Why Harvey?

As I write this, Hurricane Harvey is hitting Texas.  No one knows exactly how bad things are going to get, but there’s no question things are going to get bad for a lot of people.  And whenever something like this happens, a question arises.  If God is so good, and if God loves us so much, why does God allow things like destructive hurricanes?

A variation of that question that comes up in a lot of contexts, of course.  The question basically comes down to, why does God let bad things happen?  Sometimes we can explain it away by the fact that God gives us free will.  That doesn’t really work in the case of a natural disaster like a hurricane, though.  Whether you believe in climate change or not, we know hurricanes and other natural disasters have been happening for a long time, and will continue to happen for as far into the future as we can understand.

You can try to get free will involved by saying, well, people chose to live in an area where they know hurricanes can happen.  And that’s true, to an extent, but it doesn’t really explain things.  I mean, every area has something.  Whether it’s hurricanes or blizzards or tornadoes or earthquakes or droughts or floods or anything else, almost every place humans can live is subject to something.  Eden doesn’t exist any more.  So the question remains.  Why does God allow these things to happen?

We say these things are natural phenomena.  We say they are something that is inevitably going to occur because of the laws of nature.  But as Christians, we believe that God set up those laws.  Was that the only way God could’ve set things up?  Was it impossible for God to set up the world differently?  Is the only way the world can work if we have natural disasters?  That would seem to be putting an artificial limit on God.

In theology we sometimes talk about how the fall of Man, in the case of Adam and Eve, affected all of nature, not just humanity.  Eden was perfect, with no natural disasters.  But when sin entered the world, it affected nature just as much as it affected human beings, and storms and other natural phenomena that we consider bad are the result of that.  If that explanation helps you, that’s great.  But I have to admit, it really does not satisfy me.

But of course, that’s the thing.  God does not have to give an explanation that satisfies me.  God does not have to give an explanation at all.  God does not have to justify God’s actions or God’s decisions to me.  In fact, it’s pretty arrogant of me to ask God to do that.  God is God.  God is bigger and greater than anything I can ever imagine.  God does not owe me explanations for anything.  God does not owe me anything at all.  I owe God everything, including my own life.

This is where faith comes into it.  If we believe in God, then we believe that God must have had good reasons for setting up the world the way God did, even if we don’t always understand them.  And so, we continue to believe, we continue to trust, and we continue to have faith, no matter what happens.

And we do one other thing, a very important thing.  We help each other.  When a tragedy strikes, we help each other.  When something bad happens, we help each other.  When we see someone who needs someone, we help each other.  Instead of spending a lot of time asking “why”--a question we’ll never get a satisfying answer to--we should be spending our time asking “what”.  What can I do to help?  And then, we need to go out and actually do it.

That’s what I encourage you to do.  Because no matter what your situation is, there is always something you can do.  If nothing else, you can always pray.  And that may well be the most important thing we can ever do.

Undeserved Love

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, August 27, 2017.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 26:20-25, 31-35.

            Have you ever been betrayed?

            I suspect most of us would say yes.  It might have been a big thing, or it might have been a small thing.  It might be something that happened recently, or it might be something that happened a long time ago.  But I suspect most of us, at one time or another, have felt like we were betrayed.

            And I also suspect that, no matter how long ago it might have been, we still remember it.  We remember what happened.  We remember when it happened.  We remember all the circumstances.  We remember everything about the time or times when we’ve been betrayed.  And that’s not all we remember.  We also remember how the betrayal made us feel.  Because a betrayal is probably the hardest thing there is in life to really get over and get past.  

            You see, a betrayal is different from just someone treating us badly.  A betrayal comes from someone close to us.  A betrayal comes from someone we trust.  A betrayal comes when someone we thought cared about us turns out not to care about us at all, or at least turns out to care about something or someone else more.  A betrayal comes when someone we thought was on our side turns out to have a completely different agenda and turns out to be on a completely different side.

