The Gift of the Spirit

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, April 26, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Acts 2:22-40.

            I assume most people watching this livestream are Christians.  If there’s anyone who’s not, that’s okay.  We welcome you.  We’re glad you’re watching.  But I assume most of you are Christians.  You have accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            And that’s great.  But once we do that, there’s another step we need to take.  And that’s illustrated in our reading for today.

            The Apostle Peter is talking to a group of Israelites.  He tells them who Jesus is.  He tells them that Jesus is the Savior.  And from the sound of things, they believe it.  They’re on board.  They accept Jesus as the Savior.  

            And in response, they ask a question.  It’s a question that, once it’s asked, seems obvious.  But too many times, we don’t think to ask it.  The question is this:  “Brothers, what shall we do?”

            What shall we do?  Now that we know who Jesus is, now that we know he’s the Son of God, now that we know he’s the Savior, now what?  What difference does it make?  How are we supposed to live differently?  What are we supposed to do differently?  What shall we do?

            It’s an incredibly important question.  If our belief in Jesus Christ does not make a difference, what good is it?  If our accepting Jesus as the Savior does not change us, what good is it?  If we say Jesus is the divine son of God, but we remain the same people we were before, what difference does our Christianity make?

            The people of Israel asked an incredibly insightful question.  “Brothers, what shall we do?”  But I suspect they were totally stunned when they heard the answer.       

            When you ask what should I do, what are you looking for?  A list, right?  You want to know, what are the things I need to do.  A, B, C.  One, two three.  Give me the list of things to do.  I’ll do them, I’ll check them off the list, and I’ll see the progress I’m making.  And once I get through the list, then I’ll know.  I’ll know I have salvation and eternal life.

              But Peter says no.  That’s not how it works.  What you need to do is two things.  Repent, and be baptized.

            We talk a lot about asking for forgiveness.  We probably don’t talk enough about needing to repent.  It’s more than just saying we’re sorry.  A lot more.  To repent means to feel deep regret or remorse for what we’ve done.  It means feeling so bad about what we’ve done that we would give anything to have not done it.  It’s a feeling that we’re really not worthy of God’s forgiveness, but that we’re hoping, somehow, that God will find it in His heart to forgive us anyway.  And then, if it’s true repentance, it’s a deep desire to change.  It’s a determination that, with God’s help, we will be different people, new people.

            That’s why Peter says “repent and be baptized” in that order.  Now, if we’re talking about babies, this does not apply.  Babies have nothing to repent of, and they would not be able to repent if they wanted to.  But when we’re talking about adults, baptism means nothing without repentance.  We talk about baptism as one of God’s means of grace, and it is, but if we don’t repent of our sins, God’s grace is not likely to come into us.  Not because God does not want us to feel God’s grace, but because if we don’t repent of our sins, we’re basically refusing to accept God’s grace.  Again, that’s why repentance is more than just asking for forgiveness.  If we ask for forgiveness, but we don’t do anything to actually change, then we have not repented of anything.  We’re not going to be different people.  We’re not going to be new people.  We’re going to stay the same people we were before.  If we’re not determined to change, baptism is meaningless.

            So that’s what Peter told the people of Israel when they asked what they should do.  Repent and be baptized.  But here’s the most important thing.  Peter says, here’s what’s going to happen if you repent and are baptized.  You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

            We’re not told what the people’s response was to that.  I wonder if they really understood what it meant.  For that matter, I wonder if we understand what it means, either.

            Of the three persons of the trinity, the Holy Spirit is the one most of us understand the least.  We can understand the Son, Jesus Christ, at least to some extent.  We don’t understand everything about him, but he walked on the earth just like you and I do.  We can picture him.  We have some of the words he said.  We know some of the things he did.  We can even understand God the Father, a little bit.  God the Father is the Creator.  God the Father created the entire universe out of nothing.  And we have some of the words of God the Father, too, at least as they come to us through the prophets.

            But the Holy Spirit?  What’s that?  Well, the Holy Spirit is--a Spirit.  A Holy one.  But what does that actually mean?  

            It means everything.  It means that we truly can become that different person, that changed person, that we want to be when we truly repent of our sins.  When we repent, the Holy Spirit is, as the Bible says, poured out onto us.  We receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts.  And it’s the Holy Spirit that actually changes us.

            Have you ever tried to make a significant change in your life?  Most of us have, to one extent or another.  How did it go?

            I don’t know your experiences, but I can tell you about mine.  When I’ve tried to change myself on my own, without the help of the Holy Spirit, it has not worked.  I may change for a while, but eventually I go back to the way I was.  Maybe I make slight progress, but I don’t make a significant change.

            You know why?  Because, when I try to make changes on my own, without the Holy Spirit, I do exactly what the people of Israel were expecting Peter to tell them to do.  I’m making a checklist.  I’m thinking, I need to do more of this.  I need to do less of that.  I need to start doing something else.  I’m looking at faith as a list of things to do.  That’s not how Peter said to look at it.  It’s not how Jesus ever said to look at it, either.

            When we accept the gift of the Holy Spirit, then we can change.  Because the Holy Spirit does not give us a list of things to do.  The Holy Spirit gives us a changed heart.  The Holy Spirit gives us a desire to serve God.  The Holy Spirit gives us a desire to be faithful to God.  The Holy Spirit helps us feel love for God in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit gives us a desire to show our love for God by showing love to our neighbors.  And of course, the most loving thing we can do for our neighbors is to strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ, or to help bring them to faith if they don’t have it.

When you think about it, that’s where change really starts.  Change does not come from the mind.  It does not come from an act of will.  That’s involved in it, but really, change comes from the heart.  A heart that’s filled with the Holy Spirit is a heart that’s changed.  And once that change takes place, once we allow ourselves to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit, the things to do will fall into place.  We won’t need a checklist any more.  The Holy Spirit will show us what to do.  All we need to do is have the courage and the determination to follow.

