Amazing

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday night, January 30, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Isaiah 53:1-12.

            You and I can have salvation and eternal life in heaven through our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            That’s not exactly a new thought, of course.  You’ve heard me say it any number of times.  And of course, it’s not original with me–I would assume that every Christian pastor has said those words many times.  In fact, I hope every Christian, pastor or not, has said those words many times.  We certainly should, anyway.  It’s one of the most basic statements of our Christian faith.

            But because this is such a basic statement of our Christian faith, we sometimes forget to realize what an amazing thing it is.  That God, the almighty, the all-powerful, the perfect, the all-everything God, should offer salvation and eternal life in heaven to someone like me.  And someone like you.  People who are flawed, people who are weak, people who constantly fail to do what we should do and who deliberately and purposely do what we should not do.  

            It’s incredible that God would do that.  After all, we disobey God, we ignore God, we try to order God around.  We act like we know better than God what God should do and when and how God should do it.  It would be more understandable if God decided He wanted nothing whatsoever to do with us.  But instead, God gives us the chance to go and be with Him in heaven.  And God does not even ask us to do anything hard to get there.  God does not make us be perfect.  God does not make us battle demons or defeat the non-believers or anything like that.  Again, all God asks us to do is have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  It’s almost unbelievable.  But it’s true.

            But what’s even more amazing, more incredible, more unbelievable, is what God did in order to make that offer of salvation and eternal life possible.  God sent His divine Son, Jesus Christ, to earth.  And a major part of the reason He came to earth was to die.  And not just to die–to be killed.  To be killed in a very painful way.  Jesus came to earth to take the punishment that you and I deserve for our sins.

            And again, we say that, and we don’t think about what an amazing thing it is.  Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God.  The one who never sinned.  He took the punishment for our sins.  He took the punishment we deserve for all the times we’ve disobeyed God.  For all the times we’ve ignored God.  For all the times we’ve worshiped other gods.  For all the times we’ve gone our own way, rather than going God’s way.  Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, the one who never sinned, took the punishment that I deserve for my sins.  And He took the punishment that you deserve for your sins.  That’s an amazing thing.

            And the thing is, this was not just something that happened.  This was the plan.  Our reading for tonight from Isaiah tells all about it.

            Isaiah was written long before Jesus Christ came to earth.  Our best guess is that it was written somewhere around 550 B. C. So five hundred fifty years before Jesus ever came to earth, God told the prophet Isaiah what he was going to do.

            As we go through what God told Isaiah, I want us all to really think about it.  To think about the terrible things that would be done to Jesus.  To think about how sad it is, that humans would do that to him.  And to think about how incredible it is that Jesus would go through all that for you and me, so we could have salvation.

            Jesus was “despised and rejected by mankind”.  Think about that:  the divine Son of God being despised and rejected by mankind.  He was “a man of suffering, familiar with pain.”  “Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”

“We held him in low esteem.”  Again, Jesus is the divine Son of God.  And we held Him in low esteem.  We hid our faces from Him.  We thought so little of Him that we hid our faces from Him.  We did not even want to look at Him.  What a statement.

And yet, despite that, listen to what Jesus did for us.  “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.”  “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.”  “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

That’s–I mean, I know I keep using words like amazing and incredible, but short of using a thesaurus I don’t know how else to describe this.  We were embarrassed by Jesus.  We shunned Him.  We tried to pretend He was not even there.  And yet, Jesus took up our pain and bor our suffering.  He was killed for our transgressions, for our iniquities.  We have all gone our own way, wandering off like sheep, not even really knowing where we were going or why.  And yet, the punishment for that, which should have gone to us, was given to Jesus.  And He willingly accepted it.  Jesus willingly and voluntarily took the punishment that should have gone to those who treated Him like dirt.  

And then, listen to the next part:  “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

That’s what I mean when I say Jesus willingly and voluntarily took our punishment.  When he was arrested, when he was beaten, when he was nailed to the cross and killed, he said nothing.  He did nothing to try to stop it.  And he could have.  I mean, again, this is the divine Son of God.  This is the one who walked on water.  This is the one who fed thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish.  This is the one who healed the lame, who made the blind see.  This is the one who raised the dead!  You think Jesus could not have avoided death, if he had chosen to?  It would’ve been easy.

But he did not do it.  He did not even think about doing it.  Jesus silently accepted the beatings, the mockery, the pain.  He accepted even His death.  As Isaiah says, “He was assigned a grave with the wicked…though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”  “He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.”

And then, here’s what Jesus did.  “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Jesus interceded before God the Father on our behalf.  Because he took the punishment that should have gone to us, we do not need to take that punishment.  Jesus, who was without sin, took the punishment that we, as sinners should have received.  Because of that, if we believe in Jesus as the Savior, God, who knows better than we do what sinners we really are, treats us as if we were without sin and gives us eternal life in heaven.  

Think of the love it took for Jesus to do that.  Think about how much He must love us, to do what he did and continues to do for us.  

And it was all decided all those hundreds of years earlier.  God had it all planned out, and God told Isaiah all about it.  And Isaiah told the people about it, so they’d be able to recognize Jesus when he came.

Many did not, of course.  And God knew that, too.  After all, if everyone had recognized Jesus as the Savior, they would not have killed Him.  God knew that, no matter what Isaiah said, there were a lot of people who would not recognize Jesus.  But God wanted to give everyone the chance.  

Which is another amazing thing about this.  Everyone is given the chance to accept Jesus as the Savior.  No matter what we’ve done.  No matter how many sins we’ve committed or how long we’ve committed them.  You and I and every sinner in the world–which means every person in the world–is given the chance to accept Jesus as the Savior.  Everyone is given the chance for salvation and eternal life.

