Not Feeling It Yet

Thanksgiving is now over.  A month from last Sunday will be Christmas Day.  Are you in the Christmas spirit?

I have to confess that I’m not.  Don’t get me wrong.  I have not turned into some sort of Grinch who hates Christmas.  I’m actually looking forward to Christmas.  But that’s the thing--I’m looking forward to Christmas.  I’m not feeling like it is Christmas, or even the Christmas season.  Not yet.

I’m not sure why that is.  Part of it might be that the weather has been pretty nice so far.  Don’t get me wrong--I’m not complaining about that.  I’d love it if we had highs in the 40s and 50s all winter and then got warmer in the spring.  I know it doesn’t work like that, of course.  In fact, it’s supposed to turn this weekend.  The point is that I normally associate Christmas with cold and snow, and we haven’t had much of either yet.  So maybe that’s my problem--it just doesn’t feel like Christmas yet.

But I think another part of my problem is that we start hearing about Christmas so early these days.  The stores start putting out Christmas stuff in October.  The Hallmark Channel has been running wall-to-wall Christmas movies since before Halloween.  Satellite radio has had Christmas music available since about that same time.  That’s not wrong, exactly.  But it seems to me that when we hear about Christmas so early, it takes away from the specialness of the season.

But maybe you say, well, what’s wrong with that?  After all, the spirit of Christmas is love and happiness.  What’s wrong with starting those feelings early?  In fact, wouldn’t it be a good thing to feel those things all year long?

Well, yes and no.  I’m not opposed to love and happiness, of course.  They’re wonderful things.  But that should not be all Christmas means.  When we limit Christmas to that, we reduce Christmas to just a warm, fuzzy feeling.  And while there’s nothing wrong with warm, fuzzy feelings, that’s not all Christmas should be.

Christmas, primarily, is about the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  Jesus did not come to earth just to give us a warm, fuzzy feeling.  He came to teach us.  He came to show us how to live.  He did not say that believing in him and following him would give us warm, fuzzy feelings.  In fact, he said that sometimes it would give us the exact opposite, that sometimes people would look down on us and criticize us for following him.  But he said it would be worth it, because his death would provide the way for salvation and eternal life for all of us.

If you enjoy listening to Christmas music in October and watching Christmas movies on Halloween, that’s fine.  It’s not a sin.  But don’t let that be all Christmas means to you.  If it is, you’re cheating yourself.  Christmas is about the birth of the Jesus Christ.  If we accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, we will get salvation and eternal life.  And that beats a warm, fuzzy feeling every time.

The Greatest Gift

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, November 25, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 2:1-10.

            What’s the greatest gift you’ve ever received?

            There are all kinds of answers we could give to that, right?  When we’re kids, we probably think more of material things--a favorite toy or game, or maybe a pet.  When we get older, we might think about the love of a spouse.  We might think of someone who gave us a boost in our career.  A lot of people would say their children or grandchildren are the greatest gift they ever received.  As we talked last week, we might even say the gift of life is the greatest gift we ever received.
But if we really think about it, we know what the greatest gift we’ve ever received truly is.  The greatest gift we’ve ever received is the chance for salvation and eternal life through our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

As I said, we know that if we really think about it.  But why do we have to think about it to realize it?  I mean, it seems like this should be something that we should constantly be thanking God for.  We should thank God every day for the chance for salvation and eternal life.  And instead, too often, we take it for granted.  We don’t even think about it.

Now having said that, I understand that I run the risk of painting with too broad of a brush here.  I don’t know how often you thank God for the chance for salvation and eternal life.  Maybe you do it all the time.  If you do, then know that I’m not talking about you.  But I know I don’t do it as often as I should.  And I doubt that I’m the only one.

            And so for those of us who don’t thank God for this as much as we should, I want us to think about what an incredible gift this really is, and how undeserving we are of it.  Think about what salvation and eternal life really mean.  It means going to heaven.  It means going to be in the presence of the awesome, holy, righteous, perfect, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise God.  I mean, that’s something we really cannot even imagine.  Think of how excited people get at just meeting a human celebrity.  Now, take that reaction times about a thousand and you still don’t really get anywhere close to how awestruck we’re going to be in the presence of God.

            Or look at it this way--think of the times in the Bible when people see an angel.  The first words out of the angel’s mouth are “Do not be afraid” because people are so amazed and fearful at the sight of an angel.  If that’s the human reaction to an angel, think of what our reaction is going to be to God.

            I mentioned fear as one of the reactions people have to an angel.  There may be some fear when we enter into God’s presence, too.  After all, the Bible does talk, many times, about the fear of the Lord.  Why?  Well, there could be a lot of reasons, but I think one of them is that we realize how unworthy we are to be in God’s presence.