            It hurts.  A betrayal hurts.  Jesus told us that we should always forgive, and we try, but a betrayal is probably the hardest thing there ever is to forgive.  To forgive someone who you trusted, and who then turned on you, has to be about the hardest thing we’re ever asked to do.

            Now think about this.  Suppose you knew, ahead of time, that someone was about to betray you.  Suppose you were right there in the same room with them, knowing they were about to betray you.  What would you do?

            That’s the position Jesus was in.  One of the people he was closest to, one of the people he trusted, one of the people he thought cared about him, was about to betray him.  One of the people Jesus thought was on his side turned out to have a completely different agenda.  And Jesus knew that.  Jesus knew, ahead of time, that Judas was about to betray him.  Jesus was in the same room with Judas, knowing he was about to betray him.

            But of course, Judas was not the only person in the room who was going to betray Jesus.  As Jesus said, “This very night all of you will fall away on account of me.”  Jesus knew that, to one extent or another, they were all going to betray him.  They all denied it, of course.  Peter says, loudly and proudly, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you”, and all the other disciples say the same.  But Jesus knows the truth.

            That had to hurt Jesus.  There’s no way it could not.  So again, I ask you.  Suppose you were Jesus at that moment, knowing everyone there, all these people he trusted, were about to betray you.  What would you do?

            Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d have done what Jesus did.  He continued to treat them like friends, or even more than friends.  He shared a meal with them.  As we saw last week, Jesus washed their feet, humbly acting like their servant.  Think about that.  Here he is, the sinless, perfect, divine Son of God, acting like a servant to people who are all going to abandon him and betray him.

            Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, and he did nothing to stop it.  He could have.  It would’ve been easy for him to stop Judas.  He would not have had to use any divine power or anything.  All he’d have had to do is tell Peter or James or any of the disciples, hey, Judas is about to turn me in to the authorities and have me arrested.  He would not have had to say any more than that, really.  The disciples would’ve taken care of Judas all right.  They’d have made sure he never turned in Jesus or anyone else.

            But Jesus did not do that.  Jesus did not stop Judas or anyone else from betraying him.  And not only that, he continued to treat them with just as much love as he had before, if not more.  Jesus continued to show love to all the people who were about to betray him.  In fact, even after the betrayal, he continued to show that love.  Jesus loved the disciples, and us, so much that he died in an incredibly painful way, crucified on a cross, taking the punishment that should go to us, so that our sins can be forgiven.

            I’ve talked to people who’ve told me they have a hard time believing God loves them.  And a lot of times, the reason they have a hard time believing it is because they don’t think they deserve God’s love.  They think, if God knows everything, then God knows what kind of person I am.  God knows all the bad things I’ve done.  God knows all the times I’ve treated people badly.  God knows all the times I’ve lied, or I’ve cheated, or done all kinds of things I should not have done.  If God knows all that stuff, then there’s no way God could love me.  I don’t deserve it.

            And in one sense, that’s right.  None of us deserves God’s love.  I don’t, you don’t, none of us does.  But that’s the point.  God does not love us because we deserve it.  God loves us because that’s who God is.  God loves us because God is love.  And there is nothing we can ever do that will keep God from loving us.

            The way God loves us, the way Jesus loves us, the way Jesus loved Judas and Peter and all the other disciples even though they were going to betray him, shows us what love is.  Love, by definition, is not something you deserve.  If we say that we’ll only love someone if they deserve it, what we’re saying is that our love is a reward for proper behavior.  We’re saying we’ll only love them if they say or do the right things, the things we want them to say or do.  We’ll only love them if there’s something in it for us.  That’s not love.  That’s a contract.

            If God only loved us when we said or did the right things, we’d never know that God loved us.  Because how would we know?  Even if we were doing our best, even if we were trying really hard, even if we were doing all kinds of wonderful things, how would we know we’d done it right?  How would we know we’d done enough?  How would we know there was not something else we should say, something else we should do, some other good thing we should work on in order to earn God’s love?  We never would.  There’d never be a time when we could be confident that we’d done enough.  And so we’d never know God’s love.