You and I and everyone else everywhere in the world can have salvation and eternal life through our belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  It’s an incredible thing.  The divine Son, Jesus Christ, allowed himself to be killed so you and I can have salvation and eternal life.  We should never take that for granted.  We should always be amazed at what Jesus did for us.  We should always be incredibly grateful for it.

 

The King of Glory

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 30, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 24.

            There are a lot of names by which we refer to God.  Jehovah.  Lord.  King of kings.  The Almighty.  The Holy One.  I’m sure you can think of many others.

            But our psalm for today, Psalm Twenty-four, uses a name for God which we rarely use.  In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone use it other than in this psalm.  In Psalm Twenty-four, God is referred to as “The King of Glory”.

            The psalm uses that phrase over and over.  Five times, in this psalm, God is referred to as “The King of Glory”.  But what does that mean?  What does it mean to call God ‘The King of Glory”?  And what does that phrase tell us about God?

            Well, let’s look at the word “glory”.  The first definition of “glory” is “high renown or honor won by notable achievements”.  And in fact, one of the things our psalm does is go through some of God’s “notable achievements”.  Not all of them, of course–that would not be possible.  But let’s look at what the psalm says about God’s achievements.

            It begins with this:  “The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.”

            That’s quite an achievement.  The creation of the world.  The seas.  The waters.  The dry land, too, of course.  And the rocks and the plants and the animals and the birds and the fish and everything else.  I think we’d have to admit that the creation of all that is a pretty notable achievement.

            It goes on to say that the King of Glory is “The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.”  God is so strong, so mighty, that God is undefeated.  God wins every battle.  God may allow it to look like He’s losing, for a while, but He’s never really losing.  It’s like those old melodramas where there’d be a cliffhanger where it looked like the hero was really in big trouble and the villain might be going to win.  It might have looked that way, but you knew better.  You knew that, somehow, the hero would have to do something where he’d defeat the villain and win in the end.  That’s how it is with God.  It may look like God could be defeated, but we know better.  We know that, somehow, God is going to win in the end.  God is too strong and too mighty to ever be defeated.  Being undefeated is a pretty notable achievement, too.

            But God’s glory goes beyond notable achievements.  Because the other definition of glory applies to God, too.  Glory is “magnificence or great beauty”.

            God is magnificent.  God is magnificent beyond our ability to understand magnificence.  Just look around at God’s creation.  Look at the beauty of it.  Look at the colors.  Look at the shapes.  Look at the incredible variety of it.  There are so many different kinds of animals.  There are so many different kinds of plants.  There are so many different kinds of birds and fish.  There are even so many different kinds of rocks and dirt.  I mean, think about that.  God is so magnificent that He created all kinds of different rocks and all kinds of dirt.  I mean, to me, a rock is just a rock.  But not to God.  God even made the rocks different and special.  That’s pretty magnificent.

            But that’s not the only way God is magnificent, or even the most important way.  God is truly magnificent because of the way God cares about us.  About you, and about me.  

            It’s been estimated that there have been around a hundred billion people who have lived on earth since God created it.  And God has known everything about each one of those one hundred billion people.  God has known their names.  God has known their addresses.  God has known their height and their weight.  God has known the color of their hair and the color of their eyes.  God has known the number of hairs on their heads.  For every single one of those hundred billion people.  Including you.  And including me.

            But that’s not all God has known.  God has known the talents and abilities of each of those hundred billion people.  God has known the likes and dislikes of each of them.  God has known the personality of each one of them.  God has known what makes each of them laugh and what makes each of them cry.  God has known the goals and desires of each of them.  God has known the hopes and fears of each of them.  God has known the loves and the hates of each of them.  And God has known the faith–or lack of faith–of each of them.

            But here’s the most important thing.  God has loved each one of those one hundred billion people.  And God continues to love each one of those one hundred billion people.  And if the world lasts long enough for there to be a hundred billion more people, or two hundred billion more people, or a trillion more people, God will love each and every one of them, too.  In fact, God already does love them, because God already knows them before they are even born.

            Now, don’t get me wrong.  I am not saying that God approves of what all those one hundred billion people do or did.  I am also not saying that all of those one hundred billion people are going to heaven.  But even if people choose not to believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, and so choose not to go to heaven, God still loves them.  There has never been and there never will be a person whom God does not love.  That’s magnificent.  That’s incredibly magnificent.

            God is glory.  God has more glory than anyone else ever will have or ever could have.  God is the king of glory, just as the author of Psalm Twenty-four says.

            But why does the author say it?  Why does the author make such a big deal out of it?  I mean, it’s true.  But why is it important?  Why does the author of psalm twenty-four go to such lengths to make sure we know God is the king of glory?

            Well, life, quite often, is not an easy thing.  As you know, I’ve prepared a lot of funerals lately.  And I’ve learned about the lives of a lot of people.  And one of the things that strikes me about that is all the things people have to go through and have to overcome in their lives.  Lack of money.  Health problems.  Family strife.  Losing loved ones, sometimes at a young age.  Going to war.  Isolation.  Most of us go through an awful lot of things in our lives.

            And if we try to get through them by ourselves, on our own power, by our own wisdom and strength, we won’t make it.  Sometimes we might, but a lot of times we won’t.  We need someone we can rely on.  Someone who’s powerful.  Someone who’s strong.  Someone who cares about us.  Someone who will always be there for us.  Someone who will always love us, no matter what may happen.

            That’s who the King of Glory is.  He is that strong, powerful one we can rely on.  He is that one who always cares about us and will always be there for us and will always love us.  And if we put our faith and trust in Him, the King of Glory will see us through all of the hard things life can throw at us.  He may not just make all the hard things magically disappear.  But He will be with us as we go through them, and He will lead us through to the other side of them.

