This is the message given in the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, September 29, 2013. The Bible verses used are Joshua 24:14-22 and Matthew 6:19-34.
We're about half-way through our sermon series on the power of prayer. We've talked about how prayer helps create a close relationship between us and God, and we've talked about how that relationship can help us be open to God's leading and God's guidance. Today, we take the next step. Today, we're going to talk about how prayer can give us chances to serve God.
Now, in talking about that, the first thing we need to do is decide whether we actually want to serve God. I assume that most of us, since we call ourselves Christians, since we call ourselves followers of Christ, would say that we want to serve God. But do we really?
Last week, we talked about how we wish we could see God's entire plan for our lives, and how one of the reasons God does not let us see that is that we might be scared of some of the things God has planned for us. We also talked about how, even if we are doing what God wants us to do right now, that may not be what God wants us to do in the future. So, it's a question we all need to ask ourselves. Are we really ready for everything it means, for all the changes we might need to make in our lives, if we truly decide to serve God?
That's the question Joshua asked the people in our reading from the Old Testament today. Joshua has led the nation of Israel ever since Moses died. Now, Joshua is near the end of his life. And he challenges the people. He says to them, look, you folks need to decide who you're going to serve. You can serve God, or you can serve someone else. My family and I are going to serve God. How about you?
And all the people say, yup, we will, too. We're going to serve God. Absolutely. No question about it. That's what we want to do.
And Joshua says, no, you don't. You may think you do. You may be serious when you say it. You may really mean it when you say this. But you're not going to be able to do it. You'll get distracted. You'll get impatient. Stuff will happen. You'll start serving other gods.
You and I, an awful lot of the time, are like those people Joshua was talking to. We say, yup, we're going to serve God. Absolutely. No question about it. That's what we want to do. And we're serious when we say it. We really mean it when we say it. But we get distracted. We get impatient. Stuff happens. And we start serving other gods.
One of those gods, one Jesus warned us about in our New Testament reading, is money. Jesus says we cannot serve both God and money.
Now, I want you to notice that Jesus did not say that if we have a lot of money, we're going to go to hell. You cannot find that in the Bible anywhere. It's not a question of how much money we have. It's a question of what our attitude toward money is. If we allow money to become our master, if we live our lives in the service of money, we cannot serve God the way we're supposed to.
Again, it's not a question of how much money we have. It's a question of what our attitude toward money is. We can have very little money, we can have no money at all, and still allow money to become our master. If the goal of our lives becomes to acquire more money, we're living our lives in the service of money, whether we actually have any of it or not. And if we do that, we cannot serve God the way we're supposed to.
That's why we included the paragraph that comes after that. We've talked before about how we need to read Bible verses in context, how we need to look at what comes before them and what comes after them. Right after telling people not to serve money, Jesus goes on to tell people not to worry about what they're going to eat or drink or wear. That tells me that Jesus is not aiming this message at the rich. He's aiming it at the people who don't have much money, the people who you and I would say have every reason to worry about what they're going to eat or drink or wear. And Jesus tells them not to worry about that, to instead seek the kingdom of God. Any of us, no matter how much or how little money we have, is in danger of living our lives in the service of money. And that means any of us, no matter how much or how little money we have, is in danger of not serving God.
It's not just money that can keep us from serving God, of course. All kinds of things can. We can get selfish about our time. We can get lazy. As we've talked before, we can get distracted even by things that we'd often think of as good things—doing our jobs well, supporting community projects, spending time with our families, things like that. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing to do our jobs well. There's nothing wrong with supporting community projects. There's certainly nothing wrong with spending time with our families. But again, it's a question of what our attitude is. Nothing, not even good things, should get in the way of putting God first. Our first priority should always be to serve God.
And the way we can keep serving God our first priority is through prayer. It's through having that relationship with God. It's through opening ourselves up through God's guidance. It's by going to God without any agenda of our own. It's by going to God and simply saying, “God, here I am. Show me where you want me to go. Show me what you want me to do. Whatever it is, I'll do it.”
But think about how hard that is. To go to God without any agenda of our own. How many times do we actually do that? I don't know about you, but I don't do it nearly as often as I should. I might say the words, but it's awfully hard to mean them.
Let's face it. Most of the time, when we ask God to take control, we have a specific way in mind that we want God to do that. I may say, “God, show me where you want to go,” but inside, I'm thinking, “God, please don't send me to any of these places. Send me over here instead.” I may say, “God, show me what you want me to do,” but inside, I'm thinking, “God, please don't ask me to do anything that's too hard or too uncomfortable. Give me something simple and easy to do, something that won't make me do anything I don't want to do.”
I'll give you an example. I've talked about the mission trip that some other United Methodist pastors and I are making to the Bakken oil field. There's a part of me that really does not want to do that. In fact, there's a part of me that, even now, is kind of hoping something will happen so I don't have to go. I mean, I don't want anyone to die or anything, but if there'd be some lesser situation come up, something that was not real serious but was just serious enough that I could have a legitimate excuse to stay home, I'd be okay with that. This is something that is taking me outside of my comfort zone, and I'd love to have a legitimate excuse not to do it.
But you see, that's the thing. We talk about how powerful prayer is, but sometimes that has consequences we don't think about. One of the consequences of a prayer that has power is that God will answer it. If we go to God and honestly say, “God, here I am. Show me where you want me to go and what you want me to do and I'll do it,” God will answer that prayer. But when God answers that prayer, it's very likely that God will take us places we would never have gone on our own and ask us to do things we'd never have done on our own. When we ask God to give us chances to serve, God will give us those chances every time.
So, we come back to where we started. We come back to what Joshua told the people of Israel. We need to decide who we're going to serve. If we really mean it when we say we'll serve God, then we need to open ourselves up to God's guidance. We need to go to God without any agenda of our own. We need to go to God and honestly say, “Here I am. Show me where you want me to go. Show me what you want me to do.” And then, when God answers that prayer, we need to have the courage and the faith and the trust in God to actually go there and do it.
If we can, then we'll truly start to feel the power of prayer.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
First Things First
It's been a while since I've written an actual blog post. I've posted sermons and such, but I haven't written something just for this blog. I'm sorry about that, but I've just been really busy lately.
One of my favorite quotes from my favorite TV show, Doctor Who, is “First things first, but not necessarily in that order.” You see, one of my constant struggles is with prioritizing things. There are lots of things I'd like to do. I consider all of them good things. I consider all of them important things. But there are only twenty-four hours in a day, and for some reason God has decided not to give me an exemption from that.
So, no matter how much I'd like to do everything, there are some things that I cannot do. That means that I have to make choices about what I will do and what I will not do. Sometimes, that means that things get put off until a later time, when I do have time to do them. Other times, it just means that either certain things will have to be done by something else, or they won't be done at all.
Now, I understand that I'm not the only one who has to do this. There are many other people—probably most people—who have to do the same thing. I would guess that most of us have more things we'd like to do than we have time to do them.
Again, none of us gets more than twenty-four hours in a day. And we have to spend some of those hours sleeping, and some of them eating, and some of them doing other things that simply have to be done to live. That means we get, at most twelve to fourteen hours in which we can actually be doing something productive.
And when I say “productive”, I'm using that in the broadest possible sense. Doing something “productive” includes spending time with our families. Doing something “productive” includes getting some exercise. Doing something “productive” includes taking some time to relax and have fun. We can overdo any or all of those things, but if we don't spend some of our time doing them, we're probably not going to live a very good, a very happy, or a very long life.
So, we need to come to terms with the fact that we will never be able to do all the things we'd like to do. And you know what? That's okay. In fact, there are ways in which it's a good thing. After all, if I'd already done everything I ever wanted to do, there'd be no point in going on, would there? Having things we still want to do, having goals we've not yet reached, is one of the things that keeps us active and makes us keep going.
The desire to do more, the desire to know more, the desire to achieve more—these are all a part of the human spirit. These things have been put into our souls by God. They are a part of what makes us what we are. If, for any reason, we lose that desire, we become less than what God intends us to be.
So, I'll probably continue to struggle with prioritizing. You probably will, too. And you know what? That's a good thing. Because it means that we're all still trying to be everything that God wants us to be.