            Think of all those words I used to describe God.  Awesome.  Holy.  Righteous.  Perfect.  All-knowing.  All-seeing.  All-wise.  And of course there are lots of other words I could use to describe God, too.  But think about those words.  Those words describe God.  Do any of them describe you?
Probably not.  They sure don’t describe me.  None of them come close to describing me.  They don’t come close to describing any of us.  We don’t deserve to be in God’s presence.  We don’t deserve to be anywhere close to God’s presence.

            What did the Apostle Paul say in our reading for today?  We “gratify the cravings of our sinful nature”.  We follow its thoughts and desires.  And what does Paul say we deserve because of that?  Not salvation and eternal life, that’s for sure.  We deserve God’s wrath.  We deserve God’s anger.  We deserve punishment.

            And you’d think it would be tempting for God to get angry and to give us that punishment.  But God does not do that.  And in fact, I don’t think it ever crosses God’s mind to do that.  I mean, here we are, all sinners from the beginning.  From Adam and Eve to the present day, every human being that ever was has been, as Paul says in Romans Chapter Three, a sinner who has fallen short of the glory of God.  We all deserve condemnation and death.  We deserve God’s anger.  And yet, what’s God’s reaction?

            God’s reaction is not to get angry.  God’s reaction is not to condemn us.  God’s reaction is to think, what can I do to save these people?  What can I do so they won’t be condemned?  What can I do to give them the chance for salvation and eternal life?  What gift can I give them that will make them want to turn away from what they’re doing and accept the chance for salvation and eternal life?

            And of course, that gift was the divine Son.  Jesus Christ.  A month from today, we’ll celebrate his birth.  Jesus Christ, the divine Son, born to ordinary people.  Giving up his life in heaven.  Coming to earth to live as a human being among human beings.  Coming here to teach us, to heal us, to be an example for us.  And coming here, eventually, to die for us.  Coming here to take the punishment that we deserve.  Coming here to give us the greatest gift we could ever be given--the chance for salvation and eternal life.

            Listen again to how Paul describes that gift:

            We were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich  in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus...For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

            What an incredible gift.  What an indescribable gift.  We don’t have words in our language that describe how incredible this gift is.  God is so great and God is so good.  Because of our sins we were deserving of wrath.  We were dead in transgressions.  And what does God do?  God does not just forgive us for all that.  God does forgive us, and that’s incredible in and of itself.  But God does not stop there.  God goes on make us alive with Christ.  God raises us up with Christ and seats us with Christ in heaven.  In Romans Chapter Eight, Paul describes this as God making us God’s adopted sons and daughters.  And he goes on to say that God makes us co-heirs with Christ.

            Think about that.  As sinful as you and I and all other human beings are, God does not just forgive us.  God puts us on a level equal with Jesus Christ.  What a gift that is!  I keep using these words like “awesome” and “incredible”, and yet even those words fall short of describing this gift that God has given us.  I mean, we know who we are.  We know how often we mess up.  And yet, if we accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, God puts us on the same level as Jesus, the divine Son of God.  It’s hard to even imagine that.  But it’s true.

            We just had Thanksgiving the other day.  And we know we should thank God for this incredible gift.  But when you think about it, the words “Thank you” seem really insufficient.  We say them because, really, there’s not much else we can say.  But there is something we can do.

            What we can do is follow God.  What we can do is have faith in Jesus.  What we can do is open our hearts and our souls to the Holy Spirit.  If we truly want to show God how much we appreciate this incredible gift God has given us, that’s the best way we can do it.  We can dedicate our lives to listening to God, to following God, to loving God, to trusting God.

             Now, if you’re like me, you hear that, and you hesitate.  Because the fact is that completely following God will change our lives.  And I don’t really know that I want my life to be changed right now.  I’m pretty happy with my life as it is.

            Maybe you think the same thing.  If you do, I understand.  I’m pretty sure God understands, too.  But if we really want to thank God for this incredible gift, this is the best way to do it.  If we want to show that we don’t take God’s awesome gift of salvation and eternal life for granted, if we want to show that we really do appreciate it, we will follow God’s will.  And we’ll do that wherever it takes us, because we’ll trust that a God who loves us so much that He offers salvation and eternal life will surely take care of us any time we do what God wants us to do.

            God’s gift of salvation and eternal life is the greatest gift there could ever be.  Let’s accept it.  And let’s show our thanks to God by listening to God, by following God, by loving God, and by trusting God.  Because a God who would give us that greatest gift is more than worthy of our love and our trust.

For the Sake of Argument

I’m getting older.  Well, everyone is, I suppose.  And as I get older, I find myself changing.  Most people probably do.  Sometimes it’s an intentional change, something you’re deliberately working on and trying to improve about yourself.  But sometimes, it’s something that just happens, without you even realizing it.

One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that I don’t like to argue nearly as much as I used to.  When I was younger, I used to argue a lot.  I enjoyed it.  Maybe that’s one of the reasons I became a lawyer, I don’t know.  But I would argue about a lot of things.  Sports.  Politics.  Religion.  Whatever.  I had opinions about nearly everything, and I was often happy to let people know what they were.

