and maybe a sweater in the winter months. If I have a meeting I might wear a tie – or a coat and tie – and sometimes even a suit. 

            You might be the same way. When you dress for the day you might pick the right things to put on — matching the types of clothes you wear with what you have to do that day.

Yes, every day we all get dressed – get cleaned up – and put on clothes to match what we are going to be doing that day.

With some of us this process might take longer than with others – and some of us might even have “little secrets” to getting ready to face the day.

I read about a little young girl who walked into the bathroom one morning  while her mom was putting on make-up and getting ready for work She watched her mom, then announced:

“I’m going to look just like you mommy!”

“Well, you might, when you grow up,” her mom told her.

“No mommy, I’m going to look just like you tomorrow.” the little girl insisted.

“How that?” the mother inquired – still busily putting on her makeup.

“All I have to do is put on some of that Oil of Old Lady you just used.”

Yep – every morning we go through our morning ritual of getting up – dressed – and ready for the day.

But what you put on depends on the day, doesn’t it?

On Sundays you might dress better than you would on Saturdays – in fact for some going to Church on Sunday means putting on some of your best clothes.  When we you dress for work, you might dress for the type of work you are doing.  If you do manual labor you might dress more casually – but if you have an office job you might “dress for success”. If you’re going to a nice restaurant for the evening  you might dress better than if you were just going to spend the evening at home.    Fashion experts say that what you put on has an effect on how you act. I remember when a red tie was referred to as a “power tie” and fashion and leadership experts were advising to wear your “power tie” if you wanted to command attention or respect. While I don’t know about that, I have found that what I put on has an effect on how I feel. I don’t really understand why that is – but it is.   

So – when you get up in the morning – what do you put on?

It probably depends on what you will be doing that day.

As we have been moving through a section of the book of Romans the last few months we have been seeing how we can grow as Christians and how we can grow to be better disciples of Christ. In our scripture passage for this morning — Romans 13:8-14 – I think Paul is asking us – not so much what do we put on every day – but he’s asking us who do we put on every day.

Yea – if you want to grow as a disciple of Christ you have to think about – who do you put on every day? 

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ Paul writes.

Clothe yourselves – he writes — with the Lord Jesus Christ.  

You know – “putting on” is not necessarily a good thing. You probably know people who are one way in one setting and around one group of people or under one set of circumstances — and another way in another setting or around another group of people or under another set of circumstances. You might not feel you can trust such people or predict how they are going to act. You might feel they are constantly “putting you on” — trying to be something they’re not. Some people call it “putting on airs” or “putting on an act.” Whatever you call it, you can usually recognize it in someone fairly quickly – and a lot of times you might try to avoid such people.

Yea — “putting on” is indeed not necessarily a good thing – and those who “put on airs” or who we feel are “putting us on” or “putting on a act” are usually discovered to be the phonies they are.

Did you ever see Mel Brooks’ movie Young Frankenstein?

Gene Wilder stars as a young relative of the famous Dr. Frankenstein. He wants to distance himself from his famous relative – and even demands his name be pronounced differently. But then he himself creates a creature much like his relative had created and wants to show the scientific community that his creature is different from the one his relative created. There is a great scene in the movie where he is introducing his “creature” to he scientific community at a major convention. He and his “creature” – both dressed in tux and tails — begin singing and dancing to “Putting on the Ritz.” Of course, everything goes wrong – the “creature” makes one of the stage lights explode and a fire breaks out – and the “creature” goes wild – proving that even though he could be dressed like a Broadway star, he was still a monster.

The problem was that all Dr. Frankenstein did was dress up the outside of his “creature”.  Inside, the “creature” was still the monster. “Putting on airs” – or “putting on an act” – or even “putting on the ritz” – did not really change the “creature”.

If you want to grow as a disciple, Paul says you don’t need to “put on airs” or “put on an act” or even “put on the ritz” – you have to put on Christ.

Clothe yourselves with Christ – Paul writes.

In other words, get dressed in Jesus.

There’s an old story about a little girl who listened intently to her preacher’s sermon about letting Jesus live in your heart. After worship she asked him, “Preacher, I’m such a little girl and Jesus is so big — if Jesus lived in my heart, wouldn’t He be sticking out some place?”

Well, yes He would – and that’s the whole point.

Some people actually put on Christ – and Christ sticks out when they show His love others. Others simply “put us on” or “put on and act” about having put on Christ. They only look like they are trying to follow Christ – but by their words and actions you can tell that they actually are not. They’re “put ons” instead of people who have truly “put on Christ”.

What about you?

Are you like young Dr. Frankenstein’s “creature” – all dressed up and looking really good on the outside – but not really changed on the inside?

Are you trying to act like you are a follower of Christ?

Are you trying to “put on airs” or “put on an act” about your relationship with Christ?

The truth is that God can see through that.

The truth is that others will be able to see through that also.

The truth is that – instead of “putting on airs” or “putting on an act” you need to put on Christ.

Putting on Christ means dressing from the inside out.

If you are going to put on Christ you not only have let Jesus live in your heart, but you have to wrap your heart in his love and presence – and you have to be committed to growing in your relationship with Christ. Then Christ will stick out –  in everything you do.

Putting on Christ means truly having Christ in your life.

Putting on Christ does not mean just saying the right words at the right times to try to impress people. It does not even mean doing things when others can see you and praise you for what you are doing.  These things are signs of being the type of “put on” that Christ does not need.   

Putting on Christ means growing in your relationship with Him through prayer, reading and studying scripture, worshiping Him with other Christians, fellowshipping with other Christians, and serving others in His name.

Putting on Christ means letting Christ make a difference in your life – and letting others see Christ in the way you live.

Yea – when you have Christ in your heart – when you put on Christ and you grow in your faith in Christ – you “put on Christ” and others see Christ though you.

 If you want to grow as a disciple, Paul says you don’t need to “put on airs” or “put on an act” or even “put on the ritz” – no — you have to put on Christ.

Clothe yourselves with Christ – Paul writes. 

Clothing yourself with Christ – putting on Christ — is not about just “putting on an act” of faith on Sundays. You can’t just put Christ on during worship like a the robes the choir and I put on every Sunday morning and take Christ off before you leave like the choir and I take off our robes before we leave.  It’s not about having the outward appearance of a disciple of Christ – it’s about your inner relationship with Christ. You have to put on Christ from the inside out – so that Jesus sticks out all over in every aspect of your life.

God can see through you if you are just “putting on an act” about your relationship with Christ – and before long so can others.

If you have put on Christ you are going to want to pray to God – talk to Him – and get His strength for the life He calls you to live. You are going to want to pray every opportunity you get – asking God to forgive you of your sins and asking God to give you the strength you need to truly be the person He is calling you to be. You are going to want to pray for God to show you how You can serve Him and to show you  situations where you can serve Him – whether it be in the community or in the Church. 

If you have put on Christ you are going to want to read your Bible daily and try to put what you learn into practice in your life. You are also going to want to gather with us as we study scripture in Sunday School and Bible Study.

If you have put on Christ you are going to want to worship God with us – and praise Him for what He has done in your life.

If you have put on Christ you are going to want to fellowship with us and with other Christians so we can grow in God’s love together.

If you have put on Christ you are going to want to serve God and others in actions of love and compassion – whether it be serving others with us as we reach out to the community and the world with the love of God or by doing things on your own that show Christ’s love to those in need.

   Growing as a disciple does not mean you need to “put on airs” or “put on an act” or even “put on the ritz” – no – it means you have to put on Christ.

Don’t make a big show of your life in Christ — just let Christ lead your life. Clothe yourself in a Christ – like life and a Christ  - like compassion for others. Let others see that you have indeed put on Christ – and are not just “putting on an act”. Let others see that you have Christ in your heart as Christ sticks out in what you say and what you do.

There are a lot of ways you can grow in your relationship with Christ – and  Hopewell offers you opportunities to let Christ grow in your heart so you can put on Christ and others can see Christ in you. I’ve talked about the times of study and worship we offer – as well as the times of fellowship.  These are all vital for your growth as a disciple. Times of reaching out to others is also vital to your faith – and vital to whether others will see Christ in you or not. We here at Hopewell have a lot of different opportunities for reaching to others with the love of Christ. From the crochet group that makes blankets for others to the Pairs and Spares Sunday School class donating fans to the Lighthouse Ministries to our donating food to Manna House and school supplies to Wallace Gregg and Thornwell to the men helping in the yards of those who need help to the Men’s Club using the money raise from the Chicken Bog to help those in need in our community to this Tuesday night’s supper at FMU — there are a lot different ways we show the love of God to others – a lot of ways we show that we are trying to put on Christ – have Christ in our hearts – and have Him stick out to others through us. I would urge you to join us in all these times of study, worship, fellowship and service. Together we can put on Christ – and grow into the individuals and the Church God wants us to be.   Amen.

