Faith and Blessings

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, September 29, 2019.  The Bible verses used are Luke 16:19-31.

            The New Testament tells us many times that we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  God love and grace and mercy are involved, too, of course.  It’s because God loves us that God allows us to have a chance for salvation and eternal life in the first place.  But the point is that it is faith that saves us.  It’s not the things we do.  We cannot earn our way into heaven by doing good things or by anything else.  We are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ.  Period.

            Do you believe that?  I do.  But then I run into this story, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and I’m not sure what to do with it.  Because in this story, Jesus tells us that Lazarus is in heaven, and the rich man is in hell, and yet we’re not told a thing about the faith of either one of them.  It’s like their faith was irrelevant to what happened to them.

            The rich man and Lazarus are the only two characters in the story.  I guess we have three if you want to count Abraham, but basically it’s the rich man and Lazarus.

We’re told very little about either of them.  We’re not even told the rich man’s name—he’s just identified as “the rich man.”  We know Lazarus’ name, we know he’s a beggar, and we know he had sores.  That’s all we know about them.  Then, we know they both die.  We know Lazarus goes to heaven, and the rich man goes to hell.

The way Jesus tells the story, or at least the way it’s been recorded for us, it sounds like the only reason Lazarus went to heaven is because he was a beggar who had sores, and the only reason the rich man went to hell is because he was a rich man.  Because, again, we’re not told anything else about them.  A lot of times, we assume things about the.  We assume that the rich man must have been evil, or greedy, or have cheated or stolen or done something wrong to get his wealth.  And we assume that Lazarus must have been a wonderful fellow who just never got any breaks while he was alive.

Jesus did not say any of that, or if he did it’s not recorded.  We are not told that the rich man was evil or that he did anything wrong to get his money.  For all we know, he may have worked very hard and earned his success.  We’re told that Lazarus begged at his gate, but we don’t even know if the rich man was aware that he was there.  The rich man may, for the most part, have treated people well.  He may have even tithed, given ten percent of his money to God.  I’m not saying he did that, but there’s nothing in Jesus’ story that says he did not.  We’re not told that the rich man did anything wrong in getting his money.

We also don’t know whether Lazarus was a wonderful fellow.  We don’t know if he was a nice guy at all.  He may have been a jerk.  He may have been very bitter and angry about the way he had to live.  He may have never had a good word to say to anybody.  Again, I’m not saying that’s true, but there’s nothing in Jesus’ story that says it’s false.  We’re not told that Lazarus ever did anything nice for anyone.

And we’re not told that either of them had faith in Jesus Christ, or even that either of them believed in God.  The only things that seem to matter in Jesus’ story are that the rich man was rich and that Lazarus was a beggar.  Listen to what Jesus has Abraham saying to the rich man.  “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.”  The only reason we’re given for why the rich man is in hell is because he’d had a good life while he was on earth, and the only reason we’re given for why Lazarus is in heaven is because he had a bad life on earth.

Now, Jesus talked to a lot of poor people, and he had a lot of sympathy for them.  And remember, poor people back then did not get any government support or anything.  Begging was about the only thing a poor person could do, and it was not very profitable.  This kind of message would’ve given the poor people Jesus was talking to a lot of hope.  It would’ve made them feel like God did care about them that God knew about their situation and that they would get a reward in heaven.  It can give us hope, too, if we’re suffering in our lives on earth.

But you know what really bothers me most about this story?  What bothers me most is that I feel like I have a lot more in common with the rich man than I have with Lazarus.  I think that’s probably true of most of us, if we think about it.  I’m not saying anyone here is rich, at least not by the standards of our society, but very few of us would fall into the Lazarus category.  Few of us have had to beg for anything.  Most of us have always known we were going to have enough to eat each day.  We’ve known we were going to have decent clothes to wear.  We’ve always known we were going to have a warm place to sleep. 

We’ve also always known that, if something happened to where we might not have one of those things, there were ways we could get help.  In my case, I have a loving family, both on my side and on Wanda’s side, and I have friends who I know would not let me sleep on the street and would not let me starve, no matter how bad my personal situation might get.

Not only that, I’ve had a pretty wonderful life in a lot of ways.  I grew up in a loving family.  I have an incredible wife.  I have a career that I love.  I have wonderful people to work with.  I’ve been blessed in an awful lot of ways.  In many ways, I’ve received the good things in my lifetime, just like the rich man did.  Does that mean I’m going to receive bad things in the next life, like the rich man did?

And again, how do we square this with all the times in the Bible where we’re told that our salvation depends on our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and on nothing else?  I mean, Jesus said that he is the way and the truth and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through him.  The Apostle Paul says over and over again that it is through faith in Jesus Christ that we’re saved.  And yet, in this story, we’re not told anything about the faith of either the rich man or Lazarus.  We’re not told that Lazarus had faith and the rich man did not.  We’re told that the rich man went to hell because he’d gotten good things during his life, and Lazarus went to heaven because he’d gotten bad things during his life.  How does that work?

I don’t know that I have the answer, but I’ll tell you what I think.  Feel free to disagree.  As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that, in a way, it’s easier for us to rely on God when we have nothing than it is when we have everything.  What I mean is that someone in Lazarus’ position has nothing, not even decent health, and most likely never will have anything.  In that situation, we sometimes throw ourselves on God’s mercy because there’s nothing else we can do.  We ask God to help us because we know that we have no ability to help ourselves and never will, and we know there’s no one else who’s going to help us either.  We turn to God for help because we have nowhere else to turn.