One of my favorite quotes from my favorite TV show, Doctor Who, is “First things first, but not necessarily in that order.” You see, one of my constant struggles is with prioritizing things. There are lots of things I'd like to do. I consider all of them good things. I consider all of them important things. But there are only twenty-four hours in a day, and for some reason God has decided not to give me an exemption from that.
So, no matter how much I'd like to do everything, there are some things that I cannot do. That means that I have to make choices about what I will do and what I will not do. Sometimes, that means that things get put off until a later time, when I do have time to do them. Other times, it just means that either certain things will have to be done by something else, or they won't be done at all.
Now, I understand that I'm not the only one who has to do this. There are many other people—probably most people—who have to do the same thing. I would guess that most of us have more things we'd like to do than we have time to do them.
Again, none of us gets more than twenty-four hours in a day. And we have to spend some of those hours sleeping, and some of them eating, and some of them doing other things that simply have to be done to live. That means we get, at most twelve to fourteen hours in which we can actually be doing something productive.
And when I say “productive”, I'm using that in the broadest possible sense. Doing something “productive” includes spending time with our families. Doing something “productive” includes getting some exercise. Doing something “productive” includes taking some time to relax and have fun. We can overdo any or all of those things, but if we don't spend some of our time doing them, we're probably not going to live a very good, a very happy, or a very long life.
So, we need to come to terms with the fact that we will never be able to do all the things we'd like to do. And you know what? That's okay. In fact, there are ways in which it's a good thing. After all, if I'd already done everything I ever wanted to do, there'd be no point in going on, would there? Having things we still want to do, having goals we've not yet reached, is one of the things that keeps us active and makes us keep going.
The desire to do more, the desire to know more, the desire to achieve more—these are all a part of the human spirit. These things have been put into our souls by God. They are a part of what makes us what we are. If, for any reason, we lose that desire, we become less than what God intends us to be.
So, I'll probably continue to struggle with prioritizing. You probably will, too. And you know what? That's a good thing. Because it means that we're all still trying to be everything that God wants us to be.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
The Whole Truth
Below is the message from Sunday, September 22, 2013 in the Wheatland Parish. The Bible verses used are Jeremiah 29:10-13, John 15:26-16:15, and Luke 12:6-12.
We talked last week about how we need to pray to create a relationship with God. What we did not talk about is, why do we need that relationship? Why do you and I need a relationship with God? What good does it do us, really, to have a close relationship with God?
There may be some of you who think the answer is obvious, but I think it's a legitimate question. It's not enough to just say “prayer gives us a close relationship with God.” If we cannot see some benefit to having that relationship, we're probably not going to pursue it. So we won't pray the way we should.
So, at this point in our sermon series on the power of prayer, we're going to talk about the ways that relationship gives our prayers power. Today, we're going to look at one of the big ones. Prayer opens us up to God's guidance.
In our reading from Jeremiah, we're told that God has plans for us. These are plans for our good. These are plans that will give us hope and a future.
We don't always get to know what those plans are. In fact, we very rarely get to see the whole plan. But that's okay. In fact, it's a good thing. If we saw the whole plan, we might get impatient to see it all happen and try to take shortcuts and then the plan would not go the way God wants it to go. Or, we might get scared and not do the things God wants us to do to follow the plan, so that again the plan would not go the way God wants it to go. There are all sorts of good reasons why God does not let us know all the details of the plans God has for us, even though we'd like to.
We don't need to see the whole plan. All we need to see is the next step along the way. And God wants to show us that next step. But we need to keep in touch with God, to have that close relationship with God, to pray to God, so we can see that next step when God shows it to us. For our prayers to have power, we need to be open to going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do. And we can only do that through our relationship with God.
The Bible tells us we get our guidance from the Holy Spirit. That's what our other readings talk about.
Our reading from John is powerful. Jesus tells the disciples that he's not going to be with them much longer, and they're really sad. But then he says, “Don't worry. It's okay. In fact, this is a good thing.” It's a good thing, Jesus says, because “unless I go away, the Holy Spirit cannot come to you. But when I go, the Holy Spirit will come.”
And listen to what Jesus says the Holy Spirit will do. Jesus says the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of Truth.” He says that Spirit of Truth will guide us, so we can live in truth. And he says that Spirit of Truth will tell us what is yet to come.
That's a pretty awesome thing, when we think about it. I mean, it seems like there are so many times any more where we have a hard time getting at the truth. We hear so many lies and half-truths and things that may be true but imply something that's false. Politicians lie, on both sides. Advertising lies. Sometimes people who claim to be Christians lie. Including pastors.
But the Holy Spirit is always true. The Holy Spirit is truth itself. And if we have the Holy Spirit with us, we can live in truth, no matter what anybody else says or does. And that means that we will see the next step along the path. Living in truth means being open to God's guidance. Living in truth means going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do. That's what having a relationship with God does for us.
Truth always has power. In fact, in these times, truth has more power than ever, because it can be so hard to find. It's like a precious metal, like gold or silver or something. If it was all over the place, if it was common, it would not be valuable. It's valuable because it's rare. And truth is valuable because it's rare, too. Things that are rare have value. Things that are rare have power.
The disciples really did not understand. And a lot of times we really don't understand, either. We don't understand just who the Holy Spirit is. We don't understand just how the Holy Spirit works. But we know that the way to get to the Holy Spirit is through Jesus. And we know that the way to get to Jesus is through the relationship that's created by prayer. A prayer for the Holy Spirit, a prayer for the guidance of God's truth in our lives, is a prayer that has all kinds of power.
That's all there really is to it: to go to Jesus and pray for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. We complicate things so much sometimes. We want to go back to all the rules and regulations. We want to go back to all the things the world tells us. But Jesus tells us that the world has it all wrong. Jesus tells us the world has it wrong about sin. The world has it wrong about judgment. The world has it wrong about righteousness. We cannot find the truth in the world. We cannot find the truth through politics. We cannot find the truth through material things. We cannot even find the truth from pastors. We can only find the truth through the Holy Spirit. And we can only find the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. We can only find the Holy Spirit through prayer. And our prayers can only have power if we ask for God's guidance through prayer.
But that's just it. If we ask for God's guidance, if we try to live in truth, if we're open to going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do, we're going to end up doing some things that seem strange to other people. Because part of living in truth is recognizing that, as Jesus said, the world has it all wrong. We don't have to be in people's faces about that, but we need to recognize it in our own lives.
And if we do, people are going to notice that we are not living our lives the way other people do. Living in truth means having the courage to live differently, and there are always going to be people who do not like it when we live differently from the way the rest of the world does.
Jesus recognized that, too. At the end of his talk to the disciples, in a part we did not read, Jesus says “in this world you will have trouble”. But he tells them not to worry about that, because he has overcome the world, not just for himself, but for them and for all of us. In other words, the power of the Holy Spirit will protect us and see us through whatever trouble living in truth brings us.
Jesus addressed that in our reading from Luke, too. That's another powerful reading. He said that the disciples, and all of us, are going to get into trouble by following him. But again, he tells us not to worry about that. He says that if we follow him, if we accept him as their Savior, if we keep in touch with him, then we don't need to worry about what's going to happen or what we should say when it does. He said that, at the right time, the Holy Spirit will tell us what to say. The Holy Spirit will give us the truth. And the truth will have power. It always does.
I don't know where the Holy Spirit may be guiding you today. Maybe it's already guiding you. Maybe you're already open to going where God wants you to go and doing what God wants you to do. Maybe not. I don't know. That's between you and God.
But even so, we all still need to keep praying and keep seeking God's guidance. Because just because we're doing what God wants us to do today does not mean God will want us to do the same thing tomorrow. I believe that, at one time, God wanted me to be a lawyer. But now, God wants me to be a pastor. A few years ago, God wanted Wanda and me to be in North Sioux City. Now, God wants us here. And while we'd love it if we could stay here the rest of our lives, that may not be what God wants for us. We need to remain open to God's guidance. We need to keep seeking the truth of the Holy Spirit. And we can only do that through prayer.
When we truly have a relationship with God, we can go to Jesus in prayer and ask for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. That's a prayer that has power, because it has God's power. And God will use God's power to give us the Holy Spirit. And then we'll go where God wants us to go and do what God wants us to do, because we'll have the Holy Spirit guiding us.
