Generous Giving

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on August 29, 2021.  The Bible verses used are 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.

            When you heard that Bible reading, some of you might have thought, “Oh, boy, here we go.  Here comes a sermon on giving.  The church must need money or something.”

            Well, yes and no.  The church does need money, of course.  That’s always true.  But that’s not what this sermon is going to be about.  Because that’s not what our Bible reading is about.  

In fact, it’s too bad that this passage is sometimes used that way, because doing so misses the point of the passage.  The Apostle Paul is not writing about giving to the church.  Paul does not say anything about the church.  But Paul does have a lot to say about giving in this passage.  Let’s look at it.

First, how much should you give?  Paul says, basically, that’s up to you.  He says each person should give whatever they decide to give.  And, he says, don’t give a certain amount just because you feel like you have to.  Don’t give a certain amount because you feel like you’re forced to or because you’ll feel guilty about it if you don’t give that much.  Give because you want to, and give the amount you want to.  As we’ve heard so many times, God loves a cheerful giver.

But Paul does say that there are reasons to give generously.  For one thing, he says, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”  In other words, how much good do you want your giving to do?  Do you want it to just do a little good?  Then just give a little.  Do you want it to do a lot of good?  Then give a lot!  Give generously.  Give as much as you can afford to give.  The more you give, the more good you will do.

And, Paul says, when you’re thinking about “how much you can afford to give”, don’t be afraid.  Don’t think, oh, I cannot give very much, because I have to make sure I still have plenty.  Paul says that, when we’re figuring out how much we can afford to give, we need to make sure we trust God.

Paul says, “he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.”  In other words, when we step out in faith, when we have enough trust in God to sometimes give more than we’re sure we can afford, God will take care of us.  God will make sure that not only can we cover what we’ve promised to give, but we’ll have enough for ourselves, too.  And--this is Pastor Jeff talking now, not Paul--I can tell you that in my life, this has been true.  Every time I’ve increased my giving, God has given us enough money to take care of it.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been scary sometimes.  There have been times when I was very much afraid to increase my giving, because I did not know where the money was going to come from.  I’ve hesitated, out of fear that I would not have enough.  Sometimes I still do that.  So if you’re afraid of giving more, I understand.  It’s not easy.  It takes courage to trust God that much.  It takes faith to trust God that much.

But here’s the thing.  You don’t have to do this in one big leap.  Try taking a small step.  Just increase your giving a little bit.  See what happens.  See if God gives you enough to cover it.  And if, over time, you see that God is giving you enough, try increasing your giving a little bit more.  See if God gives you enough again.  Give God a chance to show you how faithful and trustworthy God is.  I think God will prove that He’s worthy of our faith and trust.

Now, in talking about giving, who should we give to?  Because again, Paul says nothing about giving to the church.  The church will accept it, of course, and we’ll try to use the money wisely.  But that’s not what Paul is talking about.  Paul specifically references two groups of people to give to, and they’re not mutually exclusive at all.  Paul quotes Psalm 112 and says, “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor.”  And a few verses later, Paul writes about “supplying the needs of the Lord’s people.”

Give to the poor.  Give to the Lord’s people.  We could all be considered the Lord’s people, of course--God made all of us.  So, really, we are free to give to whomever we choose to give to.  But Paul put a special emphasis on giving to the poor.  And of course, they’re the ones who need our gifts the most.

Now, notice, Paul makes this a personal obligation.  Paul does not say, “get the government to give to the poor.”  He does not say, “Form a nonprofit corporation to give to the poor.”  That’s not to say that either of those is a bad thing, but the point is that Paul does not allow us to push this responsibility onto someone else.  This is something each of us is supposed to do personally.

But why should we do this at all?  I mean, it’s a good thing to do, I suppose, but there are lots of good things to do.  Is that the only reason we’re supposed to do this, because it’s a good thing to do?

No.  Paul tells us why we need to do this.  He says “your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”  And he goes on to make that point again.  “The service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.”

That’s the point of our generosity.  It’s not just to do something nice for someone.  It’s to bring people to Christ.  Our generosity is aimed at leading people to praise God and give thanks to God.

That’s why we cannot do this through some organization.  When people receive something from the government, that’s not something that’s going to lead them to praise God and give thanks to God.  When people receive something from the United Way, that’s not something that’s going to lead them to praise God and give thanks to God.  And that’s not meant as a criticism of the government or the United Way.  But the point is, again, that as Christians, we don’t give just because it’s a good thing to do.  We give to lead people to Christ.  We give to lead people to praise God and give thanks to God.

And note, we don’t lead them to Christ by trying to force the gospel on them.  Paul references two ways in which our giving leads people to Christ.  The first is “our confession of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”  Telling people about Jesus Christ.  Telling them who he is, telling them how he is the Savior and the way to eternal life.  And the second is “the service by which we have proved ourselves”, which accompanies what we say.  Our generosity in giving is what gives authority and credibility to what we say about Jesus.  It shows that we’re not just saying words, that we truly believe them and are truly trying to live by them.

And so, we return to where we started.  “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”  That’s not just saying that the more we give the more good we’ll do.  It’s saying that the more we give, the more effective our witness is.  The more we give, the more people will believe what we say.  The more we give, the more authority and credibility we will have with people when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.  In other words, the more generously we give, the more we can do what Jesus told us to do:  make disciples of Jesus Christ.

And one more thing:  Note that nowhere in this passage does Paul mention the word “money”.  Money is one thing we can give, but it is not the only thing we can give.  We can give our time.  We can give our abilities and talents.  We can give our love and our care.  There are all kinds of things we can give.  Money is a good thing to give, and it’s always useful.  But there are many other things we can give, too.  And all of them, if we give them generously, will help us make disciples of Jesus Christ.

