You Are So Beautiful

I’ve mentioned this before, but this may be my favorite time of year.  Not because school is starting--if I had kids that might be the reason, but I don’t.  No, the reason this is my favorite time of year is because the sunflowers are in bloom!

Maybe, if you’ve lived around here a long time, the sunflowers blooming is not a big deal to you.  But I’ve only lived here a little more than eight years.  I grew up on a farm, but it was in the southern part of South Dakota, and we never raised sunflowers.  I still don’t think they grow much sunflowers down there.  They raised a few sunflowers in the Wessington Springs area while we were there, but not that many.  And of course, when we lived in the Sioux City area we didn’t see sunflowers.

So, when we came here, I was amazed at all the fields of sunflowers.  And more than that, I was amazed at their beauty.  I still am.  When the sunflowers are first in bloom, the greens and golds are so beautiful that I temporarily forget that those are the colors of the Green Bay Packers.  I full field of sunflowers in bloom is still one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

To me, beauty like that is proof that God loves us.  Because, you know God wouldn’t have had to make sunflowers to be so beautiful.  God wouldn’t have had to make sunflowers at all, of course, but if God felt they were necessary God could’ve made them be dull brown or grey or something.  But instead, God made them to be beautiful.  God did that just for us, so that you and I could enjoy their beauty.  God did that because God loves us.

And you know what else God made to be beautiful?  You.  And me.  Maybe you don’t feel beautiful.  I know I don’t.  But you are, and so am I.  We are in God’s eyes, anyway.  God made you and me to be beautiful, because God loves us.

So if you ever think you’re not beautiful, go take a look at a field of sunflowers.  If the sunflowers are out of season, go take a look at some other part of nature’s beauty.  And remember that the same God who created that beauty created you.  And then remember that you were created to be just as beautiful.

Respect

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, August 25, 2019.  The Bible verses used are Hebrews 12:18-29.

            I’d like to ask you a question.  Do you fear God?

            It’s an idea that shows up all over the Old Testament.  The psalms and the proverbs especially mention it over and over again.  So do most of the Old Testament prophets.  Phrases like “the fear of the Lord”  “fear the Lord your God”, and similar things pop up repeatedly in the Old Testament.  

            And you know, it’s not hard to understand why.  God is very powerful.  And the Old Testament is full of examples of God using God’s power.  Our reading from Hebrews today references the appearance of God on Mount Sinai.  It was a mountain that appeared to be burning with fire because of the presence of God.  It was a mountain that was covered with clouds and deep gloom and darkness because of the presence of God.  The people were told that they were not to touch the mountain or even approach it, or they would die.  

            The people back then were scared to death of being in the presence of God.  They told Moses, you go talk to God for us and tell us what God says.  We’re not going anywhere near God.  And in fact, even Moses himself was scared of being in the presence of God.  He did it, but as our reading from Hebrews tells us, he was trembling with fear when he did.

            It’s an idea that seems strange to us now, being that scared of God.  We think of God as our friend.  One of our favorite hymns, one that many of us learned when we were young, is “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”  Another hymn, “Jesus is All the World to Me”, repeatedly says that Jesus is our friend.  We’re used to thinking of a friendly, loving God, not a strong, powerful, terrifying God.

            So what happened?  How did all that change?  How did we get from being scared to death of God to thinking of God as our friend?

            The answer, of course, is Jesus.  Jesus came, and he told us more about God.  Jesus told us that God loves us.  Jesus told us that God forgives sins.  Jesus told us that God has opened a door to salvation and eternal life for us.  All we need to do is accept Jesus as the Savior.

            Our reading from Hebrews tells us that we have not come to Mount Sinai.  We have not come to a mountain of fire and darkness and terror.  Instead, it tells us we have come to “Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”  We have come “to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.”  We have come “to God...to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

            That’s pretty awesome, right?  I mean, by our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, and by God’s incredible love and grace and mercy, we don’t have to be afraid of God any more.  Jesus, “ the mediator of a new covenant”, goes to God the Father on our behalf, and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven.  It is absolutely incredible that the Lord would do that for us.  We have not earned that.  We don’t deserve it.  And yet, God loves us so much that God does it for us anyway.  We are allowed into that heavenly Jerusalem, that city of the living God.  It’s such a wonderful, incredible thing that God has done for us.

            I hope we all feel incredibly grateful to God for the chance for salvation that God has given us.  But the problem is that we’re tempted to stop our reading right there.  We want to say, okay, God loves us and God forgives us, and just leave it at that.  