We talked last week about how we need to pray to create a relationship with God. What we did not talk about is, why do we need that relationship? Why do you and I need a relationship with God? What good does it do us, really, to have a close relationship with God?
There may be some of you who think the answer is obvious, but I think it's a legitimate question. It's not enough to just say “prayer gives us a close relationship with God.” If we cannot see some benefit to having that relationship, we're probably not going to pursue it. So we won't pray the way we should.
So, at this point in our sermon series on the power of prayer, we're going to talk about the ways that relationship gives our prayers power. Today, we're going to look at one of the big ones. Prayer opens us up to God's guidance.
In our reading from Jeremiah, we're told that God has plans for us. These are plans for our good. These are plans that will give us hope and a future.
We don't always get to know what those plans are. In fact, we very rarely get to see the whole plan. But that's okay. In fact, it's a good thing. If we saw the whole plan, we might get impatient to see it all happen and try to take shortcuts and then the plan would not go the way God wants it to go. Or, we might get scared and not do the things God wants us to do to follow the plan, so that again the plan would not go the way God wants it to go. There are all sorts of good reasons why God does not let us know all the details of the plans God has for us, even though we'd like to.
We don't need to see the whole plan. All we need to see is the next step along the way. And God wants to show us that next step. But we need to keep in touch with God, to have that close relationship with God, to pray to God, so we can see that next step when God shows it to us. For our prayers to have power, we need to be open to going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do. And we can only do that through our relationship with God.
The Bible tells us we get our guidance from the Holy Spirit. That's what our other readings talk about.
Our reading from John is powerful. Jesus tells the disciples that he's not going to be with them much longer, and they're really sad. But then he says, “Don't worry. It's okay. In fact, this is a good thing.” It's a good thing, Jesus says, because “unless I go away, the Holy Spirit cannot come to you. But when I go, the Holy Spirit will come.”
And listen to what Jesus says the Holy Spirit will do. Jesus says the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of Truth.” He says that Spirit of Truth will guide us, so we can live in truth. And he says that Spirit of Truth will tell us what is yet to come.
That's a pretty awesome thing, when we think about it. I mean, it seems like there are so many times any more where we have a hard time getting at the truth. We hear so many lies and half-truths and things that may be true but imply something that's false. Politicians lie, on both sides. Advertising lies. Sometimes people who claim to be Christians lie. Including pastors.
But the Holy Spirit is always true. The Holy Spirit is truth itself. And if we have the Holy Spirit with us, we can live in truth, no matter what anybody else says or does. And that means that we will see the next step along the path. Living in truth means being open to God's guidance. Living in truth means going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do. That's what having a relationship with God does for us.
Truth always has power. In fact, in these times, truth has more power than ever, because it can be so hard to find. It's like a precious metal, like gold or silver or something. If it was all over the place, if it was common, it would not be valuable. It's valuable because it's rare. And truth is valuable because it's rare, too. Things that are rare have value. Things that are rare have power.
The disciples really did not understand. And a lot of times we really don't understand, either. We don't understand just who the Holy Spirit is. We don't understand just how the Holy Spirit works. But we know that the way to get to the Holy Spirit is through Jesus. And we know that the way to get to Jesus is through the relationship that's created by prayer. A prayer for the Holy Spirit, a prayer for the guidance of God's truth in our lives, is a prayer that has all kinds of power.
That's all there really is to it: to go to Jesus and pray for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. We complicate things so much sometimes. We want to go back to all the rules and regulations. We want to go back to all the things the world tells us. But Jesus tells us that the world has it all wrong. Jesus tells us the world has it wrong about sin. The world has it wrong about judgment. The world has it wrong about righteousness. We cannot find the truth in the world. We cannot find the truth through politics. We cannot find the truth through material things. We cannot even find the truth from pastors. We can only find the truth through the Holy Spirit. And we can only find the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. We can only find the Holy Spirit through prayer. And our prayers can only have power if we ask for God's guidance through prayer.
But that's just it. If we ask for God's guidance, if we try to live in truth, if we're open to going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do, we're going to end up doing some things that seem strange to other people. Because part of living in truth is recognizing that, as Jesus said, the world has it all wrong. We don't have to be in people's faces about that, but we need to recognize it in our own lives.
And if we do, people are going to notice that we are not living our lives the way other people do. Living in truth means having the courage to live differently, and there are always going to be people who do not like it when we live differently from the way the rest of the world does.
Jesus recognized that, too. At the end of his talk to the disciples, in a part we did not read, Jesus says “in this world you will have trouble”. But he tells them not to worry about that, because he has overcome the world, not just for himself, but for them and for all of us. In other words, the power of the Holy Spirit will protect us and see us through whatever trouble living in truth brings us.
Jesus addressed that in our reading from Luke, too. That's another powerful reading. He said that the disciples, and all of us, are going to get into trouble by following him. But again, he tells us not to worry about that. He says that if we follow him, if we accept him as their Savior, if we keep in touch with him, then we don't need to worry about what's going to happen or what we should say when it does. He said that, at the right time, the Holy Spirit will tell us what to say. The Holy Spirit will give us the truth. And the truth will have power. It always does.
I don't know where the Holy Spirit may be guiding you today. Maybe it's already guiding you. Maybe you're already open to going where God wants you to go and doing what God wants you to do. Maybe not. I don't know. That's between you and God.
But even so, we all still need to keep praying and keep seeking God's guidance. Because just because we're doing what God wants us to do today does not mean God will want us to do the same thing tomorrow. I believe that, at one time, God wanted me to be a lawyer. But now, God wants me to be a pastor. A few years ago, God wanted Wanda and me to be in North Sioux City. Now, God wants us here. And while we'd love it if we could stay here the rest of our lives, that may not be what God wants for us. We need to remain open to God's guidance. We need to keep seeking the truth of the Holy Spirit. And we can only do that through prayer.
When we truly have a relationship with God, we can go to Jesus in prayer and ask for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. That's a prayer that has power, because it has God's power. And God will use God's power to give us the Holy Spirit. And then we'll go where God wants us to go and do what God wants us to do, because we'll have the Holy Spirit guiding us.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
I Can Relate
This is the message given Sunday, September 15, 2013 in the Wheatland Parish. The Bible verses used are Luke 18:9-14,
Matthew 6:5-8, Psalm 42.
We've all had times when we get separated from people we care about. Sometimes they move away. Sometimes we move away. Sometimes we or they change jobs. There are all sorts of things that can happen so that people we used to see all the time, we don't see much any more.
When that separation takes place, what happens? We always say we'll keep in touch. We always say we'll stay just as close as we were. But an awful lot of the time, we don't. We mean to. We have good intentions. But things get in the way. We get busy. So do they. We have other stuff going on. So do they. We don't have some of the things in common that we used to have.
And so what happens is, we start out calling each other once a week or so. Then, it becomes an email every couple of weeks. Then, we maybe hear from them on facebook once a month. Then it's a birthday card or a Christmas card. And then next thing you know, this person we used to be close to, this person we used to care so much about, becomes almost like a stranger to us.
That's kind of sad. And how did it happen? Because we did not make an effort to stay in contact with them. We did not intend to end the friendship. And we still kind of like the person. We still feel some lingering affection for them. But we've drifted apart, because we don't see each other or talk to each other any more.
Now, that's not inevitable. There are people who maintain friendships, or even marriages, over a long distance. But to do that successfully, we really need to work at it. We need to make time to stay in contact with each other. We need to make an effort to stay in contact with each other. We need to make that relationship a priority in their lives, even though we are separated. That's the only way it will work.
Now maybe you already know where I'm going with this, but that same principle applies to our relationship with God. God wants to have a close relationship with us. But if we're not careful, we can get separated from God. We can drift away from God. If we don't take the time to stay in contact with God through prayer, we lose that close relationship. If we don't make an effort to talk to God, if we don't make our relationship with God a priority in our lives, God can become almost like a stranger to us. And that's sad.
As we go to the second week of our sermon series on the power of prayer, that's one of the ways prayer has power: it gives us a relationship with God. It keeps us close to God. It keeps us in contact with God. It makes our relationship with God a priority in our lives. And the closer our relationship with God is, the more power our prayers are likely to have.