When we have some money of our own, though, we do have somewhere else to turn.  If we have a thousand dollars in the bank, we don’t have to rely on God for our next meal.  We can rely on ourselves.  If we have ten thousand dollars in the bank, there are a lot of things we don’t have to rely on God for, because we can do them ourselves.  If we have a hundred thousand dollars, there are even fewer things we have to rely on God for.  And if we have a million dollars, well, we probably don’t have to rely on God for much of anything.

I think this is what Jesus meant when he talked about how it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven.  I don’t think he meant it literally, that it’s impossible for a rich man to go to heaven, but he meant that it’s awfully hard.  It’s hard because the more we have, the more likely we are to rely on ourselves, and the less likely we are to rely on God.

I don’t think this story means that everyone who gets good things while on earth will go to hell.  What I think it means is that the more blessings we have while we’re on earth, the more we can be tempted to believe that we’ve gotten those blessings because of our own goodness, rather than by God’s goodness.  The more blessings we have while we’re on earth, the more we’re tempted to take those blessings for granted, rather than thanking God for them.  The more blessings we have while we’re on earth, the more we’re tempted to have faith in ourselves, rather than having faith in God

If we truly have faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, our lives need to show that.  That’s true whether we have a lot or we have nothing.  The more we have, though, the more chances we have to do things that show our faith.  And, of course, the more Jesus asks us to do things that show our faith.

I’m not saying that nobody here does things that show their faith.  I know that a lot of you do.  And besides, my point here is not to make anyone feel guilty.  The thing is, though, that we can all do more.  I know I can.  Jesus does not want us to just do so much and say, “Well, that’s good enough”.  That’s not what Jesus did when he was on earth.  Jesus did not settle for “good enough”.  Jesus does not want us to settle for “good enough”, either.

If you feel like you can identify with Lazarus in this story, then you probably know that need to rely on God.  But if we feel like we can identify with the rich man, we need to rely on God, too.  In fact, we need to focus even more on relying on God.  We need to be grateful to God for everything we have, and we need to do all we can to show our faith and to show our gratitude to God.  From what Jesus said, it sounds like our life in eternity depends on it.

Orange is the New Mood

As I write this, I am wearing an orange shirt.  It’s a fairly bright orange, actually.  I got it a few years ago at Alco in Miller.  They were going out of business, so they were selling a lot of stuff pretty cheaply.  I got the shirt, and a few others, for five bucks apiece.

It’s a shirt that gets some comment on occasion.  You don’t see a lot of people wearing bright orange shirts.  Well, you might if someone’s going hunting, or working on a construction crew but I do neither, and most people know that.  It’s a shirt that gets me noticed.  You don’t usually fade into the background when you’re wearing a bright orange shirt.

The thing is, it’s one of my favorite shirts, along with a bright yellow shirt that I sometimes wear.  I don’t wear stuff like this all the time, of course.  But wearing bright colors usually puts me in a good mood.  It fires me up.  Why?  I don’t know.  But it does.  And some days, we all need something to put us in a good mood and fire us up.

So, on days like that, I’ll wear a brightly colored shirt.  There are other things that will do that for me, of course.  Listening to good music helps.  Watching or listening to something that gives me a laugh helps.  Exercise helps.  There are lots of things that can help when we’re having a down day.

And of course, one of those things is spending some time with God in prayer.  You probably knew that was coming, but it’s true.  When I’m having a down day, I tell God about it.  And usually, it seems like when I tell God about it, God tells me something in return, something that helps me.

I’m not talking about a voice from beyond, although God can certainly communicate with us that way if God chooses to.  But usually, a thought comes to mind, just kind of out of nowhere, and the thought is something that helps me through my down day and makes it better.  You can believe what you want, but I think that when I get a thought like that, just out of the blue, it’s God who put that thought into my mind.  

We all have down days sometimes.  When you have one, what helps you get out of it?  If you don’t have anything, why not try some of the things I do?  Listen to some good music.  Find something that will give you a laugh.  Get some sort of exercise if you can.  And spend some time with God.  Tell God whatever it is that’s bringing you down.  And if you don’t know what it is, tell God that.  Take some time if you need to.  Maybe God will put a thought into your mind out of the blue.  Or maybe God will communicate with you in some other way--God has lots of ways to talk to us, and each of us hears God differently.  But if we’re honest with God, and if we’re patient, God will usually tell us something in some way to help us through our down days.

And you know?  Try wearing a bright orange shirt, too.  It couldn’t hurt.

God's Love, Our Hope

This is the message from the Sunday night service on September 22, 2019 in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 51.

            One of the most important parts of the Christian faith is hope.  The Apostle Paul says that God is a God of hope.  He also says that, in the end, there are three things that will remain:  faith, hope, and love.  He says the most important of them is love, but faith and hope are very important, too.

Our psalm for tonight shows us why hope is so important.  Look at what the author of the psalm says about himself.  He says, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.”  He says he has done what is evil in God’s sight.  He says that he was sinful from birth, and in fact he was sinful before he was born, because he says he was “sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

            That’s someone with a pretty low opinion of himself.  The author of that psalm is definitely not trying to make anyone think he’s better than he is.  He’s not trying to fool anyone.  He’s not even trying to fool himself, which is always a temptation.  He is quite honest about who he is and what he has done.