            God does not love us because we deserve it.  God loves us because that’s who God is.  And God wants us to know how much God loves us.  And the proof of God’s love for us is in the life and death of Jesus Christ.

            If God did not love us, Jesus would never have been sent to earth in the first place.  If Jesus did not love us, he would not have lived the life he did--preaching, teaching, healing, working miracles, all the other things he did through his life.  If Jesus did not love us, he would never have treated the disciples, the people who were going to betray him, with kindness and love.  If Jesus did not love us, he would not have died so that our sins could be forgiven.  And if God did not love us, Jesus would not have been raised from the dead, proving that he had conquered death, not just for himself, but for all of us.

            None of us deserves God’s love.  But that’s okay.  God does not love us because we deserve it.  God has done all kinds of things to show us that.  Over and over again, all throughout the Bible, whether we’re talking about the Old Testament or the New Testament, people show that they don’t deserve God’s love.  And yet, God keeps loving them anyway.  Nothing they did could ever stop God from loving them.  Sometimes God makes them accept the consequences of their actions, but God kept loving them.  Sometimes we have to accept the consequences of our actions, too.  But God keeps loving us, too.  And nothing we do could ever stop God from loving us, either.

            If you ever feel like you don’t deserve God’s love, think about how Jesus treated the disciples.  Think about how Jesus loved even the people who he knew were going to betray him.  Think about how Jesus loved them so much that he would even die for them.  And know that Jesus loves you so much that he died for you, too.  God never loved anyone because they deserved it.  God loves us because God is love.  And there is nothing you can ever do that will make God stop loving you.

A Lesson in Humility

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, August 20, 2017.  The Bible verses used are John 13:1-17.

            We’ve been doing a sermon series going through the events of Jesus’ life in chronological order.  And so, we’re up to the events of the last couple of days of Jesus’ life.  Jesus has gathered the disciples to celebrate the Passover meal with him.  This is the night of what we now know as the Last Supper.

            It seems odd that John’s gospel is the only one that mentions Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.  The others all have the Last Supper, but they don’t have this part.  But it’s no less important for that, and the lessons it teaches us are no less important, either.

            At various times, I’ve asked you to try to imagine yourself present at various Bible events.  I’d like you to do that today.  You’re in the room with Jesus.  All the disciples are there with you.  You’re eating a meal.  Probably, given the timing of it, the meal you’re eating is the Seder, the ritual meal eaten in celebration of the Passover.  It’s a very important meal in Jewish tradition.

            You’re all eating this meal, and suddenly Jesus gets up.  You probably notice that, but don’t think much of it at first.  Then, Jesus starts taking his clothes off!  He walks over to where there’s a towel and wraps that around his waist.  He goes over to where there’s some water--maybe a pitcher, maybe a bucket, we’re not told where the water came from.  Jesus pours some water into a basin.  Then he goes around to each of the disciples, one by one, starts washing their feet, and dries them with the towel that’s around his waist.

            Are you picturing this?  Because to me, one of the most amazing things about this whole deal is that at this point, none of the disciples has reacted at all.  None of them has said, “What are you doing?”  None of them has said, “Why are you doing that?”  None of them has said, “Here, let me help you.”  None of them has said, “Jesus, wait a minute, you should not have to do that.  We’ll find someone else.”  They all just sit there.  Maybe they were so taken by surprise they did not know what to say.  Maybe they were scared to say anything.  Maybe they were afraid they’d look stupid if they said or did anything.  We don’t know why.  But they all just sit there.  Nobody saying anything.  Nobody doing anything.  They just sit there and let Jesus wash their feet.

