Making the Impossible Possible

The Sunday night message in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on June 25, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 19:16-30.

            The passage we read tonight is one that I think gets misinterpreted sometimes. Or maybe “misinterpreted” isn’t the right term–it’s just that I think there’s more to it than we might think at first glance.

            This passage starts by telling us about a rich man.  The man comes to Jesus asking what he must do to be saved.  Jesus tells him to follow the commandments and the man says he already does.  So Jesus tells him that what he needs to do is sell everything, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus.

            The man walks away, sad.  And that’s when Jesus says what he says in the first verse of our reading for tonight, about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven.

            And a lot of times, that’s where we stop.  And we talk about greed, and about how we need to be willing to give and so forth.  But I don’t think that’s really what this story is about.  I think it’s about the next two verses.  

            First, we’re told, the disciples were “greatly astonished” at what Jesus said.  See, the common belief at that time was that wealth was a reward God gave you for having lived a good life.  There were exceptions of course–the tax collectors, for example, or thieves–people who had clearly gotten their money in bad ways.  But for the most part, the rich were admired and were considered to have found favor with God.

            So what Jesus said about the rich not being able to get to heaven, well, that just did not compute.  That made no sense to them.  Their response, “Who then can be saved?” basically means, well, good grief, if this rich man–who not only has obviously found favor with God but, who, by his own account, has kept the commandments faithfully–if this man cannot go to heaven, then who can?  What chance do any of us have, if this guy cannot even make it?

            And Jesus answers them.  He says, “With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.”

            Jesus answers the question “What chance do we have” by saying “None.”  You have no chance whatsoever–if you’re going to rely on yourselves.  The only chance any of you–any of us–have of getting to heaven is through the grace of God.

            That’s what this passage is really all about.  It’s not about how hard it is for the rich to go to heaven.  It’s about how hard it is for anyone to get to heaven.  Unless.  Unless we truly believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            And that’s where the rich man got it wrong.  Look at the question he asked.  “What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He thought that he could earn his way into heaven.  I mean, look at what he was willing to do.  He was willing to do more than just follow the commandments.  He said, yeah, I’m already following the commandments, but I’m willing to do more.  Just tell me some good thing to do, and I’ll do it.

            When Jesus responded the way he did, telling the rich man to sell everything, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus, I don’t think Jesus was setting a standard that everyone has to follow.  What Jesus was doing, really, was showing what the problem was with trying to get to heaven by following the law.

            Remember, before Jesus came, that’s how the people of Israel thought you got to heaven.  You followed the law.  If you followed it perfectly, you got to heaven.  You made sacrifices, asking God for forgiveness for all the times you failed.  And then you started trying to follow the law perfectly again.  You were trying to earn your way into heaven by how good you were.

            But it did not work.  And it could not work.  Because, as Jesus said, the only one who is good is God.  Humans cannot possibly be good enough to go to heaven.  The rich man who talked to Jesus, who followed the commandments perfectly, was still not good enough to go to heaven.  The disciples were not good enough to go to heaven.  It’s impossible for anyone to be good enough to go to heaven.  It’s impossible for us.

            But with God, all things are possible.  That’s why God sent the divine Son, Jesus Christ, to earth.  Whoever believes in Him shall have salvation and eternal life.  By sending Jesus to earth, God took the impossible and made it possible.  It’s not possible for us, by our goodness, to go to heaven.  But when we have faith in Jesus Christ, we have God’s goodness imputed to us.  And in God’s eyes, we are good enough to go to heaven, even though we clearly are not.  It was impossible for us.  But with God, it was possible.  In fact, it’s more than possible.  It’s a sure thing.  If we believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, we are saved.  Period.

            When Jesus tells the disciples all this, Peter, of course, has to have something to say about it.  Peter says, “We have left everything to follow you!  What then will there be for us?”

            Jesus tells them they will receive a reward.  He tells them that everyone who has given up things for Him will receive a reward.  But again, it’s not because of their goodness.  It’s because of their faith.

            Think about when Jesus first called the disciples.  Did Jesus choose them because they were the best, holiest people around?  No.  If Jesus had been looking for the holiest people around, he probably would’ve started with the priests and the Pharisees, right?  Did Jesus choose them because they were the richest people around?  No.  They don’t appear to have been living lives of poverty before they met Jesus, but they were not the richest people.  If Jesus had been looking for people like that, he’d have looked in palaces, not along the lakeshore.