Now, understand, any relationship is a two-way street. Our relationship with God is not just us communicating with God, it's also God communicating with us. The thing is that we know God will do God's part. God wants that relationship with us, and God will do what God needs to do to create that relationship. So our Bible readings for today talk about what we need to do, and not do, in our prayers to create that relationship.
In our first reading, Jesus gives us two examples, a Pharisee and a tax collector. They both prayed. But the Pharisee basically told God how good he, the Pharisee was. He was bragging about all the great things he did. Have you ever known people like that? Sure you have.
It's hard to have a relationship with someone like that, right? It's hard to feel close to someone who just can't wait to tell you how wonderful they are. A person like that is not interested in a relationship, really, because again, a relationship is a two-way street. The Pharisee in Jesus' story was talking to God, he was praying, but he was not interested in a two-way relationship with God. All he was interested in was one way, his way. And so his prayer did not have any power.
The tax collector, though, comes to God humbly. He knows that he does not deserve to have a relationship with God. But he knows he needs that relationship. And so he asks God to please allow him to have that relationship, even though he does not deserve it. He's completely honest with God about who he is and what he is.
That's a prayer that has power. Because that's one of the things that creates a relationship: honesty. That's true whether we're talking about relationships between people or relationships with God. We cannot have a close relationship with someone who won't be honest with us. And we don't have a close relationship with someone if we're afraid to be honest with them. If we want our prayers to have power, we need to have a close relationship with God. And if we want a close relationship with God, we need to be completely honest with God.
In our reading from Matthew, Jesus talks about some more things about prayer. He tells us that when we pray, we should not try to impress others with our prayers. We should not try impress God, either. That's not what prayer is supposed to be about. It's still a prayer, it's still talking to God, but a prayer that's designed to impress God or impress other people won't create a relationship with God, and so it won't have any power. Prayer, again is about being honest with God and creating a relationship with God.
That's why Jesus says to pray in secret. It's okay to pray in public, too, as long as we're not trying to impress people with our prayers. But if we want to create that close relationship with God, we need those times when it's just us and God.
Again, think of close relationships you have with people. One of the things that makes those relationships close is that you've had that one-on-one time with them. When we talk to people one-on-one, we can share things we could not share in public. We can get a depth of feeling and understanding and trust we cannot get when there are a lot of other people around. It's the same in our relationship with God. If we want to feel close to God, we need that one-on-one time with God. We need to have those times where we share things with God that we cannot share with anyone else. We need that depth of feeling and understanding and trust in our relationship with God that we can only get through that one-on-one time.
Because, when we pray, we're not telling God anything God does not know. God knows everything. Jesus says as much when he says, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” We don't pray to God to give God information. We pray to God to form a relationship. It's through that relationship with God that our prayers have power.
Our responsive reading today was Psalm 42. Listen to the words the psalmist uses to show how much we need a relationship with God: “My soul pants for God.” “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” “When can I go and meet with God? “I pour out my soul” to God.
That's the feeling we need to have about prayer. We need to be eager to pray. We need to be anxious to pray. We need to want a relationship with God so much that it's the most important relationship in our lives. It's more important than our relationship with our spouse, more important than our relationship with our kids, more important than our relationship with our parents, more important than our relationship with anyone on this earth. The most important thing in our lives needs to be our relationship with God.
If it is, then we'll do whatever we need to do to have that relationship. We'll take the time to stay in contact with God. We'll make the effort to talk to God. We'll make our relationship with God a priority in our lives. And our relationship with God will work, and our prayers will have power.
Jesus gives us the tools. Jesus gives us the methods. Jesus tells us how we can have that close relationship with God. God is ready to have that close relationship with us. God wants to have that close relationship with us. But God won't force us to have that relationship. It's our choice. It's your choice, and it's my choice.
We need to go to God humbly, be completely honest with God, and spend some one-on-one time with God, sharing things with God that we cannot share with anyone else. If we do that, we will have that close relationship with God that we need. And then, we'll be able to feel the power of prayer.
We've all had times when we get separated from people we care about. Sometimes they move away. Sometimes we move away. Sometimes we or they change jobs. There are all sorts of things that can happen so that people we used to see all the time, we don't see much any more.
When that separation takes place, what happens? We always say we'll keep in touch. We always say we'll stay just as close as we were. But an awful lot of the time, we don't. We mean to. We have good intentions. But things get in the way. We get busy. So do they. We have other stuff going on. So do they. We don't have some of the things in common that we used to have.
And so what happens is, we start out calling each other once a week or so. Then, it becomes an email every couple of weeks. Then, we maybe hear from them on facebook once a month. Then it's a birthday card or a Christmas card. And then next thing you know, this person we used to be close to, this person we used to care so much about, becomes almost like a stranger to us.
That's kind of sad. And how did it happen? Because we did not make an effort to stay in contact with them. We did not intend to end the friendship. And we still kind of like the person. We still feel some lingering affection for them. But we've drifted apart, because we don't see each other or talk to each other any more.
Now, that's not inevitable. There are people who maintain friendships, or even marriages, over a long distance. But to do that successfully, we really need to work at it. We need to make time to stay in contact with each other. We need to make an effort to stay in contact with each other. We need to make that relationship a priority in their lives, even though we are separated. That's the only way it will work.
Now maybe you already know where I'm going with this, but that same principle applies to our relationship with God. God wants to have a close relationship with us. But if we're not careful, we can get separated from God. We can drift away from God. If we don't take the time to stay in contact with God through prayer, we lose that close relationship. If we don't make an effort to talk to God, if we don't make our relationship with God a priority in our lives, God can become almost like a stranger to us. And that's sad.
As we go to the second week of our sermon series on the power of prayer, that's one of the ways prayer has power: it gives us a relationship with God. It keeps us close to God. It keeps us in contact with God. It makes our relationship with God a priority in our lives. And the closer our relationship with God is, the more power our prayers are likely to have.
Now, understand, any relationship is a two-way street. Our relationship with God is not just us communicating with God, it's also God communicating with us. The thing is that we know God will do God's part. God wants that relationship with us, and God will do what God needs to do to create that relationship. So our Bible readings for today talk about what we need to do, and not do, in our prayers to create that relationship.
In our first reading, Jesus gives us two examples, a Pharisee and a tax collector. They both prayed. But the Pharisee basically told God how good he, the Pharisee was. He was bragging about all the great things he did. Have you ever known people like that? Sure you have.
It's hard to have a relationship with someone like that, right? It's hard to feel close to someone who just can't wait to tell you how wonderful they are. A person like that is not interested in a relationship, really, because again, a relationship is a two-way street. The Pharisee in Jesus' story was talking to God, he was praying, but he was not interested in a two-way relationship with God. All he was interested in was one way, his way. And so his prayer did not have any power.
The tax collector, though, comes to God humbly. He knows that he does not deserve to have a relationship with God. But he knows he needs that relationship. And so he asks God to please allow him to have that relationship, even though he does not deserve it. He's completely honest with God about who he is and what he is.
That's a prayer that has power. Because that's one of the things that creates a relationship: honesty. That's true whether we're talking about relationships between people or relationships with God. We cannot have a close relationship with someone who won't be honest with us. And we don't have a close relationship with someone if we're afraid to be honest with them. If we want our prayers to have power, we need to have a close relationship with God. And if we want a close relationship with God, we need to be completely honest with God.
In our reading from Matthew, Jesus talks about some more things about prayer. He tells us that when we pray, we should not try to impress others with our prayers. We should not try impress God, either. That's not what prayer is supposed to be about. It's still a prayer, it's still talking to God, but a prayer that's designed to impress God or impress other people won't create a relationship with God, and so it won't have any power. Prayer, again is about being honest with God and creating a relationship with God.
That's why Jesus says to pray in secret. It's okay to pray in public, too, as long as we're not trying to impress people with our prayers. But if we want to create that close relationship with God, we need those times when it's just us and God.
Again, think of close relationships you have with people. One of the things that makes those relationships close is that you've had that one-on-one time with them. When we talk to people one-on-one, we can share things we could not share in public. We can get a depth of feeling and understanding and trust we cannot get when there are a lot of other people around. It's the same in our relationship with God. If we want to feel close to God, we need that one-on-one time with God. We need to have those times where we share things with God that we cannot share with anyone else. We need that depth of feeling and understanding and trust in our relationship with God that we can only get through that one-on-one time.