  

 

Romans 12:9-21

Romans 12:9-21

Prescription For A Christian Life

August 28, 2011

            Some of you know that yesterday was my birthday. I truly appreciate all the cards, messages, Face Book greetings and other birthday wishes I received.

            I am another year older today!

            At 56 I seem to have reached the age where I take a lot of pills.

I take a pill in the morning to help me wake up due to my sleep apnea.  Sleep Apnea means that I quit breathing while asleep and will jerk when I start breathing again. Even though I don’t awaken, my body doesn’t get the rest it needs during the night many mornings I wake up tired – so I take a pill to help me stay awake. I take another pill in the middle of the day to help me stay awake – again due to my sleep apnea. I also sleep with a CPAP machine that helps my continue breathing at night – again due to the sleep apnea. Doctors have warned me that I need to sleep with the CPAP machine every night – - or I might stop breathing and not start again. There are nights I feel I have to sleep with one eye open to make sure Sally doesn’t cut the machine off!

Besides my pills for my sleep apnea I take a pill in the morning to keep my uric acid level under control. The doctor tells me that if I stop taking it I will develop gout in my foot – and I have had that enough to know that I do not want it again! I also take 3 pills at night – one for high cholesterol, and two for allergies. 

I also have to have a bottle of Tylenol handy for the aches and pains I seem to be prone to – especially in my right knee that I had surgery on several years ago.

Whenever I pack to go anywhere I have to pack a rather large bag – what I call my “medicine kit” for all my pills – plus a lot of room in my suitcase for my CPAP – which is one of the older and more bulky models.

Yea – I have definitely arrived at that age where my pills follow me wherever I go!

Maybe some of you feel like you have reached that age also.  If you haven’t reached it yet, you just might someday.

Why am I talking about medicines and prescriptions?

Well, our passage before us today – Romans 12:9-21 – is actually a continuation of the passage Paul Abell preached about last Sunday – Romans 12:1-9. I am not sure exactly what Paul said last Sunday, but judging from the passage and his sermon title I am guessing he addressed Paul’s call to those who follow Christ to be “living sacrifices” and to live lives that are “holy and acceptable to God”. The passage before us today – Romans 12:9-21 – goes into some specific details for how to do that.

I like to think of this passage as a prescription for a Christian life.

Just like a doctor can give you a prescription for medicine that will help you  live a more healthy life, here in Romans 12:9-21 Paul is giving you a prescription  for how to live a more Christian life.

The prescription Dr. Paul gives begins in verse 9 with: “Love must be sincere.” In many ways this injunction is a summary of the entire list Paul gives in these verses.

The word Paul chooses to use for love here is agape. He had several other words he could have used that we would still translate love – most notably philios – or the love we might have for a friend – and eros – or sexual love – but he chose to use agape – a  word which is difficult to translate fully. It does mean love, but that simple word in English hardly includes everything Paul has in mind here. Before Christians came along, the word agape was hardly used in Greek. Christians, however, took that word and began using it to describe the love of God, particularly to describe the loving action of sending His Son to die for our sins. In using agape Paul referring to a deep love that is parallel to the love God has for you.

How do you know that God loves you? You see it and understand it by God’s action of sending Christ to die for your sins. If you are truly committed to living the Christian life, the life God is calling on you to live, the first part of the prescription Paul is giving you for how to live it is for you to have a love that is expressed in actions – just as God’s love is expressed in actions.  You understand God’s love by His action.  If you are going to live the life God is calling you to live the first step in the prescription is to live a life that shows love in your actions.

This genuine divine love is something that will compel you to reach out to help and support those you see every day. George Bernard Shaw once stated:

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity.”

Genuine divine love is never indifferent to the needs of others – but is always looking for ways to meet the needs of others with specific actions and words.

Is this the love you have for others?

Are you an example of God’s agape love to those around you?

Can it be said of you that you are always looking for ways to meet the needs of others with specific actions and words?

Or – is your love for others more along the lines of philios – a warm feeling of being a friend or a buddy — until there is a real need and you find something else to do instead of getting involved and meeting the need with a specific action.

If you want to live the Christian life, the first part of the prescription Paul gives is that your love must be like God’s love – a love that actively looks for ways to reach out to others.

OK – that’s the first part to the prescription Dr. Paul gives for how to live a Christian life.    

The second part is in the second portion of verse 9:

“Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.”

Like the first part of Dr. Paul’s prescription, this part is a far cry from being indifferent to the temptations you will face as you strive to live the Christian life.  No – like the active approach to showing God’s love to others Paul is prescribing in the fist part of verse 9, here he is prescribing an active approach to avoiding the things you have to avoid if you are going to live the Christian life. This is an approach to the Christian life does much more that just pay lip service to the things God wants you to do.

Again the Greek words Paul uses are important here. This is the only time the word Paul uses that is translated “hate” appears in the New Testament. It is a very strong word and means more than merely hate – it is used in other places to mean to hate strongly or abhor. Paul is not saying that you need to express a distaste for the things that pull you away from God and how He wants you to live, but Paul is saying that you need to take an active stance against those things – while also actively uniting with what is good. The term used here that we translate “cling” can also be translated as glue together. In other words, Paul is reminding you that being a follower of Christ means more than just hanging on to the things God wants you be doing, but it means gluing yourself – attaching yourself — to those things.

Does this describe your attitude towards the things God says are not good for you and the things God says are good for you?

Do you “hate” the things God says are not good for you so much that you strongly abhor them and avoid them at all cost?

Do you “cling” to the things God says are good for you so strongly that you become glued to them and can not be separated from them?

If you want to live the Christian life, part of the prescription Dr. Paul gives is that you need to hate – abhor – and avoid that which is against what God wants you to do – while you must cling – or be glued to – the things God wants you to do.

Next in Dr. Paul’s prescription is really a result of “gluing yourself” to the good things God is calling you to do. Paul says to “be devoted to one another in  brotherly love.”

This time the word Paul uses that is translated love is philios. This is the Greek word used to show brotherly love or affection. Agape is the  divine love that underlies the entire Christian life, but philios  embodies the idea of affection for a brother or a sister, and in the New Testament, primarily an affection for a fellow believer.

If you want to live the Christian life, part of the prescription Paul gives is to love your brothers and sisters in the Lord – or what we can refer to as the members of the Church.

Can it be said of you that you love your brothers and sisters in the Lord here at Hopewell?

How well do you  show love to others in the Church?

Part of Dr. Paul’s prescription for Christian living is to be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

The rest of the items in this prescription continue to clarify the way that how to live the Christian life.

“Honor one another above yourselves” sounds a little foreign to most people, but it seems that Paul is using a fancy way to remind Christians of the importance of humility.

A noted scholar was once approaching the dais when a loud round of applause broke out from the audience. He immediately looked around to see if someone else was behind him – it was simply impossible for him to even consider that the applause might be meant for him.

If you want to live the Christian life, be humble.

Dr. Paul continues:
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor.”

The Christian life should be a passionate adventure. When Paul wrote these words being a Christian was likely to cause a series of problems for believers, possibly even death, as it did for Paul himself. Only those passionate about their belief needed to bother to participate. The fact that Paul includes such a comment in this prescription for living the Christian life indicates that passion was something people in his day could have trouble sustaining, just as some people have problems being passionate about their faith today.

How about you?

How passionate are you about your faith?

How passionate are you about living the Christian life – and growing in your faith?

Can it be said of you that you are a passionate Christian – - or are you luke warm?

Dr. Paul prescribes for you to:

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor” if you want to live the Christian life.

 Next in the prescription is “Serve the Lord.”

How well do you serve God?

Do you seize the opportunities you have to serve God and others?

If you look at your life you might find it easy to see the chances and opportunities to serve God and others that you have taken and rejoice over them.  If you look at your life seriously, though, you will find opportunities that were lost because they were ignored.

If you want to grow in the Christian life, serve the Lord – take the opportunities God gives you. 

Next we see that Dr. Paul has written:
“be faithful in prayer.”

It might be a surprise to find prayer listed so far down this prescription of how to live the Christian life. This might show that in the early church prayer was so central to the life of the believers that Paul thought it needed only a passing reminder to persevere in it.

How is your prayer life?

Can it be said of you that you are “faithful in prayer”?

Other pieces to the prescription Dr. Paul gives for how to live the Christian life include things such as sharing with those who are in need and practicing hospitality.  

“bless those who persecute you”

and

“live in harmony with one another” 

  These two parts of the prescription Dr. Paul gives may be some of the most difficult – the “hardest pills” – for you to swallow.

When someone says something bad about you – what’s your first reaction?

Probably not to see how you can bless them – but say something bad back to them. But Dr. Paul says this is not the Christian way.

Blessing those who persecute you and living in harmony is not easy and takes practice.  It is an example of that agape love God calls you to have – a love that actively shows His love to others – even those who don’t show love to you. I believe that you can’t incorporate this into your life without prayer – which may be why Dr. Paul lists prayer in his prescription before he lists blessing those who persecute you and living in harmony with others.