I don’t do that much any more.  I still have opinions, but I tend to keep them to myself.  If you ask me a direct question, and really want to know what I think, I’ll tell you.  But even then, if you don’t agree, that’s fine.  I really don’t care to argue with you.  You can have your opinion, and I can have mine, and we can still be friends.  Very few people change their minds as a result of an argument, anyway.  In fact, usually what happens is that people become even more firmly entrenched in their positions and less willing to consider a contrary view.

Some might say that’s not right.  In fact, they might say it’s the coward’s way out.  After all, just last week I preached a sermon about how sometimes we need to be willing to take a stand.  Sometimes we need to be willing to say this is right and this is wrong, and be willing to accept the consequences for that.  So, am I not practicing what I preach?

Maybe not, but I don’t think that’s true.  I’m willing to say what I think is right.  I’m just not willing to argue about it.  If someone wants to know why I think what I do, if they’re really interested in my reasoning, I’ll tell them.  But again, I’m not willing to argue about it.  If someone asks for my opinion, I assume it’s because they’re interested in knowing my opinion.  If they’re not, if they’re only interested in my opinion when it agrees with theirs, well, then we might as well drop the subject.  I’m not likely to change their mind, and they’re not likely to change mine.  So, there’s no point in arguing about it.

It seems to me that’s kind of the approach Jesus took a lot of times.  I don’t mean to compare myself to Jesus by saying that.  Jesus was Jesus, the divine Son of God, and I’m--well, not.  But Jesus did not go around looking to get into arguments.  Most of the time, he simply said, “Here’s how it is.”  People were free to follow him or not.  Many times they did not.  I suspect Jesus was sad about that, but he did not go chasing after them to try to change their minds. 

Jesus did get into arguments with the Pharisees, of course.  But even then, Jesus did not initiate the argument.  He answered their questions.  If they didn’t want to hear his answers, well, that was their problem.  Jesus knew he was not going to change their minds, and they obviously were not going to change his.  So, most of the time, Jesus said his piece and dropped the subject, sometimes quite abruptly.

Does that mean it’s wrong to argue about things?  Not necessarily.  We all have to be who we are.  God made us all different.  Some people are like I used to be, and enjoy arguing, and that’s fine.  But if you are going to argue, remember to do so respectfully and lovingly.  After all, God loves the person you’re arguing with just as much as God loves you.  God even loved the Pharisees.  God even loved them when they were crucifying Jesus.  Remember how Jesus, while on the cross, prayed, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing?”  You could only pray that way out of love.

So, whether you enjoy arguing or not, don’t forget to show love to people, especially those who disagree with you.  I’m pretty sure that’s part of what that “love your neighbor” thing was about.

Trust and Be Thankful

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, November 18, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 6:25-34.

            If I asked you what you’re thankful for, what would you say?

            Well, there might be a lot of answers.  Family.  Friends.  Health, if we have it.  Some of us might say we’re thankful for our freedom.  Some of us might mention material possessions, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  We should be thankful to God for the material possessions we have, as long as we’re not arrogant or selfish about it.  Some of us might say the church.  Some of us might even mention our salvation that comes from Jesus Christ.

            But how many of us would mention that we’re thankful for our lives on earth?  We should be, you know.  I mean, in the church we talk about looking forward to the eternal life that’s coming through our faith in Jesus Christ.  And we should talk about that.  It’s very important.  But our lives on earth are important, too.  We should be thankful for them.  And on some level, we probably are.  But how often do we actually stop and give thanks to God for them?  How often do we actually say, “Thank you, God, for the life you’ve given me on earth?”

            Maybe you do, I don’t know.  I do, sometimes.  But not nearly as often as I should.  I mean, when I stop and think about it, I have a pretty great life.  I have a wonderful wife.  I have work that I love and find great satisfaction in.  I’ve got great people to work with.  I live in a beautiful area of the country.  I’ve got plenty to eat and decent clothes to wear and a nice place to live.  Why am I not more thankful to God for that?  Why are a lot of us not more thankful to God for the life we have here on earth?

            Well, I think there are at least two things going on here.  Well, actually, I think it’s one thing, but it shows itself in at least two ways.  One of them is that we take the good things in life for granted.  After all, we say that God is good and that God loves us.  Jesus said that God knows how to give good gifts to those who ask.  So, when we get good things from God, well, that’s what God’s supposed to do, right?  If things are going well, God’s just doing God’s job.  We accept it.  But let something go wrong and, well, what’s the matter with God?  Why is God doing this?  Why is God allowing this to happen?  And of course, a lot of times what we mean when we ask those questions is, why is God doing this to me?  Why is God allowing this to happen to me?  What’s wrong with God?  Why is God not doing God’s job?