            Listen to what the psalm says:  “The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.  They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior.”

            When it refers to “clean hands and a pure heart”, that does not mean we need to be perfect.  It means that we put our faith and trust in God and nowhere else.  It means we do our best to serve God and be faithful to God.  If we do that, the psalm says, we will receive blessings and vindication from the Lord.  Again, that does not mean we get everything we want and our troubles all disappear.  It means that God will see us through whatever we’re going through, and God will help us triumph over them in the end.

            “Who is he, this King of Glory?  The Lord Almighty–he is the King of Glory.”  If we trust in God and put our faith in God, God will always be there for us.  God is strong and mighty.  God is magnificent.  And God is the King of Glory.

 

Just What We Always Wanted

The message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, January 23, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 11:2-19.

Have you ever had a time when you really wanted something?  I don’t mean just kind of casually hoping for something.  I mean really, really wanting something, wanting it so much that you think about it almost every day.  And then, you get the thing you wanted, and--you have a hard time believing it.  You think, is this really true?  Did this really happen?  Do I really have this thing that I wanted so much?

Well, we’ll come back to that.  Let’s look at our Bible reading for tonight.  At this point in Jesus’ life, he’s been in active ministry for probably a couple of years.  That means Jesus is starting to get a reputation.  People are hearing about these miracles he’s performed.  They’re hearing about the people he’s healed.  They’re hearing about the things he’s been saying, too.

            One of the people who heard about all this was John the Baptist.  This is the part of John the Baptist’s life we don’t talk about too much.  We talk about how John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for Jesus.  We talk about how John the Baptist baptized Jesus.  But then, we just kind of let John the Baptist fall out of the story and focus on Jesus instead.

            That’s understandable.  And of course, John the Baptist himself said that Jesus was much more important than he was.  But still, after John baptized Jesus, he did not just go away and retire or something.  He was still an important person.  He was still preaching and he was still baptizing.  He did not hesitate to speak his mind and he did not hesitate to declare the need for people to repent of their sins.  And he did not hesitate to say that even the King, King Herod, was a sinner who needed to repent of his sins.

            That did not sit well with King Herod.  So, Herod had John the Baptist arrested and thrown in jail.  And that was where John was at the time of our Bible reading for today.

            But as we said, John the Baptist heard about what Jesus was doing and saying, even in prison.  So, John sends some people to Jesus to ask him one question.  They ask Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

            Now, I don’t know about you, but when I read that, I think, how can John ask that question?  I’d have thought that if there was anyone who knew who Jesus was, it was John the Baptist.  I mean, by earthly reckoning, they were related.  Jesus’ earthly mother, Mary, and John’s mother, Elizabeth, were related to each other.  In fact, in the first chapter of Luke, we read about Mary going to visit Elizabeth while she was pregnant with Jesus.  And Elizabeth instantly knew that Mary was going to give birth to the Savior.  Surely she must have told John about that, right?  So why would John send people to ask Jesus if he was the Savior?  He should’ve known that already.

            And then, there’s the story of Jesus’ baptism.  We talked about that earlier in this sermon series.  Jesus comes out of the water, and a voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  And of course, John is right there.  You’d think he’d have to have heard that.  So again, why would John send people to ask Jesus if he was the Savior?  He should’ve known that already.

            And that gets me back to the question I asked at the start of this message.  John the Baptist wanted the Savior to come.  He wanted it more than anything in his life.  He’d spent his entire life doing everything he could to prepare the way for the Savior to come.  He completely dedicated to getting as many people as possible ready for the coming of the Savior.

            And then the Savior came.  And John the Baptist knew he had come.  He heard the voice from heaven saying so.  He heard all the reports of everything he was doing.  And yet.  And yet.  He still was not quite sure.  He had wanted this so much, and yet now that it had happened, he hesitated.  He wanted to trust.  He wanted to have faith.  But could he?  Could he really trust that this was the Savior?  What if he’d gotten something wrong?  What if he put his trust in Jesus, and it somehow did not work out?  John wanted this so much, and yet, he was afraid to actually believe it had happened.  He could not quite bring himself to believe that the Savior, whom he had waited for all his life, was actually here.

            I think we all have times when that’s where we are.  We want to believe in Jesus Christ.  We want to surrender our life to him.  And yet.  And yet.  We hesitate.  We’re just not quite sure.  We want to trust the Lord.  We want to have faith.  But can we?  Can we really trust that Jesus is the Lord, the Savior?  What if we’ve gotten something wrong?  What if we put our trust in the Lord and it somehow does not work out?  We want to believe.  Sometimes we really, really want to believe.  And yet, we’re afraid to actually believe.  We cannot quite bring ourselves to believe that Jesus Christ really is the Savior.  We cannot quite trust him.

            Jesus does not get mad at John for sending these people to ask the question they asked.  He does not criticize John the Baptist for his lack of trust.  He just tells them, look, go tell John what you’ve seen and heard.  Tell him everything there is to tell about me.  Tell him about all the people I’ve healed.  Tell him about the things I’ve said.  Tell him what he’s heard is true.  He’ll know what it means.  Just tell him.

            What Jesus was telling John’s people to do, in effect, is to remind John of what he already knew.  And a lot of times, that’s what we need to do--be reminded of what we already know.  We know all the things the Bible says about the Savior.  We know the things it says he said and did.  We also know all the times when we’ve felt the Lord working in our lives.  We know all the times we were in a tough spot and the Lord helped us out.  We know all the times when it looked like things were going against us and we did not know what to do and somehow it all still worked out all right.  We know all the times God has been there for us.  We know all the times God’s Holy Spirit has worked in and through us.  We know that we can trust the Lord.  We just need to be reminded of it.  Or, sometimes, we may need someone else to remind us of it.