So – you have a lot of things in this prescription Dr. Paul gives you for living the Christian life. Things like sincere love, hating evil and clinging to good, being devoted to others, honoring others above yourself, never be lacking in zeal, serving the Lord,  be faithful in prayer, blessing those who persecute you, and living in harmony with others.

The final piece to the prescription seems to encompass them all:

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

This is certainly not the way you might choose to live if you were living like you want, but it is the way God chooses for you to live if you are going to live like He wants.

This prescription Dr. Paul gives us is not simple – but it is simply the way that you need to live your life as a Christian. Amen.

Acts 1:1-11

Acts 1:1-11

Don’t Just Stand There

August 14 2011

            Most of you know that I spent from Monday – Friday of this past week representing New Harmony Presbytery at the Presbyterian Church’s Engage! Evangelism Conference in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida.  This conference was held in conjunction with the Presbyterian Church’s New Church Development Conference and I would say there were about 75 ministers and elders at each conference – making for a total of around 150 Presbyterians who were excited about topics such as evangelism, church growth, discipleship, and new church development.  New materials for evangelism, church growth and discipleship were shared and there were some of the best minds our denomination offers on hand to share their ideas on these vital topics. It was a blessing to be able to learn from and discuss evangelism with the likes of Dan Kimball, Stan Ott, Chris Walker, and our denominations staff that works on evangelism and church growth Eric Hoey, Ray Jones, and Dave Loeling) .

            I come back to tell you bad news and good news. 

            First we have to face the bad news. The Presbyterian Church (USA) as a denomination has been losing ground for a number of years.  Churches have been losing members, churches have not been gaining new members, churches have not been teaching their members how to grow as Christians, and churches have not been training members how to share their love for Christ with others.  As a result the denomination is in a state of decline, as are a majority of our churches. Some like to attribute this decline to the debates over ordination that the denomination has been embroiled in over the past 10 years or more, but we can’t blame all our problems on these. Others want to give the excuse that it’s not just Presbyterian churches that are declining but every mainline denomination is going through the same problems. The truth is, friends, that these are poor excuses – and that we as Presbyterians have not been doing our job – the job that Christ gave us – the job of making disciples for Him and growing as His disciples ourselves. It’s time we quit pointing fingers at the controversies we go through as a denomination and quit pointing fingers at other denominations and start pointing fingers at ourselves – because it is our fault we are in the decline that we are in. 

            But – with all the problems and controversies and “bad news” that plague our denomination, there is good news. The good news is that God is still at work – still active – and still moving to do new things in our denomination and the world. It was a blessing for me to see in St. Pete — and to be able to share with you – that there are Presbyterians throughout the country praying and working for answers – and there is a new staff at the denominational headquarters in Louisville working in the vital areas of evangelism, church growth, and discipleship that love God and want to help churches grow and reach their communities for Christ. 

            So – there is “bad news” for the denomination and there is “good news”.

            Do I have to tell you that Hopewell is going through the same problems the denomination is going through – that the “bad news” for most Presbyterian churches is also the “bad news” for us here at Hopewell?

            I believe you all can see that Hopewell is losing members and not brining in new members.  I believe that most of you realize that we here at Hopewell do not do a very good job of teaching folks how to grow in their faith and share their faith with others.  I believe that most of you realize that we here at Hopewell seem to be more concerned with how we have always done things than we are with praying for God to bless us with a vision for the new things He might be calling us to do and the  new ways God might be calling us to do things.

            But – with all the “bad news” for us here at Hopewell – I am convinced that there is also “good news”.  I believe that God is active and moving among us and wants to do new things in our Church and in our lives – if we will let Him work in us  and through us.

            If we will pray for God to bless us with His vision and a zeal for doing His work in our Church and our community I firmly believe that He will bless us.  I firmly believe that if we will pray for God to bless us with a vision for how He would have us to grow His Church here at Hopewell – how He would have us to grow in our own faith and grow disciples here at Hopewell – then how He would have us to reach out into the community and share His love with words and actions – He will bless us.

            But we have to be willing to pray and work together.

If we pray and work, I believe the blessings will come. 

            I believe we all have to have a focus  that – instead of focusing so much on our problems – will help us focus on God’s will.

I am going to call this a focus that will help us look upward – and outward.

We need to look upwards to God – and outwards to others.    

Our passage before us this morning from Acts 1:1-11 gives us two directions that Jesus called on His disciples – and that includes us – to focus on. As Luke records Jesus’ last words to His disciples before His ascension, He calls on them to focus upward and outward.

First, He told them to focus upward. 

If we are going to be the Church – the disciples – God is calling us to be we are going to have to look upward. By looking upward I mean that we have to focus on the things that help us focus on God – things like prayer, Bible Study, and worship.

In our passage from Acts 1 Christ told His disciples to wait and pray.

Now, if we are honest about it we’ll have to admit that waiting for anything – and praying – seems to go against our nature.   There is something about waiting and praying that seems to us like a waste of time. We don’t like to wait for anything or anyone. We want immediate results, with our satisfaction guaranteed or our money back. We want instant happiness - instant success. We don’t want to wait for the good life; we want it now, immediately. And if we don’t get what we want where we are we will look someplace else. Who wants to sit around and wait? Who wants to sit around and pray?

That is indeed part of our problem. We focus so much on the problems the Church is facing that we fail to look for God’s answers to these problems – and miss opportunities to grow in our own faith and our own commitment to Christ. We rush around looking for answers when really the answer lies in obeying Christ’s command to wait and pray.

If we want God to bless us as a Church so we can become a Church that is vibrant and active and where we focus on growing in our faith and sharing our faith with others we each need to learn how to pray.

We need to pray – every day – for God’s will for our lives. 

We need to pray – every day – that God will bless us and help us live as His people.

We need to pray – every day – for God to give us opportunities to tell others about Him and what He has done in our lives. 

We need to pray – every day – for God bless us with a vision for what specific things we can do here at Hopewell to grow into being His church.

Just like the disciples, we need an upward focus– a focus that calls us to pray for God’s blessings and wait on Him to reveal His will.

How often do you pray – and when you do pray – what do you pray for?  

Do you pray every day – in fact numerous times every day?

When you pray – do you pray for your own needs – or do you pray for others – and even for the Church?

Can it be said about you that you have an upward focus – a focus that brings you to pray for God’s blessings on the Church?

Praying is a vital part of this upward focus Jesus calls on us to have – but not the only part. If we are going to grow into the Church God would have us be we also need to study God’s word.

You need to study God’s word on your own so you can grow as a disciple – and then you need to be involved in the times we come together to study God’s word – times like Sunday School and Bible Study. 

How often do you study your Bible?

How often do you read your Bible?

Do you read and study your Bible every day so you can grow in your faith and learn how to serve God?

Do you come to the times we gather for study – to Sunday School and Bible Study?

Can it be said about you that you have an upward focus – a focus where you focus on learning about God’s will for your life and for the Church by studying God’s word on your own and joining us as we study God’s word together?

Praying and studying God’s word are parts of this upward focus Jesus calls us – as His disciples – to have. Being committed to joining with us as we worship and praise God and fellowship together in God’s name are also parts of this upward focus.

To be the Church God wants us to be we need a perspective that is an upward focus.  To be the Christian – the disciple – God wants you to be you need a focus that is an upward focus.

When it comes to the problems we face as a Church, do you have a focus that is an upward focus – that focuses God and His answers by focusing  on your prayer life – your study of God’s word – and your participation in worship and fellowship with God’s people — or do you have a perspective that focuses on the problems you see in the Church without being willing to seek God’s answers?

In our scripture passage for today Jesus called on His disciples to have an upward focus. 

He also called on them to have an outward focus.

Friends – - if we are going to be the Church God is calling us to be we can’t just sit and worry or fuss about our problems.  We can’t just have an inward focus where we stare at each other and wonder what happened to the Church we used to be. We have to have to be outward focused – looking at the community and the world and those who do not know Christ or who need God’s love – and looking for ways to share Christ with them.

In the Acts 1 passage we are looking at today Jesus was getting ready to leave His disciples.  He was getting ready to ascend into heaven. He would no longer be with them — but He did not want them to sit around and mope and worry about what to do next.  He wanted them to have the upward focus. He wanted them to focus on God – but he also wanted them to have an outward focus. He wanted them to share His word and His love with the people around them – as He said in verse 8 — with people in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. This means sharing Jesus and His love with those in our local community – then expanding to a larger community – then to the ends of the world.

To be the Church God is calling us to be, and to be the Christians God is calling us to be, we have to have an outward focus.  As easy as it would be to sit in our Church and complain about how we aren’t growing and how no one is coming and how the new folks in our community don’t just show up at the doors of the Church, that type of inward focus is not the focus Jesus calls us to have. Jesus calls us to have an outward focus – a focus where we are committed to taking Christ into the community and into the world.

How committed are you to taking Jesus into the community – talking about Him and sharing His love with those you come into contact with – every day?