            And when the disciples responded to Jesus, did any of them ever ask what they were going to get out of it?  When Jesus said, “follow me”, did any of them respond, “What’ll you give me if I do”?  No.  The disciples did not follow Jesus for what they could get out of it.  In fact, a lot of times what they got was hardship.  But they followed Jesus anyway, because they believed in Him.

            The disciples believed that Jesus was the divine Son of God.  They did not know what that meant, exactly, especially not at first.  I don’t know if they ever fully understood what it meant.  For that matter, I don’t know if we fully understand now what it means.  But that’s okay.  It was okay for the disciples.  And it’s okay for us.

            The disciples did not fully understand who Jesus was, but they understood enough.  They understood that they were following Jesus, not because of how good they were, but because of how good and how great Jesus was.  They understood that, as Peter once said, Jesus had the words of salvation and eternal life.  They were following Jesus because, despite all the times they tried to tell Jesus what to do and all the times they tried to push themselves forward, the disciples knew they were sinners, and they knew that only Jesus had the power to forgive their sins and to save them.  And they knew that salvation, above all else, was the one thing they needed most.

            That’s all you and I need to understand, too.  We don’t have to understand everything about Jesus.  I don’t even know if that’s possible.  But we need to follow Jesus anyway, just like the disciples did.  We need to follow Him, not because of how good we are, but because of how good and how great Jesus is.  We need to follow Him, and read His message, because Jesus had and still has the words of salvation and eternal life.  We need to follow because, despite all the times we try to tell Him what to do and despite all the times we try to push ourselves forward, we know, deep down, that we are sinners.  And we know that only Jesus has to power to forgive our sins and save us.  And salvation, above all else, is the one thing we need most.

            It is impossible for any of us to be good enough to go to heaven.  For humans, it’s impossible.  But with God, all things are possible.  Including our salvation.

            God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall have salvation and eternal life.  It was impossible for us.  But it was more than possible for God.

 

A Matter of Trust

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on June 25, 2023.  The Bible verses used are James 1:2-18.

            In our reading for today, the Apostle James tells us what our attitude as Christians should be.  Here are some of the things he says:  “Consider it pure joy… when you face trials”.  “Let perseverance finish its work.”  “If any of you lacks wisdom, ask God.”  “Believe and [do] not doubt.”  “Take pride in…humiliation.”  “When tempted, do not say God is tempting me.”

            We read those things from James.  And we probably agree with them.  We agree that’s what our attitude as Christians should be.  But is it really?  How many of us really have those attitudes?

            Now, understand, I don’t think this is some sort of checklist for heavenly glory.  I don’t think James is saying, do all these things, have all these attitudes, or you’re going to hell.  But I do think there’s a lot of good stuff here.  I do think these are attitudes a Christian should have.  So let’s look at them, and as we look at them, let’s think about a couple of questions.  The first question is, do I actually have that attitude?  The second question is, if I don’t, how can I get it?  How can I change my attitude so it is more like the attitude a Christian should have?

            Let’s look at the first one.  In verse two, James says, “Consider it pure joy, brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

            I suspect all of us have faced trials at one time or another.  Some of us are probably facing them now.  So let me ask you:  do you consider it pure joy to face trials?  In fact, do you find any joy in it at all?

            Now, to his credit, James does give us a reason why we’re supposed to consider our trials to be pure joy.  He says, “You know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

            And that does happen, at least sometimes.  We do learn lessons from the trials of life.  We do learn things from having our faith tested.  And one of the things that can happen, through that testing, is that we come out stronger than we were before.  Sometimes, when we get to the end of our trials, we can look back and see how we’re better people for having hung in there and worked our way through it.  And sometimes, in the end, we’re grateful for having had to go through what we went through.

            But that’s in the end.  When we’re in the middle, when we’re actually going through the trial, when we’re going through a tough situation and we have no idea how it’s going to come out, we have no idea how we’re ever going to get through this–do we feel joy then?  Maybe you do.  I hope you do.  But I can tell you that I don’t.  Even when I actually can see that God may use what I’m going through to strengthen me, I’d sure a lot rather God would go strengthen somebody else, or strengthen me in a different way, or something.  Conceding that I may be better off in the end for going through what I’m going through does not make me any happier about going through it now.