            But our reading from Hebrews does not leave it at that.  It goes on.  After it says that the blood of Christ speaks a better word, it says this.  “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks.”  Because when I was going through that description of Mount Zion that our reading gives us, I left out one thing.  Maybe you caught it.  Here’s what I left out:  after telling about the thousands of angels in joyful assembly, it says, “You have come to God, the judge of all.”

            That’s the part we want to leave out.  We don’t want to think about the judgment of God.  We’d like to think that because God loves us, God will forgive us no matter what we do and allow us into heaven no matter what we believe.  And as I’ve said before, I’d like to think that, too.  I know people who have not accepted Jesus as the Savior.  Some of them are my friends.  Some of them are in my family.  I don’t like to think that they may not receive salvation and eternal life.  And don’t take that the wrong way, I’m not judging them.  It’s not my job to judge anybody.  But it is God’s job.  And as we read in Hebrews, and as the Bible makes clear in other places, God is going to do God’s job.

            So, just who is God?  And how should we react to God?  Should we be afraid of the Lord?  Or should we think of the Lord as our friend?

            Well, to me the answer is:  yes.  Yes, the Lord is our friend.  And yes, we should feel some fear of the Lord.  Because God is bigger and greater and more of--well, everything, really, than you and I can ever even begin to understand.  God is all-loving and all-caring and all-compassionate.  God is all-gracious and all-merciful.  And God is also righteous and holy.  And God is also all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-wise.  And God is also almighty and all-powerful.  God is all those things and more, besides.

            And so as we think of God, and we think of how we should react to God, we need to remember all those things.  But there are other things we should remember, too.  We should remember that God is, above all else, good.  Remember, Jesus said in Mark Ten “No one is good except God alone.”  And Jesus said in Matthew Seven that God will give good gifts to those who ask him.  And the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans Eight that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.

            God is not looking for reasons to punish us.  God wants to forgive our sins and give us salvation and eternal life.  That’s the whole reason Jesus came.  God knew that, on our own, we could never gain salvation and eternal life.  None of us could ever be good enough or righteous enough to earn our way into heaven.  The only way we could do that would be to be as good and righteous as God, and that’s not possible for us.   And so, God sent the divine Son, Jesus Christ.  As it says in John Three, Sixteen, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life.”

            Everlasting life is available to everyone.  But not everyone will received it.  It is only received by “whoever believes in him.”  Our reading from Hebrews reminds us that there will be no escape if we turn away.  

            So, how should we react to God?  Our reading from Hebrews tells us that, too.  It says, “let us be thankful, and so let us worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe.”

            Reverence.  Deep respect.  Awe.  Respect mixed with wonder.  That’s how we should react to God.  That’s what we should feel for God.  That’s how we should treat God.

            Yes, God is our friend.  But God is not our buddy or our pal.  God is someone we should treat with the utmost respect and admiration and wonder.

            We should be amazed at God.  We should be amazed, really, that God takes any notice of us at all.  But we should be even more amazed that not only does God notice us, God cares about us.  And we should be even more amazed that not only does God care about us, God loves us.  And we should be more amazed still that God loves us so much that God gave us the chance for salvation and eternal life.  And all we need to do is accept Jesus as the Savior.  All we need to do is love God, love other people, go and made disciples, and do all the other things that Jesus told us to do.

            And when, despite our best intentions, we fail to do those things--because we’re all human and we all fall short--all we need to do is sincerely ask God for forgiveness and another chance.  And God will give it to us.  Every time.  That’s something else we should be amazed about, too.

            If we have faith in Jesus, we don’t have to be afraid of God.  But we do need to take God seriously.  We need to take our Christian faith seriously.  We need to give God all the respect and reverence and wonder and awe that God deserves, simply because of who God is.

            We have come to Mount Zion.  We can take our place in the heavenly Jerusalem.  Not because we deserve it.  But by our faith in Jesus Christ, and by God’s incredible love and grace and mercy.  We should always be amazed at that.

Division

This is the message given on Sunday morning, August 18, 2019, in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Luke 12:49-56.

            Most of us don’t like conflict.  Most of us want to get along with each other.  Now, that’s not universally true, of course.  There are people who thrive on conflict, and if that’s you I’m not criticizing you.  God made us all to be different, and there are some occupations where you need to be able to handle conflict if you’re going to do your job properly.  But for most of us, if we could, we’d like to see everyone be able to accept each other.  Even if we disagree on some things, we’d like it if everyone could find a way to just get along with each other.