Can it be said that you have an outward focus to your life – and that you are continually seeking new ways to share God with others?

How committed are we – as a Church – to finding ways to reach out into the community with God’s love and new ways to tell those around us and around the world about the love of God?

Can it be said that we have an outward focus – and that we are continually seeking new ways to share God with others?

Alice Ridgell is the pastor of a new church in Greenwood, SC and spoke at the worship service that began the conference I attended this week.  She shared that she heard about a Church in Atlanta whose evangelism theme one year was:

“The Church has left the building”

I like that!

“The Church has left the building”

If we are going to grow as the Church God would have us be, we are going to have to leave the building and be God’s witnesses in our community and in the world through specific actions of love and grace and specific words that share God’s love with others. From reaching out to the Wallace Gregg School and Thornwell with School supplies to donating fans for those in our community who are suffering in the heat to finding other specific actions that will meet people’s needs, we need to be outward focused – to “leave the building” with actions and words that show God’s love.    

 If you are going to grow as a disciple of Christ, you are going to have to leave the building – leave the Church every week and your home every day and be God’s witness in your community and in the world through specific actions of love and grace and specific words that share God’s love with others.

How committed are you to going into the community and finding the needs that are all around us – and looking for ways you as an individual and we as a Church can meet those needs?

Let me give you a suggestion.

Pray for God to bless you with vision for the needs that are in our community and the willingness to do something about them.

Pray a prayer I learned from Steve Hayner, President of Columbia Theological Seminary. Hayner once told a group I was a part of that he had written in the cover of his Bible:

“Lord – give me eyes to see things as You see them.

Break my heart with the things that break Your heart.

Let me never pass up opportunities to touch others with Your love.”

This prayer is now in the cover of the Bible I use for my personal devotionals every morning and is part of what I pray every day.

 As you go about your daily routine at home, work, school, in the community, wherever you may be – pray that God will give you eyes that see things and people as He sees them – and a heart that is broken by the things around you that break His heart. 

I promise you that if you pray for God to give you an outward perspective that focuses on meeting the needs of others with His love and telling them about Him, He will rejoice and bless you with ways to reach out into the community and the world.

If we are going to grow as a Church we are going to have to be open to the direction God is leading us. Yes – we have to admit that there is “bad news” for us in that we are losing members, not brining in new members, and not doing a very good job of teaching folks how to grow in their faith and share their faith with others. But we also have to see that there is “good news” in that God is doing new things and if we will have an upward focus and an outward focus instead of an inward focus we will become the Church God is calling us to be.

Last Sunday I asked for each of you to pray for me while I was at the conference this week.  I felt your prayers – and was blessed in ways that I can not begin to share in just one sermon.  I truly believe, though, that the greatest way I was blessed was that I was blessed with a new commitment to being your pastor and the leader of this Church God has called me to be.

I have been blessed with a new commitment to an upward focus for my life and ministry. I have a new commitment to praying for God’s will in my life and my ministry. I have a new commitment to praying for God to help me focus on His will for my life and the Church. I have a new commitment to praying for God to give me a vision – His vision – for the Church and the courage to work for it.

I have also been blessed with a new commitment to an outward focus for my life and ministry.  I have a new commitment to looking for ways to reach out to others with God’s love and telling them about the love of God – a new commitment for my heart to be broken by the things in the community that break God’s heart – my ears to hear people as God hears them – and my eyes to see the needs all around me as God sees them. 

I invite you to join me.

The more of you who will join me in the upward and outward focus that God is calling on us to have at His Church and His followers, the more we will be blessed – and the more the work of God will be done in our community and in the world.  Amen. 

Romans 10:5-15

Romans 10:5-15

Seeing – Hearing – Believing

August 7, 2011

A young man and his girlfriend were making plans to marry – but felt they needed to wait until they could financially afford to do so.  The young man was offered an opportunity by his company to work temporarily in a new plant in Spain for a good bit more money than he was making at the time. While he did not want to go and be apart from his girlfriend, he accepted the job offer because he felt it would enable him to earn the money he needed to marry her. He and she began making plans to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned. As the lonely weeks in Spain went by, however, his girlfriend began to wonder if he was being true to her. After all, she reasoned, Spain has many beautiful women. She wrote him and asked if her were able to be remain true to her with so many beautiful women around – and he wrote back declaring that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls.

“I admit,” he wrote “that sometimes I’m tempted. But I fight it. I’m keeping myself for you.”

A short time later the young man received a package in the mail from his girlfriend. It contained a note and a harmonica. “I’m sending this to you,” his girlfriend wrote, “so you can have something to take your mind off those girls.”

The young man wrote back that he was practicing playing the harmonica every night and thinking only of her.

When the young man returned home to the states his girlfriend was waiting at the airport. As he rushed forward to embrace her, she held up her hand and said sternly, “Hold on there. First I want to hear you play that harmonica!”

He proceeded to pull out his harmonica and play a beautiful tune. His girlfriend then kissed him and said: “I know now that you love me.  You have proved with your mouth on the harmonica that you love me with your heart.”

Our passage for this morning – Romans 10:5-15 – is about mouths and hearts.

What does it take to grow in your faith in Christ?

It takes your mouth and your heart.

Listen to what Paul writes in verse 9:

“…if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

God has offered you salvation through Jesus Christ. Your response to the grace of God that is extended to you through the life – death – and resurrection of Christ is to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord.  This is how you grow in your faith. You believe in your heart and confess with your mouth.

Let’s look at the two parts to growing in faith.

Let’s begin with: “believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead” 

Every year thousands of people climb a mountain in the Italian Alps, passing the “stations of the cross” to stand at an outdoor crucifix. One tourist noticed a little trail that led beyond the cross. He fought through the rough thicket and, to his surprise, came upon another shrine, a shrine that symbolized the empty tomb. This shrine that symbolized the empty tomb, however, had been neglected by tourists who had climbed the mountain. Brush had grown up around it. Most people had gone as far up the trail as the cross, but there they stopped.

Some followers of Christ do that in their faith also. They might follow Christ as far as the cross, but there they stop.

It’s really sad — very sad.

The truth of the matter is that there is no salvation in believing that once upon a time there lived a good man named Jesus who taught many good things and then died on a cross. No – Paul writes:

“Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead….”

When you add the affirmation that God raised Jesus from the dead, you are adding a whole new dimension to your faith. Millions of good men and women have lived and died, but only one rose from the dead – only one still lives triumphantly – and only one is still available to his followers today.

It’s faith in the resurrected Christ that saves you.

It’s your faith in the risen Christ that you need to continually nurture and nourish.

How is your faith in the risen Christ?

Some Christians are not as strong in their faith as you might expect them to be. Even though they have confessed a faith in Christ and even though they are members of a church they experience an emptiness in their lives and feel very little joy in their faith – and do little to grow in their faith and serve God or others.

How is your faith?    

Are you as strong in your faith as you should be?

Maybe you have joined the Church and maybe you attend when it fits your schedule – but you still are not as strong in your faith as you can be and do little to grow in your faith and serve God or serve others.

I read about one woman who  experienced these feelings. For quite some time after she invited Christ into her heart, she still felt empty. There was something missing in her life and she just couldn’t put her finger on what it was. She had always thought that once someone became a Christian that they would be filled with instant happiness and an instant sense of fulfillment. She had always thought she would feel different than she felt, and never expected to feel the emptiness she felt. She even began questioning the validity of her faith. One day as she was reading the Bible she realized something she had never noticed before. She was struck with the realization that she was clean. She realized that Christ had delivered her from her sins. But she still felt an emptiness in her life.  

As she read Jesus’ response to Satan when he was being tempted in the wilderness.

“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

She realized that she needed something more than simply accepting Christ as her Savior. She realized that she needed to be fed spiritually. She began to set aside time each day to read her Bible and pray. She began to make time every week for Bible Study and Worship and fellowship with other Christians. She began actively seeking ways to serve others and serve God in the process. As she made time for Bible reading, prayer, study, fellowship, service and worship her feelings of emptiness disappeared. 

“Now I have an abundant life,” she told her Pastor, “because I am learning wonderful things about God as I feed on the Bible’s words, learn about God, worship and serve God, and fellowship with God’s people. God is now my best friend, and I look forward spending time with Him every day.”

Could it be that your heart is empty?

If so, it may feel empty because you are not feeding on God’s word every day – studying His word with fellow Christians – spending time in worship of God and in fellowship with God’s people – serving God and others. You need to do these things to grow in your faith and receive the joy of following the risen Christ.

The Bible is undiscovered treasure for many people.

Are you one of them?

How is your faith this morning?

Is it alive and growing?

If not, maybe you are not nurturing it as you should be.

So – believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is part of what it means to grow in your relationship with Christ.

But believing with your heart is only one-half of what growing in your relationship with Christ is all about.

Paul also writes:

If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” …

To grow in your faith you need to believe in your heart – and confess with your mouth – that Jesus is your Lord.