            Until he gets to Peter.  We’ll get to that in a minute, but first let me remind you what foot washing was back then.  We’ve talked about this before, but think of the condition feet were in back then.  People did not wear socks and shoes.  Some people had sandals, but a lot of people went barefoot.  And they did not walk on paved roads, either.  They walked on dirt.  Or sand.  Or fields with plants on them.  And there were animals around, so there were plenty of things to step in, if you know what I mean.

            So feet were, for the most part, just plain ugly and disgusting.  They were filthy.  They were calloused.  They had sores and blisters sometimes.  Nobody wanted to have to handle feet like that.  It was the one of the lowest, dirtiest jobs around.  If you were the foot washer, you were about as far down on the list as you could be.

            So Jesus is doing this lousy, dirty job.  And the disciples just sit there and watch him do it.  Until he gets to Peter.  Jesus looks at Peter.  Peter looks at Jesus.  Peter cannot believe what’s going on.  He says, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  

            Jesus says, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

            Peter still cannot believe it.  He thinks, I might not know everything, but I know Jesus--Jesus, the Savior, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God--Jesus is not supposed to be washing people’s feet.  So he refuses.  He says Jesus will never wash his feet.

            Jesus, of course, responds by saying, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”  And Peter, on hearing that, responds in the most Peter-ish way possible.  He says, “Well, then, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well.”

            John does not say so, but I have to think Jesus would’ve laughed at that.  Maybe some of the other disciples laughed, too.  It’s classic Peter being Peter.  It also shows, though, that Peter still does not understand what Jesus is doing or why.  And no one else there does, either.

            Jesus goes around, washing everyone’s feet.  Then he puts his clothes back on and sits back down.  And he says, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”

            Jesus was telling them, and us, think about what I just did.  You know who I am, and yet I did not try to hold myself out as any better than you.  In fact, I held myself out as worse than you, because I acted like your servant.  So none of you has any business acting like you think you’re better than anyone else, either.  None of you should think you’re too good to serve others.

            Do you remember when we did the sermon series on the Minor Prophets a couple of years ago?  What was the thing God was always criticizing the people of Israel for?  Arrogance.  Thinking they were better than other people.  Thinking they were better than God.  Thinking they were so good they did not need God any more.  They were arrogant, and their arrogance brought them down.

            Now, hundreds of years later, it’s still a problem.  Jesus is still trying to fight arrogance.  He’s telling the disciples that they are not any better than anyone else, and they should not act like they are.  They should be willing to serve others, just as Jesus has served them.  They should act humbly, just as Jesus has acted humbly.  They should show humility, just as Jesus has shown humility.

It is really easy for us human beings to become arrogant.  We slide into it without even thinking about it.  We slide into it without even realizing it.  We slide into it with the best of intentions, sometimes.  But we still have it.  Any time we think we’re better than someone else, we’ve fallen into arrogance.  Any time we think we’re more valuable than someone else, we’ve fallen into arrogance.  Any time we think we’re more important than someone else, we’ve fallen into arrogance.  Any time we think our feelings, our opinions, our wants, needs, or desires are better or more important than those of someone else, we’ve fallen into arrogance.

            Now, that’s not to say that we should not recognize our own talents and abilities.  It’s okay for us to realize that we’re better at some things than other people are.  God has given each of us certain talents and abilities, and God wants us to use them.  But the fact that I might be better than you at something does not mean I’m better than you as a person.  You’re better than I am at a lot of things, too.

            The point is that, in God’s eyes, we’re all equal.  God does not have a rating system for our sins, and decide that some of us are lesser sinners than others.  In God’s eyes, we’re all sinners in need of repentance, forgiveness, and salvation.  And one of our goals should be to see people as God sees them, to the extent we can.  That means we need to try to see all people as equal as well.  Of equal value, of equal worth, and equally deserving of our love.

            And of course, that includes people we disagree with.  It includes people who don’t like us.  It includes people who treat us like dirt.  After all, this same Jesus who washed the disciples’ feet said that we are supposed to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  He said that if someone takes our coat, we should give them our shirt, too.  All of those people are equal to us in God’s eyes.  And we need to see them as equal to us, too.  Any time we don’t, we failing to do what Jesus told us to do.