            Can you relate to that?  There are times when I can.  I mean, I like to think of myself as a pretty good person, but when I’m honest with myself I know I fail a lot.  I know there are plenty of sins I commit over and over again, every single day.  I know I’m every bit as much a sinner as anyone else, and probably more so than a lot of people.

            When we think of ourselves that way, it can be easy to get discouraged, even depressed.  And when you look at the author of the psalm’s description of himself, you might think he’d feel that way, too.  Again, he says he’s been a sinner since he was conceived, he has done evil, he’s always being confronted with his own sin.  It’s no fun to think of yourself that way.  And yet, the author of the psalm is not discouraged or depressed at all.  He cries out to God, but not in desperation or despair.  The author of this psalm cries out to God in hope.

            He hopes for mercy--the psalm starts off by saying “Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to your unfailing love.”  He prays that God will “wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

            The author of the psalm says this in complete hope.  He knows he’s a sinner.  He knows God has no obligation to have mercy on him or do anything for him at all.  And yet, he has every hope that God will have mercy on him.  It’s not a forlorn, desperate hope.  It’s a completely confident hope.  He has said all these terrible things about himself, and yet he says to God, “Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.”  

            And in fact, he has more hope than that.  He believes that God can do more than just wash away his sins.  He believes God can make him a completely different person.  Listen to this:  “Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me...Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”  

            Think about all the things the author of this psalm is saying.  He knows he’s a sinner.  He knows he’s failed.  He knows he has no right to expect anything from God.  And yet he asks all these things of God, and he asks them in complete confidence, without fear.  He is completely hopeful that God is going to do what he has asked.  He believes God will have mercy on him, God will wash away his sins, and God will make him a new person, a person with a right and willing spirit.

            Can you relate to that?  That one might be a little tougher.  Do we have enough trust in God to believe that God will do those things for us?  Do we trust God enough to believe God will have mercy on us?  Do we believe God will wash away our sins?  Do we believe God will truly make us new people, people with a right and willing spirit?

            It can be hard to trust God that much.  It’s hard because we know we don’t deserve those things from God.  And we know God has no obligation to give them to us.  There is no real reason for God to have mercy on us and wash away our sins and make us new people.  And so it can be hard to believe that God will actually do that for us.

            And so the question is, do we really believe that God loves us?  Because that’s the only reason God would have to do those things for us--love.  In fact, it shows how faith, hope, and love are related, because it’s our faith in God’s love that gives us hope.  The only way we can believe that God would have mercy on us and wash away our sins and make us new people is if we believe God loves us.

            So, do we believe God loves us?  Do you believe that God loves you?

            That’s not always easy, either.  We’ve said that God is not obligated to do anything for us.  So God does not have an obligation to love us.  And we know that we have done nothing to earn God’s love.  So why should God love us?

            The thing is, love is never something we earn.  If someone says, “I’ll love you as long as you do this and that and something else”, that’s not really love.  That’s a business transaction, a quid pro quo.  Love, to be love, is always a gift.  Love has to be a gift.  It’s not something we deserve.  It’s something we’re given, freely and willingly, with no expectation of anything in return.

            That’s the kind of love God gives us.  But still, it can be hard to believe it.  If it’s hard for you, think about this.

            If you think about it, love is the only reason that God would’ve created us at all.  What other reason could there be?  God is complete in and of Himself.  There’s nothing we can do for God that God cannot do without us.  In fact, God could probably do everything better and easier without us--the chances are we just mess things up and get in the way.  God does not need us at all.  And God was complete in heaven.  Yet, God created all this other stuff, all this stuff that God, in and of Himself did not need.  God created the universe.  God created the earth.  God created the land and the oceans and the plants and the fish--and everything else. 

God did all of that--for us.  For you and for me.  So we would have life.  So we would have a place to live that life.  So we would have food to eat and clothes to wear and everything else.  And God created lots of us, so we could always have someone to love and so we could always have someone who loved us.  So we would never have to be alone.  God created all of this just for us.  It’s all God’s gift to us.  The only reason for God to do that is love.  

            Our knowledge of God’s love is what gives us hope.  A God who loves us will always show us mercy, if we go to God and sincerely ask for it.  A God who loves us will always forgive our sins and wash them away, if we go to God and sincerely ask for that forgiveness.  A God who loves us will always give us another chance to be new people, the people God wants us to be, if we’re truly willing to take that chance.

            God wants to create a clean heart in us.  God wants to grant us a willing spirit.  If we truly want those things, God will always give them to us, because God loves us.

            God will give them to us, but we need to be willing to receive them.  And the way we show that is by doing what the author of the psalm does--offer God our hearts.  He says, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

            The way we receive that clean heart is to give it to God.  The way to have a willing spirit is to join our spirit with God’s Holy Spirit.  If we are willing to allow God to lead us, if we are willing to surrender our desires to God’s desires, if we are willing to give up our own will to follow God’s will, if we really mean what we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done”, then we will have that clean heart and that willing spirit.

            That does not mean we’ll suddenly be perfect.  We won’t be, not while we’re on earth.  Even if we truly desire to let God lead us and surrender to God’s will, there will still be times when we mess up.  We will always have to battle our own sinful nature, and no matter how hard we try to we’ll still slip sometimes.  But when we do, we simply need to ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness again.  And we can ask that in confident hope, knowing that God loves us and that God will give those things to us if we ask for them sincerely and willingly.  And God will give us yet another chance to be the new people God wants us to be.