            And sometimes, we need to be the ones who remind others.  Because we know there are a lot of people out there who are struggling with their faith.  If you and I, who are in church, struggle with truly believing in Jesus Christ; if you and I, who are in church, struggle trusting God enough to truly turn every aspect of our lives over to God; then how much more are people going to struggle who are not going to church anywhere? 

            This is not said in a judgmental way.  It’s not for me to judge anyone’s faith.  That kind of judgment is God’s job, not my job.  But there are lots of people out there who struggle with this.  There are a lot of people, right here in this community, who would say they believe in God, who would say they believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, but who struggle with really trusting God enough to really surrender our lives to him.  

They’re afraid.  They’re scared.  They don’t know what will happen if they really surrender their lives to God.  Often, they want to believe it would be something wonderful, but--what if it’s not?  And so, again, they hesitate.

They know they need God in their lives.  But they need to be reminded, just like we need to be reminded.  They need to be reminded of who Jesus is.  They need to be reminded of how much they need him.  And if we don’t remind them, who will?  And I don’t mean we as United Methodists.  I mean we as Christians.  If we, as Christians, don’t remind people of how much they need God who will?  If we, as Christians, don’t remind people of all the things God has done, who will?  If we, as Christians, don’t help people get over their fear and get over their hesitation, who will?  If we, as Christians, don’t tell people everything there is to tell about Jesus Christ and remind them of who Jesus is, who will?

That thing that we’ve always wanted, that thing that we’ve been waiting for all our lives--it’s here!  It’s actually here!  So let’s stop hesitating.  Let’s stop being scared.  Let’s truly turn our lives over to the Lord, knowing that God really can be trusted with our lives.  And let’s help others turn their lives over to the Lord, too.  Let’s help them know that God really can be trusted with their lives.  Our salvation is here.  Now.

 

God's Temple

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 23, 2022.  The Bible verses used are 1 Corinthians 3:6-17.

            First Corinthians Three, Sixteen says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”

            It seems to me that this one little verse--just one sentence, seventeen words--says an awful lot to us.  The first thing it says, at least to me, is that each and every one of us is very special and very important to God.  I mean, think about this.  You are God’s temple.  Not just your physical body, but everything about you.  Your mind, your heart, your body, your soul.  Your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your desires.  Everything about you, everything that makes you you, is God’s temple.

            That’s pretty cool, you know.  Because the temple was a really special place.  Especially the original temple, the one built by King Solomon.  The Bible goes on and on about that first temple.  It gives the exact dimensions of it, which were directed by God.  It gives all the materials the temple was made out of, which were also directed by God.  

And this first temple was made out of the best, the most expensive stuff available.  It was made of cedar and juniper.  It was made of special stone from a special quarry.  There were all sorts of ornate carvings.  And everything was overlaid with silver and gold and bronze.  There were tens of thousands of people who worked on that first temple, and it still took them seven years to build it, that’s how incredible it was.  And of course, the cost of it was enormous.  It’s been estimated that it would cost well over two hundred billion of today’s dollars to build that temple.

            And the thing is, the Apostle Paul, and the people of Corinth that he was writing to, would’ve known all that.  What Paul was telling them, and what Paul is telling us, is that each one of us, you and me, is just as valuable as that temple.  Each one of us is just as beautiful as that temple.  Each one of us has been created out of the best stuff available.  And each one of us has been made according to exact specifications that came from God.

            That’s pretty awesome to think about.  If that does not make us feel good about ourselves I don’t know what will.  To think that we were made to God’s exact specifications with as much care as it took to make the most beautiful, most expensive building that has ever existed on earth.  That’s pretty good.

            But of course, there was a reason the temple was made the way it was.  Maybe you know what it is.  The temple was not just a place of worship, the way the church is now.  The temple was thought of as, quite literally, the house of God.  The temple was where God lived.  That was not just a metaphor or something--they believed in it literally.  The temple was where God physically lived.  That’s why it was so important that it be built the way it was.  They were not just building a house of God.  They were building a house for God.  And they wanted to build a house that was worthy of God, to the extent that it’s possible for humans to build a house that’s worthy of God.

            So when Paul says “the Spirit dwells in your midst”, that was not just poetic license.  That was not just something Paul was saying because it sounded good.  Paul meant it literally.  Paul was saying that just as God lives in the temple, the Spirit of God lives in each of us.

            Now that’s a pretty awesome thing to think about, too.  To think that God’s Spirit physically lives in each one of us.  That God’s Spirit lives in me.  That God’s Spirit lives in you.  That the Spirit of the Almighty, all-powerful God would live in us.  That’s quite an honor.  That’s pretty good, too.

            But while it’s a pretty awesome thing to think about, it’s also a pretty awesome responsibility.  Because just as the temple was made to be a house worthy of God, to the extent it’s possible for humans to do that, you and I need to make ourselves worthy of God, to the extent it’s possible for us to do that.  If you and I are God’s temple, if God’s Spirit is going to literally live in us, then we need to do everything we can to be that perfect, beautiful temple that is worthy of having God live in it.

            What does that mean?  Well, it means we need to take a look at every aspect of our lives.  Because, as I said, when Paul says that we are God’s temple, he’s talking about every aspect of our lives.  Our physical body is part of it, but only a part.  Our thoughts are part of it, too.  So are our feelings.  Our minds, our hearts, our bodies, our souls, our hopes, our dreams, our fears, our desires, everything about us, everything that makes us who we are, is part of God’s temple.

            That means we need to make everything about ourselves worthy of God, to the extent that we possibly can.  Our thoughts need to be worthy of God.  Our words need to be worthy of God.  Our feelings need to be worthy of God.  Our emotions need to be worthy of God.  Our hopes and dreams need to be worthy of God.  If you and I are God’s temple, then everything about us needs to be worthy of God.