It’s up to each of us to decide what we will give and how much of it we will give.  I hope, whatever we give, we will give it cheerfully, because God does love a cheerful giver.  But I also hope we will give it generously, so we can reap a bountiful harvest of souls for Jesus Christ.

 

Ball of Confusion

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, August 29, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Isaiah 63:7-16.

            There’s an old song by the Temptations called “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)”.  The song is about fifty years old, but the title is just as accurate today as it was then, if not more accurate.

            It also was pretty accurate about two thousand seven hundred years ago, when the book of Isaiah was written.  Maybe not the whole world, but at least the part that the people of Israel lived in back in Isaiah’s time, was a ball of confusion.  Israel had enemies on all sides.  The very existence of the nation was threatened.  

            The people of Israel did not understand what was going on.  After all, they were supposed to be God’s chosen people.  God was supposed to protect them.  God was supposed to take care of them.  God was supposed to make them prosper.  How could these terrible things be happening to them?

            Isaiah explains it.  He mentions all the good things God had done for Israel, things done not because Israel deserved them, but because of God’s great compassion and kindness.  He tells how God said, “Surely they are my people, children who will be true to me.”  And because they were God’s people, God’s children, God showed them love and mercy and carried them to success and prosperity, for many years and many generations.

But then, as Isaiah says, “they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit.”  And they continued to do so.  And continued to do so.  And finally, God had enough.  And so, as Isaiah says, God “turned and became their enemy and He Himself fought against them.”

The people of Israel had brought this on themselves.  And yet, they still could not understand it.  They were saying, in effect, “God, where did you go?  Why are you not helping us?  You always helped us before.  Why are you not there for us now?

What had happened is that the people of Israel had taken God for granted.  God had always taken care of them.  Therefore, God always would take care of them, no matter what they did.  After all, they were God’s chosen people, right?  God owed it to them to take care of them.

And they found out different.  It was not that God did not love them.  It was not that God did not care about them.  But as the Apostle Paul says in Galatians, Chapter Six, God is not to be mocked.  God is not to be taken for granted.  When they did not pay attention to God, when they did not honor God and worship God, God took away His support from them.  Not because God did not love them, but because God loved them enough to discipline them.  God loved them enough to remind them of who He is.  God loved them enough to remind them that He is the almighty, all-powerful God.  God loved them enough to remind them to worship Him and honor Him.  Not because God is vain and needs to hear our praise, but because God deserves that because of who God is.

As I said, our current situation is not all that different.  The world feels like a ball of confusion today, too.  It seems like the news is uniformly bad.  Terrorists have taken over Afghanistan.  COVID cases are back on the rise.  Prices are going up.  We’re once again starting to have shortages of certain things.  There are wildfires and hurricanes and earthquakes.  There are incidents of rioting and lawlessness.  And that’s just a sampling--there are many other things we could mention.

In going through this, I want to make clear that my point is not to point a finger of blame at anyone for it.  My point is, simply, that there’s a lot of bad news right now.  And a lot of the time, we feel like we don’t understand what’s going on.

Now, I want to point out one distinct difference between us and the nation of Israel.  The Bible says that the people of Israel were, in fact, God’s chosen people.  Nowhere does the Bible say the people of the United States of America are God’s chosen people.  The Bible was written long before any human being had any idea that there would even be a United States of America.

But at the same time, I think it’s undeniable that God has blessed the United States of America in many ways.  We live in a big and beautiful and bountiful land.  We have enjoyed prosperity to a degree that probably no other country ever has.  And there are a lot of reasons for that, but one of them is certainly the blessings of almighty God.

And it’s also undeniable that people are turning away from God.  Thirty years ago, eighty-five percent of Americans claimed to be Christians.  Now, it’s sixty-five percent.  Only twenty-four percent attend church on a weekly basis.  Of born-again Christians--note, this is not all Christians, this is people who specifically say they have been born again--of born-again Christians less than forty percent say that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.  

None of this is probably big news to you.  Most of us have probably noticed the decline of Christianity in the United States.  All this really does is quantify it, put numbers to what you already knew was happening.  We, as a society, have taken God for granted.  We’ve assumed that, because God had blessed us in the past, God would continue to bless us, no matter what we did.  We’ve acted as if God owed it to us to bless us.  And you see the results of our turning away from God in the society that’s all around us.  Our society is, again, a ball of confusion.

But the question is, what do we do about it?  Because we can sit here all day long and talk about how society has turned away from God.  And that might make us feel better.  It might make us feel superior, to criticize society in that way.  But if we’re not going to do anything about it, nothing’s going to change.  Things will just continue to decline.

And we say, well, but what can we do?  We’re just a handful of people.  We’re sitting here in this little church in this little town in this little state.  Nobody’s going to care what we think or what we do.  There’s nothing we can do about any of this.

Well, that is one response.  And if that’s the response we go with, then we’ll be right.  There will be nothing we can do, because we’ve decided not to try.

But what if, instead, we went to God?  What if we went to God and asked God, what can we do about this?  What if we each went to God, and specifically said, God, what can I do about this?  What do you think God’s response would be?

Well, I don’t know.  But I’m pretty sure God’s response will not be “Nothing”.  I’m pretty sure that, if we go to God in this way, God will give us something to do in response to all this.

Now, I’m not saying that God is going to tell you to go out and lead a nationwide revival movement.  However, I’m not saying that God is not going to tell you that, either.  After all, every great movement had to start somewhere, with someone.  The Bible has all kinds of examples of God calling unlikely people to do great things.  There is no reason God could not choose you.  Or me.