            You and I can always rely on God’s love.  It’s a love that gives us hope.  It’s a love we can count on.  It’s a love that we always be there for us, because it’s a love that’s given to us as a gift from God.

The One and Only

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, September 22, 2019.  The Bible verses used are 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

            The Bible verses we read today are among the most important verses in the Bible.  As I thought about it, it’s surprising we don’t hear them talked about more often.  These verses really should be right up there with John Three, Sixteen and the Twenty-third Psalm as the most quoted verses in the Bible.  The Apostle Paul, writing to his young friend Timothy, sets out our most basic beliefs as Christians.  They are found right here, in these few verses.

            Let’s start with verse five.  “There is one God.”  That’s one of the most basic Christian beliefs there is, that there is one God.  Period.  There are not a variety of gods.  There are not different types of gods.  There is not a Christian god and a Jewish god and an Islamic god and a Hindu god.  There is one God.  Period.

            I understand that this is not how everybody sees it.  There are plenty of people who believe that all religions are equal and equally valid.  There are plenty of people who believe that it does not matter what you believe, as long as you are kind and treat people well.  If you believe that, well, your argument is not with me.  Your argument is with the Apostle Paul.  You can choose to believe him, or you can choose not to.  But I’m not going to tell you he did not say what he said.  Paul says there is one God.  Period.

            After establishing that there is one God, Paul says this, “and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”  A mediator, in this context, is a go-between.  Someone who can go to God on our behalf.  There’s only one mediator, and Jesus Christ is it.  The only way for humans to get to God is through faith in Jesus Christ.  Again, period.  That, too, is one of our most basic beliefs as Christians.  There are not several mediators.  There is not Jesus Christ or Mohammed or Buddha or anyone else.  There is one mediator between God and humans, and his name is Jesus Christ.  Period.

            And again, I understand that’s not how everybody sees it.  There are plenty of people who believe that there are lots of ways to get to God.  And again, if you believe that, your argument is not with me.  Your argument is with the Apostle Paul.  And again, you can choose to believe him, or you can choose not to, but I’m not going to tell you he did not say what he said.  Paul says there is one mediator between God and mankind, and that one mediator is Christ Jesus.  Period.

            There are also people who believe that, if Paul is right, this is not very fair of God.  Why would God limit us to only one mediator?  Why would God decide that the only way we could get to God is through Jesus Christ?  Why would God be so limiting and so exclusionary?  If God loves us so much, why would God not provide us lots of ways to get to God, rather than just one way?

            The thing to remember about that is that God did not have to provide any mediator at all.  God did not have to give us a go-between.  God did not have to give us a way to get to God.  God did not owe it to us to do that.  God could have just left us to deal with the consequences of our sinful nature.  The real question to ask is not why God would limit our ways to get to God.  The real question is, why would God give us a way to get to God at all?

And Paul gives us the answer to that, too.  Look at verse four.  Paul writes that “God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”  

It is because God wants us to be saved that God gave us Jesus Christ as our mediator.  The fact that God wants us to be saved, that God wants so much for us to be saved that God did provide a way for us to get to God, shows just how much God does love us.  Again, God was not obligated to give us the chance to be saved.  Salvation is not something that we have somehow earned.  God gives us the chance for salvation as a gift, and God gives us that gift because God loves us.

And Paul goes on to tell us how this works.  Paul says that Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all people.”

It is because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that he is able to be our mediator.  It is because Jesus accepted the punishment and paid the penalty for our sins that he can be our go-between.  We don’t have to be punished for our sins because Jesus already accepted that punishment on our behalf.  We don’t have to pay the penalty for our sins because Jesus already paid that penalty on our behalf.  

That’s why Jesus can act as our mediator.  That’s why Jesus can be our go-between in a way that no one else ever can.  Jesus, by taking the punishment that should go to us, has made it possible for our sins to be forgiven.  And in fact, more than forgiven, it’s like our sins never happened.  Our sins are washed away, wiped out.  You and I are made holy and perfect, even though we’re not, even though we’re not even close.  We’re made holy and perfect through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That’s why Jesus can act as our mediator.  And it’s why no one else can.  Because no one else did what Jesus did.  No one else accepted the punishment and paid the penalty for our sins.  No one else died for us.  No one else was resurrected.  Jesus is the only one who did that.  And so Jesus is the only one who can be our mediator.  Jesus is the only one who can save us from the consequences of our sins.

All of those things are basic to our Christian faith.  There is only one God.  That one God wants us all to be saved, because that one God loves us.  And so, that one God sent the divine Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to take the punishment that should have gone to us.  Because Jesus did that, he, and he alone, can be our mediator before God, if we only accept him as our Savior.

For Christians, those things are pretty much non-negotiable.  We can disagree about a lot of things as Christians, but not those things.  A Christian who did not believe there was one God and that Jesus Christ is the Savior would be like a farmer who did not believe in growing crops or raising livestock.  It’s simply a contradiction in terms.  It does not work.

But there’s one other thing to note here.  We’ve mentioned it, but we did not fully discuss the implications.  It’s what Paul wrote in verse four.  God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

God wants all people to be saved.  If you and I follow God, then we need to want all people to be saved, too.  And that puts a responsibility on us.  If we want people to be saved, then we need to do what we can to let people know what we know.  We need to let them know how they can be saved.  We need to let people know that there is one God, that the one God does love us, that the one God sent the divine Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us.  And that if they believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, they will be saved.  If we want people to be saved, as God does, then we need to do everything we can to spread that message to everyone we can.