You need to have Christ in your heart – and on your lips.

A lot of Christians say they have Christ in their hearts – but do not have Christ on their lips. Many feel that they would be ostracized from their friends and their friends would avoid them if they talked too much about Christ – and it is true that there are folks who would rather spend an hour with an insurance salesman doing his hardest sales job than with a Christian excited about their faith. Many feel that they don’t want to be a nuisance so they try the “silent witness” approach instead of having Christ on their lips.

Is that the way you feel?

Are you “silent Sam” or “silent Samantha” when it comes to having Jesus and the things of Jesus on your lips — instead of “excited Ed” or “excited Edna”?

There is something to be said for silent gestures of Christian love and service — and Jesus warned us about making a show of our religion. Still, when a friend is floundering in darkness and needs someone to say something positive, something reassuring, something life-giving, then remaining silent may not be the best thing to do. There are times when you need to put in a good word for Christ. It does not have to be an eloquent statement, it just needs to be a statement of simple faith – an affirmation that Christ is alive and that Christ is available to all who call on his name.

If you want to grow in your faith, you need to have Jesus in your heart – and on your mouth. You need to have Jesus in your heart and grow in your faith by studying God’s word, meeting with other Christians for study, fellowship, and worship, and you need to serve God and others in specific actions of love and grace.

And you need to have Jesus on your mouth – talking to others about your faith – what Christ means to you and can mean to them.

James Jeffries was national president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and one of the most articulate and dynamic Christian spokesmen in the country. In many ways, Jeffries’ son Neil was a lot like his dad. Neil was strong, athletic, good looking, and had a deep commitment to Jesus Christ. But in one respect Neil was very different from James. While James was a dynamic and charismatic public speaker, Neil was afflicted with a severe stutter. He was quite shy though he was a thoughtful, wise, and intelligent young man. Surprisingly Neil was chosen to speak at an FCA national conference. Over a thousand young athletes were in attendance as Neil stepped onto the platform and began to speak. Many in the audience didn’t know about Neil’s speech impediment, and some, thinking his performance was a joke or a skit, began to laugh. On the platform, however, Neil continued talking. It took him about twenty minutes to say what you or I could have said in five or ten minutes. Yet at the conclusion of Neil’s talk, something amazing happened. Neil offered an invitation for those in the audience to give their lives to Jesus Christ. All across the audience, young men stood and began to walk forward. More young athletes made a commitment of their lives to Christ at that moment than at any other FCA conference. Neil was not eloquent, but he was passionate, and his passion stirred those young men’s souls.

If you want to grow in your faith in Christ you need to have Christ on your mouth – in your words. You do not have to be an eloquent speaker, just have Jesus in your heart and be willing to talk about what that means to you.

God may not call you to be a great speaker – but God does call you tell others about Him.  God does call you to let your light shine. God does call you to have a heart for Him and lips for Him.

“…if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Lips and hearts.

We began by talking about a young couple separated by his job.

Have you ever been around someone who is in love?

Have you ever noticed how easily they talk about the person they are in love with? That is the natural inclination of one whose heart is full of devotion for a lover. That can be your natural inclination if your heart is full of devotion for your Savior.

So — is your heart full of love for Christ or is there still an emptiness?

Maybe you need to spend some time growing in your faith — feeding on God’s word – studying God’s word on you own and with fellow Christians – fellowshipping with fellow Christians – worshipping with fellow Christians – serving God with fellow Christians. That’s one way you will grow in your faith.

If God is in your heart, is God also on your lips?

Having God on your lips is another way to grow in your faith and to help others either come to faith or grow in their faith. The time for silence is over. People today hunger for hope and you need to introduce them to the One who is the source of all hope.

When you have Christ in your heart and grow in your faith because Christ is in your heart others will see Christ in you.

When you have Christ on your lips and tell others about what Christ has done for you others will hear Christ in you.

When others see and hear Christ in you, they will come to believe in Christ because of what God is doing in and through you.  Your faith will grow because Christ is in your heart and on your lips, and the faith of others will also.

You may remember the motion picture Gandhi.   Ben Kingsley starred as Mohandas Gandhi, the man who helped lead India to freedom through non violent protest. Kingsley spent months preparing for the role, visiting Indian locales Gandhi had frequented. He even learned to spin cotton thread on a wooden wheel, as Gandhi  did, while holding conversations. The physical resemblance between Gandhi and Kingsley proved startling. After filming a scene in a village south of Delhi, Kingsley stepped out of a car and an elderly peasant knelt to touch his feet. Embarrassed, Kingsley explained that he was merely an actor playing Gandhi. “We know,” replied the villager, “but we see him and hear him in you.”

Friends – that’s the world’s plea to you. If you have Christ in your hearts and on our lips, you will grow in your faith – and if others can see and hear Christ in you, they will believe. Amen. 

Romans 8:26-39

Romans 8:26-39

Will You Sink Or Will You Swim?

July 24 2011

                Most of you know that Sally and I were at Camp Pee Dee most this past week. Our dogs Buster and Bella went with us.  Sally taught the pottery classes — I lead the Bible Studies – and Bella and Buster quickly became “camp mascots” for the week.  As is always the case when we spend a week at Camp Pee Dee, it was an amazing week – a true blessing to be with children who soak up Bible truths like little sponges and counselors who do so much to make the week the blessing that it is for the children and everyone involved.  We are definitely blessed to have such a great facility and such a dedicated staff at our Presbytery’s camp.

                One of the safety measures taken at camp is that the children are tested for their ability to swim when they arrive on Sunday afternoon.  If they can swim well they are given a green wristband to wear all week to signify that they can swim in any part of the pool – jump off of the diving board — and take canoes and kayaks on the lake. Of course they can do these things as long at the lifeguard is on duty.  If they can swim some but not very well they are given a yellow wristband to wear all week to signify that they can swim in parts of the pool – but not the deepest parts. Those who can not swim are given red wristbands to signify that they have to stay in the most  shallow end of the pool and even then under direct supervision of their counselors.  They are very safety conscience at Camp Pee Dee — especially when it comes to the pool and lakes – so determining who can and who can’t  swim is an important part of the first afternoon at camp – as is the colored wristband system.

                As I thought about the Camp Pee Dee colored wristband system this past week – and had our text for today – Romans 8:26-39 – in my mind – I thought about the challenges and dangers and struggles we all face in life and if we “swim” through these challenges or if they make us “sink”.   

Scott Peck begins his book The Road Less Traveled with this statement:

Life is difficult.  

Yes, it is.  You probably don’t need someone to tell you that.  Life has it’s joys and it’s laughs and it’s good times – but it also has it’s difficulties and hard times and tears and times that seem almost impossible to take.

Life is difficult.

The question is this:

How do you cope with the hard – difficult – painful – tear filled times?

If you had to wear a “colored wristband” to show how well you cope with the hard – difficult – painful – tear filled times of your life – what color would your wristband be?

Would it be green – to signify that you can withstand whatever hardships may come your way?

Would it be yellow – to signify that you can withstand some hardships – but not very many?

Or would it be red – to signify that you are not able to withstand any hardships – and even the  least difficult thing might make you “go under” and never recover?

How about it –

Difficult – hard – painful times are going to come – but when they do – do you sink – or do you swim?

What color is your wristband that signifies how you react to the hard – difficult – and painful times of life?

In our passage from Romans 8 today – verses 26-39 – Paul gives us a way to cope with the hard – painful – and difficult times of life. Paul tells us in verse 28:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose            

                Paul is not saying that everything that happens in life is good, because much of it is indeed not good. What Paul is saying is that – if  you add all the happenings of life together and look at the whole picture of  life for the person who has faith in God and loves God and grows in God’s love and shares the love of God – you see that  life is good. The whole of life, its ups and downs, are good when we see them interrelated in a life under the guidance of God. 

If you want to have a green wristband and swim through all the events of life – the good and the bad – you have to have faith in God and you have to grow in your faith.  Without it you might have a yellow wristband and be able to take some of the difficulties life may throw at you – or you might have a red wristband and not be able to take any difficulties at all without completely losing all reason for living. 

Faith in God – and growing in that faith – are the only things that will keep you afloat through the hard – difficult – and painful times of life.

Would you say that the life of Paul — with all its imprisonments, shipwrecks, beatings and his final execution was not a  good and even blessed life?

Would you say that the life of Jesus, even with the denial and the cross, was not a good – and even blessed — life?

Then why should not the totality of the life of someone who believes in God and grows in their faith in God — with all of the joys and sorrows of their lives – all of the victories and defeats —  in its completion be considered good very blessed?

Loving God, trusting God, obeying God, and growing in God’s love brings you a blessed life regardless of life’s circumstances – and gives you that “green wristband” that helps you “swim” in all the circumstances of your life and not “sink”.

Have you ever thought about how a great battleship floats on the high seas – but if you take  it apart and throw the parts into the ocean very little of it would float? The pieces would sink immediately to the bottom. The parts will not float by themselves, but if you build them together into a great ship it will ride out the worst of storms. 