That’s why Peter called it “the gift of the Holy Spirit”.  To receive the Holy Spirit really is just that.  It’s a gift.  It’s a gift in a lot of ways, but one of the main ones, is that it frees us.  And one of the things it frees us from trying to earn our way into heaven by the things we do.  We could never do that, because we would never know when we’d done enough.  But when we’re saved by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, we receive that gift of the Holy Spirit.  And then, we won’t have to worry about what it is we should do.  The Holy Spirit will tell us and show us what to do.  And the Holy Spirit will give us the wisdom and the courage to do it.

Have you ever had times when you felt like you were really in tune with the Holy Spirit?  When you felt like you were where God wants you to be, doing what God wants you to do.  I suspect most of you have.  It’s a great feeling, right?  It’s a feeling of confidence.  It’s a feeling of assurance.  It’s complete freedom from worry.  When we’re in tune with the Holy Spirit, what could there be to worry about?  God has it handled.  It’s an awesome thing.

            Do we still slip back sometimes?  Sure.  We remain flawed, imperfect people.  Our own selfish desires still get in our way.  But there’s a cure for that, and you probably know what it is.  Prayer.  We need to pray every day.  And it needs to be a heartfelt and sincere prayer.  A prayer where we open our hearts to God, and repent of our sins, and ask for God’s Holy Spirit to be poured out onto us.  A sincere prayer like that is one that God will always answer.  

            It’s great to accept Jesus as the Savior.  But when we accept Jesus, we need to repent of our sins and receive the incredible gift of God’s Holy Spirit.  Then, we can truly be worthy of the name Christian.

Doubts and Faith

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, April 19, 2020.  The Bible verses used are John 20:19-31.

            Most of us have had someone close to us pass away.  It’s just the way life works.  For some of us it happened quite a while ago, for some of us it happened recently.  Some of us have had it happen numerous times.

            It hurts.  It hurts a lot.  And it hurts even more when it’s fresh.  Not that it ever goes away--if it’s someone you’re really close to, you never forget it.  But when it’s just happened, it really hurts.  Sometimes it’s all you can think about.  No matter how hard you try to think about something else, it’s always on your mind.

            So now, imagine that, shortly after you’ve lost someone, some of your friends come up to you and say, “Hey, guess what?  We just saw your loved one.  He’s alive!  He’s doing great!  Never looked better!”

            How would you react to that?  Probably not very well.  I know I would not.  It would seem like some sort of a cruel joke.  It’d seem like they were making fun of me, and on a subject that I did not consider funny at all.  And if they could convince me they were serious, that they really believed they were telling the truth, then I’d probably think they’d gone nuts.  

I mean, how could you not?  If you saw your loved one die, if you saw your loved one placed in the tomb, if you saw the tomb sealed up, and then someone seriously tried to tell you they’d seen your loved one and he was alive, what else could you think?

Tonight we heard the story of Jesus appearing, first to the rest of the disciples, and then to Thomas.  We heard about the disciples telling Thomas they’d seen Jesus, and Thomas refusing to believe until he’d seen for himself.  And then, of course, Jesus appears to Thomas, Thomas does see for himself, and Thomas believes.  And Jesus says, ““Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  And because of that, of course, Thomas has forever been known as “the doubter”.  The phrase “doubting Thomas” is part of the English language.

This is one of three times, other than just in lists of the disciples, that we hear anything about Thomas.  The other two times are also in the gospel of John.  One of them is in chapter eleven, in the context of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus is going back to Judea, where they know he will be in danger, and Thomas says to the other disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  The other is in the context of Jesus’ farewell address, the speech he makes to the disciples just before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus tells the disciples that they know the way to the place where he is going, and Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  And of course, Jesus answers “I am the way.”

Neither of those sound like a man who does not have faith.  In the first of them, Thomas is willing to go to what he thinks is his death in order to stay with Jesus.  That’s a pretty strong faith, if you ask me.  And in the second one, Thomas wants to know where Jesus is going, so he can know how to follow him.  To me, that shows a pretty strong faith, too.

But then, we come to this episode.  And people are convinced that Thomas’ reputation as a doubter is justified.  After all, he refused to take the other disciples’ word for it that Jesus was alive.  He would not believe until he saw for himself.  

But let’s look at the story a little more closely.  The disciples know that the tomb is empty.  They’re gathered together, other than Thomas, behind locked doors out of fear.  Jesus appears to them and says “Peace be with you.”  He shows them his hands and his side.  Then--only then--are we told that the disciples were overjoyed.  In other words, it was only after Jesus showed the disciples his hands and his side that the disciples believed.

Now, that’s not a knock on the other disciples.  Again, this is a pretty unbelievable thing that’s going on here.  But it’s still a fact that the other disciples did not just take somebody’s word for Jesus being alive.  They did not even take Mary Magdalene’s word for the tomb being empty.  They had to run out and see for themselves.  They had to see it all for themselves. They had to see Jesus appear in front of them, they had to see his hands and his side, all of it.  

The disciples go and tell Thomas, of course, and Thomas does not believe them.  And the way it’s written, it sounds like the disciples are kind of disappointed in Thomas.  And maybe they were--no one likes to have someone not believe what they say, especially when that someone is a friend of theirs.  But again, this is a pretty unbelievable thing that happened.  And what Thomas said he wanted to see was nothing more than what the other disciples had seen.  Thomas is called the doubter, but if the disciples were going to call Thomas a doubter then they would have had to call all themselves were doubters, too.  None of them could just accept that Jesus was alive on faith.  They all had to see for themselves.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”.  And yet, Jesus did not condemn the disciples for needing to see to believe.  Jesus did not withhold his blessings from the disciples.  He appeared to them a few more times before ascending to heaven.  He sent the Holy Spirit to them, just as he had promised.  And these disciples, all of whom failed to believe without seeing, went on to start spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They started something that continues two thousand years later.

And the disciples did that despite how flawed they were.  They did that despite how many times they did not understand what Jesus told them.  They did that despite the fact that, sometimes, they had doubts.  They did it because, through it all, they continued to love God.  And because they loved God, they did their best to serve God and be faithful to God.  They did their best to show love to others and to make disciples, just as Jesus had told them to.  And they were confident that, if they did their best, God would bless what they were doing, and God would make things happen the way they were supposed to happen.