Now, we need to be a little careful about how we do that.  We don’t want to be annoying or contentious about it.  After all, our goal here is not to win an argument.  Our goal is to spread God’s message of salvation.  

And in doing that, I can think of no better example than that of Jesus himself.  When Jesus was spreading his message, how did he do it?  He did not get into arguments with people.  Yes, he’d sometimes argue with the Pharisees, but even then, he was usually just answering their questions.  They were the ones doing the arguing, trying to trick him or trap him in some way.  

But when Jesus was just talking with ordinary people, he did not argue with them.  He simply told them the truth.  He just said, “This is the way it is.”  And he allowed them to make up their own minds.  He allowed them to either accept the truth or reject it.

Jesus was sad when people rejected the truth.  But Jesus would not compromise the truth to get people to accept it.  Jesus did not change his message in the hope that people might change their minds.  Again, Jesus said, “This is the way it is.”  And he allowed people to either accept the truth or reject it.

            That’s our example.  Let people know the truth of God’s message of salvation.  Then allow them to make up their own minds.  Don’t argue with them, but also don’t compromise the truth to get them to accept it.  The truth is the truth.  It’s up to everyone, including us, to either accept it or reject it.

            There is only one God.  Period.  There is only one mediator between God and humans, and that’s Jesus Christ.  Period.  Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior.  We can either accept that or reject it.  But that’s the way it is.

Unity Through Peace

This is the message from the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on September 15, 2019.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 2:1-22.

            You know how much I love sports.  Baseball particularly is my favorite, although I like lots of other sports, too.  I was never any good at playing any of them, but I’ve always loved to watch them, ever since I can remember.

            One of the things I love about sports is that sports are very black-and-white.  There are two things, and everything is either one or the other.  There’s your team and there’s the other team.  A team either wins or it loses.  A pitch is either a ball or a strike.  A runner is either safe or he’s out.  In football, a pass is either complete or incomplete.  In basketball, either a basket is good or it’s not.  It’s one thing or the other, period.

            Now that works well for sports.  It does not work as well when we put it into other areas of life.  We see it in our politics today.  It seems like everyone’s on one side or the other side, with no thought of trying to work together to compromise.  We even see it in our communities, sometimes, too, when something happens and it seems like everyone takes sides.  It’s not really a good thing in those contexts.  Dividing into two sides, with each side insisting that it needs to win, can keep us from working together and moving forward.

            It happens in the church, too, sometimes.  And it was happening nearly two thousand years ago, in the time of the Apostle Paul.  It was happening when he wrote his letter to the Galatians, which we read part of tonight.

            There were two sides in the church then, too.  There were the Christian Jews, the Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Savior, and there were the Christian Gentiles, who in this context were basically anyone who was not Jewish but had accepted Jesus as the Savior.  And those two sides did not always get along.  The Christian Jews--some of them, anyway--believed that the Savior had come specifically to save them.  And they did not want to accept non-Jewish people into their group.

            Paul says that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.  Paul says there are not and should not be two groups of Christians.  There is one group.  And he describes who they are.

            He says that all of us used to follow the ways of the world.  All of us followed our own selfish desires and thoughts.  And all of us were deserving of God’s anger and God’s punishment because of all the things we did.  That’s the one group Paul sees--sinners.  Sinners who were deserved punishment from God.

            But Paul goes on to say that God is not going to give them that punishment.  God, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has saved them from that punishment.  Paul goes out of his way to emphasize that this is a gift from God.  It’s not because of anything that anyone did.  It’s not something that anyone earns or deserves.  No person could ever be worthy of receiving salvation and eternal life.  But God offers it to us anyway, because God loves us that much.  It is God’s grace and love, and our acceptance of Jesus as the Savior, that saves us.  Nothing else.

            This one group--sinners in need of salvation--is what the church is.  And yet, we still have divisions in the church.  When you think about it, it’s because of what that one group is that we have divisions in the church.  That one group is sinners.  Our churches are made up of imperfect, human, sinful people.  And so, even though we should be and are united in our faith in Jesus Christ, we still have these things that divide us.

            And sometimes those things get in the way of making disciples of Jesus Christ.  One of the reasons people leave the church, or never come in the first place, is because of the disagreements we sometimes see in the church.  Now, I’m not saying that our United Methodist church here in Gettysburg is worse than any other church about those things.  But we’re only fooling ourselves if we think we’re immune from it.  This church is certainly better than some I’ve seen, but we’re still subject to having large disagreements over small matters.  It’s not because we’re bad people.  It’s because we’re people, and when people get together in groups, these things can happen.

            But what can we do about it?  Is there anything we can do about it?  Are we fated to always have division, not just in the church but in every aspect of human life, just because we’re people?  Or is there something we can do to bring about unity and peace?

            Paul gives us the answer, and the answer is Jesus Christ.  Listen to what Paul says about Jesus:

He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility...His purpose was to create one new humanity out of two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God...He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who are near.  For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit...In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

            Where there is division within the church, Jesus can be our peace.  Where there is division in the world, Jesus can be our peace.  And where there is division in our own personal lives, Jesus can be our peace.  The peace of Jesus Christ can rule in our hearts and in our lives.  And that peace can do away with all the divisions that we have to deal with.