            What are we doing when we saying when we ask those questions?  Basically, we’re saying that we don’t trust God.  When things happen that we don’t understand, when things don’t go the way we think they should, and we start criticizing God for that, we’re really saying that we don’t trust God to do God’s job properly.  We think God needs us to tell God what to do.  Because God obviously does not know what to do on His own, right?  If God did, God would get on the stick and straighten things out.  God would be doing things our way.  Because, obviously, we know what God should do.  All God needs to do is listen to us.

            Now, put it that way and it sounds kind of silly, but how many of us have done some variation of that at some point?  And it’s understandable, in a way.  There truly are things happening that we don’t understand.  And some of them are no fault of ours.  Hurricanes.  Floods.  Fires.  Diseases.  When those things happen, it can be hard to trust God.  It can be hard to trust that God has a plan.  God understands why we struggle with that.  And I don’t think God gets mad at us for asking questions, as long as we ask those questions sincerely and not arrogantly.

            But God would like us to trust God.  Not because God will be upset if we don’t, but because we will be better off if we do.  And that, finally, brings us to our Bible reading for today. 

            This is part of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount.  It’s a fairly long sermon, one that covers three chapters of the gospel of Matthew.  Jesus has covered a lot of things already.  He’s given the beatitudes, giving blessings to certain people.  He has taught people what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer.  Right before this, Jesus has made the famous statement that no one can serve two masters, that we cannot serve both God and money.  

            Then, Jesus says this:  “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life.”  He tells us we don’t need to worry about what we’re going to eat.  We don’t need to worry about what we’re going to wear.  He tells us we don’t even need to worry about tomorrow.  He says if we seek God’s kingdom, if we love God and trust God, God will take care of things.  You and I don’t need to worry about them.

            So now, how many of us live our lives without ever worrying about anything?  Yeah, me neither.  We may or may not worry about what we’re going to eat or what we’re going to wear.  But I’ll guarantee that there are plenty of us here who worry about tomorrow.  And by that, I don’t just mean the next twenty-four hour period.  I mean the future.  There are a lot of us here who worry about the future.

            And again, it’s understandable.  The future is, by definition, uncertain.  We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen.  There’s no way we can know.  And what do we tend to do when we don’t know what’s going to happen?  That’s right, we worry.  It seems like the most natural thing in the world to do.

            But when we worry about the future, what are we doing?  Again, we’re saying that we don’t trust God.  We’re saying that we don’t trust what Jesus said, that God knows how to give good gifts to those who ask.  We’re saying that we don’t trust what the Apostle Paul said, that God can work all things for the good of those who love him.  We’re saying that we need to worry about what’s going to happen, because we cannot trust God to do things right.

            Again, God does not get mad at us when we do that.  Jesus does not say that if we worry about the future we’re committing a sin.  God understands our doubts and our fears, just like God understands everything else about us.  God is not mad, but I think God is sad.  God is sad that we don’t trust God more.  I think God says to us, why don’t you trust me?  Your life would be so much easier, so much happier, if you just trusted me.  I did not give you this life as a punishment.  I did not give it to you so you could be consumed with worry and fear.  I gave you this life to enjoy. 

Jesus said in John Chapter Ten, Verse Ten, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  God wants us to have an abundant life.  God wants us to live lives that are full.  When we lose that with worry and doubt and fear, we’re not really sinning against God.  What we’re doing is cheating ourselves.  We’re robbing ourselves of those good gifts that God wants to give us.

Now, understand, when Jesus said not to worry about the future, he was not saying that we should not prepare for the future.  In fact, preparing for the future is the exact opposite of worrying about the future.  When we’re prepared for the future, we don’t need to worry about it.  We’ll be ready for it.  But part of preparing for the future is being able to trust God.  Part of preparing for the future is having confidence in God.  Part of preparing for the future is having faith that, if we’ve done the best we can, God will take it from there.  And that does not just apply to preparing for the future.  That applies to every aspect of our lives.  In fact, that’s what trusting God really means--doing our best, in every circumstance and every situation, and trusting God to bless our efforts and take it from there.

If we trust God, we can stop worrying about our lives.  If we trust God, we can enjoy our lives.  If we trust God, we can stop cheating ourselves and robbing ourselves of the good gifts God wants to give us.  If we trust God, we can have that abundant life that Jesus came to give us.

As we approach Thanksgiving Day, let’s stop doubting, and let’s stop worrying.  Let’s put our fears away.  Let’s do our best in every circumstance, and trust God to take care of the rest.  If we do that, we can be thankful to God for every day of life on earth that God gives us.

Stopping the Wheel

It’s got cold last week.  It’s been warmer over the last couple of days, but tomorrow we’re supposed to get some snow, and then it will be cold again.  There’s nothing unusual about that, of course.  Winter comes every single year, and this year will be no exception.  And of course, we haven’t come anywhere close to the cold that we’re likely to get at some point.