            That’s a pretty tall order.  I certainly have not done it.  I’ve had my moments--I suspect each of us has had our moments--but I certainly am not worthy of having God dwell in me.  I don’t know anyone who is.

            But maybe that’s the point.  Because you know, as great and fantastic as that first temple was, for all the billions of dollars and all the man-hours it took to build it, it still was not really worthy of being the house of God.  It may have been the best, fanciest, most expensive building that ever was or ever will be, but it still was not worthy of being a place for God to live.  It’s simply not possible.  No building built by humans, no matter how much it costs or how long it takes to build, could ever be worthy of being the dwelling place of the almighty, all-powerful, awesome, perfect, holy God.

            And no human being, no matter how good, no matter how righteous, no matter how generous or loving or caring they are, can ever be worthy of being the dwelling place of the almighty, all-powerful, awesome, perfect, holy God either.  It’s simply not possible.  That is, it’s not possible for us.  But it is possible for God.

            See, God takes our best efforts and makes them better.  That first temple, as great as it was, was not worthy of God.  But God took the best efforts of the people of Israel and blessed them and made them worthy of God.  And that’s what God will do for us.  God will take our best efforts and bless them and make them worthy of God.

            So our part in this, what we need to do, is make sure we’re giving God our best efforts.  Our thoughts are not going to be worthy of God--but we need to make our best effort to make them that way.  Our words--certainly my words--are not going to be worthy of God--but we need to make our best effort to make them that way.  Our feelings, our emotions, our hopes, our dreams, are not going to be worthy of God--but we need to make our best effort to make them that way.  If we do, then God will take our best efforts and bless them and make them worthy of God.

            And the best way I know to do that is to spend time with God.  That means prayer, of course, and it means reading the Bible, but it also means just spending time in God’s presence.  Spending time thinking about who God is.  Spending time thinking about all the things God does.  Spending time thinking about all the times God has been there for us.  Spending time thinking about all the gifts God has given us.  Spending time thinking about all the times we did not get what we wanted, but later on got something better.  Spending time thinking about how everything we have and everything we are comes from God.

            If we spend that kind of time with God, we’re more likely to give God our best efforts.  Not out of force or obligation, but because we’ll want to.  When we think about how awesome, how incredible God is, when we think of everything God has given us, we want to give God our best efforts.  It does not feel like an effort.  It feels like a joy.

            So this week, that’s what I’d invite you to do.  Spend time with God.  Think about who God is and what God does.  Think of all the gifts God has given you.  And then give God your best efforts.  God will bless those efforts and make them worthy of God.

            You, and I, are God’s temple.  God’s Spirit dwells within us.  That’s an incredible honor.  Let’s do our best to be worthy of it.

 

Sharing the Proof

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are 2 Timothy 2:8-19.

            The Apostle Paul did a lot of writing.  Most of the New Testament is the letters of Paul to various churches or, as in this case, to individuals.  There are thirteen of Paul’s letters in the New Testament, some of them pretty long.  And I have no doubt that Paul wrote a lot of other letters which, for whatever reason, are not included in the Bible.

            And yet, for all of his writing, Paul never lost sight of his essential message.  He states it time and time again.  It’s the very first sentence of our reading for tonight.  “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.  This is my gospel.”

            For all of the things Jesus did while he was on the earth–for all of his teaching and healing and miracles and driving out demons and all that–for Paul, these were the essential things to know about Jesus.  He was descended from David, and he was raised from the dead.

            Why is that?  Why would Paul not focus on the love of Jesus?  Why would Paul not focus on the power of Jesus?  Why would Paul not focus on the wisdom of Jesus?  Why are those two facts–that Jesus was descended from David, and that he was raised from the dead–why are those two things the essentials of Christian faith, according to Paul?

            The reason is because those two things–that Jesus was descended from David, and that he was raised from the dead–are the two things that prove Jesus actually is the Messiah.  He actually is the Savior.  He actually is the divine Son of God.

            After all, there have been lots of people who have talked about the importance of love, and lots of people who have shown love.  There have been lots of people who had power.  There have been lots of people who have wisdom.  And don’t get me wrong, those are all good things.  I’m not criticizing them.  But if those things are all that you know about Jesus–that he loved people, that he had power, that he was wise–you would not recognize him as the divine Son of God.  He might be a great guy.  He might be a great teacher.  He might even be a prophet.  But you would not know he was the Savior.  You would not know he was the divine Son of God.  To know that, you need to know that Jesus was descended from David and that he was raised from the dead.

            Now, today, we sometimes think, what’s the big deal about being descended from David?  But it was a big deal, and really it still is, because of the Old Testament prophecies.  The Old Testament prophets had said the Messiah would be descended from David.  We read in Jeremiah Twenty-three, Verse Five, “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.’”  That’s why the gospels of Matthew and Luke both give us lengthy genealogies of Jesus, showing that he was, in fact, descended from David.  That Jesus is descended from David was and is proof that Jesus is the Messiah, the divine Son of God.

            But of course, there had been lots of people who had been descended from David, too.  After all, King David lived somewhere around one thousand B. C.   A thousand years later, he’d have had lots of descendants.  Jesus being descended from David was still important, but he shared that distinction with a lot of other people.  What distinguished Jesus from all those other descendants of David is that he was raised from the dead.

            That’s the proof.  Human beings, even great human beings, are not raised from the dead.  When a human being dies, they stay dead, at least in earthly terms.  And when Jesus was killed, everyone expected that to happen to him, too.  