But if God does not tell you that, that’s not an excuse for doing nothing.  Again, if we each go to God, and ask, “God, what can I do about this?”, God will give us something to do.  It might be doing something to turn our community toward God.  It might be doing something to turn your family or your friends toward God.  It might be doing something that will turn just one person toward God.  I don’t know what it will be.  But I know that if we truly ask God what we can do, God will not tell us to do nothing.  God will give us something to do.

So think about it.  Pray about it.  Ask God, “What can I do?”  Because here’s what I know.  If the Christians, the people who have not turned away from God, do nothing to change this, then nothing is going to change.  Our country will continue to turn farther and farther away from God.  And things will continue to get worse and worse.

It’s up to us as Christians.  No one else is going to turn this country back to God.  No one else is going to resolve this ball of confusion.  If it’s going to happen, if the country is going to turn back to God, it will be the Christians who do it.  Led, of course, by the all-powerful, awesome God that we worship.

Let’s not surrender to the ball of confusion.  Let’s ask God what we should do.  Then, let’s do it.  Let’s help bring this country back to God.  If it’s going to happen, it’s up to the Christians.  In other words, it’s up to us.

 

Blasphemy and Forgiveness

The message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, August 22, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 12:22-37.

            One of the most awesome things about God is the forgiveness God offers us.  We know, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans Three, Verses Twenty-three, that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  That means we all need forgiveness.  And God offers that forgiveness, time after time after time.  Christians have said, many, many times, that there is nothing that God cannot forgive.

            But if we believe that, what do we do with the passage we read tonight?  Because Jesus quite clearly says there is a sin that will not be forgiven.  In verses thirty-one and thirty-two, Jesus says, “Every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come.”

            So, is our often-repeated Christian belief wrong?  Is there, in fact, something that God cannot forgive--that is, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?  Is God not, in fact, the all-forgiving God?

            Well first, let’s define what blasphemy is.  It’s kind of a churchy word, and it’s a word that kind of gets thrown around without actually saying what it means.  So here it is:  blasphemy is defined as speaking sacrilegiously.  And what does sacrilege mean?  It means to speak mockingly or profanely against something that is holy.  So, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means to mock the Holy Spirit or to speak profanely against it.  That’s what Jesus is saying is the sin that will not be forgiven.

            Why would Jesus say that?  Well, because it’s true--Jesus would never say anything that was not true.  But why is it true?  Why would this be the one sin that will not be forgiven?

Well, let’s look at what’s going on in this passage.  A demon-possessed man is brought to Jesus.  He cannot see.  He cannot speak.  And Jesus heals him!  Jesus drives out the demons, the man can seem, the man can talk.  He is completely and totally healed.

            Now, you’d think people would be pretty happy about that, right?  And of course, some of them were.  Some of them, in fact, were completely astonished.

            But not the Pharisees.  Remember, the Pharisees were among the Jewish religious leaders.  Now, don’t you think the religious leaders would be the ones who were happiest about what Jesus did?  I mean, Jesus drove demons out of a man.  From a religious standpoint, what better thing could there be for Jesus to do?

            But of course, the Pharisees were not happy about it at all.  You see, they had already made up their minds that Jesus was a fraud and a blasphemer.  They had already decided that he could not possibly be who people claimed he was, the divine Son of God.  And of course, if your mind is closed, if you’ve already decided about something, you can always come up with reasons to justify the decision you’ve made.

            And that’s what the Pharisees did.  Instead of saying “Wow, look at that!  This Jesus actually drove demons out of someone and healed him!  Maybe he really is the divine Son of God!”  Instead of saying that, they said, well, this may look like it’s good, but there’s got to be something bad going on here somehow.  And so, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

            The Pharisees’ argument was completely nonsensical, when you think about it.  The devil is going to help someone drive out demons?  It’s the devil who controls the demons in the first place.  When demons possess someone, they’re acting on the devil’s behalf.  Why in the world would the devil help anyone, let alone Jesus, drive out demons?  

And yet, the Pharisees were somehow able to convince themselves that their argument made sense.  It just shows, again, how, once we’ve made up our minds about something, we can always find a way to justify to ourselves what we believe.  The justification may not make sense to anyone else, like this one did not, but we can convince ourselves to believe it.  A lot of times, it’s easier for us to believe nonsensical reasons for something than it is for us to change our minds.  That’s what happened to the Pharisees.  It was easier for them to tell themselves that the devil was driving out demons than it was for them to allow themselves to consider that Jesus might actually be the divine Son of God.

            Jesus immediately points out how silly the Pharisees’ argument is.  And that’s when he makes the statement that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.  And then, Jesus says these things:  “How can you who are evil say anything good?”  “An evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”  

            So, taking all this in context, it seems to me that what Jesus is saying is this:  You saw me drive demons out of this man.  You know darn well that only the Holy Spirit can do that, and yet you claim it’s the work of the devil.  If you’re going to refer to the work of the Holy Spirit in that way, as the work of the devil, then it’s clear that your minds are closed to ever seeing the Holy Spirit in anything.  You’re not going to ask for forgiveness for what you’ve said, because you refuse to see anything wrong with it.  And so, since you’re not going to ask for forgiveness, you’re not going to be forgiven.

            In other words, I don’t think Jesus is saying that God cannot forgive blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  God, by definition, can do anything God chooses to do.  Jesus would never put limitations on God because God has no limitations.  God can forgive anything, even blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

            But the thing is, while God can forgive blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, God will not forgive it unless the person who commits it asks for it.  That’s true of all of our sins--God will forgive them, but only if we ask, and only if we ask sincerely and from the heart.  And unless the person who commits blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has some sort of incredible conversion, they will never ask.  And so they will never be forgiven.