            Is it easy to do those things?  Of course not.  But look at the people whose feet Jesus was washing.  They included Judas, who was going to betray Jesus.  They included Peter, who was going to deny three times that he even knew who Jesus was.  They included all the other disciples, who were all going to run away and abandon Jesus.  And Jesus knew all that.  Jesus knew exactly who the disciples were and what they were going to do.  And yet, even though Jesus truly was better than any of them, he did not behave that way.  He acted as their servant, and washed their feet.

            Jesus told the disciples, “I have set an example for you.”  He said, if I can do this for you, then you can do this for others.  If I don’t consider myself any better than you, then you have no right to consider yourself better than anyone else.

            When we’re tempted to think of ourselves as better than someone else--and we all are; when we’re tempted to think of ourselves as too good to do certain things--and we all are; when we’re tempted to feel arrogant and superior--and we all are; let’s remember the example of Jesus.  Let’s remember that Jesus, the divine Son of God, gave us the ultimate example of humility.

            The Apostle Paul told us that we are supposed to imitators of Christ.  This is one of the best ways we can do that.  Let’s do everything we can to practice humility.  Let’s do everything we can to serve others.  Let’s follow the example of Jesus Christ.

What Can I Say?

So you all know about what happened in Charlottesville last weekend.  Lots of people have weighed in on it.  I’ve been wondering what, if anything, I should say.  I thought about not saying anything, for a few reasons.  

For one thing, as you know, I try not to get involved in political issues.  This may not be a purely political issue, but it certainly has political aspects to it, and those aspects seem to be becoming more and more prominent as the days go by.  

For another thing, as I said before, lots of people have weighed in on this issue.  I don’t know what I can say that hasn’t already been said many times.  I can’t really see how adding one more voice to the cacophony that was already going on will do any good.  

For a third thing, some (not all) of what I’ve heard and read came off as telling others what they have to think and how they have to feel.  As a result, it sounded rather self-righteous and holier-than-thou.  That’s not to say it was insincere, but arrogance is a sin, too, and it’s one that God seems to have a lot to say about.

So, since I’m not sure that I have anything useful to say, I just want to remind everyone, including myself, of Jesus’ words.  This is from the gospel of Luke.  It’s Luke 6:27-31.

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

As you think about the events of last weekend, as you hear all the commentary about it, as you see it turned into a political football, as you decide what your reaction to all of this should be, remember the words of Jesus.  Make your decision accordingly.  I’ll try to do that, too.  If we follow Jesus’ words, we won’t have to worry about the sin of arrogance or any other sins.  When we follow Jesus, we’re always going in the right direction.

The Beauty of Creation

I’ve told you before that summer is my favorite time of year.  Well, this just may be my favorite time of summer.  Why?  Because the sunflowers are in bloom!

Maybe, to those of you who’ve lived around here all your lives, seeing the sunflowers is no big deal.  But nobody grew sunflowers where I grew up.  I mean, there were a few scraggly wild sunflowers, but nothing like what we have around here.  I think the first time I ever saw an actual field of sunflowers was when we took a band trip to North Dakota when I was in college.  That was in October, though, so the time of their true beauty had long since passed.

If you get a chance, take a look at a field of sunflowers in bloom.  The bright gold contrasted with the dark green is just incredibly beautiful.  And the uniformity of it--all the sunflowers the same height, in perfect rows--is incredibly beautiful, too.

When I see something in nature that beautiful, it convinces me all the more, not just that God exists, but that God loves us.  Because, if you think about it, God would not have had to make sunflowers look that beautiful.  God could’ve made sunflowers grey.  God could’ve made then a dull, ugly sort of brown.  God could’ve made sunflowers look any way God chose.  But God chose to make them look beautiful.  