It’s interesting, though, how we react to the cold.  I don’t know about you, but every year it comes as a bit of a shock to me to realize just how cold it can get around here.  I know it gets cold, obviously, but what I mean is that every year we get spring, and then summer.  The weather is really nice and I spend as much time as I can outside, enjoying it.  But then, after a while, it seems like people get bored with nice weather.  Some of us actually start looking forward to winter.  We forget what winter is really like around here.  We forget just how cold the cold can be.  And then it gets here, and we start wishing the weather would warm up again.  It seems like we repeat this cycle every single year.

This may seem like a stretch to you, but as I was thinking about this I thought about a cycle we see repeated in the Bible.  The people are struggling, but then God comes along and helps them.  Things get better.  People spend a lot of time with God.  They enjoy how well things are going.  But then, after a while, it seems like the people get bored with all the blessings they get from God.  They start looking forward to other things, ungodly things.  They forget how bad things were before God came and helped them.  And so they leave God, and the bad times come again.  They start wishing God would come back and help them again.  We see this cycle repeated over and over again.

It seems like, for some reason, we human beings tend to be people of the moment.  When things are going well, we think they always will go well, no matter what we do or don’t do.  When things are going badly, we get desperate.  We panic.  We start thinking things we always be the way they are.  We ignore God when things go well, because we think things will continue to go well whether we can on God or not.  We call on God when things go badly, because we don’t see any hope otherwise.  The wheel keeps spinning.  The cycle keeps repeating.

But it doesn’t have to.  We can get off that cycle.  We can stop the wheel.  Let’s spend a lot of time with God, and keep spending a lot of time with God.  Let’s not get bored with all the blessings God as given us.  Let’s focus on the all-knowing, all-loving all-caring God.  Let’s stay with God all the time, no matter how things are going.  We’ll be a lot happier when we do.

Taking a Stand

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, November 11, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 10:32-39; Romans 5:6-8.

            The Prince of Peace.  That’s one of the titles we give Jesus, of course, “The Prince of Peace.”  It sounds really good, right?  I mean, who would not want to be known as the Prince of Peace?  

            It has a Biblical basis, of course.  It comes from the book of Isaiah.  Chapter Nine, Verse Six says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  That’s one of the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of Jesus.

            And I’m not denying that’s who Jesus is.  I’m not at all trying to argue that Jesus is not, in fact, the Prince of Peace referred to in Isaiah.  But the question is, how do we square that title, the “Prince of Peace”, with what Jesus said in our reading from Matthew for today?  In that passage Jesus, the Prince of Peace, says, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”

            That’s quite an agenda for the Prince of Peace, don’t you think?  Jesus not only specifically denies that he has come to bring peace, he says he’s going to turn families against each other.  We tend to think that family quarrels are one of the worst things that can happen to us, and here’s Jesus specifically saying that’s he has come to split families apart.  What’s up with this?

            Well, I don’t think Jesus said all this to incite violence.  After all, this is still the same Jesus who told us to love our enemies and pray for people who persecute us.  This is the same Jesus who said that if someone slaps us on the left cheek, we should turn the right cheek to them as well.  I don’t think what Jesus says here is intended to contradict any of that.

            Here’s what I think this is about.  We tend to think of peace as involving compromise.  Whenever there’s a dispute, we think, well, let’s just have each side give a little.  Nobody’s ever totally right.  If one side says this and the other side says that, well, the truth must lie somewhere in-between.  So let’s all just compromise and work together and we’ll come up with a peaceful solution to everything.

            And there are times when that’s true.  But there are times when it’s not, and I think Jesus recognized that.  There are times in life when we have to take a stand.  There are times in life when we have to say “This is right and this is wrong.”  The truth cannot compromise with falsehood--as the saying goes, a half-truth is a whole lie.  Virtue cannot compromise with vice--virtue mixed with vice is no virtue at all.  Righteousness cannot compromise with sin--sin will overcome the righteousness.  Sometimes, we cannot compromise.  Sometimes, we have to take a stand.

            And whenever we take a stand, there are inevitably people who are not going to like the stand we’ve taken.  And sometimes, those people are going to be upset with us for taking the stand we’ve taken.  And that’s going to cause conflict, whether we want it to or not.

            Jesus did not go around looking for a fight.  But Jesus was not afraid to take a stand.  And Jesus knew that, when he took a stand, there were going to be people who did not like it.  And that caused conflict.  Families were split apart--some people believed in Jesus as the Savior, others did not.  Communities were split apart--some people following Jesus, others thinking he was a fraud and a blasphemer.  Religious communities were split apart, too--while most of the Pharisees were opposed to Jesus, the Bible tells us of some who did believe and followed him.