            Jesus referred to the Pharisees as evil, and of course they were.  But you know, they did not intend to be evil.  They were not deliberately blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.  In fact, they’d have said they were defending the Holy Spirit.  They simply were so close-minded about who God was and how God worked that they could not see what was right in front of them.  They were so convinced that this unknown carpenter from Nazareth could never be the Messiah that nothing he did and nothing he said could convince them otherwise.  They refused to hear, and they refused to see.  They were like the people described by the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah Five, Verse Twenty-one.  They had eyes, but saw not, and they had ears, but heard not.  It’s kind of sad, really, when you think about it.

            But here’s the thing.  Are there ways in which we’re like those Pharisees?  Are there things in our lives that we have never asked God to forgive us for, simply because we refuse to acknowledge those things as sins?  Are there things in our own lives that we are justifying to ourselves, rather than seeing them as they truly are?  Are we coming up with flimsy reasons or excuses to justify the decisions we’ve made, rather than seeing ourselves as we truly are?

            I suspect there are times when all of us do that.  I know I’ve done it.  Maybe I still am, and don’t even realize it.  Or, maybe I do realize it, deep down, but just refuse to admit it.  Many times, the biggest lies we ever tell are the lies we tell ourselves.  And we believe them, even though we know better, simply because we want to believe them, because believing our lies makes life easier.  It’s easier for us to believe our lies and stay as we are than to face the truth and accept that we need to make changes in our lives.

            I encourage all of us, most definitely including me, to examine ourselves.  Examine the things we do and the things we say.  Are there times we’ve refused to see what God was doing?  Are there times we’ve refused to acknowledge our sins?  Are we justifying ourselves to ourselves?  Are we flat-out lying to ourselves, simply because we don’t want to accept the truth?  Are we, in effect, blaspheming against God’s Holy Spirit, which Jesus said is a Spirit of truth?

            Think about it.  Pray about it.  Ask God to help you see yourself as you truly are.  And I’ll do that, too.  And then, we can all ask God to forgive us for those times when we’ve refused to see the truth, either about ourselves, or about others, or about God.

            The Pharisees could not do that.  And, we assume, they were not forgiven.  But we can do it.  And we can be forgiven.  Let’s not follow the example of the Pharisees.  Let’s go to God, ask for forgiveness, and live.

 

It's Hard, But It's Worth it

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, August 22, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Luke 6:27-36.

            Being a Christian is hard.  I don’t know if we think enough or talk enough about just how hard it really is.  

            Maybe you’re thinking, well, what’s so hard about it?  All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, the divine Son of God.  That’s easy.

            Well, yes and no.  It’s easy to say.  It’s not so easy to do.  You see, if we truly accept that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God, if we truly accept that He is the Savior, then that means we need to take the words he said seriously.  Accepting Jesus as the Savior means we need to do the things He told us to do.  Accepting Jesus as the Savior means we need to live the way He told us to live.  

            And that’s the hard part.  Because there are a lot of hard things Jesus told us to do.  There are a lot of things Jesus told us to do that we don’t want to do.  In fact, there are a lot of things Jesus told us to do that don’t even make sense to us.  And we read some of them today.

            Love your enemies.  Okay, we get that one.  That does not mean we always do it.  In fact, sometimes we don’t even want to.  But we understand, at least on some level, that it’s what Jesus would want us to do.

            Do good to those who hate you.  That’s a little tougher.  I mean, we get that we should not hate those who hate us.  We get that we’re supposed to forgive those who hate us.  But to actively do good to them?  To purposely seek out someone who hates us and deliberately try to find ways to do good to them?  Does Jesus really expect us to do that?

            Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  Well, okay.  I mean, we don’t really want to, but yeah.  We can do that.  

            Or can we?  It kind of depends on what we pray, right?  We could pray, “God, strike down those mistreat us.”  We could pray, “God make sure those who mistreat us get what’s coming to them.”  But we know that’s not what Jesus meant.  

            But Jesus also did not mean for us to pray, “God, please make them stop mistreating me.”  When Jesus says to pray for those who mistreat us, he means we’re supposed to pray for God to forgive them.  We’re supposed to pray for God to save them.  And we’re supposed to pray for God to help us forgive them, too.  That’s not quite so easy to do, is it?

            And the rest of this stuff really does not make sense to us.  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.  If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  Are we supposed to just stand there and let someone beat on us?  If someone steals from us, are we supposed to not only let them get away with it, but give them more?  And give to everyone who asks?  Does God know how many solicitations we get every day on the phone, in the mail, online?  If we give to everyone who asks, pretty soon we’ll have nothing left.  That all sounds, well, ridiculous, really.

            But before we just decide to ignore these things as ridiculous, we need to remember two things.  One, Jesus said them.  I don’t think it works for us to, on the one hand, say we believe in Jesus as the Savior and the divine Son of God, and then on the other hand, say that some of the things he said were ridiculous and we can just ignore them.  The divine Son of God would not say ridiculous things.

            Two, Jesus lived them.  Jesus did all of these things.  Jesus loved his enemies.  Jesus did good for those who hated him--remember, even when he was dying, he asked God to forgive those who were killing him.  Of course, that would cover praying for those who mistreated him, too.

            Jesus did, literally, turn the other cheek.  When he was arrested, when he was beaten, he did not fight back.  He could have.  He had divine power.  But he did not.  We don’t know if anyone ever stole from Jesus, but really, when you think about it, they stole his earthly life.  If Jesus did not stop them from doing that, I don’t think he’d have stopped anyone from stealing what few possessions he had.  

            So I don’t think we can write these things off as being ridiculous.  We have to deal with them.  But how?  Are we supposed to take them literally and live our lives in accordance with them all, word for word, exactly as Jesus said them?