It’s that way with your life also.  

If you try to live your life and “weather” the hard times of your life by yourself, you’ll have a “red wristband” – you will sink and be drowned by the storms life will throw at you.  But – if you have faith in God and grow in that faith – you will have a “green wristband” and will weather all the storms of life – not because you can do it on your own – but because you have God with you to keep you from sinking and drowning. 

Yea – Paul is correct when he writes:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose           

And Paul continues in verse in verses 29-30:

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

              Wow! What a powerful truth Paul gives us here!

But – you might ask: “Am I included in all this?”  And the answer is: “Yes, if I you committed to Christ and committed to growing in your faith and serving Him.”

If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior and are committed to growing in your faith, God has ordained you to be shaped by the Spirit into the likeness of Christ. He has done this so that you may be a brother or sister of Christ,  serve Him, be loved by Him and empowered by Him, and  share His love with the world in your day by day living. He has forgiven you and He has justified you.  If that be the case for your life, then the totality of  the events of your life – the good and the bad — turn out to be good and blessed. If that be the case for your life, you have that “green wristband” that shows that – by God’s help – you will not sink in the storms of life but will swim through them.

This is all the act of God. You can get in on it when you are truly committed to Christ. Here’s the thing – God is eternally committed to those who are committed to Him.

But there is a problem here.

Yes – God blesses and ordains those who are committed to Him. God blesses and ordains those who have faith and want to grow in their faith. 

But – the problem is — we live in a faithless age.

Too many folks refuse to have real faith – refuse to grow in their faith – and refuse to share their faith with others.  For that reason, too many people have “yellow” or “red” wristbands and can not cope with the difficulties life throws at them.  They don’t have the faith they need to cope with life, and so they “sink” when the situations in their lives become difficult.

Why can’t more people find their way to a deep and abiding faith in God?

Why can’t more people become more committed to God and committed to growing in their faith – committed to the things that will help them grow as disciples and servants of Christ – and the things that will help them “swim” through the problems they will find in life instead of “sink”?

    

Anne Tyler wrote of one of the characters in her book Morgan’s Passing:

  ”You could say he was a man who had gone to pieces, or maybe he’d always been in pieces; maybe he’d arrived unassembled.”

The description continues:

“parts of his life, too, lay separate from other parts.”

It’s easy to see that this fictional man Tyler writes about is in a bad fix — but sadly this is the picture of too many people today.  You may know some in this situation. You may be in it yourself.  For people who do not have faith in Christ and do not commit to growing in that faith, life has no  integrating center, no power or presence that pulls the parts of their lives together and re-makes them into the individual God intends them to be. This integrating power they are missing is the power of faith and the powerful knowledge that God is with them in all the situations of their lives.

You may feel that you are living a life without an integrating power that pulls the events of your life together and makes them all work together for God’s glory.  If you do, know that you don’t have to.  You can live in faith and commitment and grow in your faith – and your character can be shaped by the things of God instead of the things of the world.

St. Augustine tells of a friend who was addicted to the lust and violence of the Roman games. With great effort he broke the addiction. But some of his former friends subtly tricked him into going again to one of the games. He kept his eyes closed, finally opened one eye – and became hooked again.

You see – if you are going to live the life of faith where things work together for your good and you are able to withstand the stresses and hardships of life, you will have to make a clean break with sin and the things of the world that pull you down.

And that – as I am sure you know – can be very difficult in a world so saturated with evil.

It makes it necessary to live by a new selectivity – a Christian selectivity – about the things you allow yourself to do.  You will probably have to decide that you are not going to dwell on  certain magazines, books, or movies that are obviously damaging to your living in the ways God call is calling you to live. You will have to help your children choose a similar selectivity for what they see and do.  

The temptations of Rome that were faced by the young St. Augustine were similar to the temptations we have to face today. In his intense moral struggle the young St. Augustine cried out:

“Will I never cease setting my heart on shadows and following a lie?”

When you are giving in to destructive influences, things do not work together for good – and you don’t have the faith that will help you “swim” through the hardest parts of life.

The conversion of St. Augustine came in a strange way. He felt compelled to rush into his room where he had left his New Testament open at the book of Romans. He snatched it up and read:

“Not in revelling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries, rather arm, arm yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.”

He surrendered, and you know the rest of the story.

If you will give your life to Christ, and commit to growing in your faith, you will live in His love – that love that will save you from the hardest and most difficult times of your life.

A young lady was hobbling around on crutches at a Ski Lodge. Someone asked “What happened?”

She answered “I didn’t realize the laws of gravity were so strict.”

But they are strict. Yea — God’s laws are strict. And they are for our good. God even helps us to handle these laws creatively. The secret is being disciplined in your faith, by the grace of God.

So – do you have a “green wristband” of a committed faith in God that will help you live your life in God’s ways and will help you “swim” through the hardest times of your life knowing that God is working all the things in your life out for His purpose — or do you have a “yellow wristband” or a “red wristband” that comes from a life of not being truly committed to God and His ways where you will “sink” when your life gets hard and difficult?

God is there in all the ups and downs of your life – but you have to hear Him and see Him. 

At times God may be speaking, but you may be too busy to listen. At times you may not want to hear what God is saying to you. Maybe it’s not what you want to hear. Maybe His plan for what He wants you to do is contrary to our plans and what you want to do.  If you are going to grow in  your faith, you have to be willing to listen for God – and do what God calls you to do.

Don’t wait for a crisis moment in your life to cry out to and listen to God. Learn to listen to God in all the moments of your life – and you will see how God is at work in all the moments of your life.

Don’t think God is too busy to be with you and to help you in your life. St Augustine wrote:

God loves each of us as if there were but one of us to love.

God is not too busy to be concerned about your life and help you through the circumstances of your life if you put your faith in Him.  If you doubt that, read once more the story of Jesus and the sick woman in the crowd who touched the hem of His garment. She touched Jesus in a crowd of folks – and immediately Jesus asked,

“Who touched me?”

The disciples answered, “There are hundreds of people around you, Lord, and you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

Jesus insisted that someone in great need touched Him and paused until the woman came forward, and was healed.

Don’t think that you are too busy to be sensitive to God’s presence in your life and to grow in your faith. A pastor spoke once to a member about his problem:

“Don’t tell me that you have no time to say your prayers. Pray as you shine your shoes. While you rub the right one say, ‘Glory be to God the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit!’ And as you brush the left say, ‘As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end,’ and you will be ready for the day.”

This simple awareness of God makes the difference.

Yes – life is difficult – but if you commit yourself to God and to growing in your faith God is always with you.  If you commit yourself to God and to growing in your faith all the circumstances of your life will work together for your good – and when you look back over your life you will see God’s gracious hand at work.

It takes a commitment to God’s ways to live this life of faith. It takes commitment to your daily life of prayer and study of scripture, and commitment to sharing God with others. It takes commitment to the corporate life we have together as God’s people here at Hopewell – commitment to our worship, our learning, our fellowship and our service to others – because as you participate in these things with us and we all participate in these things together you will grow in your faith and we call will grow together.

Most of all, it takes commitment to Christ to be able to “swim” through the hardships of life and not “sink”. 

At the closing worship service at Camp Pee Dee on Thursday night they had a wooden cross at the lake.  Each person at camp last week – staff, counselors, and campers – lit a candle to signify their commitment to Christ and living in His ways and put it into a hole in the cross.  As we sang “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus” the cross with the burning candles was set afloat into the lake. I don’t understand exactly how the wooden cross floated – but it did – and made for an impressive en ding to a blessed week.    

You may not understand how it happens – but your faith in the Christ – who died for you on the cross — is what will help you “float” – or “swim” through the hard times in your life and not “sink”.   Let God and the things of God be your center for your life so you can indeed “swim” and not “sink”.

Amen.       

Romans 8:12-25

Romans 8:12-25

Why Do You Live Like An Orphan?

July 17 2011

             I can remember as a child — probably between maybe 8 and 12 years old – feeling that I must have been adopted.  I wasn’t, but I felt like I was.  I felt out of place in my family. I felt that nobody understood me. I felt like my parents and my sisters were truly “out of touch” with what I wanted and the things I was interested in.

 

Surely – I felt — I did not really belong to this family!

 

I must have been adopted!

 

            Looking back on it I don’t think I was the only child to ever believe that.  In fact, as I studied Psychology in college, I learned about Eric Ericson’s theory that every child goes through what he calls “self – differentiation” where they begin to see themselves as different from those around them and develop their own personalities, likes, and dislikes. This might start with a feeling that they are different from their families – and may for a while lead to feelings that they must have been adopted  – before it eases into figuring out how to be themselves and still be a part of a family group.

 

            Did you ever have that feeling that you must have been adopted?   