Because, when we pray, we're not telling God anything God does not know. God knows everything. Jesus says as much when he says, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” We don't pray to God to give God information. We pray to God to form a relationship. It's through that relationship with God that our prayers have power.
Our responsive reading today was Psalm 42. Listen to the words the psalmist uses to show how much we need a relationship with God: “My soul pants for God.” “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” “When can I go and meet with God? “I pour out my soul” to God.
That's the feeling we need to have about prayer. We need to be eager to pray. We need to be anxious to pray. We need to want a relationship with God so much that it's the most important relationship in our lives. It's more important than our relationship with our spouse, more important than our relationship with our kids, more important than our relationship with our parents, more important than our relationship with anyone on this earth. The most important thing in our lives needs to be our relationship with God.
If it is, then we'll do whatever we need to do to have that relationship. We'll take the time to stay in contact with God. We'll make the effort to talk to God. We'll make our relationship with God a priority in our lives. And our relationship with God will work, and our prayers will have power.
Jesus gives us the tools. Jesus gives us the methods. Jesus tells us how we can have that close relationship with God. God is ready to have that close relationship with us. God wants to have that close relationship with us. But God won't force us to have that relationship. It's our choice. It's your choice, and it's my choice.
We need to go to God humbly, be completely honest with God, and spend some one-on-one time with God, sharing things with God that we cannot share with anyone else. If we do that, we will have that close relationship with God that we need. And then, we'll be able to feel the power of prayer.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Good Enough
This is the message from the Oahe Manor Communion service Thursday, September 12, 2013. The Bible verses are 1 Timothy 1:12-17.
One of the things that makes me kind of sad is when I hear people say things like, “I don't know if I'll go to heaven. I just don't know if I've been good enough.”
Now, I'll bet that some of you have said that. If you've not said it, I'll bet you've at least thought it. If you have, I'm not criticizing you. I'm not mad at you or anything. It just makes me sad, because you're worrying about something you don't need to worry about.
Because the fact is that being “good enough” has nothing to do with it. If we had to be “good enough” to get to heaven, none of us would get there. I would not, you would not, nobody would. Because there's no way any of us could possibly be as good as our perfect, all-good God.
That's one of the things the Apostle Paul is trying to say to Timothy in our Bible reading today. Paul says, look at who I've been. I've been an unbeliever. I've actively persecuted Christians. I've had them killed. And yet, God has forgiven me. Not only that, I've been allowed to serve God.
You know, there are a lot of times in Paul's writing where he makes a point of saying how bad he used to be. There's been a lot of speculation on why he did that. I don't claim to know the answer, but I think part of it was just that he was so amazed at what had happened to him.
Think about Paul's life. He starts out as one of the top Christian persecutors. And when he was doing that, he did not think he was doing anything against God. He thought he was working for God. He thought he was defending God. In fact, he was sure of it. He totally believed he was doing what God wanted him to do.
And then, all of a sudden, everything changed. He had a conversion experience on the road to Damascus. In a flash, he saw that everything he believed was wrong. The things he thought he was doing to defend God were actually going exactly against God.
Can you imagine what that must feel like? To suddenly find out that everything you've believed all your life is completely wrong? And not only that, but to have a sincere, devout, religious belief, and to have been trying hard all your life to obey God, and then to find out that you've actually been doing the exact opposite of what God wanted you to do. Paul had to be terrified. He had to think God was going to strike him dead right there.
And then, look what happened. Not only did God not strike him dead, God forgave him. Not only did God forgive him, God allowed Paul to serve God. Not only did God allow Paul to serve God, God helped Paul become the first and maybe still the greatest Christian evangelist there's ever been.
Paul had to be amazed by that. And he continued to be amazed all his life. That's why he kept making such a point of saying how bad he'd been. What he was saying was that if God can forgive me, God can forgive anybody. If Jesus can save me, Jesus can save anybody. If I can have eternal life, then it's possible for anybody to have eternal life.
That is the essential message of Christianity. It's possible for anybody to have eternal life. It does not matter what we've done. It does not matter how bad we've been. God can forgive anybody. Jesus can save anybody. All we need to do is believe in him. All we need to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.
You know, sometimes when we think about following Christ, we seem to dwell on the negatives of it. We talk about the things we have to give up to follow Christ. We talk about the cost of following Christ. And those things are real. I'm not saying we should ignore them. I think, though, that when we talk about that stuff too much, we're putting the emphasis in the wrong place.
Because those negatives are nothing compared to the positives. Look at what Jesus offers us. Jesus offers us forgiveness. Jesus offers us salvation. Jesus offers us eternal life. What we have to give up temporarily on earth is nothing compared to that.
Jesus wants to take us to heaven. We don't have to earn our way there. We don't have to be “good enough” to go there. All we need to do is have faith in God. All we have to do is believe in Jesus as our Savior. In other words, all we need to do to get to heaven is to follow Jesus there. Jesus will take us to heaven if we'll only agree to go with him.
Paul knew he was not good enough to go to heaven. I know I'm not good enough to go to heaven. You know you're not good enough to go to heaven. But the good news is that we don't have to be. God forgave Paul. God will forgive me. And God will forgive you. If we can just believe that, and trust it, we'll never have to worry about being good enough again.
One of the things that makes me kind of sad is when I hear people say things like, “I don't know if I'll go to heaven. I just don't know if I've been good enough.”
Now, I'll bet that some of you have said that. If you've not said it, I'll bet you've at least thought it. If you have, I'm not criticizing you. I'm not mad at you or anything. It just makes me sad, because you're worrying about something you don't need to worry about.
Because the fact is that being “good enough” has nothing to do with it. If we had to be “good enough” to get to heaven, none of us would get there. I would not, you would not, nobody would. Because there's no way any of us could possibly be as good as our perfect, all-good God.
That's one of the things the Apostle Paul is trying to say to Timothy in our Bible reading today. Paul says, look at who I've been. I've been an unbeliever. I've actively persecuted Christians. I've had them killed. And yet, God has forgiven me. Not only that, I've been allowed to serve God.
You know, there are a lot of times in Paul's writing where he makes a point of saying how bad he used to be. There's been a lot of speculation on why he did that. I don't claim to know the answer, but I think part of it was just that he was so amazed at what had happened to him.
Think about Paul's life. He starts out as one of the top Christian persecutors. And when he was doing that, he did not think he was doing anything against God. He thought he was working for God. He thought he was defending God. In fact, he was sure of it. He totally believed he was doing what God wanted him to do.
And then, all of a sudden, everything changed. He had a conversion experience on the road to Damascus. In a flash, he saw that everything he believed was wrong. The things he thought he was doing to defend God were actually going exactly against God.
Can you imagine what that must feel like? To suddenly find out that everything you've believed all your life is completely wrong? And not only that, but to have a sincere, devout, religious belief, and to have been trying hard all your life to obey God, and then to find out that you've actually been doing the exact opposite of what God wanted you to do. Paul had to be terrified. He had to think God was going to strike him dead right there.
And then, look what happened. Not only did God not strike him dead, God forgave him. Not only did God forgive him, God allowed Paul to serve God. Not only did God allow Paul to serve God, God helped Paul become the first and maybe still the greatest Christian evangelist there's ever been.
Paul had to be amazed by that. And he continued to be amazed all his life. That's why he kept making such a point of saying how bad he'd been. What he was saying was that if God can forgive me, God can forgive anybody. If Jesus can save me, Jesus can save anybody. If I can have eternal life, then it's possible for anybody to have eternal life.
That is the essential message of Christianity. It's possible for anybody to have eternal life. It does not matter what we've done. It does not matter how bad we've been. God can forgive anybody. Jesus can save anybody. All we need to do is believe in him. All we need to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.
You know, sometimes when we think about following Christ, we seem to dwell on the negatives of it. We talk about the things we have to give up to follow Christ. We talk about the cost of following Christ. And those things are real. I'm not saying we should ignore them. I think, though, that when we talk about that stuff too much, we're putting the emphasis in the wrong place.