            Well, I don’t know.  I can tell you that I don’t actually do that.  I might, sometimes, pray for people I feel have mistreated me.  I might even be able to feel love for my enemies, under certain circumstances.  But I’m pretty sure I would not just stand there if someone was trying to beat me up.  If someone stole something from me, I don’t think I’d offer to give them more.  And while I do give to some things and some people, I certainly don’t give to everyone who asks me.  

            But where does that leave us?  If we cannot just write these things off, but we think it does not make sense to take them literally, what are we going to do with them?

            Well, let’s look at the rest of the passage.  Jesus tells us why he’s telling us to do these things.  He says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?”  Everybody does that.  “If you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?”  Everybody does that.  “If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?”  Everybody does that.  

            At least part of what Jesus is saying is that His followers are supposed to be different.  Jesus’ followers are not supposed to just do what everybody else does.  Jesus’ followers are not supposed to just live the way everyone else lives.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to be separate and distinct from the rest of society.  There’s supposed to be a contrast between the way Jesus’ followers live and the way everyone else lives.  And anyone who observes the way Jesus’ followers live should be able to observe that difference.

            And that means that, sometimes, Jesus’ followers are supposed to do things that don’t make sense to the rest of society.  It means that, sometimes, Jesus’ followers are supposed to do things that look ridiculous to the rest of society.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to love people society does not love, and love them more deeply than society expects.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to do good for people that society ignores or pushes aside.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to be more generous than society is.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to be more forgiving than society is.

            The bottom line is what Jesus said in verse thirty-one:  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  Not as others actually do to you, but as you would like for others to do to you.  The Golden Rule.

            If we take it seriously, what the Golden Rule requires is for us to put ourselves in other people’s place.  How would we want people to treat us if we were one of the people society does not love?  How would we want people to treat us if we were one of the people society ignores or pushes aside?  We need to answer those questions honestly.  Then, we need to treat people that way.

            And notice, Jesus makes this a personal responsibility for His followers.  Jesus does not say “Get the government to treat people this way.”  Jesus does not say, “Get some big organization to treat people this way.”  Jesus says for you to do it.  Jesus says for me to do it.  Personally.  On a one-to-one basis.  Actively.  Deliberately seeking people out so we can love them and do good to them and forgive them.

            That’s why being a Christian is hard--because truly following Jesus is hard.  Doing the things Jesus told His followers to do is hard.  Ask yourself, “How well am I actually living these things out.”  And I hope your answer is that you’re doing better than I am, because I admit I am not very good at doing a lot of these things.  Many of them I don’t even want to do.  And I’m really good at making excuses for why I should not have to do them.

            But someday, we’re all going to stand for judgment before the Lord.  And none of my excuses are going to work.  None of your excuses are going to work, either.  The Lord is going to know how well we did these things, and He’s not going to be very interested in our excuses for why we did not do them.

            So here’s what I suggest we do.  Pray.  Pray for forgiveness for all the times we’ve failed to live as Jesus’ followers are supposed to live.  Not make excuses for it.  Admit it, and ask for forgiveness.  Then, pray for God’s Holy Spirit to help us change, and truly live the way Jesus’ followers are supposed to live.

            In saying that, I don’t mean to sound like prayer is a magic formula.  We cannot just say a few words and expect God to magically change us.  We need to be serious about it.  We need to truly want to change.  Our prayer is not a way of evading our responsibility for changing.  Rather, it’s an acknowledgement that, no matter how hard we try, we cannot change by ourselves.  We can only change with God’s help.  We still need to do our part.  We still need to give our best effort.  But if we do our part, we can be confident that God will do God’s part.

            And we will change.  The change may come slowly, but it will come.  The change may come with some failures.  There may be times when we take one step forward and two steps back.  But if we keep trying, and we keep praying, the change will come.  Change will come through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

            Being a Christian is hard.  Living as one of Jesus’ followers is supposed to live is hard.  But we can do it.  And it will be worth it.  So let’s stop making excuses.  Let’s show that our faith in Jesus truly does make a difference in our lives.  Let’s live lives that show we truly do accept that Jesus is the Savior, the divine Son of God.

 

God Wins

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, August 15, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 37:1-17.

            I talk to a lot of people, as you probably do, too.  And of course, we talk about a lot of things, just like you do.  The drought.  School starting.  Sports.  The road construction project.  All kinds of things.

            But a lot of times, the talk turns to things that are going on in the world.  And when the talk turns that way, there seems to be a common theme.  There are a lot of people who, as they look at the world, believe evil is winning.  They see evil ascending, good declining, and they don’t see that changing anytime soon, if ever.

            Maybe you’re one of those people.  If so, I’m not criticizing you.  I understand it.  There are a lot of things that seem to be going wrong.  I’m not going to go list them, because a lot of them have political implications and I don’t want to get into that.  But if you pay even the slightest attention to the news, you know there are a lot of bad things happening.  And even granting that “the news” tends to focus on the bad news, still, there are a lot of things happening in this world that do not seem to be as they should be.  I can understand why some people believe evil is winning.

            But here’s the thing.  If it appears that evil is winning, it’s an illusion.  It may look now, for the moment that evil is winning, but ultimately evil will not win.  Evil cannot win.  Good will win because God will win, and God is good.  We worship the almighty, all-powerful God.  We worship a God who cannot be defeated, who is greater and better than anything we can imagine.  If it appears that evil is winning, that’s just because God allows it to appear that way, for whatever reason God may have.  But no matter how things may appear at the moment, God is winning, and God will win.  

            That’s the message of our Bible reading from tonight from Psalm Thirty-seven.  It says it over and over again.  Don’t worry about evil winning.  It’s not going to.  God will take care of it.  