          

            Well, I think there comes a time in every child’s life when he or she entertains two possibilities. Either your parents are from Mars – or you must have been adopted. Usually these ideas occur in tandem.  Maybe after a huge fight with Mom and/or Dad; or after a sibling beats them up or puts them down. These kinds of things can lead them to believe that that there is no way they could really be related to such mean, bossy, completely opposite people.

 

            They come to believe that the must have been adopted.

 

            You know, it wasn’t long ago when adoption was a highly confidential and even secretive process. What were called “closed adoptions” were the norm from the 1920s through the 1960s. The birth mother was not allowed to know who the adoptive parents were. The adoptive parents were not allowed to know who the birth mother was. The adopted child didn’t know anything — especially if their adoptive parents chose not to tell them. Even if they were adopted, they wouldn’t know unless their adoptive parents told them. In the 1970s, however, the legalities behind adoptions began to change. A massive shift toward we call “open adoptions” took place. In “open adoptions” all the parties know who they are dealing with and  there is the possibility for communication and connection between adopted children and their birth parents.

            Almost all ancient cultures had legal means whereby orphaned or abandoned children could be legally incorporated into a new family.  Both the law-loving environments of first century Judaism and the Roman empire had a long list of adoption laws, policies, rights, and regulations. Whether it was done for economic, political, or emotional reasons, in the world of the Apostle Paul, “adoption” was a very legal procedure.

 

In other words, when Paul used the language of “adoption” in the portion of Romans 8 we’re looking at this morning to describe the startling, new relationship enjoyed by followers of Jesus, he was speaking to an educated audience. First -century Romans, Jews and Gentiles knew the privileges and perks that came with the status of being legally “adopted”. The idea that those who followed Jesus were true “children of God” and included in the scheme of God’s plan of salvation by virtue of a “spirit of adoption” brought ideas of legal realities to the minds of Paul’s audience.

 

Paul is speaking in terms of an “open adoption” here – isn’t he?

 

He has in mind an adoption where those being adopted and the ones doing the adopting know who they are. Those being adopted definitely know their own backgrounds. They know where they came from. They know how they had lived before they were “adopted” by God. They recognize their inability to live up to the standards demanded by the law and their need to be “adopted” by God. They know that their “flesh” — that is their life lived in the midst of this world and all its temptations – was falling far short of God’s requirement for righteousness. Yea – they know that they were spiritual “orphans” – but by God’s gracious act of “adoption” they embrace a new possibility and a new family of faith.

 

Paul’s news about their complete and utter “adoption” — about their transformation from sinful folks into genuine “children of God” is indeed “good news” for them – it is a indeed a “gospel” – and out of praise to God for their “adoption” they commit themselves to living as His children and acting like His children – for that is what they understand themselves to be. By God’s grace, they understand that they are adopted into God’s family and need to live in God’s ways instead their old ways of sin.

 

You know – here’s a question we all have to answer:  

 

If first-century Christians could “get it” – if they could understand what it meant to be “adopted” into God’s family – and the joy of living in a new way because they were God’s children –  why can’t we “get it” also?

 

Why is it that we pray to God as “Our Father” but we behave as though we are abandoned, sinful, and unloved orphans?

 

Why is that?

Friends – you can be “adopted” by God and can now be a part of God’s family!  You don’t have to live in sin or be a part of the family of sin – you have been adopted by God and can live in His ways.

 

The early Christians were thrilled to be “adopted by God” and to live in the new ways God called them to live.

 

Why aren’t you?

 

You have been adopted by a righteous and loving God – you have been adopted into God’s family — why would you choose to continue to live like you are still an abandoned, sinful, and unloved orphan?

 

Charles Dickens’ classic novel Oliver Twist  tells of an orphan’s life in 19^th century London. In the movie version you may remember Orphaned Oliver’s naive, plaintive plea to the abusive authorities — famously remembered as, “Please sir, may I have some more?”

 

Here’s the thing — the “world” — what Paul calls in today’s text “the flesh” shouts to that plea: “No! . . You are inferior, unacceptable, and unredeemably bad.”

 

Jesus, however,  said something else. Jesus said “Yes! You are loved, forgiven, and redeemed.”

Jesus spoke “Yes!” to human need and encouraged the weakest, healed the most sickly, and invited the most sinful people to repent of their sins and follow Him.  To every spiritual orphan who asked: “Please, sir, may I have some more?” “Please, sir, may I be forgiven” “Please, sir, may I live a new life?”  Jesus said: “Yes!” Jesus realized that everyone He encountered and everyone He spoke with was an “orphan” who needed “more.” And He gave them the “more” they needed – every time. And every time they felt that Jesus was responding their needs, they followed Him.

Jesus is still speaking “Yes” to those who come to Him. He is still responding  to the needs of “spiritual orphans”. He still heals, loves, and redeems those who come to Him.  And what’s more – He still makes them “children of God” He makes them a part of God’s family – and offers them a new way to live. But like those who first responded to Jesus or the early Christians Paul addressed, we have to  come to Jesus, let Him touch our lives, ask Him for the “more” He offers, and accept His “Yes” – the adoption into the family of God and the life God wants us to live.  

You have been a “spiritual orphan” – but you have been given your “adoption papers.” So why, even after you receive your “adoption papers,” do you continue to behave as if we are still “orphans”? Why is it so difficult to live in the ways of God – your “adoptive parent” – and proudly tell others that you are His  adoptive child by  your words and your actions? Why choose to live in the “ways of the world” when you can you can live as a “child of God”? 

It doesn’t make sense, does it?

But that is what so many people who claim to be following Christ – who claim to be a part of God’s family — do. They may try to live in God’s ways — sometimes. They may bear the likeness of their heavenly “adoptive” Father —  sometimes. They may be able to sit in Church – when it suits them – and look like they have turned their lives over to God and are so glad they are a part of His family.  They may even be able to sit in Church every Sunday and look like a part of the family of God. But they don’t do anything to grow as Christians – or grow as a member of God’s family.  Instead of choosing to truly live as the forgiven, blessed children of God that they are – they choose to continue to live in sinful ways and act more like spiritual orphans than adopted sons and daughters of God.

Is that how you live?

Would that describe your life?

The truth is that it does not have to. You can understand that God has brought you into His family and you can live in His ways. The truth is that you are not a spiritual orphan – you are not like Oliver Twist having to listen to the berating “No!” when you let your needs be known — but God has answered all your needs with His “Yes!” The truth is that God has adopted you into His family – and you can truly live in His ways. The truth is you can grow in your faith and in your resemblance of you Heavenly adoptive Father.

But it’s your choice.

You can choose to go back into the “family of sin” if you want to do that. You can choose to never grow as an “adoptive child” of God and never really experience the love God has for you – the love that is so great that you can call the great creator of the world “Abba” – or “Daddy” and live in a loving relationship with Him. You can choose to turn away from your adoptive family – God’s family – and to continue to live like a “spiritual orphan”.

Or – you can choose to grow in your faith – grow in your relationship with your “adoptive Father” God – and grow as a child of God by talking to Him in prayer, listening to Him by reading a studying His word, and “hanging out” with your “adoptive” brothers and sisters in Christ here at Hopewell as together we strive to grow into the children God would have us be in worship, study, and fellowship.

It is indeed your choice.

Fanny Crosby – the blind hymn writer of the 1800’s – described her joy at being adopted as a child of God in the words of the hymn we are going to sing in a few moments – Redeemed!

Listen to the words Crosby wrote:

Redeemed! How I love to proclaim it – Redeemed by the blood of the lamb – Redeemed through His infinite mercy – His child, and forever I am.

Redeemed! Redeemed! Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed through His infinite mercy – His child, and forever, I am.

You, too, have been redeemed and are His child. Why live like a spiritutal orphan? Amen.   

Romans 8:1-11

Romans 8:1-11

It’s Time To Get Off

July 10 2011

            Wentworth Presbyterian Church – one of the first churches I served when I graduated from Seminary — had a unique Merry Go Round – which was also a Teeter Totter – in front of the building that served as the Fellowship Hall – or “The Hut” as everyone called it.  The Merry Go Round / Teeter Totter had a 20 foot,  large metal pole cemented securely into the ground with a ball bearing mechanism on top.  Smaller metal poles cascaded towards the ground from the ball bearing mechanism and a wooden bench was attached to the metal poles.  It looked something like a May Pole with metal poles cascading from the top instead of ribbons – and bench at the bottom.   

It was a Merry Go Round in that it would spin round and round. One of the kids would push it until it would spin at a high rate of speed and then jump on – or someone – usually an adult – would be the “designated pusher” and not ride – but keep pushing the Merry Go Round when it began to slow down. It was also a Teeter Totter in that – as it spun round and round – it would also go up and down – thanks to the ball bearing mechanism the poles were attached to.

            Needless to say, the kids in the Church and the community – and even some of the adults – loved riding the Merry Go Round / Teeter Totter. One day I stopped and talked to a thirty year old man who had moved away from Wentworth but was passing through town and just had to stop and swing awhile like he had done as a child. 