You and I are not able to see, the way the disciples were.  We try to “not see and yet believe.”  And most of us succeed, to one degree or another.  But still, a lot of us have doubts sometimes, too.  It’s not that we don’t believe, exactly.  It’s just that, well, it’s a lot to take in.  It’s a lot to accept.  And so sometimes, we wonder.  Can it really be true?  Did Jesus really do all those things we read about in the Bible?  Did Jesus really rise from the dead?  Is Jesus really alive now?  Is there really a Holy Spirit that will come and help us through our lives on earth?

Maybe some people watching this don’t ask those questions.  Maybe your faith is strong enough that you never have those doubts.  If so, that’s awesome.  Seriously, it is.  That’s an incredible amount of faith, and you’re to be congratulated for that.

But a lot of us do ask those questions.  A lot of us do have those doubts.  A lot of us are in the position, as I said a few weeks ago, of the man who said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

So what I want to tell you is that if you do have those doubts sometimes, it’s okay.  Really, it is.  As we’ve seen, the disciples had doubts.  Mother Teresa wrote that she had doubts.  Many of the greatest, most famous followers of Jesus there have ever been have doubts.  So if you have them sometimes, it’s okay.

It’s okay, as long as you don’t let those doubts stop you.  It’s okay, as long as you do what the disciples did.  And that is to continue to love God despite our doubts.  To serve God despite our flaws and imperfections.  To be faithful to God despite the fact that we often don’t understand.  It’s okay to have doubts, as long as we continue to do our best to love others and to go and make disciples the way Jesus told us to.  Because we can be confident, just as the disciples were, that if we do our best, God will bless our efforts and make things happen the way they’re supposed to happen.

            God understands our doubts.  God will not condemn us for them, any more than Jesus condemned the disciples.  God will not withhold His blessings from us.  As long as we stay faithful despite our doubts, as long as we keep doing our best to serve God, God will bless our efforts.  God will use them for God’s honor and God’s glory.  And you and I will take our place among the Christians who have helped to spread Jesus’ message for two thousand years.

The Gift of Laughter

Do you know what kind of lights Noah had on the ark?  Floodlights.

Why did Moses cross the Red Sea?  To get to the other side.

How come they did not play cards on the Ark?  Noah was standing on the deck.

So, why am I giving you these dumb jokes?  Apart from the fact that I like dumb jokes, I mean?  Because laughter is a gift from God.  And right now, it’s a gift we all need to accept and use.

We are living in a way that people were not created to live.  We were not created to live apart from everyone.  God put us into communities, and into churches, and into lots of other groups, because God knows that we need each other.  There are people who need you.  And there are people whom you need.  We need to support each other.  We need to encourage each other.  We need to love each other.

And we need to do that all the time.  But it’s harder right now.  For reasons of physical health, we cannot be together for very long, and even when we are we’re supposed to keep an appropriate distance apart.  And that makes it harder for us to be there for each other.

We still need to do our best.  We can call each other.  Some people can even do video chats.  We can use social media to stay in contact.  We can text or send emails.  There are still lots of ways we can be stay in touch.

But the fact is that none of that is as good as actually being physically together, and there’s no point in pretending that it is.  We frequently have video chats with Wanda’s parents, but it’s not the same as being with them.  I call my Mom a lot, but it’s not the same as actually being with her.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we can do it.  I’m grateful to God for all the technology we have now that makes it possible for us to stay in touch.

But it’s still not the same.  And that’s stressful.  It’s stressful on everyone because, again, people were not created to live this way.  And that stress can get to us.  It can get to everyone.

So, we need to do what we can to get rid of the stress.  Get your rest.  Exercise, if you can.  Eat right.  Do the sorts of things that are good for you.

And find a reason to laugh.  Laughter is one of the best things in the world to relieve stress.  Watch some comedy programs.  Find a joke book.  Find some reason to laugh once in a while.  It’ll help you feel better.  Again, laughter is a gift from God.  Use that gift as much as you can.

By the way, do you know what Adam said to Eve on the day before Christmas?  “It’s Christmas, Eve!”

The Test

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, April 19, 2020.  The Bible verses used are 1 Peter 1:3-9.

            It’s been said that there are no happy endings to stories, just good stopping places.  If you think about your life, you might realize the truth of that statement.  And as we look at the story of Jesus’ life, we can realize the truth of it, too.

            We tend to look at Easter as the happy ending to Jesus’ story.  I mean, yes, we know that he appeared to his disciples a handful of times before he ascended to heaven, but that’s just the afterglow, that short part of the story you always have right after the climax.  The story really ended with Jesus appearing to the women at the tomb and showing them that he was raised from the dead, right?

Well, not really.  Because at that point, nobody knew what Jesus rising from the dead really meant.  They were thrilled to see him, obviously.  But they were also confused, and also a little scared.  Could it really be true?  How had it happened?  What was going to happen next?  So many questions, and so few answers.

We, of course, have had two thousand years to think about it.  So, we feel like we have a few more answers.  And after he had some years to think about it, Simon Peter came up with some answers, too.  Those answers are in our Bible reading for today.

He starts out with a statement of praise to God.  And you know, we’re tempted to skip over that part.  We say, yeah, yeah, they always say stuff like that in the Bible, let’s get to the important part.  But we should not do that.  What God the Father did in sending the divine Son, Jesus Christ, to earth is awesome!  And what the Son himself did in allowing himself to be killed and rising again to give us the chance for salvation and eternal life is awesome, too!  We should praise God for that.  We should constantly be grateful to God for that.  God would not have had to do it.  God could have given us the punishment we deserve for our sins.  Instead, “in His great mercy”, as Peter says, God chose not to do that.

What did God give us instead?  Listen to what Peter says.  God gave us “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Jesus talked about being “born again”.  Sometimes, as Christians, we tend to look at this as some sort of magical, mystical, inexplicable thing.  It’s not.  Peter explains it here.  We received that new birth, that second birth, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  If we accept Jesus as the Savior, we get that second birth.  You, and I, and everyone who has accepted Jesus as the Savior is, in fact, born again.

It’s not magical or mystical, but it is incredible.  It wonderful.  The most wonderful thing imaginable.  A new birth into a living hope.  And, Peter says, “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.”