            And that’s true in just about every setting.  We’d like the people in our family to get along with each other.  We’d like the people in our church to get along with each other.  We’d like the people in our community to get along with each other.  We’d like the people in the country to get along with each other.

            It’s just kind of generally agreed that people accepting each other, working together, getting along with each other, is a good thing.  In fact, there’s an entire psalm, Psalm 133, that talks about how wonderful it is when God’s people live together in unity.

            And then we come to our Bible reading for today.  And there’s Jesus, talking about how he has not come to bring unity at all.  He says nothing about people getting along with each other and working together.  In fact, he says he has come to bring division among people.  In fact, he specifically says he has come to bring division among families.  Listen to it:  Jesus says, “From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.  They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

            That goes against everything that any of us would ever want to see happen in our families.  I don’t know anyone who wants to have the people in their family divided against each other.  It happens, of course.  We know it happens.  Maybe some of you have even experienced it in your family.  But even when it happens, we wish that things were different.  I don’t know anyone who would say that division in a family is a good thing, that it’s our goal, that it’s something we want to have happen.

            So what’s Jesus talking about?  Why would he say these things?

            Well, we should point out that, in saying this, Jesus does not say that division in a family is a good thing.  He does not say it should be our goal or that we should want it.  He does not say that he wants these things to happen.  What Jesus is saying is that these are things that are going to happen, whether he wants them to or not.  These are things that are the inevitable result of the message he has come to give and the work he has come to do.

            Jesus knew that when he did the things he did, some people were going to get upset about it.  He knew that when he violated the Sabbath law, when he worked miracles, when he contradicted the Pharisees, when he spoke out against the religious leaders of the time, and especially when he asserted that he was the divine Son of God, that these were going to be controversial things.  Some people would accept them, and some people would not.  Some people would accept him, and some people would not.  And in some cases, the people who would not accept him would actively work against him to stop him.

            In other words, Jesus knew that saying the things he said and doing the things he did was going to cause division.  Those things were going to cause division because they were going to force people to choose.  They could choose to follow him, or they could choose to actively oppose him.  Or, they could choose to not make a choice, to simply try to get along with everyone and not take a stand.  They could choose to ignore Jesus entirely.  But even that was a choice.  No matter what they did, they could not avoid having to choose, even if they wanted to.    And their choices were going to cause division.  And sometimes, as we see throughout the New Testament, that division resulted in violence against Jesus and his followers.

            I don’t know that Jesus wanted to cause division, exactly.  I suspect he’d have been much happier if everyone had simply agreed to trust him, believe in him, and accept him as the divine Son of God.  That certainly would’ve made things easier for him.  But Jesus knew that was not going to happen.  

Jesus knew there was only one way he could avoid causing division, and that way was to stop.  Stop saying the things he said.  Stop doing the things he did.  Stop violating the Sabbath law, stop working miracles.  Stop contradicting the Pharisees, stop speaking out against the religious leaders.  And certainly, stop claiming to be the divine Son of God.  That was one of the options open to Jesus, and he could’ve taken that option.  But if he had, he would not have done what God the Father sent him to earth to do.  The only way he could do what he’d been sent here to do was to say the things he said and do the things he did.

So that’s what Jesus did.  And he did not fear the division that came about as a result.  He accepted it, because he knew he was doing what God the Father had sent him to do.  And he knew that, as long as he did that, things would go the way they were supposed to go.  He knew that would be true even in the division that followed.  In fact, it would be true even when that division ultimately led to him being killed on a cross.  God would be with him, God would bless him, and God would bless what he did.

As we look around us today, we see a lot of division.  I’m sure some of us do have division in our families.  Sometimes there’s division in our community and in our local church.  There’s certainly division in the United Methodist church as a whole, especially over the issue of homosexuality.  In fact, some are predicting that the United Methodist church will split over that issue.  And there’s certainly division in the country as well.  You can look at the news on pretty much any given day to see that.

And when we’re faced with these divisions, we have times when we have to choose.  We choose to be on one side, or we choose to be on the other side.  Or, we can choose to not make a choice, to simply try to get along with everyone and not take a stand.  Or, we can choose to ignore all of these things entirely.  But even that is a choice.  We cannot avoid making a choice, even if we want to.

I’m not saying that, as Christians, we need to go out of our way to cause controversy and division.  Some of us may be called to do that, but most of us are probably not.  But if we truly live out our lives as Christians, if we attempt to share God’s word and show God’s love, if we try to go and make disciples the way Jesus told us to, there will be times when people don’t like it.  And so, division will be the result.