            The Wentworth Merry Go Round / Teeter Totter was popular with many folks. Like most rides of this sort, however, there were problems with it.

            First of all, the ball bearing mechanism would have to be oiled — the metal painted – and the bench repaired periodically. In fact, the Church’s Insurance agent would cringe every time he saw it! 

            Then, as you might expect, there would be times one of the children – or sometimes one of the adults – would have enough of the spinning and going up and down – and would want off.  The problem would be that would not be able to stop the Merry Go Round.  Usually it would take an adult who was not riding to come to their rescue – grab on to the bench or one of the poles – and pull back to make the Merry Go Round stop. 

            Can you imagine how it would feel to be stuck on such a Merry Go Round / Teeter Totter?

Maybe you would start slow, pushing with your feet to gain more speed until you finally are running. Then you would jump on to the spinning Merry Go Round / Teeter Totter – going round and round and up and down – and holding on for dear life. At that point maybe you might feel that you are stuck on the Merry Go Round. The centrifugal force of the spinning Merry Go Round would be threatening to throw you off, but you wound be holding on for dear life to the metal pole in front of you because you would be afraid of what might happen to you if you fall off. Round and round, up and down, the Merry-Go-Round / Teeter Totter would spin – and you are stuck — caught between wanting to get off and unwilling to let go. You might wish for someone to come and grab hold of the rail and stop the ride, but feel that no one was going to come to your rescue. 

            It would be a pretty helpless feeling, wouldn’t it?

The thing is that this feeling of being stuck on a Merry Go Round or Teeter Totter might be an illustration for the way you are living your life.

Maybe you feel stuck in habits and behaviors that you know are wrong – or maybe you feel stuck in a lifestyle of a lack of commitment to God – just coming to Church but not really feeling that it’s making a difference in your life.  Or maybe you feel like you’re doing pretty good – better than most people – but deep down you know that there is very little joy in your life and that you are really rather bored with your life and even your faith. Maybe you feel that the same things keep happening over and over, day after day, and you can’t seem to do anything to keep them from happening.

Round and round – up and down – your life goes – and you might feel that you are stuck – wanting to get off – wanting to make some changes in your life – but not sure how to do it. You might wish that someone would come along and grab hold of your life and rescue you, but feel that there is no one who can rescue you from the spinning whirling life you’re stuck in.   

Did you ever watch the comedy movie some years ago Ground Hog Day?  Bill Murray is a TV reporter in the movie and has the same things keep happening  again and again every day – and he feels unable to do anything about it.

            Being stuck on a Merry Go Round or Teeter Totter can seem to be a picture of many peoples lives.  Stuck in old habits and old ways of doing things, wanting to change, wanting to “get off the ride” so to speak, but not knowing how to do it.

            Does that describe your life?

Do you feel stuck on a Merry Go Round or Teeter Totter — caught between being thrown off and holding on for dear life?

            If so, you are truly not alone.

Paul recognized the same dilemma when he lamented in Romans 7:19:

“For I do not do that good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do”

Even Paul felt like he was stuck on the merry-go-round.

When faced with such a predicament you might want to rationalize it by saying  “but I am only human!” as if that is somehow supposed to explain and exonerate you from this plight. The thing is that you are only human — and your humanity is exactly the problem.

Paul recognizes that in today’s text from Romans 8 when he acknowledges that we all “live according to the flesh.” Yea – if you feel like you are stuck on a Merry Go Round or Teeter Totter – stuck in old habits and old ways of doing things — wanting to change — wanting to “get off the ride” so to speak, but not knowing how to do it – maybe caught between being thrown off and holding on for dear life – you are truly not alone – for that’s how Paul felt — and that’s how everyone feels.  The truth is that everyone has times they are stuck on the Merry Go Round because everyone is stuck with what Paul calls “the flesh” – or the desires to do things against God’s will or the desires to just live life like we want to live it instead of being bothered with how God wants us to live it.

Paul continually laments the afflictions of what he calls “the sinful flesh”– but what is this “flesh” Paul is referring to? Well, it’s not merely the flesh and bones of our bodies. It is not merely even the lust or gluttony or greed or other such other inclinations that we more often than not associate with sinful living. No, Paul is talking about something far more comprehensive here. Paul is talking about that willful desire inside of you that does not trust God and is determined to run your life on your terms instead of God’s terms. You might want to call it your “sinful nature” — but I like to call it your human nature.  You see, ever since Adam and Eve there has been a desire in every human to be “like God”, to  decide for themselves what is good for them and what they are going to do instead of listening to God as He tells them what is good for them and what they should do.

If you are honest with yourself your famous last words are “I’m going to do what I want to do” instead of “I’m going to do what God wants me to do”.

Yea – you are only human – and that’s the problem.  

The thing about your flesh – or your human nature — is that it doesn’t matter how hard you try to shake it off, it doesn’t matter how hard you try to flee its hold on you life, you can’t do it. In fact, if you are honest with yourself, you don’t really want to. It is something like being stuck on the Merry Go Round, spinning round and round. You could get off if you would only let go. But you are too afraid of what will happen if you let go – so you still hold on.

Again – Paul pretty much hit the nail on the head in Romans 7:19:  

“For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do”

You are indeed stuck on the Merry Go Round – the Teeter Totter – and by your own power or your own will you can’t get off.

What makes matters worse is that getting stuck on the merry-go-round is so easy. It always starts out so innocently. The wrong things – the things that pull you   away from God — always look so appealing — so compelling — so tempting – so good. Temptations in life – the things that pull you away from God – are rarely seen as “naughty” things. Rarely will you deliberately intend to run off and be a bad boy or girl. No — the temptation always appears in what seems to be good or things we can easily justify if we listen to our human nature. The “forbidden fruit” looked good to Adam and Eve. It was not ugly or repulsive. Today you might meet the “forbidden fruit” in the promises of a career, a job, a family – anything you put above God and God’s will for your life. Just as it looked good to the eyes of Adam and Eve, it can look good to you too. You can easily convince yourself that your career is all that counts, or your family is all that matters, or that time for yourself is more important than time for God.  But when these “good things” become your ultimate concern, they will always disappoint you. They will always let you down. They will always enslave you.     

And – you can’t seem to escape. 

Or – can you?

You can – but there is only one way that you can.

You can’t stop the Merry Go Round and get off – walk away – and start over – even if you want to do so. But you can get off the Merry God Round – you just can’t do it by yourself.  There is only one way you can get off the Merry Go Round — God has got to get you off. God has got to stop the Merry Go Round – bring the decisions you make that go against Him to a halt – and help you start over again. And that is exactly what God does in Jesus Christ.

Paul changes his language in verse Romans 8:9 to reflect just that fact.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, he writes.

In other words, you may be stuck on the Merry Go Round, you do not need to remain there. With a startling announcement that almost seems to come out of the blue, Paul declares,

“You, however, are not in realm of the flesh; you are in the realm of the Spirit”

 Notice the present tense verbs here –

You are not in the realm of the flesh

You are in the realm of the Spirit

You might feel like you are spinning around on the Merry Go Round,  always trying to do the right thing but never sure that you can. Round and round you go, wanting to get off but afraid to let go and wishing that someone would come along and stop the Merry Go round and help you off.

Well, the truth is that God in Christ stops the Merry Go Round. God in Christ grabs the Merry Go Round – stops it — loosens the grip of sin on your life so that you can let go and get off.  God in Christ stops the Merry Go Round so you can  stop going in the sinful way your human nature leads you – and start going in God’s ways.

If you feel stuck on the Merry Go Round of following your own will and your own desires – if you feel that there is no way you can loosen your grip from your desire to do what you want to do and truly, freely live in the ways God wants you to live – if you want life with God’s purpose instead of whatever purpose your sinful human nature might find for you that will end up letting you down – God is waiting for you. God has given you the only way off the Merry Go Round of sin.  All you have to do is accept His invitation to trust Him instead of yourself and let Him take control of that spinning Merry Go Round called your life. He will come into your life – give your life a new direction – and a new purpose. You don’t have to go on spinning in the life that is controlled by what you want – you can let God help you off that Merry Go Round and put you on the path that leads to doing His will and growing in His ways.

The trick is you have to let go and trust God. You have to let God take you off the Merry Go Round of sin and set you on a new ride – one of serving Him.  You have to trust God enough to let Him help you off the Merry Go Round  of doing what pleases you and what you want and let Him put you on the path of doing what He calls you to do.

Learning to truly follow what God wants you to do is a slow process – but it begins with letting God take you off that Merry Go Round of sin and help you follow His will for your life. It will lead you into habits such as an active prayer life, active participation in the life of the Church, actively serving God in the community and actively showing God to those around you.  It will lead to these things – but it begins with letting God take you off that Merry Go Round of sin and doing what you want and setting you on the path of doing what He wants.

If you feel your life is spinning out of control on the Merry Go Round of sin and doing what you want, it’s time to let God take over.

God is waiting to help you.

It’s time to trust Him – and get off. Amen.