          We--you and I--get an inheritance from God.  What does that mean?  It means you and I are God’s children.  Because that’s who receives an inheritance, right?  You don’t leave an inheritance to strangers, other than in a murder mystery or something.  And it’s pretty rare that you’d leave an inheritance even to friends.  You leave an inheritance to your children.

        When we accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, when are born again, when we receive that new birth, we are born again, we are born as children of God.  And you know, that’s something we say all the time, too, but think about it.  Think about what an incredible thing that is.  We’re not slaves of God.  We’re not servants of God.  We’re not employees of God.  We’re children of God.  We mere human beings, as weak and inadequate and sinful and unfaithful as we can be, are children of God.  Think of the love God must have for us, that God would call us His children and give us an inheritance.  It’s unbelievable, really.  But it’s true.

         It’s an inheritance that’s kept in heaven for us.  That’s further proof that, when we accept Jesus as the Savior, we go to heaven.  Because how else could we claim our inheritance?  If that’s where it is, and if it’s ours, then we have to go to heaven to claim it.  And that’s pretty cool, too.

         But then Peter talks about us going through trials.  It seems like Peter and Paul and all the other people who wrote the New Testament always have to put that part in there--going through trials.  We wish we did not have to do that.  We wish that when we accept Jesus Christ as the Savior our troubles would be over.  But we all know that’s not how it works.

         But Peter reminds us that those trials will not last forever.  He tells us that “now, for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials”.  And he also tells us why we have to do this.  He says, “so that the proven genuineness of your faith...may result in praise, honor, and glory when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

         None of us likes going through hard times, of course.  But it’s when we go through hard times that we find out how real our faith really is.  It’s easy to have faith when things are going well.  It’s easy to say we trust God when life is going smoothly.  But when we hit the bad times, when things are not going well, when things are not going right and we cannot see how things are going to go right, that’s when we find out whether we really have faith.  That’s when we find out whether we really trust God.

         We have trials.  Our faith gets tested.  But if we can pass the test, then we know.  We know our faith is real.  We know that we have enough faith to trust God even when things are not going well.  We know that we can say, “God, I don’t know what’s going on here.  I don’t understand it.  I don’t know why you’d allow things to happen the way they are.  But God, I trust you.  God, I know you’ve got reasons for allowing this to happen this way, even though I don’t understand them.  So I’m going to keep trusting you.  I’m going to do the best I can, and I’m going to have faith that you’re going to bring me through this.  Even if I don’t see how, I’m going to have faith that you will.  I’m going to trust you.”

         That’s when, as Peter says, we have proven the genuineness of our faith.  And that results in praise, glory, and honor to God.  And it also fills us--you and me--are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

         Now, we may not feel that joy when we’re going through the trials.  We might--sometimes people do--but a lot of times we don’t.  And that’s okay.  When we’re in pain--and I’m talking about all kinds of pain, physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, any kind of pain--when we’re in pain, it’s pretty hard to feel joy.  When we’re going through a really hard time, and we don’t know how we’re ever going to get out of it, it’s pretty hard to feel joy.

         We just finished celebrating Easter.  When Jesus went through what he went through--being arrested, being beaten, being mocked, being tortured, and finally being killed--do you think he was feeling joy?  I doubt it.  He may, in the end, have felt satisfaction.  He may have felt a sense of accomplishment that he had done what he was sent to the earth to do.  But joy?  I suspect not.

         All of us are going through a lot right now.  We’re going through something we’ve never experienced before.  The effect of it is different for all of us--for some of us it’s easier, for some of us it’s harder.  For some it’s really hard.  And so, you’re probably going through a lot of ups and downs.  And you may be having some trouble feeling joy right now.

         And that’s okay.  Let yourself feel what you feel.  It’s okay.  God understands.  If you need someone to talk to, try find someone.  You can always talk to me if you want.  And of course, you can always talk to God.  God will understand.

         And remember, too, that nothing in this life is permanent.  God is permanent.  God is forever.  But nothing else in this world is.  That means that what you’re going through is not going to last.  It’s going to go away at some point.  Things will change.  Things will get better.

         But through all this, keep trusting God.  Keep having faith in God.  Know that God is there.  God sees what you’re going through.  God sees what we’re all going through.  And God will act in God’s way and in God’s time.  And it will result in praise, honor, and glory to God.

         And in the end, when we keep our faith strong, we will feel that joy.  We will feel, as Peter says, an inexpressible and glorious joy.  The trial will be over, and we will have passed the test.  We will feel the joy that comes from knowing God is with us.  And we will give praise, honor, and glory to God.

Do Not Be Afraid

The message given in the Easter Sunday evening service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 28:1-10.

            It’s Easter Sunday!  It’s one of the two biggest celebrations Christianity has, along with Christmas.  In fact, some would argue that Easter should be the bigger celebration of the two.  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

            So it seems strange that, in Matthew’s version of the resurrection story, there’s a phrase that appears twice.  That phrase is this:  Do not be afraid.

            Do not be afraid?  Christ is risen!  He’s alive!  He defeated death itself!  The one we thought was killed is alive again!  Why would we be afraid?

            But they were.  In fact, when the angel of the Lord appeared, we’re told that the guards were so afraid “that they shook and became like dead men.”

            And we say, okay, well, sure.  These were the Roman guards.  They did not believe in Christ.  They were not even Jewish.  They did not understand about God and about angels.  Naturally they were afraid.

            But they were not the only ones.  When Jesus appears to the women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, Jesus says to them, “Do not be afraid.”  Which means they must have been afraid, right?  Jesus would not have had to say it otherwise.

            Why were they afraid?  Because they did not understand.  And we are quite often scared of things we don’t understand.  

You know, sometimes we’ve heard this story so many times that we forget how incredible it really is.  Yes, of course they were happy that Jesus was alive, but--how could this be?  He was dead.  We saw him die.  He was completely and fully deceased.  There was no question about it.  We saw his lifeless body.  We saw him placed in the tomb.  We saw the tomb sealed.  How in the world can he now be alive?

If they’d thought about it, they’d have remembered.  They’d have remembered that Jesus told them this was going to happen.  They’d have remembered that Jesus said that he would be killed, and then would rise again in three days.  But they really had not understood that when Jesus said it, and so they were scared.  And when we’re scared, we don’t think straight.  And so, even though they were happy to see Jesus alive, they were afraid.