Because those negatives are nothing compared to the positives. Look at what Jesus offers us. Jesus offers us forgiveness. Jesus offers us salvation. Jesus offers us eternal life. What we have to give up temporarily on earth is nothing compared to that.
Jesus wants to take us to heaven. We don't have to earn our way there. We don't have to be “good enough” to go there. All we need to do is have faith in God. All we have to do is believe in Jesus as our Savior. In other words, all we need to do to get to heaven is to follow Jesus there. Jesus will take us to heaven if we'll only agree to go with him.
Paul knew he was not good enough to go to heaven. I know I'm not good enough to go to heaven. You know you're not good enough to go to heaven. But the good news is that we don't have to be. God forgave Paul. God will forgive me. And God will forgive you. If we can just believe that, and trust it, we'll never have to worry about being good enough again.
Monday, September 9, 2013
The Lord's Prayers
This is the message given in the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, September 8, 2013. The Bible verses used are John 17:1-25 and Luke 11:1-4.
Welcome to a new sermon series, “The Power of Prayer”. We are going to talk about things like why it is that we pray, what our attitude should be when we pray, and what we expect to happen when we pray.
In starting this sermon series out, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what Jesus said when he prayed. And what I found out is that there are very few instances in which Jesus' prayers are recorded for us in the Bible. The one we read today, from the gospel of John, is one of the few times we have one of Jesus' prayers written down. Now, we know Jesus prayed. In fact, we know Jesus prayed a lot. But when we read about that, we usually read things like, “and Jesus went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” “Jesus withdrew to a lonely place and prayed.” Jesus prayed, but he usually prayed by himself, not with a crowd.
And it struck me, too, that when we read the few public prayers Jesus prayed, like the one we read today, they read more like speeches than like prayers. I think there's a reason for that. I think Jesus knew that people were listening, that people would be paying attention, and that people would remember what he said. That does not make Jesus' prayers invalid or anything. Jesus was still praying to the Father. It's just that he knew there was an additional audience.
I suspect—there's no way to know—that this may have altered the way he prayed. Now, Jesus still meant everything he said, and he still wanted the Father to hear everything he said. It's just that most of us pray differently when we pray in public than we do when we pray in private. I know I do. There's nothing wrong with that. Our prayers in public are neither worse nor better than our prayers in private. They're just different. It's one thing to pray when we know others can hear us, and it's another to pray when we know whatever we say will stay between us and God.
There's no way to know what it is that Jesus said when he prayed in private. There had to be something different about it, though, because we're told, in our reading from Luke, that the disciples went up to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Now, the disciples had prayed before. Some of them had been praying all their lives. Religious Jews of that time had lots of prayers they were supposed to say on various occasions or sometimes just as their day went along. It's not like praying was some sort of foreign concept to them.
And yet, they asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Somehow, they must've known that when Jesus prayed, it was different. There are lots of ways that could've happened. It could be that they overheard Jesus praying sometimes, and wanted to be able to pray like that. It could be that even though they couldn't hear Jesus praying, they could see him, and they saw some sort of change come over him when he prayed. It could be that they neither heard nor saw Jesus pray, but when he came back from praying, they could see there was something different about him. They could see that he had a sense of peace, or a sense of purpose, or something that had changed, and they wanted to have that, too.
Whatever it was that they saw, they could tell Jesus' prayers had power, a power that the prayers they'd said their whole lives did not have. And they wanted that. They wanted their prayers to have that same power Jesus' prayers had. So they asked him to teach them to pray. And he did. Now, the prayer that we've come to call the Lord's Prayer is not exactly the way Luke quotes it. For one thing, Matthew has a slightly different version, and we've incorporated that. We've also added a last line, a concluding sentence that was common to prayers back then. Still, the prayer that we pray now is very much in the spirit of what Jesus told his disciples to pray.
We pray the Lord's Prayer every week. It's a good prayer to pray. Well, I mean, Jesus taught it to us. What, I'm going to stand here and tell you it's not a good prayer? Of course it's a good prayer. We should pray it every week. We should probably pray it every day. And it can have a lot of power.
But here are a couple of things about the Lord's Prayer. For one thing, it's really short. Even in the longer version that we pray, it only takes about thirty seconds. Now, that's not a bad thing. After all, Jesus told us not to wear God out with a bunch of words. It's not wrong to pray a short prayer. Not at all.
The thing is, though, that because it's so short, and because we pray it so often, and because many of us have heard it and prayed it so many times that we know it by heart, a lot of times we don't really think about the Lord's Prayer. Sometimes we do, but a lot of times we don't. We pray it kind of a perfunctory way. We say it by rote. I know I do that sometimes. We don't put any thought into it, and we don't put any effort into it. And so, as good the Lord's Prayer is, there are times it does not do us much good to pray it. There's not much power in prayer when our hearts are not into our prayers.
If we want our prayers to do us any good, if we want our prayers to have power, if we want them to have the effect on us that Jesus' prayers had on him, we need to put some effort into them. We need to put some thought into them. Not every time we pray, necessarily. It's okay to pray some quick prayers, too, depending on the situation. But sometimes we need to spend some time with God. We need to spend enough time with God that we can get past the perfunctory platitudes that we're tempted to pray and really tell God what's in our minds and in our hearts.
I always go back to Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. We've talked about this before, but we're told Jesus was praying so hard that he was sweating. And we're not just talking minor perspiration here, either. We're told he was sweating so hard that his sweat fell to the ground in huge drops.
Now that's praying. That's a prayer that has power. And that's what we need to do. It's fine to pray the Lord's Prayer, but what we really need to do is follow the Lord's prayers. We need to pray the way Jesus did. Again, not every time. We cannot do that every time, and we don't need to do it every time. But there are times when we do. There are times when we need to put all of ourselves into our prayers. There are times when we need to completely open ourselves up to God. There are times when we need to be completely honest and open with God.
We cannot do that in thirty seconds. We may not be able to do it in thirty minutes. We cannot do it by simply saying words we memorized when we were kids. Just saying words without thinking about them, without paying attention to what the words mean, is not really praying at all. The words are fine, they're good, but there's no magic in them. They're just words unless we mean them.
You see, prayer involves being conscious of God's presence, of God's love, of God's direction, and of God's grace. That's why Jesus went off by himself to pray. That's why Jesus put all of himself into his prayers. And that's why Jesus' prayers had power.
Again, it's not that we always have to do that. It's okay to pray for thirty seconds, or even less, if that's all the time we have. But sometimes we do need to do it. Because we need to feel God's presence in our lives. We need to feel God's love in our lives. We need to feel God directing our lives. And we need to feel God's grace in our lives. And we need to take whatever times it takes, and however much effort it takes, in order to do that.
Jesus taught the disciples to pray by giving them words. But Jesus also taught them to pray by giving them an example. Jesus taught them to pray by showing them the power prayer can have, both on us and on others.
Jesus continues to teach us to pray. It's good to use The Lord's prayer. But it's even better to follow the example of the Lord's prayers. When we do that, we've taken the first step toward unleashing the power of prayer.
Welcome to a new sermon series, “The Power of Prayer”. We are going to talk about things like why it is that we pray, what our attitude should be when we pray, and what we expect to happen when we pray.
In starting this sermon series out, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what Jesus said when he prayed. And what I found out is that there are very few instances in which Jesus' prayers are recorded for us in the Bible. The one we read today, from the gospel of John, is one of the few times we have one of Jesus' prayers written down. Now, we know Jesus prayed. In fact, we know Jesus prayed a lot. But when we read about that, we usually read things like, “and Jesus went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” “Jesus withdrew to a lonely place and prayed.” Jesus prayed, but he usually prayed by himself, not with a crowd.
And it struck me, too, that when we read the few public prayers Jesus prayed, like the one we read today, they read more like speeches than like prayers. I think there's a reason for that. I think Jesus knew that people were listening, that people would be paying attention, and that people would remember what he said. That does not make Jesus' prayers invalid or anything. Jesus was still praying to the Father. It's just that he knew there was an additional audience.
I suspect—there's no way to know—that this may have altered the way he prayed. Now, Jesus still meant everything he said, and he still wanted the Father to hear everything he said. It's just that most of us pray differently when we pray in public than we do when we pray in private. I know I do. There's nothing wrong with that. Our prayers in public are neither worse nor better than our prayers in private. They're just different. It's one thing to pray when we know others can hear us, and it's another to pray when we know whatever we say will stay between us and God.