            Listen to the number of times that message is given, just in these few verses.  Verses one and two:  “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.”  Verse seven:  “Do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”  Verse nine:  “Those who are evil will be destroyed”.  Verse ten:  “A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.”  Verses twelve and thirteen:  “The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth against them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.”  Verses fourteen and fifteen:  “The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright, but their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.”  Verse seventeen:  “The power of the wicked will be broken.”

            Seven times, in these seventeen verses, we are told that evil will not win, and the wicked will not succeed.  And if we had read the rest of the psalm we’d have heard that message five more times.  I think God, speaking the author of this psalm, wants us to get the point.  Evil will fade away.  Those who are evil will be destroyed.  In fact, they will be obliterated.  Their own schemes will bring them down.

            So the question is, do you believe that?  And the other question is, if you believe it, do you trust it?  That’s not two ways of asking the same thing.  It’s one thing to say yes, I believe evil will not win.  It’s another to say, I trust that evil will not win.  

Trust is really the key.  Trust is what allows us to live our lives without fear, no matter what may be happening in the world. You see, if we don’t trust that evil will not win, then we think it’s our job to prevent evil from winning.  We think it’s up to us to fight evil, rather than leaving the battle up to God.

So, am I saying that we should do nothing?  Am I saying that we should just sit back, watch what’s happening in the world, and not do anything about it?

No, that’s not what I’m saying.  Our psalm tells us that we have a role to play in fighting evil.  How do we fight evil?  By trusting God, by following God, and by doing good.

That message is given quite a number of times, too, in these few verses.  Verse three:  “Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.”  Verses five and six:  “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:  He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”  Verse seven:  “Be still before the Lord and wait for him; do not fret when people...carry out their wicked schemes.”  Verse eight:  “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil.”  Verse eleven:  “The meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.”  Verses sixteen and seventeen:  “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of the wicked...the Lord upholds the righteous.”

Six times, in those verses, that same message is given.  And it’s made a whole bunch more times in the rest of the psalm.  Our job is not to go out and battle evil.  Our job is not to seek out and destroy the wicked.  Our job is to trust in the Lord.  Our job is to do good.  Our job is to commit our lives, and the way we live them, to God.  We are not supposed to get angry, we are not supposed to be indignant, we are not supposed to worry.  We are to follow the ways of the Lord in everything we do and everything we say.  And we are to leave the rest to God, trusting that God will deal with the wicked and will take care of us.

So, again, the question is, do you believe that?  And again, the other question is, if you believe it, do you trust it?  Because, again, that’s not two ways of asking the same question.  It’s one thing to say we believe that our job is to trust in the Lord, commit ourselves to God, and do good.  It’s another to say, I’m going to actually do that, I’m going to actually live that way, and I’m not going to worry about what may happen as a result of that.

Because here’s the thing.  I said it’s not our job to go out and battle evil, and I believe that.  But at the same time, there are times when evil will bring the battle to us.  Because there are times when committing our lives to God, doing good, following the ways of the Lord in everything we do and say, can get us into trouble.  God is not always popular in our society right now.  Following God is not always popular in our society right now.  We may not feel it as much, living here in Gettysburg, South Dakota, but if you follow the news at all you’re aware of it.  And our little town is not walled off from society, much as we might like to imagine that it is.  Those same elements that make God unpopular in other parts of the country are going to make their way here, and in fact already are.  We may not feel it now, but someday we will.

That’s why believing these things and trusting them are not the same thing.  If we believe these things, but we don’t trust them, we may not be able to withstand the pressure from society.  When following the ways of the Lord gets us into trouble, we may fold.  We may take what appears to be the easy way out.  It’s always tempting to go along with the crowd.  It takes courage, and it takes trust in God, to resist the crowd and continue to follow the ways of the Lord, and to not worry about what may happen as a result of doing that.  It takes courage to trust that God will take care of us, and that God will bless us, if we resist the pressure to go along and get along and instead stay faithful to God.

It’s easy to believe that evil will win.  But it won’t.  God is going to win.  God always wins.  The almighty, all-powerful God is undefeated.  And He always will be.

So let’s have faith in God.  Let’s trust in God.  And let’s believe what the psalm says.  Evil will fade away.  It will be destroyed.  It will be obliterated!  The wicked’s own schemes will bring them down.  All we need to do is trust in the Lord.  Do good.  Commit our lives to God, don’t get angry, and don’t worry.  Follow the ways of the Lord.  God will take care of the evil and the wicked.  And God will take care of us, too.

Who God Is

The print version of the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on August 8, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 5.

            What’s your mindset when you pray?  What are you thinking?  How are you feeling?

            The answer will be different in different situations, of course.  Sometimes we pray confidently, with no doubt that God will hear our prayers.  Sometimes, we pray hesitantly, wondering if what we’re asking for is really something God will hear and will grant.  Sometimes, we pray fearfully, going to God not because we necessarily think God will answer our prayers, but simply because we have nowhere else to go.  And of course, we can pray with all sorts of other thoughts and feelings as well.

            However we pray is okay.  God understands our thoughts and feelings.  God is happy when we pray at all, so God’s not going to be upset with our mindset when we do it.  But God does not want us to pray fearfully or hesitantly.  Not because God will get mad at us for doing it, but because God does not want us to put ourselves through feelings like that.  Whatever we’re going through, whatever’s going on in our lives or on our minds or in our hearts, God wants us to come to Him with it.  God is eager for us to come to Him.  God wants us to come to Him confidently.  Not confident that God will give us everything we want, necessarily, but confident that God loves us.  Confident that God has our best interests at heart.  Confident that God will take care of us and give us what we need because of God’s love for us.

I think Psalm 8 gives us a good example of what our mindset should be when we pray.  First, the author of the psalm comes to God humbly.  He does not demand that God do anything.  He does not believe God owes Him anything.  Instead, he asks God, “Consider my lament.  Hear my cry for help.”