It’s one of the things that makes it hard to be a Christian.  Most of us don’t like controversy.  I don’t know that Jesus himself actually liked controversy.  But he accepted it, because he knew he could not avoid it and do what he had been sent to earth to do.  And as Christians, you and I need to be willing to accept controversy, too.  Because, as Christians, there will be times when we cannot avoid controversy and still truly be followers of Jesus Christ.

So we need to face that.  And while we may not like it, we don’t need to fear it, either.  If we do what God wants us to do, God will take care of the rest.  That will be true even in the division that follows.  If we do what God wants us to do, God will see that, God will bless the things we do, and God will bless us.

But in dealing with division, there are a couple of things to point out.  First, we are not called to deliberately be provocative just to create division.  The Apostle Paul says, in Romans Eighteen, “as far as it depends on you, be at peace with everyone.”  Living as a Christian sometimes results in division, and we have to accept that, but nowhere are we told to deliberately fan the flames.  We simply need to say what God wants us to say, do what God wants us to do, and live as God wants us to live.

And second, we are not supposed to hate those who disagree with us.  Jesus spoke out against the Pharisees and the other religious leaders of his day, but he does not ever say that he hated them.  He may have hated the things they said and did, but he did not hate them.  Remember, Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  In fact Jesus, while hanging on the cross, asked God to forgive the people who had done this to him.  Even if our lives as Christians result in people hating us, we are not supposed to hate them in return.  As Christians, that’s simply not one of our options.

It’s hard on us when our family is divided.  It’s hard on us when our church is divided.  It’s hard on us when our country is divided.  It was probably hard on Jesus, too, when he was on the earth.  But while Jesus may not have wanted division, he did not fear it, either.  He simply did what God the Father wanted him to do, and he accepted whatever happened as a result.  He was confident that if he pleased God, God would take care of the rest.

That’s the example for us.  You and I may not want division, but we do not need to fear it, either.  If we do what God wants us to do, we can accept whatever happens as a result.  We can be confident that if we please God, God will take care of the rest.

Learn to Do Right

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, August 11, 2019.  The Bible verses used are Isaiah 11:11-20.

            I want to run a scenario by you.  It’s just a hypothetical, probably would never happen to you, but just try to imagine it.  

Your spouse wants you to do something.  And you don’t want to.  And you don’t necessarily come out and say no, but in various ways it becomes obvious that you really don’t want to do it.  But your spouse keeps after you and so, eventually, you do it.  But you make it clear that you did not want to do it, and that you only did it so your spouse would get off your back.

            Is your spouse going to be happy, do you think?  Probably not.  But why not?  You did what your spouse wanted you to do.  Why is your spouse not happy about that?

            Now let’s look at another scenario.  Your spouse wants you to do something.  And you say, yes, of course, dear, I’ll be happy to do that.  And not only do you say that, but you actually do it.  You don’t complain, you don’t whine, you just get up and do it, and you do it with a good attitude and a smile on your face.

            Is your spouse going to be happy in this case, do you think?  Probably so.  But what’s the difference?  In both cases you did what your spouse wanted you to do.  Why is your spouse happy in one case and not happy in the other?

            Well, the difference, obviously, is attitude.  In the second case, your spouse feels loved, because you’ve not only done something for them, but you’ve done it happily and willingly in a way that shows that you love your spouse and are you’re glad to be able to do this for your spouse.  In the first attitude, your spouse does not feel loved, because you did not do it out of love.  You just did it to get your spouse off your back.

            And that brings me to our reading from Isaiah for today.  Back in Isaiah’s time, there were a lot of requirements that the people of Israel were supposed to follow.  God, speaking through Isaiah, references some of them in our reading for today.  Burnt offerings.  New moon feasts.  Festivals.  All kinds of things.

            And it appears that the people of Isaiah’s time were following those requirements.  They were offering their burnt offerings.  They were holding the feasts and the festivals.  But they were not doing any of this out of love for God.  They were just going through the motions.  They were doing these things because they thought they had to do them.  They were giving the burnt offerings, but they were not giving their first and their best the way they were supposed to.  They were not giving thanks to God for all God had done for them.  They were not obeying God in the way they were living their lives.  They were doing whatever they wanted, and then they were trying to pacify God, to get on God’s good side, by performing all the rituals the law required.

            And God was not fooled.  God did not feel any love from these rituals, because God knew they were not done out of love.  In fact, what does God say?  “Stop bringing meaningless offerings!  Your incense is detestable to me….I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.”  God says of the feasts and festivals, “I hate them with all my being.  They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.”