            Now, does that mean that there will never be any more disagreements about anything?  No.  We’re never going to all agree on everything all the time.  That’s true in the country, that’s true in our community, that’s true in our family.  And it’s true in the church, too.

            And that’s okay.  In fact, that’s a good thing.  It’s been said that if everyone’s thinking alike, someone’s not thinking.  No one has all the good ideas and all the right answers.  Many times it’s through the process of talking about things, and yes, sometimes disagreeing about things, that we find better ideas and better answers.

            And it’s also true that there are times when things cannot be compromised, when we have to make a decision to do one thing or another.  When the subject of building the addition to the church came up, we had to make a decision to either build it or not build it.  We could discuss and compromise on how to build it and how to raise the money for it and how much to spend, but we could not just kind of build an addition to the church.  At some point, we had to decide that we were going to do it or we were not.  There was no way we could compromise that decision.

            But even in the disagreement, and even in the times when decisions have to be made, we don’t have to allow those disagreements and decisions to divide us.  We can still move forward as one united body.  If we do one thing.  If we allow the peace of Jesus Christ to rule our hearts and our lives.

            That peace of Jesus Christ acts in a few different ways.  For one thing, it helps us remember that the people we disagree with are not terrible, evil people.  They’re not stupid, ignorant people, either.  They’re people who’ve looked at the same situation we’re looking at and have come to a different conclusion.  

They may come to that conclusion for a variety of reasons.  They may have had different influences on their lives that make them look at everything differently.  They may have knowledge and information that we don’t have, or we may have knowledge and information that we don’t have.  They may have had experiences that color that way they look at things.  All kinds of things affect our lives and our opinions about things.

But what the peace of Christ does for us is to help us remember that even in our disagreements, we are all on the same team.  The people who disagree with us, for the most part, want the same things we do.  They have the same goals.  They just disagree with us on the best way to achieve those goals.  If we keep the peace of Christ in our hearts, we’ll remember that.  And we’ll be able to disagree respectfully and with open minds.  And we won’t let that disagreement lead to division.

            And the peace of Christ also helps us remember what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans Chapter Eight:  God can work all things for the good of those who love him.  Remembering that will help keep us from insisting we have to have our way and believing that everything will fall apart if we don’t.  Even if we’re fully convinced that we’re right, and even if in fact we are right, if the decision is made the other way, we can still handle it.  We will know that God will work the decision that was made for good, even if it does not look like it at first.

            In sports, one team wins and the other team loses.  But in the church, we’re all on the same team.  We’re all sinners in need of salvation.  And when we receive that salvation, when we feel the peace of Christ in our hearts, we can see that.  The divisions can go away, and the peace of Christ can prevail.

It's About God

The message given in the Sunday morning services in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are 1 Timothy 1:12-17.

            How do you see yourself?

            Now, if you’re a smart-aleck like me, you say, “Well, in a mirror, dummy, how else could I see myself?”  But seriously, how do you see yourself?  Do you think you’re a good person?  Do you think you’re smart?  Do you think you’re talented?  Do you think you’re a caring person?  Do you like the person you are?  And do you think God likes the person you are?

            Those are not just rhetorical questions.  I want you to really think about them.  Because the way we see ourselves, what we think of ourselves, affects the way we behave.  It affects our interactions with people.  And those things affect how well we’re able to serve God and show love to people the way God wants us to.

            We’ve talked before about the sin of arrogance, and the problems it can cause for us.  And we’ll probably talk about it again.  But there’s another problem here that we need to talk about as well.  Arrogance, having a higher opinion of ourselves that we should have, thinking we’re better than we really are, is definitely not a good thing.  But having low self-esteem, having a lower opinion of ourselves than we should have, thinking that we’re worse that we really are, is not a good thing, either.

            I called it a problem instead of a sin because I can’t find anywhere in the Bible where God says having low self-esteem is sinful.  But it’s not a good thing, either.  If we have a low opinion of ourselves, if we don’t think we’re very good or very smart, if we cannot do much of anything, that can keep us from going out and serving God.  We feel like we’d never be able to help anyone anyway, so there’s no point in trying.  And so we just keep to ourselves.

            It would be good, of course, if we had just the right opinion of ourselves.  Not higher than it should be, but not lower than it should be, either.  But that’s really hard to do.  And really, maybe we should not try.  We always talk about how we should not judge people, that we should leave judgment to God.  That can apply to judging ourselves, too.  Why should we think we’ll be any better at judging ourselves than we would be at judging someone else?  That’s a judgment we should leave to God, too.

            So how do we handle this?  Well, let’s look at our Bible reading for today, the words of the Apostle Paul that he wrote to Timothy.  Paul says that of all he sinners, he was the worst.  He had been a blasphemer, someone who refused to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior. He been a violent man.  He had persecuted Christians.  And yet, he says, Jesus has given him strength.  Jesus has considered him to be trustworthy.  The grace of Jesus Christ was poured out on him, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus, and Paul was appointed to Jesus’ service.

            Let’s think about that.  You know, a lot of times people talk about Paul as being an extremely self-confident man.  Not quite arrogant, but often coming close to that.  But this passage shows that Paul was not arrogant at all.  He was not even all that self-confident.  