            James says, “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

            Again, I suspect all of us have had times when we just were trying to get through something.  And again, some of us are probably doing that now.  Sometimes, when that happens, we have no choice but to persevere, to just hang in there and let time pass until we finally get to the other side of whatever we’re going through.

            But we sure don’t like it, do we?  When we’re going through something hard, the last thing we want to hear is, “Well, it’s just going to take time.  Hang in there.”  That’s why when I do hospital visits, one of the things I usually pray for is that the person I’m visiting has patience–because most of us don’t have a whole lot of that.  When we’re going through a tough time, when we’re hurting or suffering or just having to deal with something we don’t want to deal with, we want the situation to be over right now.  We want the situation to be fixed and the problem to be solved right now.  And if we can find a short-cut somehow that we’ll make that happen, we’ll take the short-cut.  We do not want to just sit there and “let perseverance finish its work.”  Again, we may recognize that, in the end, we’ll be better off for having gone through whatever it is we’re going through.  But that sure does not make us like it.  And most of the time, we don’t.

            “If any of you lacks wisdom...ask God.”  Now you’d think that would be an easy one.  After all, when we think about all the things God is, one of them is “all-wise”.  So if we want wisdom, who better to ask than God?

            But again, how often do we actually do it?  We ask God for help.  We ask God to do specific things for us.  We might even ask God to help us when we’re faced with a significant decision.  But do we ask God for wisdom?  I don’t, at least not nearly as often as I should.  James says God will give it generously, if we ask.  So we should probably be asking.

            James says, “Believe and do not doubt.”  That may be the hardest one of all.  Again, we know that should be our attitude.  But is it, really?

            I don’t presume to know about you.  I just know that for me, too often, I start to have doubts.  I believe in God, I believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, but–once in a while, doubts creep in.  I have many times when I’m like the guy in Mark Chapter Nine who said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”  I believe and I doubt at the same time.

            Now, if that’s where you are, too, we can at least take comfort from the fact that we’re in good company.  Some of the leading Christians of our time, including Mother Teresa, admitted to having doubts sometimes.  But still, it’s not what we want.  I think most of us would love to have one hundred percent belief, with zero percent doubt.  But that’s not where some of us are.

            James says, “Take pride in…humiliation.”  If you’ve ever been humiliated, it’s not a pleasant thing.  It’s embarrassing.  It’s sad.  It’s, well, humiliating.  I don’t know anyone who wants to be humiliated.  

            Yet James says we should take pride in it.  Because, he says, we need to be humbled.  And the more money we have, the more power we have, the more status we have, the more we need to be humbled.  Because it’s only by being humble that we can truly come to rely on God.

            And I can understand that, in theory.  And I can see where it might be necessary.  But boy, I sure don’t like it.  It’s the same as the thing about trials.  We might be able to see why we have to go through them, but that does not make us like it any better.

            Finally, James says, “When tempted, do not say God is tempting me.”  That seems like an easy one.  We know God is good.  We know God would not try to lead us in the wrong direction.  And yet–how many times, when something goes wrong, do we blame God for it?  How many times do we question God, or even accuse God, when it seems like things are not going the way they should?  How many times, when we’ve made a decision that did not work out the way we wanted it to, do we try to make it God’s fault, rather than our own?

            Now remember, I said that as we go through these, we should ask two questions.  We’ve covered the first one pretty well:  do I have the attitude I should have?  But we have not really covered the second one yet:  if I don’t have that attitude, how can I get it?

            Well, first of all, let me tell you how we’re not going to get it.  We’re not going to get it by listening to the world.  We’re not going to get by listening to society.  Because society will tell us that the attitudes we have, the ones James said not to have, are perfectly normal.  We have every right to have them, and in fact we should have them.  We should be upset when we face trials.  We should be impatient when things don’t go our way right away.  We should rely on our own wisdom, rather than asking God for wisdom.  We should have doubts about our faith, if we don’t reject it entirely.  We should be miserable when we’ve been humiliated.  We should blame God when things don’t go the way we want them to.  Society would tell us to feel all those things.