            And sometimes that conflict resulted in violence.  Ultimately, it resulted in the most violent act of all--the killing of Jesus Christ on a cross.  It did not have to be that way.  Jesus could have compromised with the Pharisees.  Jesus could’ve said, “Okay, I’ll back off a little.  I’ll stop talking about being the Son of God.  I’ll stop healing people on the Sabbath day.  I’ll be sure to follow the religious laws, and I’ll be sure to recognize your authority.”  If Jesus had done that, there’s a good chance the Pharisees would’ve gone for it.  And Jesus would not have been killed.

            Jesus could have compromised.  But he knew God did not send him to earth to compromise, with the Pharisees or with anyone else.  He came, as our reading from Romans says, to die for us.  Even though we were sinners, even though we did not deserve to have salvation, Jesus gave it to us.  Jesus could not give us salvation by compromising.  He could only bring us salvation by taking a stand and seeing it through to the end.  Jesus knew that there are some things worth dying for.  And Jesus knew that people are worth dying for, too.  Again, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

            But whenever I hear that verse, “very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person”, I think of another group of people.  And on this Veterans Day, you may already know who it is.  It’s the men and women who have served this country in the United States Military.

            When someone joins the military, they are taking a stand.  When someone joins the military, they do so knowing that they are putting their lives in danger.  They have no control over where they are going to be sent.  They don’t know what they may be asked to do.  They know that they may be asked to risk their lives, and that they may in fact be killed.  When you’re in the military, that’s part of your job description.

            The people who join the military don’t want to die, any more than anyone else does.  But they’re willing to do it, because they know that sometimes you cannot compromise.  You have to take a stand.  And so they do.  They risk their lives to do it.  And they don’t just risk their lives for righteous people.  They do it for all of us.  They do it for people who are righteous and who are not righteous.  They do it for people they love and people they don’t even like.  They do it for many, many people they will never meet.  They are willing to risk dying for everyone in this country.

            And they don’t just risk their lives so we can live.  They risk their lives so we can have the way of life that we do.  The risk their lives so we can have freedom.  They risk their lives so we can say what we think and do what we want to do.  They risk their lives so we can vote on who the leaders of the government will be, rather than being told who they’re going to be.  

            They also risk their lives so that we can be here this morning.  They risk their lives so we can sit together in a warm sanctuary and worship God.  They risk their lives so we can declare, without fear, that Jesus Christ is the Savior.  

We tend to take that for granted.  We just assume that we’ll always be able to get together on Sunday morning to worship God.  But there are many places in the world where people cannot do that.  There are many places where people have to worship God in secret, for fear of being caught and punished.  There other places where people are told they have to worship a certain god, and have to worship that god in a certain way.  And again, if they don’t do that, they run this risk of being arrested or even killed.

            You and I have the freedom to worship the true God.  We have the freedom to do that in whatever way we choose.  And of course, others have the freedom to worship a different god, or to worship no god at all.  One of the reasons all of us have that freedom is because of the willingness of the members of the United States Military to take a stand, to put their lives on the line, and to die if necessary, to protect and defend that freedom.

            Jesus Christ did not compromise.  He took a stand.  And because he did, he was killed.  He died for us.  He died so that our sins can be forgiven.  He died so that, by our faith in him as the Savior, and by God’s incredible love and grace and mercy, we can have eternal life with him.  There is nothing in this world that can compare to that.  We should always be incredibly thankful for that.

            But people who have served and are serving in the United States Military take a stand, too.  They are willing to die for us, too.  They cannot give us salvation, but they can and do protect our lives in this world.  They’re willing to die to protect our freedoms, including the freedom to worship God and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

And when we spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, we give others the chance for salvation.  So on this Veterans’ Day, and every day, let’s be thankful for those people who have served and are serving in the United States Military.  And let’s honor them by taking a stand.  Let’s use the freedom they have given us to go out and spread Jesus’ gospel to everyone we can.

Be Strong and Courageous: A Poem

A poem based on Joshua 1:1-9.

“Be strong and courageous”.  So easy to say.

Like “You take care now” or “Have a nice day”.

“Be strong and courageous”.  It sounds good in theory,

But it’s not so easy when you’re scared or you’re weary.

When the nerves take over, or your voice starts to shake

It’s easy to wonder, “Have I got what it takes?”

“Be strong and courageous”.  That’s what Joshua heard

When he succeeded Moses.  Such simple words.

But they were the last things Joshua thought he could be.

Moses was the greatest, but Joshua?  Who’s he?

Why would anyone think he could be lead the nation?

He had no lineage, tradition, or station.

Joshua was just this guy, you see.

No one knew what kind of leader he’d be.

No one but God, and God controls all.

He told Joshua “There’s nothing to worry about, nothing at all.

Remember who I am?  The Lord, your God.

With me you’ll control every piece of sod.

You’ll lead the people, and I’ll lead you,

And you’ll control every land you view.

When I say something, be sure to take heed,

And in everything you do, you’re sure to succeed.

You don’t have to be scared, just get on with the show,

For I will be with you wherever you go.”

God said that to Joshua, and he says it to you

And he says it to me and to other folks, too.