Those names Paul calls himself--blasphemer, persecutor, a violent man--those names were all true.  In the aftermath of Jesus’ crucifixion, in the early days of the Christian church, Paul was about the worst enemy Christians had.  He had been very self-confident in those days.  Paul was convinced that he was doing God’s work by persecuting the Christians and trying to stamp out the Christian church.  It was not until Jesus himself intervened, speaking to Paul on the road to Damascus, that Paul saw that he was actually fighting against God.

Paul recognized all the terrible things he’d done.  And I’m sure he deeply regretted having done them.  But he did not let those things he’d done in his past keep him from serving God now.  Why not?

Because Paul realized that this was not about him.  Paul knew that, on his own, he could never serve God.  Not being who he was.  But Paul knew that he was not on his own.  He was using the power of God.  His ability to serve God had nothing to do with who he was.  It had everything to do with who God is.

And that’s the thing you and I always need to remember.  Our ability to serve God has nothing to do with who we are.  It has everything to do with who God is.  We don’t accomplish anything for God by ourselves.  We only accomplish things for God when God acts in us and through us.

And so, in the final analysis, what we think of ourselves should not matter.  What we think of our abilities and talents should not matter.  Because, when it comes to serving God, we should not be thinking about ourselves.  We should be thinking about God.  No matter how good we think we are, we cannot serve God by relying on our own talents and abilities.  We can only serve God by relying on God.  And no matter how bad we think we are, we can still serve God, because we are not relying on our own talents and abilities.  We can still serve God because we’re relying on God.

And in fact, Paul says that the fact that he was such a sinner--that he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man--has made him better able to serve God.  Again, not because anything about that has made him better.  But because God was able to use him as an example.  Paul is basically saying, look, if God can forgive me, after all I’ve done, then God can forgive anybody.  If God’s love and grace and forgiveness are available to me, the worst sinner you ever saw, then God’s love and grace and forgiveness are available to everybody.  If God can use me, even me, to serve God, then God can use anybody to serve God.  Including you.  And including me.

What it comes down to, really, is a matter of trust and faith.  Do we trust God enough, do we have enough faith in God, to believe that God can use us?  Do we trust God enough, do we have enough faith in God, to believe that God will use us?  Do we trust God enough, do we have enough faith in God, to allow God to use us?

Those are not easy questions to answer.  I mean, we all know what the answer should be.  We know we’re supposed to trust God that much.  We know we’re supposed to have that much faith in God.  We know what the “right” answers are.

But the things is that ultimately, the answers to those questions are not going to come out of our mouths.  They’re going to be shown by our actions.  The things we do, the way we live our lives, that’s what’s going to show how much faith and trust we have in God.  The times we’re willing to step out of our comfort zone to serve God.  The times we’re willing to take risks to serve God.  The times we’re willing to try to do something that we don’t know that we can do because we think God wants us to.  Those are the things that will give our answers to those questions.  Those are the things that will show whether we believe God can and will use us, and those are things that will show whether we’re willing to allow God to use us.

Having said that, let me say one other thing--I know this is not always easy.  In fact, there are many times when it’s not easy.  It’s easy to say.  It’s not always easy to do.  It’s not always easy for us to step out of our comfort zone, to take risks, to try things we don’t know whether we can do.  Stepping out in faith can be a hard thing to do.  Sometimes it’s hard for me.  And I’m sure I’m not the only one.

If it is hard for you, here’s something that may help.  Think of times when you have taken those steps in faith.  Think of times when you have stepped out of your comfort zone, times when you have taken some risks to serve God.  What happened?

And when I ask “what happened”, I’m not asking “Did it work?”  I’m asking, “Did you feel God with you?  Did you feel God helping you?  Did you feel that you were doing what God wanted you to do?”

Those are the important questions.  Because there will be times when what we do does not appear to work.  There are times when, to human eyes, it will look like we failed.  But God does not define success or failure the way humans do.  God defines success by our trust and by our faith.  If we trust God enough to do what God wants us to do, if we have enough faith to take some risks, we will have succeeded no matter what happens.  God does not define success by results.  God tells us to trust and stay faithful, and to leave the results up to God.

Whether our opinion of ourselves is high or low or somewhere in-between, we can all be used by God.  And God wants to use us.  God wants to use you.  And God can use you.  Don’t worry about whether you’re good enough.  It’s not about how good you are.  It’s about how great God is.  We can do all things with God.

Short-Term Humans, Long-Term God.

This is the message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church's Sunday night service Sunday, September 8.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 81.

            Have you ever seen someone you care about, maybe even someone you love, about to make a bad decision?  I’m not talking about something small here, either.  I’m talking about watching someone you care about getting ready to do something that you know is really going to cause them some major problems.  And you try to talk to them, and they don’t want to listen.  You try to point out all the dangers, and they just won’t hear it.  And finally, there’s nothing more you can say.  You have to let them do what they’re determined to do, even though you know it’s not going to work.  And not only is it not going to work, it’s going to haunt them for years to come.  You feel sad about it, but there’s just nothing you can do to stop them.

            I suspect this is something that parents, especially, can relate to.  Because as kids grow, they make choices, and sometimes they make bad choices.  Not always--they make good choices, too, sometimes.  But sometimes they make bad choices, and sometimes the more you try to tell them they’ve made bad choices the more determined they are to keep making them.  And there’s nothing you can do but just let them do it their way, continue to love them, and be ready to help pick up the pieces when things fall apart.  You feel sad about it, because no parent wants to see their children get themselves into trouble.  But there’s just nothing you can do to stop them.  That’s got to be one of the hardest things a parent ever has to do.