But it was not just Jesus’ rising from the dead that scared them.  His death had scared them, too.  In fact, death itself is scary to us.  And it’s scary to us because we really don’t understand it.

            I mean, we obviously understand it in one sense.  We understand what it means not to be alive on earth any more.  But that’s not the thing we want to understand.  It’s what happens next.  What happens after we die?  Does anything happen after we die?  Do we go to heaven?  And if so, what does that even mean?  What does it mean to say we go to heaven?  What’s heaven like?  What are we like there?  And on and on and on.  We have so many questions, and we don’t have any answers.  We have no clue about what really happens when we die.  And so, we’re scared of it.  In fact, you might almost say that we’re scared to death of death.

            Now, don’t misunderstand me.  There’s an extent to which a fear of death is natural and normal and in fact is a good thing.  God put a survival instinct into each one of us.  God has plans for each of us while we’re on earth.  There are things that each of us is supposed to do while we’re here.  And it’s not for us to decide when we’ve done them all.  As long as we’re here, God has some reason for us to be here.  That reason may change over time.  The things we’re supposed to do now may not be the same as the things we were supposed to do years ago.  The things we’re supposed to do years from now may not be the same as the things we’re supposed to do now.  But still, as long as we’re here there are things we’re supposed to do, and only God knows when we’ve done them all.  So until that day comes, we’re supposed to take reasonable precautions to stay alive and healthy so we can do them.

            But we can carry the fear of death too far.  Because the one thing we know about death is that it’s going to come to all of us.  Statistics show that, on average, one out of every one person dies at some point.  And if we spend our lives afraid of that fact, it’s going to be a lot harder for us to do the things God put us here to do.

            And that brings me back to Easter.  We speak of Jesus dying so that our sins could be forgiven.  And that’s true, but I don’t know if we spend enough time thinking through all the implications of that.

            It’s through our acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Savior that our sins are forgiven.  And because our sins are forgiven, we have salvation and eternal life.  We say that, but really think about it.  Because our sins are forgiven, we--you and I and everyone who accepts Jesus as the Savior--have salvation and eternal life.

            You know, Jesus had some fear of dying.  Not fear of death, but fear of dying.  Because he knew how painful his death was going to be.  That’s why he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for God to find some other way to bring salvation to people.  He knew the pain he was going to have to go through, and he was wanting to avoid that somehow, just as anyone would.

            Jesus was afraid of the pain he would have to go through in dying.  But he was not afraid of death itself.  Because Jesus knew that death had no hold over him.  He had told the disciples where he was going.  He was returning to God the Father.  He did not fear death because he was going to defeat death.  And he knew it.

            But here’s the thing.  When Jesus defeated death, he did not just defeat it for himself.  He defeated death for you and me and everyone else who accepts Jesus as the Savior.  After all, that’s what “eternal life” means!  Yes, of course, the time will come when we will leave this earth.  We will die, in that sense.  But because of our faith in Jesus, death has no hold over us, just as it had no hold over Jesus.  We will go to heaven to be with God the Father.

            Jesus said that to the disciples.  Remember, he said that he was going to prepare a place for us in heaven.  And when the time was right, he was going to come back and take us to that place.  And you know that a place that Jesus has prepared, a place that’s in the presence of God the Father--well, that has to be a pretty awesome place.  It’s got to be more awesome than anything you and I could ever imagine.

            Because of what Jesus did for us, we do not have to be afraid of death.  Jesus has defeated death.  Jesus did not just defeat death for himself.  He defeated it for us, too.  Because of that, we don’t need to have any fear, even of death.

            But you know what else we don’t have to be afraid of?  Life!  If we don’t have to be afraid of death, then why should we ever need to be afraid of life?  We don’t.  And God does not want us to be.  

            Now, again, God does not want us to take foolish chances.  God wants us to act reasonably.  But what’s the most reasonable thing we can do?  Trust God.  Follow God.  Be faithful to God.  Do the things God wants us to do.  Love our neighbors.  Love our enemies.  Go and make disciples.  Those are the most reasonable things that we, as Christians, can do.  Because those are the things Jesus told us to do.  And if we do those things, we don’t live our lives being afraid.

            And that’s what we all want, right?  To not live our lives not being afraid.  Because fear holds us back in so many ways.  Fear makes us cowards.  Fear keeps us from trusting people.  Fear makes us selfish, because we’re afraid no one will be there for us.  Fear keeps us from trusting ourselves.  Fear makes us hesitant to try anything, because we’re afraid we’ll fail.  And fear keeps us from trusting God.  Fear makes us believe that evil will win, that things will never work out right, that things will simply keep going from bad to worse until the inevitable end.

            None of us likes to feel that way.  None of us wants to feel that way.  And because of Easter, we do not have to feel that way.  We do not have to live our lives in fear.  We can be confident in life.  We can do what we know God wants us to do, knowing that God will always be faithful to us.  Knowing that if we do our part, God will always do God’s part, and things will go the way they’re supposed to go.  And we do not even have to fear death.  We can even be confident in death, knowing that Jesus has defeated death, not just for himself, but for all of us.

            Do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid of life, and do not be afraid of death.  Jesus has defeated death.  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Stronger Than Ever

Well, Easter is over.  It was a different Easter, to be sure.  We were not able to have a big crowd in church--in fact, we did not have anyone in church, other than the people necessary to make the livestream work.  We did not have the big family gatherings we usually have.  In fact, some of you may have spent Easter alone.

The pastor-y thing to say, of course, is that you were not really alone, that God was with you.  And of course, that’s true, and you know that.  And it helps.  But still, it does not really take the place of having your loved ones around you.  

We’re in an unusual situation right now.  We cannot do a lot of the things we usually do.  We cannot go the places we usually go.  We cannot see the people we usually see.  And it’s hard.  And all we can do is try to make the best of it.