Have you ever prayed that way?  “God, I’m not trying to tell you what to do or anything.  But just--consider what I’m asking you.  Hear what it is I’m saying to you.”  That seems like a really good attitude for us to have when we pray.

And notice, things are going real well for the author of the psalm when he says this.  “Consider my lament.”  A lament is an expression of grief or sorrow.  We’re not told what’s wrong, but clearly something is.  “Hear my cry for help.”  Not just a request for help, a cry for help.  The author of this psalm is clearly in some kind of trouble.  Whatever’s gone wrong, it’s bad.

And notice, too, the author of the psalm is totally honest with God.  He does not try to put a happy face on anything.  He does not try to pretend that things are not what they are.  He does not try to tell God that he’s just fine when he knows he’s not.  The author of the psalm is in trouble, he has no idea how to get out of it, and he’s going to let God know exactly what’s going on in his life.

But even with all that, the author of the psalm is confident.  He knows God will not let him down.  “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”

He has no doubt that God is going to hear his prayer.  And I love that line “I wait expectantly.”  Not only does the author of the psalm have no doubt that God will hear his prayer, he has no doubt that God will respond.  God will answer his prayer in some way.

“I wait expectantly” is such a great phrase.  It shows such a great attitude, an attitude we all need to have.  Again, it’s an attitude of humility.  It does not say “God is going to do whatever I ask.”  It does not say, “God is going to take care of things right now.”  It’s an attitude that says, “I’ve told God the situation, and I know God is going to do something.  So, I’ll wait and see what God is going to do.  I don’t know what God’s going to do.  I don’t know when God’s going to do it.  But I know God is going to do something, so I will wait to see what it is.  And whatever it is that God does, I know it’s going to be the right thing.  Not because God owes anything to me, but because that’s just who God is.”

The author then goes through all the things God does not like.  Wickedness.  Evil.  Arrogance.  Liars.  The bloodthirsty and deceitful.  But then he says, God, that’s not me.  And you know that.

Now, maybe you think that does not show humility.  But notice--the author of the psalm does not go on to say he’s perfect.  He does not go on to say how great he is.  He does not go on to say that he knows God will do what he wants because God owes it to him.

What does he say?  “I, by your great love, can come into your house.  In reverence, I bow down toward your holy temple.”

The author of the psalm knows God does not owe him anything.  God does not even owe it to him to allow him into God’s presence.  In fact, the author of the psalm knows he does not belong in God’s presence.  It is only by the great love God has for him--and for everyone--that he can enter.

And so, he enters reverently.  He has a deep and solemn respect for God.  He knows that this is the great, almighty God that he’s going toward.  He knows this is a God so much greater and so much better than he is that he cannot even begin to understand how great and good God really is.  The author of this psalm is in awe of the fact that God loves him enough to allow him to come into God’s presence, because that’s just who God is.

He then asks God to take care of his enemies.  But I find it interesting that he does not ask God to help him take care of his enemies.  He leaves it up to God.  He asks God to “let their intrigues be their downfall” and to “banish them for their many sins.”  The author of the psalm does not intend to take any action against his enemies himself.  He’s going to leave that to God.

And again, the reason he can do that is because he is confident in God.  He says, “let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy.  Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.”

            The author of the psalm does not fear his enemies.  He is confident that God will protect him.  Again, not because God owes it to him.  But because that’s just who God is.  That’s how much love God has.  When we trust God, when we love God, when we approach God humbly and reverently, when we show respect for God, but when we also are confident enough in God’s goodness and greatness to be certain that God will always have our best interests in mind and will always do right by us, we can know that God will always be there to take care of us and protect us.

            Again, whatever mindset we have when we pray is okay.  God just wants to hear from us.  But I encourage you, the next time you pray, to try to follow the example we’re given in Psalm Five.

            Be totally honest with God.  Whatever’s going on in your life, be honest with God.  If you’re happy, if you’re sad, if you’re feeling joyful, if you’re upset or even angry, whatever it is your feel, be honest with God.  Don’t try to pretend things are not what they are.  Trust God enough to tell God exactly what’s going on in your life.

            But do it humbly.  Come to God thinking about who God is.  Recognize that God is the almighty, all-powerful God.  Recognize that you and I cannot even begin to understand God’s greatness and God’s goodness.  Recognize that you and I have no right to come to God at all.  But go to God anyway, confident that God loves you enough that God not only allows you into God’s presence, but God invites you into God’s presence.

            And after you’ve prayed, wait.  Wait with confidence, knowing that God has heard your prayer and that God will respond.  You may not know how.  You may not know when.  But God will respond.  And whatever God does in response will be the right thing to do.

            And do not fear any enemies you may have.  Trust God to take care of them.  Know that God always has our best interests in mind and will always do what is right.  Not because God owes it to us to do that.  But just because that’s who God is.

            Lay your requests before God, and wait exepctantly.  God will answer, and God will do what’s right.  It’s just who God is.

 

Making God Number One

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of Onida and Agar on Sunday, August 8, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Exodus 20:1-17.

            What we read this morning was, of course, the Ten Commandments.  You probably recognized them.  Some of you may have had to memorize them at one point or another.  You might even still be able to recite them from memory.  Up until a few years ago, my Mom could have.

            Even people who don’t believe in God know at least a few of the Ten Commandments.  Not that they could recite them from memory, but they’d recognize at least a few of them.  “Honor thy father and mother.”  “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.”  “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”  A lot of people have heard those and know where they come from, even if they don’t keep them or honor them.

            As Christians, we do say that we’ll keep them and honor them.  We don’t always, of course.  But the point is that as Christians, we claim to believe in the Ten Commandments.