Again, I’m not saying God will send us to hell if we feel those things.  But it’s not what God wants, and really, it’s not what we want, either.  We don’t want to go through life being upset, and impatient, and having doubts.  Do we?  Don’t we want to be at peace with life and at peace with God?  That’s what I want.  I think it’s what most people want.

So how do we do it?  It’s simple.  Trust God.

I know, that’s what a pastor is supposed to say.  But the reason we say it is because it’s true.  If we trust God, we can find joy in our trials, because we know God is at work in them.  If we trust God, we can be patient, knowing that God is at work in God’s way and in God’s timing.  If we trust God, we will rely on God’s wisdom, rather than our own.  If we trust God, we won’t have doubts, and if we do, we’ll be able to set them aside.  If we trust God, we won’t worry about money or status or power, because we know that all comes from God.  If we trust God, we’ll know that if we follow God’s leading, things will go the way they’re supposed to.  It all comes down to trusting God.

How do we get that trust?  Well, that’s the tricky part, right?  But here are a couple of things I do.  First, I pray.  I try to stay as close to God in prayer as I can.  I mean, I’m not setting myself up as the shining example everyone should follow.  I’m just telling you that, when I spend some substantial time in prayer, I can feel God’s presence a lot more, and I can trust God a lot more.

The other thing I do is to think of all the blessings God has given me, and all the times in my life God has been there for me.  Because when I really stop and think about it, there have been an awful lot of them.  That’s not to say that everything in my life has always gone perfectly.  But I can think of a lot of times when things were not going very well, and God was there and helped me through them.  I can think of other times when God put exactly the right person in my life exactly when I needed them.  Things have not always gone the way I wanted them to, and I may have had some tough times, but I’m in a pretty good place now.  And when I look at it, I can see that God was always there for me.  If God has always been there before, the only logical thing to do is to trust that God will be there for me now and in the future.

James lays out some of the attitudes a Christian should have.  They’re attitudes that will help us be happy and live at peace.  If we trust God, we can have those attitudes.  We can know that, whatever happens, God is there, God is in control, and God will work it all out.  Then, we’ll be free to live our lives the way God wants us to live them.

 

God Sent Us

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on June 18, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Luke 19:41-44.

            God is big.  God is really big.  God is bigger than anything you or I can ever imagine.  I mean, think of the biggest thing you can possibly think of, take that times two, and then take it times ten, then take the square of that, and you’re still nowhere near how big God is.

            Because God is so big, there are a lot of different ways in which we can view God.  It’s like the old story about blind men trying to describe an elephant.  One feels his trunk and describes him as being like a snake, one feels his ear and describes him as being like a fan, one feels his side and describes him as being like a wall, and so forth.  Each one describes the elephant differently, depending on what part of the elephant he feels.

             That’s how it can be with us and God.  There are so many different aspects of God that we can never understand them all.  God is holy.  God is righteous.  God is perfect.  God is all-seeing.  God is all-knowing.  God is powerful.  God is mighty.  God is just.  God is fair.  God is gracious.  God is merciful.  God is love.  On and on and on.  These are just a few of the words we could use to describe God.  And the way we’ve experienced God influences which of those words we choose to describe God.

            Some people believe in a vengeful, wrathful God.  Some people believe in a God who is eager to punish us for our sins.  They see God, in effect, as sitting in heaven with a big red pen, ready to pounce on us and send us to hell if we step out of line.

            I hope you don’t see God that way, because I don’t think that’s how God is.  I don’t think it’s how Jesus portrayed God, either.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I do believe that heaven and hell are both real.  I do believe that people go to both places.  But I don’t think God is eager to send us to hell.  And one of the things that shows that is our reading from Luke today.

            Jesus is looking at the city of Jerusalem.  This is a few days before he’s going to be arrested and crucified.  Jesus knows what’s going to happen.  He knows what’s going to happen to him.  He also knows what’s going to happen to Jerusalem--that it’s eventually going to be overthrown and its temple destroyed.  He knows that disaster is about to overtake the entire nation of Israel.