The beauty of a field of sunflowers--the beauty of anything in nature--is a gift from God.  It’s a gift to us.  It tells us that God enjoys the act of creating, that God likes to create things that are beautiful, and that God likes it when we enjoy and appreciate the beauty of the things God has created.

And by the way, that includes you and me, too.  God enjoyed creating you.  God created you to be beautiful, and God likes it when you enjoy and appreciate the fact that you are beautiful, too.  Even if others don’t think so, God thinks so.  And God wants you to think so, too.

There is beauty all around us, if we stop and look for it.  Try to see the beauty of everything around you.  And try to see your own beauty, too.

God Sent Us

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, August 6, 2017.  The Bible verses used are Luke 19:41-44.

            God is big.  God is really big.  God is bigger than anything you or I can ever imagine.  I mean, think of the biggest thing you can possibly think of, take that times two, and then take it times ten, then take the square of that, and you’re still nowhere near how big God is.

            Because God is so big, there are a lot of different ways in which we can view God.  It’s like the old story about blind men trying to describe an elephant.  One feels his trunk and describes him as being like a snake, one feels his ear and describes him as being like a fan, one feels his side and describes him as being like a wall, and so forth.  Each one describes the elephant differently, depending on what part of the elephant he feels.

             That’s how it can be with us and God.  There are so many different aspects of God that we can never understand them all.  God is holy.  God is righteous.  God is perfect.  God is all-seeing.  God is all-knowing.  God is powerful.  God is mighty.  God is just.  God is fair.  God is gracious.  God is merciful.  God is love.  On and on and on.  These are just a few of the words we could use to describe God.  And the way we’ve experienced God influences which of those words we choose to describe God.

            Some people believe in a vengeful, wrathful God.  Some people believe in a God who is eager to punish us for our sins.  They see God, in effect, as sitting in heaven with a big red pen, ready to pounce on us and send us to hell if we step out of line.

            I hope you don’t see God that way, because I don’t think that’s how God is.  I don’t think it’s how Jesus portrayed God, either.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I do believe that heaven and hell are both real.  I do believe that people go to both places.  But I don’t think God is eager to send us to hell.  And one of the things that shows that is our reading from Luke today.

            Jesus is looking at the city of Jerusalem.  This is a few days before he’s going to be arrested and crucified.  Jesus knows what’s going to happen.  He knows what’s going to happen to him.  He also knows what’s going to happen to Jerusalem--that it’s eventually going to be overthrown and its temple destroyed.  He knows that disaster is about to overtake the entire nation of Israel.

            But Jesus takes no delight in that.  In fact, he’s sad about it.  He’s so sad that he cries over the city of Jerusalem.  He says of Jerusalem “if you had only known on this day what would bring you peace.”  He knows all this disaster could have been prevented, if only the people had believed.  God wanted to help them.  God wanted to take care of them.  God wanted to bring them salvation.  And they refused it.  Jesus says, “You did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

            If God was a vengeful God, if God was a wrathful God, if God was a God who is eager to punish us, God would never have sent Jesus to earth in the first place.  The whole point of Jesus’ coming is to give us a way to avoid punishment.  The whole point of Jesus’ coming is to give us a way to escape the consequences of our sin.  God is not sitting in heaven waiting to pounce on us and punish us if we step out of line.  God is eagerly waiting, hoping that we’ll accept Jesus and avoid punishment.  As John Three-Seventeen says, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  And God is sad when we don’t accept that salvation.  God cries when we don’t accept that salvation.

            But God has given us free will.  And that means that God gives us the ability to make choices.  And that includes making the choice to reject the salvation offered through faith in Jesus.  That’s not the choice God wants anyone to make.  And so, while it makes God sad when we make that choice, it also makes God determined.  It makes God do everything God can do, short of forcing us, to convince us not to make that choice.  God has done a lot of things to convince us not to make that choice.  Including, again, sending the divine Son, Jesus Christ, to from heaven to earth.