            We believe in them, but we don’t talk about them that much.  We don’t examine them in any detail.  But we’re going to look at a few of them today.  Specifically, we’re going to look at the first three of them.  Verses five through seven of Chapter Twenty of the Book of Exodus.

            “You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them…[and] you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”

            What do those add up to?  Respect for God, right?  In fact, more than just respect.  Reverence for God.  Holding God in awe.  Recognizing who God really is.  Recognizing that God is so much greater and better and more powerful than we are that there’s no comparison.

            We’ve talked about these things before, of course.  And we probably agree that we should treat God that way.  But do we?  Do we really?  Or is it just one of those things we say?

            “You shall have no other gods before me.”  That means God has to always be the most important thing in our lives.  No matter where we are, no matter what we’re doing, no matter who else is with us, God should always be number one.  

            Remember that word:  “always.”  Think about that word.  Can we really say that God is always the most important thing in your life?  Is our every waking minute devoted to serving God, to worshiping God, to being faithful to God?  Is every minute of our day devoted to loving God and loving others?

            When you think about it that way, it’s a pretty tough standard, isn’t it?  Maybe it sounds like it’s too tough of a standard.  Maybe it sounds impossible.  But if there is ever a time when God is not the most important thing in our life, if there is ever a time when we’re devoting part of our lives to something other God, then those are times when we have some other god before the one true God.

            Now, don’t misunderstand.  I am not suggesting for a minute that we should spend our every waking moment praying, or reading the Bible, or sitting in church.  I mean, those are good things to do, but it’s not practical to do them every minute of the day.  Even Jesus did not do that.  

            But what did Jesus do?  Well, the Bible tells us he was a carpenter.  The Bible does not tell us anything about his life as a carpenter, so all we can do is make assumptions.  But being Jesus, the divine Son of God, it seems safe to believe that Jesus made himself the best carpenter he could possibly be.  When he agreed to do a job for someone, he gave it his very best.  It also seems safe to believe that Jesus treated people fairly and honestly.  It seems safe to believe that Jesus did his work promptly, and if there were circumstances that delayed getting something done he was honest about what they were.  If he made mistakes, he did whatever he could to make them right.  And while I assume he got paid what his work was worth, I also assume he never charged anyone more than he should have, and that if he quoted you a price for something, he stood by it.

            In other words, I believe that, even when Jesus was working as a carpenter, he still was making God the most important thing in his life.  He was being faithful to God in his carpentry work.  He was serving God by being the best carpenter he could possibly be.  And he was showing love to God and to others by treating his customers the way they should be treated.  Long before he started his ministry, Jesus had no other gods before the one true God.

            That can be our example.  Whatever we do, give it our best.  Treat people the way they should be treated.  Be honest.  When we make mistakes, make them right.  When we do those things, our work can show our faith in God.  Our work can honor God and serve God.  Our work can show love to God and to others.  When we do those things, we are making God the most important thing in our lives.

            “Do not make for yourself an image...do not bow down to them or worship them.”  That can be a tougher one than we realize.  We tend to think of things like the people of Israel making a golden calf to worship, and we know that’s wrong.  But as Christians, we have symbols that are very important to us.  The cross is one of them.  The Bible is another one.  

            If I was to take this Bible and slam it to the floor--which I would never do--everyone here would be shocked.  And quite properly so.  That would be showing blatant disrespect to the word of God.  When we started the Sunday night service in Gettysburg, before there was a cross on the way in the fellowship hall, I took a small cross from the sanctuary every Sunday and put it the fellowship hall.  I thought it was important that the symbol of the cross be present whenever there’s a worship service.

            There’s nothing wrong with having these symbols, and there’s nothing wrong with having respect for them.  But even in that, we need to remember that we do not worship those symbols.  We worship what they represent.  The Bible is a book, something made out of paper with a cover.  What makes it important, and worthy of respect, is that it contains the sacred word of God.  The cross is just a form made out of wood or metal.  What makes it important, and worthy of respect, is that it symbolizes the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us.  If we worship the thing itself, we are worshiping an idol.  We need to keep our focus on worshiping the Lord they represent.

            “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”  Our first instinct, when we hear that, is to think of swearing, but it’s really about treating the name of the Lord with respect.  Now, swearing is clearly part of that--using the name of God or Jesus as a swear word certainly does not treat the name of the Lord with respect.  But it’s also about making promises in God’s name, or making promises to God.  We don’t do that in our society as much as we used to--we usually don’t even say “so help me God” in the promise to tell the truth in court anymore.  But we still do it in church.  When we have a wedding, the wedding vows are promises to God.  When we have a baptism, the parents make promises to God.  When we have confirmation Sunday, our confirmation students make promises to God.  When people become members of the church, they make promises to God.  Any time those promises are broken, we are misusing the name of God.

            But it’s not just promises.  Whenever we close a prayer by saying “in Jesus’ name”, we are invoking the name of Jesus in our prayer.  That means we’d better mean what we said in our prayers.  If we did not, then again, we are misusing the name of God.

            Again, what these commands add up to are respect for God.  Reverence for God.  Holding God in awe.  Recognizing who God really is.  Living our lives in a way that shows God is always the number one thing in our lives, a way that shows faith in God and love for God and others.  Devoting our lives to God and to no one and nothing else but God.  Realizing that God’s name is holy, and should always be treated that way.

            I think we would all agree on the importance of the Ten Commandments.  So let’s live our lives in accordance with them.  And let’s especially live our lives in accordance with the first three of them.  Never let anything be more important than God, worship God and nothing else, and treat the name of God as holy.  If we can keep those first three commandments, I suspect the other seven will become a lot easier for us to keep, too.