I will say that one thing that has been nice for me is to see the number of people who’ve stepped up to help out around the church.  We livestream our services over the internet now, and they’re recorded and are available on the Venture communications cable system the next day.  It takes people to get that done, and people have stepped up and done it.  And others have stepped up to help us try to figure out how to make those broadcasts better.  Our Sunday school and Faith Builders teachers have stepped up, making sure the kids still get some Christian education.  Still others, have helped out in other ways, figuring out ways to try to keep our congregations connected and try to spread the word about prayer concerns.  And still others have stepped up their giving, knowing that without in-person worship we cannot pass the plate around, and so we do not have as much money coming in.

What it shows, once again, is that we have some awesome people around here.  And it’s not just the people of the United Methodist church, either.  Those are, for the most part, the ones I’m aware of, but I’m sure people in other churches, in all three of our communities, are stepping up, too.  

It’s easy to get down on people.  We watch the news, and it seems like all we see is the bad things that happen in the world.  After a while, we start to get the impression that most people are bad.  But it’s not true.  Most people are good.  Most people are doing their best to live good lives.  And when bad things happen, a lot of times you see people step up and do even better than what they thought was their best.  This is one of those times, and it’s pretty cool to see.

God made human beings to be incredibly adaptable.  We are adapting to this situation.  And we will continue to adapt.  We will not only survive this, we will thrive.  We will come out of this stronger than ever.  Because that’s how God made us.  And, since God made us that way, God will help us become stronger than ever.  Because that’s who God is.

I hope you had a happy Easter.  We will get through this.  Hang in there.  Know that you are in our prayers.  Best wishes always.

Priorities

This was written during Holy Week, and I just didn't get around to posting it until now.  Perhaps you will still find some meaning in it.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday.  This is the start of what is often referred to as Holy Week.  This Thursday will be Maundy Thursday.  Then comes Good Friday.  And of course, next Sunday is Easter Sunday.

In one sense, of course, every week should be Holy Week.  We should always try to serve God and be faithful to God and show our love to God.  And, of course, the best way we can show our love to God is to show our love to others. 

But all of us are human.  And that means that we all tend to lose our focus at times.  We know we should serve God and be faithful to God, and we are in our way, but we let other things distract us.  We let other things become more important than they should be.  We know God should be our top priority, but we think this other thing needs to be done right now.  God will always be there.  We’ll get around to God when we have more time.

God will always be there, of course.  But God does not deserve to be pushed aside for other things.  God should be our top priority at all times, not because God is vain or arrogant or anything but because God deserves that.  God deserves our full attention and love and worship at all times.

And so it’s good to have a week we refer to as Holy Week.  It’s a chance for us to refocus our lives.  It’s a chance for us to get our priorities straight.  It’s a chance for us to get the distractions out of the way.  It’s a chance for us to push aside all the things that distract us, and get back to making God our top priority.

God has a plan for your life.  God always has had a plan for your life.  I suspect there are times you’ve known that, when you’ve felt like you were exactly where God wanted you to be and were doing exactly what God wanted you to do.  But I suspect there have been other times when you’ve wondered.  There have been times when you wondered if you really were following God’s plan for your life. 

And, as you get older, maybe you wonder if you’ve completed God’s plan for your life.  At your age, at your stage of life, can God still have a plan for you?  Are there still things you can do to serve God?

The answer is yes.  God still does have a plan for you.  There are still things you can do to serve God.  They may not be the same things they used to be.  They may seem like very small things.  But you can still serve God in some way, probably in a variety of ways.  As long as we’re on earth, God has reasons for us to be here.  It’s up to us to find those reasons.

Sometimes that’s not easy.  Here’s what I suggest you do.  First, of course, pray.  Ask God to show you what the plan is for your life right now.  Ask God to show you what you can do to serve God.  But second, until you get an answer, keep doing the best you can.  Keep doing the best you can to serve God.  Do the things you do.  Do a little extra if you can.  Think about how you can serve God by doing those things.  Do that until you get an answer, because eventually you will.  And in fact, it may be through the doing of those things that the answer becomes known to you.

So during this Holy Week, make God your top priority.  And ask God what the plan is for your life.  If we do that honestly and faithfully, God will bless us.  And this might just be the most meaningful Holy Week we’ve ever had.

Jesus Shows Up

The message on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are John 20:1-18.

            We think of Easter Sunday as a celebration.  And it is!  And it should be!  The tomb is empty!  He is risen!  He’s alive!  Jesus Christ, proving once and for all who he was and who he is.  Jesus Christ, defeating death itself!  And not just defeating death for himself, but for all of us who believe!  There’s nothing more important to celebrate than that!

            But, on that first Easter Sunday morning, no one was celebrating.  Not at first anyway.  When people woke up that first Easter morning, all they knew was that Jesus was dead.  They had put so much hope into him.  They had thought he was the one who was going to bring salvation to Israel.  Some of them had followed him for years.  They had believed, they had trusted, they had hoped.  But now he was dead.  Jesus was dead, and for all they knew the authorities were going to come after all his followers.  It looked like it was all over.

            Mary goes out to the tomb.  Other gospels tell us that she went with others to prepare the body for burial, but John does not tell us that.  John does not give us a reason why Mary went out to the tomb.  It just tells us she went.  And when she got there, she saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance, and the tomb was empty.

            We say “the tomb was empty” in a tone of joy, of triumph.  We know what the tomb being empty means.  But Mary Magdalene did not know.  When she saw that the tomb was empty, she was miserable.  Can you imagine how she felt?  Think about it.  Someone you love has passed.  That’s bad enough.  But now, you don’t even know where their body is.  You feel like you cannot even grieve properly.  What an awful thing.  This was probably the lowest point of Mary Magdalene’s life.

            She’s frantic.  She goes running to the disciples and tells them what happened.  Simon Peter and John go running out to the tomb.  They see the grave clothes.  It’s said of John that “he saw and believed”, but we’re not told just what he believed.  Did he believe that Jesus was alive?  Or did he just believe that Mary had told the truth about Jesus not being there?  At any rate, before too long John and Simon Peter leave.

            Mary stays.  She’s crying.  We don’t know why she stayed.  Maybe it comforted her a little to be in the place where she’d last seen Jesus.  Maybe she was just feeling too overcome with sadness to even move.  Maybe she stayed there because, well, where else would she go?  But at any rate, she stayed.