And I mean, everyone.  Even his closest followers.  Remember how the women went out to the tomb on that first Easter morning?  They were not going out there to see if Jesus was in the tomb.  They knew he was in the tomb.  They were going out to prepare his body for burial.  And when they saw that he was not there, they did not assume he’d been raised from the dead.  They assumed his body had been moved, and they were trying to figure out where it had been moved to.

            That Jesus had actually been raised from the dead was the last thing anyone expected.  It was the ultimate proof that Jesus was who he said he was.  That he was the Savior, the divine Son of God.  That’s why, when the Pharisees found out what had happened, they bribed the guards to say that they’d fallen asleep and Jesus’ disciples had stolen the body.  They knew that if the truth came out, if people knew Jesus had been raised from the dead, they would know who Jesus was.  They would know that he was, in fact, the Messiah.

            That’s why, for all the things Paul wrote in his letters, he made sure this stayed at the forefront–that Jesus was raised from the dead.  No matter what else he wrote about, no matter what other issues he was dealing with, Paul made sure not to lose that main point–that Jesus was raised from the dead.  

In fact, he said that was so important that he was willing to endure anything in order to spread the word about it.  He did not care about what might happen to him as a result.  If he died, he’d be with Jesus.  Listen to what he says:  “If we died with Him, we will also live with Him.  If we endure, we will also reign with Him.”

That’s faith.  That’s an incredibly strong faith.  To say, if I die for Jesus, it’s okay, because I’ll go to heaven and live with Jesus.  And if I don’t die, but simply have to endure suffering until Jesus comes again, that’s okay, too, because then I’ll reign with Jesus.  Either way, I win.

How strong is your faith?  How strong is my faith?  Could we say what Paul said?  Could we say that if I die for Jesus, it’s okay, if I have to endure suffering for Jesus, that’s okay, too, because as long as I have faith in Jesus, I’ll win?

If not, why not?  Because we’re not the Apostle Paul?  Well, we’re not, but is that really an excuse?  I mean, suppose I’m standing before the Lord, and the Lord asks why I was not able to endure suffering for Jesus, and I say, well, come on, I’m not the Apostle Paul.  You think that’s going to fly?

Paul goes on to say this:  “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”  

That phrase, “do your best”, is important.  It’s good news in one sense, because it says God does not expect perfection from us.  God knows we’re going to slip, we’re going to make mistakes, we’re going to fail.  There will be times when our resolve does not stay firm, when our faith does not stay strong.  God knows perfection is beyond our ability, and God does not expect it of us.  God just wants us to do our best.

But having said that, it’s also important that we actually do our best.  Because it can be really easy to use that as an excuse, too.  “Sure, I’m not as good as the Apostle Paul, but I’m doing my best.”  Now, if that’s actually true, that’s fine.  But here’s the question–are you doing your best?  Are you really doing your best?  Am I really doing my best?  Or are we settling for something less?  Are we settling for a mediocre faith, a lukewarm faith, a faith that does not want to make waves or cause problems for anyone?  Including ourselves?

Now, I want to make clear I’m not saying we need to earn our way into heaven.  We go to heaven by our faith in Jesus Christ, not by the things we do.  But if we have faith, we need to do the things Jesus told us to do.  And Jesus told us to go and make disciples.  And to make disciples, we need to make sure people know who Jesus is.  And they cannot know who Jesus is unless they know Jesus was raised from the dead.

So, we need to do our best–to truly do our best–to make sure people know who Jesus is.  Not because we’re trying to earn our way into heaven by doing it.  But simply because it’s what Jesus told us to do.  Simply because it’s the right thing to do.  Because our goal is to help other people find their way to faith in Christ.  Our goal is to help other people find their way to heaven.

“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.”  That was Paul’s gospel.  It needs to be our gospel, too.  And we need to share it with everyone we can.

 

What Love Means

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 16, 2022.  The Bible verses used are 1 John 5:1-12.

            Do you love God?

            I assume most of us would say we do.  But what, exactly does that mean?  What do we mean when we say we love God?  

            I don’t know that we talk about that very much.  We should.  After all, loving God is one of the most basic things there is about Christian faith.  In fact, it goes back long before Christ.  In Deuteronomy Chapter Six, when the early nation of Israel is being taught the basics of their faith, the first thing they are told is:  “Hear, O Israel.  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  The idea that we need to love the Lord our God shows up over and over again in the Old Testament.  

And then, of course, in the New Testament, Jesus himself said the most important commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  So, obviously, loving God is essential to our Christian faith.  But what does it mean to love God?

Or, let’s look at it another way.  If someone asked you to prove that you love God, how would you do that?  What would you say?  What would your evidence be?  How could you prove, to someone else’s satisfaction, that you love God?

Now, I’m not saying we should allow anyone else to judge our faith.  The only one who can truly judge our faith is God.  The point is that loving God cannot just be something we say.  The love of God needs to be something real in our lives.  And loving God cannot be real in our lives unless we know what it means to love God.

Luckily for us, the Apostle John, in our reading today, tells us what it means to love God.  And it turns out that it’s pretty simple.  He says, “this is love for God:  to keep his commands.”

It’s simple, and yet–there are a lot of times when we don’t want to accept it.  We’re like the guy Jesus was talking to in Matthew Nineteen.  Remember that story?  A man comes up to Jesus and asks what he needs to do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus says, keep the commandments.  And the guy says, “Which ones?”

Which ones?  You know, there may be times when we’re not really sure what God wants us to do, but that’s not really the biggest problem we have.  Most of the time, we know what God wants us to do.  It’s just that, sometimes, we really don’t want to do it.  We don’t really want to keep all of God’s commands.  Some of them are hard.  Some of them require us not to do things we’d like to do, or to do things we’d rather not do.  Some of them might make us unpopular.  So we say, can’t I love God by just keeping some of God’s commands, rather than all of them?