“Be strong and courageous, there’s no need to fear.

I am the Lord your God, and I’m here.

I know what I’m asking of you may seem hard,

But I will be with you, and I’ll be your guard.

Don’t get discouraged, and don’t get scared.

After all, you know how Joshua fared.

I was with him, and I’ll be with you,

And no one can defeat the things that I do.

You have what it takes, that’s why you were chosen.

So don’t be afraid, don’t just dip your toes in,

Jump in with both feet.  I’ve got you covered.

There’s much more to you than you’ve ever discovered.

So just like with Joshua, get on with the show,

For I will be with you wherever you go.”

God can see greatness in every person

So don’t be hesitant, scared, or uncertain.

Just do what God says and go where God leads,

And in God’s eyes you’ll be sure to succeed.

God does not define success the way humans do,

With fame or fortune or receiving ado.

Trust in God.  That’s all that’s needed.

If we do that, then no matter what, we’ve succeeded.

Thanks, Not Angst

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, November 4, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Philippians 4:4-9 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22.

            We’re in the month of November.  In just two and a half weeks it will be Thanksgiving.

            As I wrote in the newsletter, Thanksgiving is kind of the forgotten holiday.  I mean, if people get to take a four-day weekend, they’re happy about that.  And it’s always nice to see family, of course.  But we don’t make a big deal out of it.  I mean, it’s still almost a month until Advent, and nearly two months to Christmas, and we’re already hearing about that.  The stores have their displays up.  The Hallmark Channel has been running wall-to-wall Christmas movies for a week and a half already.

            And we can’t just blame the secular society, because we’re not much better in the church.  I mean, we have the kids Christmas program, and we have special Christmas Eve services in all our churches.  We don’t have any Thanksgiving program.  The special Christmas services are really well attended, rivaled only by Easter Sunday.  The one Thanksgiving service we have in our parish is that we take part in the Onida community Thanksgiving service, and hardly anyone shows up.

            And it’s not just here.  Look in the hymnal.  You go to pick Christmas songs and you’ve got a huge number of familiar songs, more than you have time to use in December.  You go to pick Thanksgiving songs and--what?  “Now Thank We All Our God”, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”, and “We Gather Together”.  A couple of others no one’s ever heard of and a few others that are listed under Thanksgiving but really don’t have much to do with it.  That’s it.

            We know we’re supposed to give thanks to God.  As we’ll say in our communion liturgy in a few minutes, we know that “it is right to give our thanks and praise.”  And of course it is right.  God is more than worthy of our thanks and praise.  As we’ve said before, God is way beyond anything we can ever hope to be.  God is way beyond anything we can even imagine.  That God even takes any notice of us is incredible.  That God loves us, that God cares about us, that God wants to help us through life, that God offers us salvation and eternal life--well, just saying thank you seems pretty inadequate compared to all God does for us.  It is definitely right for us to give our thanks and praise to God.

            But is that it?  Is that the only reason we should give thanks to God--because God deserves it?  Or is there more to it than that?

            Well, since I raised the question, I obviously think there’s more to it than that.  I mean, this would be a really short sermon if I said, “Nope, that’s all there is.”  So, let’s look at it in the context of our Bible readings for today.

            Our reading from First Thessalonians says that we should “Rejoice always, pray continually, [and] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  And as I was looking at that, it struck me that when I’ve preached this before, I’ve always focused on the phrase “give thanks in all circumstances”.  That’s important, of course, but look at what follows it:  “this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

            In other words, giving thanks in all circumstances is not just a good idea.  It’s not just some feel-good inspirational statement.  It is God’s will for us.  That means that any time we are not thankful in all circumstances, we are not following God’s will.

            Now, I’m not suggesting that if we have a time when we’re not feeling thankful God’s going to send us to hell or something.  I don’t even think it’s a sin, really.  But still, it’s God’s will for us to be thankful in all circumstances.  So we again ask the question:  why?  Why does God want us to be thankful in all circumstances?

            Well, let’s look at our reading from Philippians.  What does it say about thankfulness?  It says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

            That’s why we’re supposed to give thanks to God.  That’s why it’s God’s will for us to be thankful in all circumstances.  Not just because God deserves our thanks, although God certainly does.  Not just because God appreciates our thanks, although I suspect God does appreciate it.  It is God’s will for us to be thankful in all circumstances because we will be better off if we are. 

            “Do not be anxious about anything.”  How many of us are anxious about something today?  How many of us are anxious about something almost every day?  It may not be something that’s at the front of our minds, although sometimes it may be.  But even when it’s not, it’s something that’s at the back of our minds, something that’s never too far away.  If you don’t have that, it’s wonderful.  But I think most of us probably do.  Money, health, work, loved ones, the future, all these and much more are things that a lot of us anxious about, pretty much all the time.