            We’re not told how the people of Israel responded to that.  But I can imagine them saying, “But, we’re obeying the law.  We’re doing what we’re supposed to do.  Why is God not pleased with us?”

            God was not pleased because God knew what was in their hearts.  And God knows what’s in our hearts, too.  And just like with the people of Israel, God is not impressed when all we do is go through the motions of having faith.  Just like your spouse is not pleased when we do something while making it clear we really don’t want to, God is not pleased when we follow the forms of faith without having love in our hearts.

            So, does that apply to you?  Does it apply to me?  Are we truly following God with love for God in our hearts?  Or are we just going through the motions, following the forms of faith without feeling love for God?

            I ask those questions not knowing the answers.  You have to answer them for yourself, just as I have to answer them for myself.  And I think it’s not a question we should answer right away.  We need to examine ourselves.  Examine our hearts.  Examine our attitudes.  Examine our feelings.  Think about why we do the things we do.  Think about why we come to church on Sunday.  Think about why we support the church.  Those are good things to do, don’t get me wrong.  But what God was saying through Isaiah is that God is not pleased even when we do good things if we’re not doing them with love in our hearts.  If the good things we do are just going through the motions of faith, if we do them just to satisfy the forms and the rituals and the traditions, they are not really done to honor God.  And God is only pleased when we do those things to honor God.

            But there’s good news.  God gave the people of Israel another chance.  And God will give you and me another chance, too.  Listen to what God says to them:  “Wash and make yourselves clean...Stop doing wrong.  Learn to do right.”

            God would not have told us to do those things if we were not capable of doing them.  And with God’s help, we are.  And when we do, listen to what God says happens:  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

            That’s what can happen for us.  And in fact, we have an advantage that the people of Israel did not have.  In Isaiah’s time, the Messiah had not yet come.  They did not have the example of Jesus Christ that we have.  Christ’s offer of redemption and salvation and eternal life had not yet been made.

            But in our time, it has.  We don’t have to wash to make ourselves clean.  All we have to do is have faith in Jesus as the Savior.  If we truly repent of our sins and ask the Lord to forgive them, if we accept the salvation that Jesus offers, our sins are forgiven.  We are made clean.  Our sins are washed away.  They are white as snow.  

            That’s such an amazing thing Jesus did for us.  Because, again, think about what God told the people of Israel to do.  “Stop doing wrong.  Learn to do right.”  That sounds so simple.  But it’s not really simple at all, is it?

            Have you ever tried to improve ourselves in some way?  Maybe it was trying to get rid of a bad habit.  Maybe it was trying to change the way we treat someone.  Maybe it was trying to be a more thoughtful and caring person or something.  Most of us have all kinds of things about ourselves that we need to improve, and most of us have tried to improve at least some of them at various times.

            It’s really hard, isn’t it?  We know we need to change.  We know we should change.  We know what it is, or at least what some of the things are, that we need to change.  But doing it, actually changing ourselves, is very hard.  

            So now think of what the people of Israel were up against.  “Stop doing wrong.  Learn to do right.”  Yeah, okay, I know I should.  But how?  How can I make that many changes?

            For the most part, they could not.  And for the most part, you and I cannot, either.  Not by ourselves.  

            But you and I don’t have to do it by ourselves.  We have God’s Holy Spirit to help us.  We can pray for God’s Holy Spirit to enter into our hearts.  And when that happens, we can change.  We can stop doing wrong, and learn to do right.

            And what’s really cool about that is the way it happens.  It does not happen because God gives us a list of things to do and not do.  It happens because God’s Holy Spirit changes our attitude.  It happens because God’s Holy Spirit leads us to seek out the right.  Not because we think we have to, not because we’re afraid of punishment if we don’t, but because God’s Holy Spirit leads us to want to do things that please God and that honor God.  

            But remember--it all starts with our prayer.  It starts with us inviting God’s Holy Spirit into our hearts.  God wants the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts.  God is eager for the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts.  But God does not force the Holy Spirit into our hearts.  We need to open our hearts to Him.  We need to invite God’s Holy Spirit in.  That can be a little scary sometimes.  But when we do it, it changes everything.  It changes everything because the Holy Spirit changes us.

            God does not want us to just go through the motions of faith.  God does not want us to satisfy the forms and the rituals when our hearts are not in it.  But when our hearts are in it, when we invite God’s Holy Spirit into our hearts, when our attitude is one that wants to please God, when our attitude is to seek to do right and to honor God, God will see that.  And God will be pleased.  And we will receive God’s blessings.  Maybe we’ll receive them in this life, but we will certainly receive them in the next one.