Well, yes and no.  I mean God’s not keeping score.  God’s not sitting in heaven watching our every move with a big red pen in his hands, waiting to give us a big check mark every time we fail to keep one of God’s commands.  God knows we cannot be perfect, and God does not expect us to be perfect.  But if we truly love God, we should do our best.  We should try to keep God’s commands–all of God’s commands–as well as we can.

Look at it this way.  Suppose you’re married, and your spouse has a list of things they want you to do.  And you look at the list, and there are some things that are going to be hard to do.  There are some things that are going to take a lot of time.  There are some things that are going to be unpleasant.  To come to the point, there are some things on that list that you really would rather not do.

But what would show more love to your spouse?  If you just choose to do some of those things?  If you just choose to do the easy things, the things that won’t take long, the things that are fun?  Or if you do all of the things your spouse wants you to do, regardless of what they are or how long they’ll take or anything else?

That’s how it is with God’s commands.  If we look at the things God wants us to do, and we decide to just do the easy things, the things that don’t take much of a commitment, the things that are going to be fun, how much love does that show to God?  It does show some, I think–I’m not saying that it shows no love for God at all.  But it does not show as much love to God as it would if we decided to try to keep all of them.  If we decided to do the hard things, the things that are not much fun, the things that do take a deep commitment.  That would show more love to God, don’t you think?

So the question is, how do we get there?  And again, luckily for us, John gives us the answer.  He tells us that God’s commands are not actually that hard at all.  Why not?  Because “everyone born of God has overcome the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

So that’s what it comes down to.  Do we really believe that Jesus is the Son of God?  Now, again, I suspect most of us here, maybe all of us here, would say that we do.  And I believe that, to some extent, we do.  But how much do we believe that?  Do we completely and totally believe it?  Is our belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God strong enough to overcome our reluctance to do the things God asks us to do?  Even when they’re hard?  Even when they’re not much fun?  Even when they’re not really what we want to do?

Here’s another way to say it.  When we think doing the hard things, the un-fun things, the things God wants us to do that we’d rather not do, what is it that keeps us from wanting to do them?  It’s our worldliness, right?  It’s caring more about the things of the world than the things of God?  We’re concerned about pleasing people, rather than pleasing God.  We’re concerned about having time to do the things we want to do, rather than the things God wants us to do.  We’re concerned with making sure we can provide for ourselves, rather than trusting in God to provide for us.  We’re in the position of Simon Peter when he was trying to tell Jesus what to do.  Jesus said to Peter, “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

It’s easy to have those human concerns.  After all, we are human.  But that’s why we need to overcome the world.  If we overcome the world, those human concerns go away.  As John wrote, if we truly love God, we can overcome the world.  And if we overcome the world, then God’s commands are not burdensome. But the only one who can overcome the world is the one who believes in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

So what it means to love God, really, is to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.  To really believe.  To fully and completely believe.  To believe so much that our belief overcomes the world.  To believe so much that we can put our human concerns behind us, and fully focus on the concerns of God.  To believe so much that doing the things God wants us to do does not seem hard or burdensome.  To believe so much that we want to follow all of God’s commands, that we are happy to follow all of God’s commands, because there is nothing more important in our lives that showing love to God.

That kind of total belief, that kind of complete love, should be one of the goals of every Christian.  Now, that’s not say that we’re suddenly going to become perfect.  The greatest heroes of the Bible all failed sometimes.  Moses failed.  David failed.  Peter failed.  James and John failed.  If they all failed, we cannot expect that we will never fail.

But here’s the thing:  when they failed, they eventually recognized their failing.  And they repented.  And they asked God for forgiveness.  And they continued to believe.  They continued to have faith.  And they started again to follow all of God’s commands, and to allow nothing in their lives to become more important than showing love to God.

The way we show love to God is to keep His commands.  At first, that sounds like a hard thing.  But it’s really not.  Not if we truly believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, as the Son of God.  So let’s truly believe in Jesus.  Let’s believe in Jesus so much that our belief overcomes the pull of the world.  Then God’s commands won’t seem burdensome at all.  Because there will be nothing more important in our lives than showing love to God.

 

Evangelism or Excuses?

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on January 9, 2022.  The Bible verses used are 2 Timothy 1:1-14.

            Do you consider yourself an evangelist?

            I suppose to answer the question, we first need to talk about what an evangelist is.  We tend to think of somebody like Billy Graham, you know, someone who stands on a big stage and preaches God’s word and does altar calls and things like that.  And of course, that’s one way to be an evangelist, but it’s not the only way.  An evangelist, really, is someone who tries to spread the word of God.  An evangelist is someone who tells people about the salvation and everlasting life that’s available through faith in Jesus Christ.

            So, let me ask you again.  Are you an evangelist?

            I hope that at least some of us answered yes.  If you did, the rest of this message really is not aimed at you.  You’re welcome to listen to it, but the rest of this message is really aimed at those of us who said no, that we are not evangelists.

            Now, if you said no, I want you to know I’m not mad at you.  I understand.  I don’t necessarily consider myself an evangelist, either.  I mean, yes, I can stand up here and talk about God’s word and salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus.  But do I do it in other places?  Not so much.  Do I do it with people I don’t know?  Not really.  Do I do it with people I do know, but who may not believe in Jesus?  Not really there, either.

            So I understand if you say no, you’re not an evangelist.  But here’s the question:  why not?  Why are you not an evangelist?  Why am I not an evangelist?  Why is so hard, both for you and for me, to share God’s word with people?  Why is it so hard for us to tell people that they can be saved through faith in Jesus Christ?