There's no way to know what it is that Jesus said when he prayed in private. There had to be something different about it, though, because we're told, in our reading from Luke, that the disciples went up to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Now, the disciples had prayed before. Some of them had been praying all their lives. Religious Jews of that time had lots of prayers they were supposed to say on various occasions or sometimes just as their day went along. It's not like praying was some sort of foreign concept to them.
And yet, they asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Somehow, they must've known that when Jesus prayed, it was different. There are lots of ways that could've happened. It could be that they overheard Jesus praying sometimes, and wanted to be able to pray like that. It could be that even though they couldn't hear Jesus praying, they could see him, and they saw some sort of change come over him when he prayed. It could be that they neither heard nor saw Jesus pray, but when he came back from praying, they could see there was something different about him. They could see that he had a sense of peace, or a sense of purpose, or something that had changed, and they wanted to have that, too.
Whatever it was that they saw, they could tell Jesus' prayers had power, a power that the prayers they'd said their whole lives did not have. And they wanted that. They wanted their prayers to have that same power Jesus' prayers had. So they asked him to teach them to pray. And he did. Now, the prayer that we've come to call the Lord's Prayer is not exactly the way Luke quotes it. For one thing, Matthew has a slightly different version, and we've incorporated that. We've also added a last line, a concluding sentence that was common to prayers back then. Still, the prayer that we pray now is very much in the spirit of what Jesus told his disciples to pray.
We pray the Lord's Prayer every week. It's a good prayer to pray. Well, I mean, Jesus taught it to us. What, I'm going to stand here and tell you it's not a good prayer? Of course it's a good prayer. We should pray it every week. We should probably pray it every day. And it can have a lot of power.
But here are a couple of things about the Lord's Prayer. For one thing, it's really short. Even in the longer version that we pray, it only takes about thirty seconds. Now, that's not a bad thing. After all, Jesus told us not to wear God out with a bunch of words. It's not wrong to pray a short prayer. Not at all.
The thing is, though, that because it's so short, and because we pray it so often, and because many of us have heard it and prayed it so many times that we know it by heart, a lot of times we don't really think about the Lord's Prayer. Sometimes we do, but a lot of times we don't. We pray it kind of a perfunctory way. We say it by rote. I know I do that sometimes. We don't put any thought into it, and we don't put any effort into it. And so, as good the Lord's Prayer is, there are times it does not do us much good to pray it. There's not much power in prayer when our hearts are not into our prayers.
If we want our prayers to do us any good, if we want our prayers to have power, if we want them to have the effect on us that Jesus' prayers had on him, we need to put some effort into them. We need to put some thought into them. Not every time we pray, necessarily. It's okay to pray some quick prayers, too, depending on the situation. But sometimes we need to spend some time with God. We need to spend enough time with God that we can get past the perfunctory platitudes that we're tempted to pray and really tell God what's in our minds and in our hearts.
I always go back to Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. We've talked about this before, but we're told Jesus was praying so hard that he was sweating. And we're not just talking minor perspiration here, either. We're told he was sweating so hard that his sweat fell to the ground in huge drops.
Now that's praying. That's a prayer that has power. And that's what we need to do. It's fine to pray the Lord's Prayer, but what we really need to do is follow the Lord's prayers. We need to pray the way Jesus did. Again, not every time. We cannot do that every time, and we don't need to do it every time. But there are times when we do. There are times when we need to put all of ourselves into our prayers. There are times when we need to completely open ourselves up to God. There are times when we need to be completely honest and open with God.
We cannot do that in thirty seconds. We may not be able to do it in thirty minutes. We cannot do it by simply saying words we memorized when we were kids. Just saying words without thinking about them, without paying attention to what the words mean, is not really praying at all. The words are fine, they're good, but there's no magic in them. They're just words unless we mean them.
You see, prayer involves being conscious of God's presence, of God's love, of God's direction, and of God's grace. That's why Jesus went off by himself to pray. That's why Jesus put all of himself into his prayers. And that's why Jesus' prayers had power.
Again, it's not that we always have to do that. It's okay to pray for thirty seconds, or even less, if that's all the time we have. But sometimes we do need to do it. Because we need to feel God's presence in our lives. We need to feel God's love in our lives. We need to feel God directing our lives. And we need to feel God's grace in our lives. And we need to take whatever times it takes, and however much effort it takes, in order to do that.
Jesus taught the disciples to pray by giving them words. But Jesus also taught them to pray by giving them an example. Jesus taught them to pray by showing them the power prayer can have, both on us and on others.
Jesus continues to teach us to pray. It's good to use The Lord's prayer. But it's even better to follow the example of the Lord's prayers. When we do that, we've taken the first step toward unleashing the power of prayer.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Just Great
This is the message given Sunday, September 1, 2013. The Bible verses used are Genesis 1:1-23; Romans 3:21-26; John 14:1-4.
Well, this is the conclusion of our Hymn Hysteria sermon series. I've really enjoyed this series, and I hope you have, too. It's been really interesting to me to find out more about these songs and the people who wrote them. It's also been really interesting to me to really think about these songs, all of which I've been singing since I was a little kid, and to think about what the words mean and what we're actually saying when we sing them.
We're closing this series with our champion hymn, “How Great Thou Art”. It took on some heavyweight hymns and it beat them all. It defeated “Faith of Our Fathers”, “Nearer, My God, to Thee”, “God Will Take Care of You”, “Oh, How I Love Jesus”, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, and finally defeated “Amazing Grace” in the finals.
Our hymnal attributes the words and music of “How Great Thou Art” to Stuart K. Hine, but that's only partly true. The words are based on a poem written in Sweden by Carl Boberg in 1885 and the tune is an old Swedish folk tune. He wrote it in Swedish, of course, but it was eventually translated into a lot of other languages. The first English translation was by E. Gustav Johnson in 1925.
The version we use now does owe much to Hine, though. Stuart K. Hine was a British missionary. He was born in 1899 and lived until March 14th of 1989. He was working in the Ukraine when he heard a Russian translation of the song. He loved it and started re-writing it and adding verses to fit the events where he was. Hine adapted the first two verses of the song from Boberg's poem and wrote the third and fourth verses himself. There are a variety of other versions and other verses, but the version in our hymnal is the commonly used version of “How Great Thou Art”.
As I was thinking of this song, it became clear to me why this song won our contest. It also became clear to me why we don't sing the other verses or the other versions. The version of the song we sing, with the verses that it has, tells us pretty much everything we need to know about God and about our faith.
The first two verses describe God's creation. That's why we read the passage from Genesis today. It's the story of creation.
The first verse describes the awesome power of God. This is a God who can and did create worlds. God created the stars and the planets and everything else. When we see those stars and planets, when we hear the rolling thunder, we can hardly help but recognize the awesome power of God.
God is so powerful that God created all that just by speaking a word. God said, “let it be” and it was. Think about that. God did not have to work hard to create the universe. God did not have to strain to do it. All God had to do was speak. That's power, to be able to create the universe and do it with ease. If God has that much power just by speaking, what do you suppose God could do if God actually used all the power God has? It's kind of scary to think about.
But it does not have to be scary, because the second verse describes how God uses that awesome power. God uses it to create beauty. The beauty of the woods and the forests. The birds that sing sweetly in the trees. The lofty mountains. The brooks. The breezes. All those things are beautiful, and all of them are created by God.
I think we're blessed around here, because we have a lot better chance than most people to see that beauty. We actually see the stars. We actually can hear birds singing. We have an abundance of wildlife. And this time of year, we have the sunflowers. Those beautiful gold blossoms shining against the green of the plant. Those greens and golds are so beautiful that for a minute I even forget that those are the colors of the Green Bay Packers. It's such a beautiful sight.
We have these things around us so much that sometimes we take them for granted. That's understandable, and in fact it's a very human thing to do. It's too bad, though. We should never take beauty for granted. And we should especially never take God's beauty for granted.