            At some point she looks into the tomb.  She sees the two angels.  She turns, and she sees Jesus.  At first she does not recognize him, but eventually she does.  And her tears of sadness turn into tears of joy.  In just a few minutes, a few seconds, really, Mary Magdalene goes from having the worst day of her life to having the best day of her life.

            Now, I doubt that Mary really knew exactly what had happened.  And I doubt even more that she fully understood what it meant.  But in that moment, none of that mattered.  She knew that, somehow, in some way, Jesus was alive!  And at that moment, that was all she needed to know.

            And when you think about it, Jesus can do for us what he did for Mary Magdalene.  He can take the worst day of our life and turn it into the best day of our life.  And he can do it in a very short time.

            In fact, I suspect there are some of us for whom Jesus has done that.  If we really think about it, I’m confident that there are at least some of us who can think of a time when that happened.  A time when things were going wrong, when we were having a really bad day.  And then, suddenly, in some way, Jesus showed up.  And our bad day suddenly turned into a really good day.

            Now, when I say “Jesus showed up”, I don’t necessarily mean that Jesus showed up the way he showed up for Mary Magdalene.  You may not have actually seen the physical presence of Jesus.  You might have--I mean, as the divine Son of God Jesus can do that if Jesus chooses to.

            But more likely, Jesus showed up in some other way.  Maybe Jesus showed up in the form of something that suddenly went right, something you were not expecting.  An unexpected compliment from a friend, or a job that you were dreading that turned out to be a lot easier than you thought it would be.  Or maybe Jesus showed up in the form of an inner voice, or maybe just a feeling, that said the Lord is with you and things are going to be all right.  Or maybe Jesus showed up in the form of some other person, someone who was there for you when you needed them, someone who showed up to help just when you needed help, or even someone who showed us just to sit with you and let you know they cared.

            Can you think of a time like that?  I think a lot of us probably can.  Maybe, at the time, you did not recognize Jesus, just like Mary Magdalene did not recognize Jesus at first.  Maybe you thought it was just a coincidence.  Maybe you thought it was just good luck.  Or maybe, at the time, you thought how fortunate you were to have someone help you, but you did not think about where that good fortune came from.  Or maybe at the time, you did not think much of it at all.  Maybe you just accepted it and went about your business.  

            Maybe later you did realize it was Jesus.  Or, maybe, this is the first time you ever thought of it that way.  Maybe, sometimes, we need to hear Jesus speak our name, just as Mary needed to hear Jesus speak her name, before we recognize that it really is Jesus.

            You know, it’s kind of funny.  We say “Jesus is alive”.  We especially say it today, on Easter Sunday.  It’s one of the things we’re celebrating today, that “Jesus is alive”.  And yet, for a lot of us, it sounds strange to think about Jesus actually showing up for us.  In fact, I suspect that when I said that, there were some who were a little skeptical.  Or maybe there were some who thought of it as “preacher talk”, you know, the sort of thing a pastor says, and you kind of go along with it, but you don’t think it actually happens in real life.

            But if we truly believe that Jesus is alive, then why should we not believe that Jesus shows up for us?  Why should that be such a strange notion?  Why should it sound odd to us that Jesus would take an active interest in our lives, just as he took an active interest in the lives of Mary Magdalene and John and Simon Peter and all sorts of other people when he was on earth?

            After all, we’re talking about our Lord and Savior here.  And again, we say those words, but sometimes we don’t think about what they mean.  We sing “Jesus loves me, this I know”, but somehow, too many times, we don’t make the connection between Jesus loving us and Jesus actively being there for us and showing up in our lives.

            Think of it this way.  Think about the people you love.  If they needed your help, would you help them?  If they needed someone to be there for them, would you be there?  If they were having a bad day, would you do what you could to turn it into a good day?  Sure you would, every time.  

So why would we expect less from Jesus Christ?  If we believe, as the Apostle Paul said, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, then why we would not expect not expect Jesus to do at least what we would do?  Why would we not expect Jesus to help us when we need help, to be there for us when we need someone, to turn our bad days into good days?  In fact, why would we not expect the divine Son, Jesus Christ, to do much more than we mere human beings would do?

Jesus loves you.  And Jesus will be there for you.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  That does not mean that we get everything we want.  That does not mean that everything always goes smoothly.  Things did not always go smoothly for Jesus.  Things did not always go smoothly for the disciples.  Saying Jesus loves you and Jesus will be there you is not a guarantee of an easy life, and it never has been.  You know that.

But it is a guarantee that, no matter what we have to face, we will not have to face it alone.  Jesus will be there for us.  No matter what’s going on, Jesus will help us.  And if we open our hearts, if we allow Jesus to lead us, if we go the way Jesus shows us to go, Jesus will take our bad days and turn them into good days.  It might take some time--it may not happen right away.  Or it might.  It might happen in a matter of a few seconds, just like it did for Mary Magdalene.

The tomb is empty!  Jesus is risen!  He’s alive!  And he loves us, and he will always be there for us.  Hallelujah!  Amen.

He Went Through It For Us

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Good Friday, April 10, 2020.  The Bible verses used are John 19:1-30.

            We read this story, in one form or another, every year on Good Friday.  But, like many stories that we hear a lot, we sometimes lose the impact of it.  And besides, we know the happy ending.  We know that Easter is going to come.  We know that on Sunday, they came to the tomb and found it empty.  We know that Jesus was raised from the dead.

            And besides, we don’t really like to think about it.  We don’t like to think about what was done to Jesus.  We feel bad.  Maybe we even feel guilty.  But if we don’t really think about what Jesus went through, we cannot fully appreciate the sacrifice Jesus made.  We can still be grateful for it.  But we don’t think about what it took for Jesus to do what he did.  We don’t think about all that Jesus went through for our salvation.

            At the point at which we pick up the story tonight, Jesus has already been arrested.  He’s been questioned by the high priest.  He’s been slapped in the face by one of the high priest’s officials.  He’s been bound, tied up.  He’s been questioned by Pilate.  He’s heard Pilate offer to release him, only to have the people say they wanted someone else released instead.