            But we don’t have to be.  That’s the awesome thing about this--we don’t have to be anxious about these things.  We don’t have to be anxious about anything.  All we need to do is, “in every situation” and “with thanksgiving, present [our] requests to God.”  Notice, it does not just say to present our requests to God.  It says to do so “with thanksgiving”.

            There’s a difference.  And it’s important.  When we present our requests to God “with thanksgiving”, we’re assuming we’re going to have something to be thankful for, right?  We’re assuming that when we present our requests to God, God is going to do something about them.  It might not be what we have in mind.  It might not come when we want it to come.  But when we present a request to God “with thanksgiving”, that says we expect God to respond to that request.  And when I say “expect”, I don’t mean that God owes it to us to respond or anything like that.  I mean that we expect God will respond because of who we know God is.  We expect God to respond because we know God is great and God is good.  We expect God to respond because we know God loves us and cares about us.  In other words, we expect God to respond because we trust God.

            And because we trust God, we can have peace.  We can have the peace of God.  Because we know God is going to take care of things.  Again, God will take care of things in God’s way and at God’s time, but God will take care of things.  So we don’t need to feel anxious any more.  We can be at peace.

            Now, being at peace does not necessarily mean sitting back and doing nothing and waiting for God to take care of everything.  Sometimes it might, but not always.  A lot of times, it means that we’re supposed to keep doing our best.  We’re supposed to keep plugging away, doing what we’re doing, doing the best we can.  But we don’t need to feel anxious any more.  If we have presented a request to God, and if we’ve done it “with thanksgiving”, we know it’s in God’s hands.  We’re not responsible for the results any more.  All we’re responsible for is doing the best we can in the situation we’re in.  And we can be confident that if we do that, if we do the best we can to serve God and to show love to God, God will take it from there.  God will bless our efforts.  Again, the blessing may not come in the way we wanted or expected.  But it will surely come.  We can be confident of that.  And we can be at peace with it.

            Do I always do that?  No.  I wish I did, but I don’t.  There are still far too many times I feel that anxiety.  Too many times when I think I’m responsible for everything, rather than just doing my best and trusting God with the results.  Too many times when I present my requests to God with anxiety, rather than with thanksgiving.

            I am better than I used to be, though.  And we all can be.  The only thing stopping us is ourselves.  God wants us to do this.  Remember, it is God’s will for us to give thanks in all circumstances.  It is God’s will for us to stop feeling anxious, to turn things over to God, and to trust God.

            The only thing that’s stopping us is us.  God wants us to do this.  It’s not always easy.  But with God, all things are possible.  So let’s stop feeling anxious.  Let’s present our requests to God with thanksgiving, trusting in the power, the greatness and the goodness of our almighty, all-loving God.

Be You

As I’m sure you’re aware, I’m a baseball fan.  The World Series finished Sunday, and of course I paid as much attention to it as I could.

Now, the first World Series was held in 1903.  That’s a hundred fifteen years ago.  You’d think, after a hundred fifteen years of World Series games, there’d be nothing new that could happen.  But you’d be wrong.  Last week, something happened in the World Series that had never happened before.  The game was tied after the regulation nine innings, and so they went to extra innings.  That, in itself, is not so unusual.  What was unusual is that they played nine extra innings.  The game went a total of eighteen innings, the longest World Series game ever played.

It was the longest World Series game in terms of time as well.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to watch the game, so I set up the TV to record it.  I set it for six hours of recording time, figuring that would be more than enough to get the whole game in.  As it turned out, it wasn’t even close.  The game lasted almost seven and a half hours, ending at about 2:30 in the morning Central Time.

It’s kind of amazing that after a hundred fifteen years, you can still see something new.  But you know what?  Creation has been around for only God knows how many years, and yet we still see something new.  Scientists are still discovering species of animals and fish and birds that we did not know existed.  That’s incredible.  But you know what else we see that’s new?  People.

Every person that’s born is different from every other person who’s ever been.  When a baby is born, that child is completely and totally unique, in the literal sense of the word.  There has never been a child born who was exactly like that baby.  And of course, it’s not just babies.  There has never been a person in the entire history of the universe who was exactly like you.  And there has never been a person in the entire history of the universe who was exactly like me.  That’s incredible, too.

And it’s yet another way that we can see how amazing God is.  All the billions of people who’ve lived on earth, and no two are exactly like.  That’s something, you know?  God would not have had to do it that way.  God could’ve created just a few types of people.  That probably would’ve been easier.  But God took the time and the effort and the care to create each one of us to be different and special.  That’s pretty cool.

So if you ever feel like people want you to conform, to be just like everyone else, remember this.  God did not create you to be just like everyone else.  God created you to be you.  God created you to be the best you that you can be, but God still created you to be you.  If God had wanted you to be someone else, God would’ve created you to be someone else.  God created you to be you.

So be you.  Be the best you that you can be, but be you.  If you are, you’ll please God.  And you’ll probably find that you’re happier, too.