You know, God would not have had to create a beautiful world. The way the world is is not the only way God would've had to create it. God is God. God could've created the world any way God wanted to. God could've created a dull, colorless world. God could've created a very flat, featureless world. God could've created only a few types of animals and plants, instead of the incredible variety we have. God chose to create a beautiful, colorful world of infinite variety. We should appreciate that.
The third verse talks about our salvation. That's why we read the passage from the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans. This God, who is all-powerful and created this incredible, beautiful world, sent the Son to die. He bore our burdens on the cross. He bled and died. And he did it to take away our sins.
God did not have to do that, either. God chose to do it. God did not have to do anything to take away our sins. Our sins are not God's fault, they're our fault. God does not force us to sin. God was under no obligation to give us a chance for forgiveness and salvation. But God does it, just because God loves us.
And the fourth verse talks about Christ coming again, to take us home. That's why we read the passage from the gospel of John. Jesus promises to come back and take us to the place he has prepared for us if we accept him as our Savior. In other words, he will take us to heaven if we'll only agree to go.
Each one of those verses leads perfectly to the chorus. When we think of how powerful God is, when we think of how God uses that power to create beauty, when we think of how God loves us so much that God sent the Son to die to take away our sins, when we think of how Jesus will come back and take us to heaven if we'll only agree to go, we're overwhelmed. At least we should be. That's a power and a love that's beyond my comprehension. I can describe it, but I cannot really understand it.
All I can do, all any of us can do, is what the song says. We can bow in humble adoration, and proclaim “my God, how great Thou art!” All we can do is sing praises to God for how great, how awesome, how incredible God is.
This song really has almost everything we need to know about God. There are other things we'd like to know, other things it'd be interesting to know. We're all curious about details and facts. We all have stuff we'd like to ask God if we have the chance. But this is pretty much everything we need to know. God is great, God is all-powerful, God is the creator, God creates beauty, God sent the son to die for our sins, the Son will come again to take us home, and God is worthy of praise for that. If we were trying to explain Christianity to someone who knew nothing about it, we could do a lot worse than to show them the words to this song.
We could do a lot worse than to show ourselves the words to this song, too. Some of you probably have them memorized. But think about them. Think about them every day. Carry them with you. Because the world has a way of wearing us down. The world has a way of distracting us. The world has a way of taking our minds off of how great God is and encouraging us to think of all our problems and worries instead.
When that starts to happen, pull out the words to this song again. Sing this song to yourself, or just read the words. Think about them. Remember that God truly is great, so great that God offers us the chance to go to live with God in heaven. If we really think about that, there will not be much we can do except bow in humble adoration and proclaim, “My God, how great Thou art!”
Well, this is the conclusion of our Hymn Hysteria sermon series. I've really enjoyed this series, and I hope you have, too. It's been really interesting to me to find out more about these songs and the people who wrote them. It's also been really interesting to me to really think about these songs, all of which I've been singing since I was a little kid, and to think about what the words mean and what we're actually saying when we sing them.
We're closing this series with our champion hymn, “How Great Thou Art”. It took on some heavyweight hymns and it beat them all. It defeated “Faith of Our Fathers”, “Nearer, My God, to Thee”, “God Will Take Care of You”, “Oh, How I Love Jesus”, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, and finally defeated “Amazing Grace” in the finals.
Our hymnal attributes the words and music of “How Great Thou Art” to Stuart K. Hine, but that's only partly true. The words are based on a poem written in Sweden by Carl Boberg in 1885 and the tune is an old Swedish folk tune. He wrote it in Swedish, of course, but it was eventually translated into a lot of other languages. The first English translation was by E. Gustav Johnson in 1925.
The version we use now does owe much to Hine, though. Stuart K. Hine was a British missionary. He was born in 1899 and lived until March 14th of 1989. He was working in the Ukraine when he heard a Russian translation of the song. He loved it and started re-writing it and adding verses to fit the events where he was. Hine adapted the first two verses of the song from Boberg's poem and wrote the third and fourth verses himself. There are a variety of other versions and other verses, but the version in our hymnal is the commonly used version of “How Great Thou Art”.
As I was thinking of this song, it became clear to me why this song won our contest. It also became clear to me why we don't sing the other verses or the other versions. The version of the song we sing, with the verses that it has, tells us pretty much everything we need to know about God and about our faith.
The first two verses describe God's creation. That's why we read the passage from Genesis today. It's the story of creation.
The first verse describes the awesome power of God. This is a God who can and did create worlds. God created the stars and the planets and everything else. When we see those stars and planets, when we hear the rolling thunder, we can hardly help but recognize the awesome power of God.
God is so powerful that God created all that just by speaking a word. God said, “let it be” and it was. Think about that. God did not have to work hard to create the universe. God did not have to strain to do it. All God had to do was speak. That's power, to be able to create the universe and do it with ease. If God has that much power just by speaking, what do you suppose God could do if God actually used all the power God has? It's kind of scary to think about.
But it does not have to be scary, because the second verse describes how God uses that awesome power. God uses it to create beauty. The beauty of the woods and the forests. The birds that sing sweetly in the trees. The lofty mountains. The brooks. The breezes. All those things are beautiful, and all of them are created by God.
I think we're blessed around here, because we have a lot better chance than most people to see that beauty. We actually see the stars. We actually can hear birds singing. We have an abundance of wildlife. And this time of year, we have the sunflowers. Those beautiful gold blossoms shining against the green of the plant. Those greens and golds are so beautiful that for a minute I even forget that those are the colors of the Green Bay Packers. It's such a beautiful sight.
We have these things around us so much that sometimes we take them for granted. That's understandable, and in fact it's a very human thing to do. It's too bad, though. We should never take beauty for granted. And we should especially never take God's beauty for granted.
You know, God would not have had to create a beautiful world. The way the world is is not the only way God would've had to create it. God is God. God could've created the world any way God wanted to. God could've created a dull, colorless world. God could've created a very flat, featureless world. God could've created only a few types of animals and plants, instead of the incredible variety we have. God chose to create a beautiful, colorful world of infinite variety. We should appreciate that.
The third verse talks about our salvation. That's why we read the passage from the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans. This God, who is all-powerful and created this incredible, beautiful world, sent the Son to die. He bore our burdens on the cross. He bled and died. And he did it to take away our sins.
God did not have to do that, either. God chose to do it. God did not have to do anything to take away our sins. Our sins are not God's fault, they're our fault. God does not force us to sin. God was under no obligation to give us a chance for forgiveness and salvation. But God does it, just because God loves us.
And the fourth verse talks about Christ coming again, to take us home. That's why we read the passage from the gospel of John. Jesus promises to come back and take us to the place he has prepared for us if we accept him as our Savior. In other words, he will take us to heaven if we'll only agree to go.
Each one of those verses leads perfectly to the chorus. When we think of how powerful God is, when we think of how God uses that power to create beauty, when we think of how God loves us so much that God sent the Son to die to take away our sins, when we think of how Jesus will come back and take us to heaven if we'll only agree to go, we're overwhelmed. At least we should be. That's a power and a love that's beyond my comprehension. I can describe it, but I cannot really understand it.
All I can do, all any of us can do, is what the song says. We can bow in humble adoration, and proclaim “my God, how great Thou art!” All we can do is sing praises to God for how great, how awesome, how incredible God is.
This song really has almost everything we need to know about God. There are other things we'd like to know, other things it'd be interesting to know. We're all curious about details and facts. We all have stuff we'd like to ask God if we have the chance. But this is pretty much everything we need to know. God is great, God is all-powerful, God is the creator, God creates beauty, God sent the son to die for our sins, the Son will come again to take us home, and God is worthy of praise for that. If we were trying to explain Christianity to someone who knew nothing about it, we could do a lot worse than to show them the words to this song.
We could do a lot worse than to show ourselves the words to this song, too. Some of you probably have them memorized. But think about them. Think about them every day. Carry them with you. Because the world has a way of wearing us down. The world has a way of distracting us. The world has a way of taking our minds off of how great God is and encouraging us to think of all our problems and worries instead.
When that starts to happen, pull out the words to this song again. Sing this song to yourself, or just read the words. Think about them. Remember that God truly is great, so great that God offers us the chance to go to live with God in heaven. If we really think about that, there will not be much we can do except bow in humble adoration and proclaim, “My God, how great Thou art!”
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