            Now understand, I’m not suggesting we should open every conversation by telling people they need to be saved.  But as we go through our day, and we see the people we see and talk to the people we talk to, there are often chances to bring God into the conversation.  There are often chances to talk about our faith in Jesus, just as a natural part of talking about the things we talk about.  Not always, but more frequently than we probably realize.  And we let them go by.  We let them go by, sometimes, because we’re not looking for them and so we miss them.  But a lot of times, the reason we’re not looking for them is that this is something we simply do not want to do.  We don’t feel comfortable doing it.  In fact, if we’re really honest with ourselves, a lot of times the thought of having a conversation like that really kind of scares us.

            Of course, we’d never say it that way.  We make excuses for ourselves.  We say things like, well, that’s just not something I’m very good at.  I don’t know how to do that.  That’s not one of the talents God gave me.  Besides, I don’t need to talk about my faith.  I show my faith by the way I live my life.

            Any of those sound familiar to you?  They do to me, because I’ve said them, many times.  I’ve made all the excuses for not talking about faith.  But the bottom line is that that’s what they are, excuses.  Because Jesus told us to go and spread the gospel.  He told us to go and make disciples.  He did not make it optional.  He did not tell us to do those things if we think we’re good at them.  He did not tell us to do those things if we feel comfortable doing them.  He did not tell us to do those things if we thought God had given us a special gift or talent for them.  He did not tell us to do those things as long as were not scared of doing them.  He told us to do them.  Period.

            In our Bible reading for today, the Apostle Paul is writing to his friend Timothy.  And it sounds to me like Timothy had the same problem you and I have.  And it sounds to me like Timothy was probably making some of those same excuses you and I make.  And it also sounds like Paul saw through all those excuses.  He knew that the real reason Timothy did not want to go and spread the gospel was because he was scared of doing it, just like you and I are sometimes.

            And so, Paul tells Timothy some things to give him courage.  Listen to what he says:  

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and s            self-discipline.  So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me...He has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

Paul is telling Timothy, you need to be afraid to do this.  You have power.  Not because of who you are.  This is not about you.  It’s not about how good you are or how talented you are or how great a speaker you are or any of that.  None of that matters.  The power you have does not come from you.  The power you have comes from God’s Holy Spirit.  All you need to do is trust that.  All you need to do is trust God’s Holy Spirit and step out in faith.  You’ll be doing what the Lord wants you to do, and if the Lord wants you to do something, the Lord will give you everything you need to do it.  There’s nothing to be afraid of.  Just do it.

There’s one other thing Paul says there.  It’s something we really don’t want to face.  At least I don’t.  But if we’re honest--if I’m honest--I have to admit that it’s a factor here.  It’s when Paul says, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord.”

We don’t want to think about that.  We don’t want to admit to it.  We say, hey, wait a minute.  I’m not ashamed of the testimony about Jesus.  I’m proud of God’s word.  I’m proud of what Jesus did for me.  I’m not ashamed of any of that.

And Paul says, oh, yeah?  Then why don’t I hear you talking about it?  Why do I hear all these excuses instead?  Paul says to us--Paul says to me--if you’re so proud of God’s word and you’re so proud of what the Lord did for you, why do you only talk about it when you’re in church?  Why do I hear excuses instead of evangelism?  What’s stopping you?

When we strip everything else away, what’s really stopping us is fear.  Fear and a lack of trust in God.  When we strip away all the excuses, when we do away with all of our so-called reasons for why we cannot talk to people about the salvation and eternal life that’s available to them through Jesus Christ, that’s what we’re left with.  Fear and a lack of trust in God.  We’re afraid we’ll do it wrong.  We’re afraid we’ll turn people off.  We’re afraid people might not like us.  We’re afraid our reputation might suffer.  We’re afraid we won’t be able to think of the right words to say.  We don’t have the courage to trust that, when the time comes, God’s Holy Spirit will give us the right words to say.  And so we don’t try.

And again, I feel this every bit as much as anyone else does.  And so, I don’t have an easy answer.  I’m not saying God’s going to send us to hell if we don’t do this.  But I do think God is disappointed.  Because, again, this is something Jesus told us to do.  Jesus did not make it optional.  Jesus just said do it.  With no exceptions granted and no excuses accepted.

So what can we do?  How can we start trusting God enough to spread the word about salvation and eternal life?  How can we start taking advantage of those openings in conversations as they come up?

Well, here’s what I think it comes down to.  Do we believe that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life?  Do we believe that faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior is the way to heaven?  Because if we do--if we really believe that--then we have to admit that there are people we know who are not going to go to heaven.  Because I suspect each one of us knows people who have not accepted Jesus as the Savior.  At the very least, there are people whom we’re not sure have accepted Jesus as the Savior.  

So, if we truly believe that faith in Jesus is the way to heaven, and if we want those people to be in heaven, then we need to do whatever we can to bring them to faith in Jesus.  That means we need to stop making excuses.  That means we need to have the courage to talk to people about faith in Jesus Christ.  We need to look for those openings in conversations to tell people about Christ, and we need to take advantage of them when we get them.

And remember, we don’t do this alone.  We could not do this alone.  By ourselves, you and I cannot bring people to faith in Jesus.  But we don’t do it by ourselves.  We have the power of God’s Holy Spirit.  We have God’s Holy Spirit to lead us.  We have God’s Holy Spirit to guide us.  We have God’s Holy Spirit to inspire us.  We have God’s Holy Spirit to tell us what to say and what to do.  All we need to do is take that step out in faith.  All we need to do is let our faith in God be bigger than our fears.  All we really need to do is trust God.

Some of us are already evangelists.  But all of us are called to be.  So let’s stop making excuses, and let’s stop being ashamed of our faith.  Let’s let people know about the salvation and eternal life that’s available to them through faith in Jesus Christ.  Let’s not let people we know miss out on that.  God’s Holy Spirit will be with us.  And we know that with God, all things are possible.