            But God did not stop there.  Because God still does not want anyone to reject the salvation that God offered us through faith in Jesus Christ.  So God continues to send people to earth to encourage people to accept that salvation.  God sent you.  And God sent me.

            I hope that everyone here has made the choice to accept the salvation offered through faith in Jesus Christ.  But we should not stop there.  Because we know that there are people, right here in our community, who have not made that choice.  That should make us sad, just like it makes God sad.  But it should also make us determined, just like it makes God determined.  It should make us do everything we can do to convince people not to make that choice.

            Now, as I’ve said before, God does not want us to be obnoxious about this.  We should not badger people or point fingers in their faces or anything like that.  And there are a few people in the world who do that, and sometimes they get on television and stuff.  But that’s not who most of us are.

            In fact, I think most of us go the other way.  I think, too many times, we’re scared of talking about our faith.  We’re scared of talking about God.  We’re afraid someone might be offended if we bring up the name of Jesus.  Or we’re afraid that we’ll be rejected.  Quite honestly, I’m not sure what we’re afraid of, but we sure seem to be afraid of it.  And I feel that, too.  Even when people know I’m a pastor, I sometimes hesitate to bring up my faith in public.  I can do it here, from the pulpit, when everyone expects it.  I can do it if someone comes to my office and wants some advice or help.  But in regular conversation with people?  Not so much.

            Now, if that does not apply to you, that’s great.  If you’re out there talking to people about your faith, and doing it in a loving, caring way, that’s wonderful.  I hope you’ll keep doing it.  But too many of us don’t.  We seem to have bought into this idea--and it’s an idea that seems to be taking hold more and more in our society--that religion should be a private matter.  Yes, we can have faith, but we should keep it to ourselves.  We should not bring it up in public.  You can have your beliefs, but don’t talk about them with anyone else.

            That’s not what Jesus said.  In fact, it’s the exact opposite of what Jesus said.  Jesus said for us to go and make disciples.  Can you think of a way to make disciples of Jesus Christ without talking about our faith in him?  I cannot.

            And no, it’s not enough for us to just show our faith by our actions.  Don’t get me wrong, our actions certainly should show our faith.  Our faith in Jesus Christ should make us live differently.  It should make us act differently.  It should make us speak differently.  Our faith in Jesus Christ should influence every aspect of our lives.

            But that’s not enough.  We need to tell people why our lives are different.  We still need to tell people why our actions are different.  We need to tell people why our words are different.  We should not be silent about our faith in Jesus Christ as our savior and just expect people to figure it out by looking at us.  We need to tell them.

            Look at it this way.  If there was ever a person on earth whose actions were Godly, it would be Jesus Christ, right?  If there was ever a person whose faith made him live differently, whose faith made him act differently, whose faith made him speak differently, it would be Jesus.  So, did Jesus stay silent about his faith and expect people to just figure it out by watching him?  No!  Of course not!  He talked about God.  He talked about God all the time.  So if Jesus, who lived a perfect, sinless life, did not just rely on the way he lived, if even Jesus needed to talk to people about faith, why would we think that we, as imperfect and sinful as we are, could just rely on the way we live and not need to talk to people about faith?  That’s not how it works.

            Now, is this easy?  No.  I’m not standing here telling you it’s easy.  It can be hard.  If you’re kind of a shy person anyway, it can be even harder.  But you know what?  There’s only one way it’s going to start getting easier, and that’s if we start doing it.  It’s if we start trying.  The only way to get over our fears, to get over our silence, the only way to start talking about our faith to people is to actually do it.  Look for openings in conversations.  Be aware of the chances that come up in everyday life to talk about faith.  We don’t have to force it—God will provide those chances to us, if we look for them and take advantage of them when they come up.