            All of that was bad enough, really.  I mean, for the divine Son of God to be arrested like a common criminal.  For the Messiah, the Savior, to be slapped in the face by some minor official.  To hear Pilate offering to release him, only to hear the people, his own people, the people he had come to save, say they wanted somebody released instead.  That alone is a terrible thing for the divine Son to have to go through.

            But that was only the beginning.  Jesus was flogged.  We read that in one sentence and move on.  But flogging was incredibly painful.  Here’s how one source describes it:  “The whip had a short handle and generally two or three long thick thongs, each weighted at some distance from their extremity with lead balls or mutton bones. In action, the thongs cut the skin, while the balls or bones created deep contusions. The result was significant hemorrhage and considerable weakening of the vital resistance of the victim. In compensation, if one may call it that, this weakening shortened their agony on the cross.”

            That’s what we’re talking about when we say Jesus was flogged.  And then the soldiers put together a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus’ head.  We kind of skip right over that, too.  But think about how painful thorns are.  Think about how sharp they are.  Now think about having that put on your head.  And there’s no reason to think the soldiers placed it gently.  It seems more likely to me that they put it on hard.  They pressed it on Jesus’ head.  I suspect they put it on hard enough that Jesus head was bleeding from the crown of thorns, as well as the blood that came from the flogging.

            Then came the mockery.  Putting a purple robe on Jesus, the sign of royalty.  Saying, “Hail, King of the Jews” and slapping him in the face.  Repeatedly.  Over and over and over.

            Then, Pilate takes Jesus out to the people.  Think about what he must have looked like.  Covered with blood.  His clothes ragged and torn.  The purple robe.  The crown of thorns.  And then, as he’s brought in front of the people, he hears them shouting “Crucify!  Crucify!”  And it’s not like this would’ve been a nice, polite chorus.  The tone of their voices would have been pure, unfiltered hatred.  It would have to be, to see this pitiful-looking man and demand that he be crucified.  There was nothing tame about this shout.  There was nothing but complete and total hatred for Jesus coming from that crowd.

            Pilate makes at least a half-hearted attempt to reason with them, but of course you cannot reason with hatred.  Hatred does not need reasons--hate is its own reason.  And so finally, Pilate gives in.  Jesus will be crucified.

            Jesus has to carry the cross to where he’s going to be crucified.  And we don’t think about that very much, either.  From what I’ve read, a cross, at that time would’ve weighed about three hundred pounds.  Some believe that he would’ve only had to carry the crossbar, not the entire cross, but still, that weighed about a hundred pounds.  Again, think about Jesus’ condition.  He’s been beaten.  He’s got blood all over him.  He has not had anything to eat since the night before.  From the sound of it, he did not get much if any sleep the night before.  There he is, weak and tired, having to carry something that weighs at least a hundred pounds.  We don’t know how far he had to carry it--it’s estimated that it would’ve been somewhere around three hundred thirty yards.  But in his weakened condition, it probably felt like about thirty miles to Jesus.

            He gets to Golgotha, “the place of the skull”.  He’s nailed to the cross.  John kind of glosses over that part.  The nails go into his hands.  They go into his feet.  He’s not very far off the ground, from what I’ve read.  We tend to picture Jesus as hanging way up high, but he may have only been a foot or less off the ground.  It would’ve been easier to pound the nails in that way, of course, and it really would not have mattered how far off the ground he was.  Jesus hangs there.  He hangs there until he dies.

            We don’t know for sure what he died of.  There were a few things that might be the actual cause of death when you were crucified.  He might have suffocated, lacking the strength to breathe.  It might have been the loss of blood.  It might have been heart failure.  Whatever it was, it was not easy.  Jesus died a very difficult, very painful death.

            That’s the sacrifice Jesus made for us.  He would not have had to, of course.  Jesus could’ve stopped it in any number of ways and any number of times.  After all, Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen, he knew when it was going to happen, and he knew how it was going to happen.  He would not have had to go through with it.  At any time, he could’ve avoided that painful death on the cross.

            And of course, that makes Jesus’ sacrifice even more impressive.  Knowing that he did not have to do it.  Knowing that he could’ve avoided it so easily.  And yet, he went through it all anyway.  He did that for at least two reasons.

            One of them is his obedience to God the Father.  Jesus knew this was what God wanted.  He prayed to avoid it, in the Garden of Gethsemane.  But when he saw that it had to be this way, that the salvation of human beings depended on it, he went through with it.  The divine Son was obedient to the divine Father.  He was able to say “not my will, but your will be done.”

            But the second reason is Jesus’ love for us.  For you and for me.  And for everyone else who has ever lived or ever will.  Jesus went through all this--the betrayal, the arrest, the humiliation, the torture, the mockery, the hatred, and finally death--because of the incredible love Jesus has for every person on earth.

            Jesus went through all that so that our sins would be forgiven.  Jesus went through all that so that you and I would not have to take the punishment we deserve for our sins.  Jesus went through all that so that all you and I and anyone else would ever have to do is accept Jesus Christ as the Savior.  And when we do that, we get salvation and eternal life.

            That is such an awesome love.  It’s a love beyond understanding.  Why should Jesus love us that much?  What did Jesus get out of the deal?  Nothing that I can see.  Why would he do it?

            But the thing is, Jesus never asked those questions.  Jesus never asked “why should I love humans that much?”  Because love does not ask questions like that.  Love does not ask why.  Love does not ask “what do I get out of it?”  Love does not look to “get something out of it.”  When we do something because we’re expecting something in return, we’re not acting out of love.  You don’t love because you want to get something out of it.  You don’t love “because” anything.  Love does not act for what we would consider “logical” reasons.  Love is its own reason.  You love because you love.

            That’s the love Jesus has for us.  Jesus did not go through this because thought he’d get something out of it.  He went through because he loves us.  Period.

            You and I should be in awe of that kind of love.  We should be humbled by that kind of love.  And we should be eternally grateful for that kind of love.

            We don’t like to think about the events of Good Friday.  But we should.  Because it’s only by thinking about what Jesus went through that we can fully appreciate Jesus’ love for us.  So on this night, let’s think about what Jesus went through.  Let’s be grateful for it.  And let’s feel Jesus’ love.