            So now, imagine how God must feel when you and I make bad choices like that.  God gave us free will.  God gave us the ability to make choices about our lives.  God also gave us the ability to either accept Him or reject Him.  God gave us the ability to decide that we’re going to love God, rely on God, trust God and do our best to be faithful to God and serve God.  God also gave us the ability to decide that we’re not going to do those things.  God gave us the ability to decide that we’re going to love some other sort of god, to rely on some other sort of god, and to serve some other sort of god.  God also gave us the ability to decide that there’s no god at all, and to decide to serve ourselves and trust ourselves.

            God gave us the ability to make those choices, and God will not interfere with the choices we make.  God could, you know.  God could force us to rely on Him, to trust Him, to serve Him.  I mean, God is God.  God can do anything God chooses to do.  But God does not force us.  God may give us some nudges once in a while.  God may do some things to try to lead us in the right direction.  But God does not force us.  God allows us to go our own way, to do our own thing, and to make the choices we want to make.

            But I think God is sad when we make those bad choices.  And I think that sadness comes through in Psalm 81.  

            God, speaking through the author of the psalm, reminds us of all God has done for us.  God says, “I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket.  In your distress you called and I rescued you.  I answered you...Hear, my people, and I will warn you--if you would only listen to me...I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.  Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”

            God is pleading with the people.  God is pleading with us, really.  God is saying, look, I’ve always taken care of you.  I’ve always made things easier for you.  I’ll do it again.  All you need to do is trust me and listen to me.  Your life would go so much easier if you would just do things My way.

            But the people of that time would not listen, just as we so often don’t listen.  God goes on to say, “But my people would not listen to me.  [They] would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own desires.”

            I just think you can hear the sadness in God’s voice when God says that.  It sounds to me like God really does not like allowing us to make those bad choices.  God does not like allowing us to follow our own desires.  Not because God wants to be a dictator and make us do things God’s way, but because God knows it’s not going to go well for us if we follow our own desires rather than listening to God.  But again, God has given us the ability to make choices and God is not going to take that ability away from us.  So, God allows us to do what we want to do.  God allows us to follow our own desires.

            God lets us know the good things we’re missing out on.  God says, “If my people would only listen to me...how quickly I would subdue their enemies...you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

            God wants to give us so many good things.  I’m not saying that faith in God guarantees us an easy, carefree life.  The Bible does not promise that.  But God does that God’s ways will work out better for us than our ways ever will.  Maybe not in the short-term.  There are times when we need to give up certain short-term pleasures in order to serve God and be faithful to God.  But in the long-term, it will be worth it.  And in the eternal term, it will be worth it all the more.

            But that’s the problem.  Human beings tend not to be eternal-term thinkers.  We’re not even long-term thinkers, really.  And that’s why we tend to fall away from God and chase after other things.  We like things that will make us happy now.  We like things that will bring us pleasure now.  We like things that will help us achieve our goals now.  And if God does not give us those things now, then we tend to go off on our own.  We follow our own desires, rather than following God.

            So, what do we do?  Well, as I was thinking about this, a Bible verse came to my mind.  It’s actually just a part of a verse.  In fact, it’s just three words.  But they may be three of the most important words in the Bible.

            Are you familiar with First Corinthians Chapter Thirteen?  It’s called the love chapter.  It gets used a lot at weddings.  It’s the one that talks about it doesn’t matter if we can speak in tongues, or if we’re great prophets, or if we’re incredibly generous, or anything else.  It says if we don’t have love, none of it matters.  And then come the three words that may help with this.  Those words are these:  “love is patient.”

            Love is patient.  Think about how patient God is with you and me.  That’s why God continues to allow us to have free will, despite all the times we misuse it and make bad decisions.  Because God is patient with us.  God believes in us.  God believes in you, and God believes in me.  And so God will allow us to go our own way.  God will patiently keep working with us.  God will keep trying to get our attention.  God will keep nudging us.  God will keep trying to influence us to trust Him, to be faithful to Him, to rely on Him.  God will be patient with us, because God loves us.

            And sometimes we need to be patient with God, too.  Not that God ever makes bad decisions, of course.  But we need to be patient with God when we feel like we’re doing our best to serve God, and to be faithful to God, and it seems like nothing is happening.  We need to be patient with God when we feel like we’re following God and yet it seems like things are getting worse instead of better.  We need to be patient and trust that God is at work even when we cannot see that God is doing anything.  We need to be patient and trust God when we’re tempted to take short-cuts and try to make things happen on our time schedule, rather than on God’s schedule.  If we love God, we will be patient with God and allow things to happen in God’s way and in God’s time.  And we will trust that God’s ways and God’s timing are always better than ours.

            God created everything in life, including you and me.  That means God knows more about life than we do.  And that means that God knows the best ways for us to live our lives.  It also means that God wants what’s best for us, and that God wants to give us what’s best for us.  But God won’t force us to follow God.  God will allow us to go our own way, to follow our own desires, if that’s what we choose to do.

            God loves us, and so God is patient with us.  Let’s love God, and let’s show that love by being patient with God.  Let’s wait for God to act in God’s way and in God’s time.  Let’s trust that, if we do, God will be there for us.  God is a long-term God.  Let’s be long-term Christians.