            Now, it’s okay if we want to practice for a while.  It’s okay if we want to start by talking with somebody safe, somebody we know won’t get mad at us.  It’s okay if we do role playing exercises.  Whatever it takes is fine.  But the point is that we need to do it.  We need to do whatever we can to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

            And don’t forget to pray about this.  There are times in the gospels when Jesus tells the disciples, don’t worry about what you’ll say when situations come up, because the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say.  You and I can rely on the Holy Spirit, too.  If we open ourselves up to God and let God lead us, God’s Holy Spirit will teach us how to talk about our faith.  And the more we do it, the easier it will get.

            God is sad when people don’t accept Jesus as their Savior.  But while God won’t force us, God is determined to do everything God can to encourage us to accept Jesus.  That’s why God sent you and God sent me.  It should make us sad, too, when people around us don’t accept Jesus as their Savior.  But it should also make us determined.  Let’s be determined to do everything we can to encourage everyone in our community to accept Jesus as their Savior.  It truly is a matter of eternal life and death.

More Than Kindness

There’s a quote I’ve seen a lot on the internet lately.  It’s attributed to the Dalai Lama.  I have no idea whether he actually said it.  He may have, but there are a lot of quotes that get mis-attributed or just plain made up on the internet.  The point, though, is that a lot of people are posting this and seem to agree with it.  Maybe you agree with it, too.  The quote is this:  “My religion is very simple.  My religion is kindness.”

When we first read that, it sounds nice.  Who’s opposed to kindness?  I’m in favor of kindness myself.  Kindness, according to the dictionary, means “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate”.  And certainly, we should all be friendly, generous, and considerate.  In other words, we should be kind.

But is that really all there is to religion?  I don’t think so.  Jesus did not talk a lot about being kind.  Jesus talked about love.  Loving God and loving your neighbor.  There are important differences between kindness and love.  Love may include kindness--after all, the Apostle Paul told us that love is kind--but love is so much more than that.

When you think about it, kindness really does not demand all that much from us.  Kindness is something that can be done on an impulse.  Kindness is happening upon someone who needs help and helping them.  Kindness is seeing an ad on TV about children in India and sending some money.  Kindness is going to the hospital or the nursing home to visit a friend.

All of those things are good things to do.  Again, I’m not here to criticize kindness.  I’m all in favor of it.  But all of those things are one-time things.  We do them, and they’re helpful.  They may make somebody feel better.  They may make us feel better, too.  But after we’ve done them, we can go on about our business. 

Love is different.  Love requires a commitment.  Loving our neighbor means seeking out ways we can help them.  Loving our neighbor means helping them even when it’s not convenient for us.  Loving our neighbor means not just being there for them today, but being there for them tomorrow and the next day and the next week and the next month.  Love does not allow us to do a one-time thing and go on about our business.  Love requires a commitment.

Loving God requires a commitment, too.  Loving God means looking for ways to serve God.  Loving God means loving our enemies and praying for people who persecute us.  Loving God means going and making disciples of Jesus Christ.  And it means not just doing these things once in a while, when it’s convenient for us.  It means making these things part of our everyday life.  It means treating people with kindness, too, but it means so much more than that. 

Love means something else, too.  Love, sometimes, means telling people things they don’t want to hear.  Love, sometimes, means bringing people up against some hard truths.  Love, sometimes, means telling people that it’s not a good idea for them to continue to do the things they are doing.  Love, sometimes, means telling people that they need to repent of their sins, ask for forgiveness, and turn their lives over to Jesus Christ.

Those things may not be perceived as “kind”.  But they are loving.  I am very fortunate that I’ve had people in my life who loved me enough to tell me things I did not want to hear.  I am very fortunate that I’ve had people in my life who loved me enough to bring me up against some hard truths, to tell me I should not continue to do some things I was doing.  Sometimes I still need that.  And of course, I still need to repent of my sins, to ask forgiveness, and do more to turn my life over to Jesus Christ.

Again, I’m all for being kind.  But if we want to call ourselves Christians, we need to be more than kind.  We need to love God and love our neighbor.  And we need to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.