            But Jesus takes no delight in that.  In fact, he’s sad about it.  He’s so sad that he cries over the city of Jerusalem.  He says of Jerusalem “if you had only known on this day what would bring you peace.”  He knows all this disaster could have been prevented, if only the people had believed.  God wanted to help them.  God wanted to take care of them.  God wanted to bring them salvation.  And they refused it.  Jesus says, “You did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

            If God was a vengeful God, if God was a wrathful God, if God was a God who is eager to punish us, God would never have sent Jesus to earth in the first place.  The whole point of Jesus’ coming is to give us a way to avoid punishment.  The whole point of Jesus’ coming is to give us a way to escape the consequences of our sin.  God is not sitting in heaven waiting to pounce on us and punish us if we step out of line.  God is eagerly waiting, hoping that we’ll accept Jesus and avoid punishment.  As John Three-Seventeen says, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  And God is sad when we don’t accept that salvation.  God cries when we don’t accept that salvation.

            But God has given us free will.  And that means that God gives us the ability to make choices.  And that includes making the choice to reject the salvation offered through faith in Jesus.  That’s not the choice God wants anyone to make.  And so, while it makes God sad when we make that choice, it also makes God determined.  It makes God do everything God can do, short of forcing us, to convince us not to make that choice.  God has done a lot of things to convince us not to make that choice.  Including, again, sending the divine Son, Jesus Christ, to from heaven to earth.

            But God did not stop there.  Because God still does not want anyone to reject the salvation that God offered us through faith in Jesus Christ.  So God continues to send people to earth to encourage people to accept that salvation.  God sent you.  And God sent me.

            I hope that everyone here has made the choice to accept the salvation offered through faith in Jesus Christ.  But we should not stop there.  Because we know that there are people, right here in our community, who have not made that choice.  That should make us sad, just like it makes God sad.  But it should also make us determined, just like it makes God determined.  It should make us do everything we can do to convince people not to make that choice.

            Now, as I’ve said before, God does not want us to be obnoxious about this.  We should not badger people or point fingers in their faces or anything like that.  And there are a few people in the world who do that, and sometimes they get on television and stuff.  But that’s not who most of us are.

            In fact, I think most of us go the other way.  I think, too many times, we’re scared of talking about our faith.  We’re scared of talking about God.  We’re afraid someone might be offended if we bring up the name of Jesus.  Or we’re afraid that we’ll be rejected.  Quite honestly, I’m not sure what we’re afraid of, but we sure seem to be afraid of it.  And I feel that, too.  Even when people know I’m a pastor, I sometimes hesitate to bring up my faith in public.  I can do it here, from the pulpit, when everyone expects it.  I can do it if someone comes to my office and wants some advice or help.  But in regular conversation with people?  Not so much.

            Now, if that does not apply to you, that’s great.  If you’re out there talking to people about your faith, and doing it in a loving, caring way, that’s wonderful.  I hope you’ll keep doing it.  But too many of us don’t.  We seem to have bought into this idea--and it’s an idea that seems to be taking hold more and more in our society--that religion should be a private matter.  Yes, we can have faith, but we should keep it to ourselves.  We should not bring it up in public.  You can have your beliefs, but don’t talk about them with anyone else.

            That’s not what Jesus said.  In fact, it’s the exact opposite of what Jesus said.  Jesus said for us to go and make disciples.  Can you think of a way to make disciples of Jesus Christ without talking about our faith in him?  I cannot.

            And no, it’s not enough for us to just show our faith by our actions.  Don’t get me wrong, our actions certainly should show our faith.  Our faith in Jesus Christ should make us live differently.  It should make us act differently.  It should make us speak differently.  Our faith in Jesus Christ should influence every aspect of our lives.

            But that’s not enough.  We need to tell people why our lives are different.  We still need to tell people why our actions are different.  We need to tell people why our words are different.  We should not be silent about our faith in Jesus Christ as our savior and just expect people to figure it out by looking at us.  We need to tell them.

            Look at it this way.  If there was ever a person on earth whose actions were Godly, it would be Jesus Christ, right?  If there was ever a person whose faith made him live differently, whose faith made him act differently, whose faith made him speak differently, it would be Jesus.  So, did Jesus stay silent about his faith and expect people to just figure it out by watching him?  No!  Of course not!  He talked about God.  He talked about God all the time.  So if Jesus, who lived a perfect, sinless life, did not just rely on the way he lived, if even Jesus needed to talk to people about faith, why would we think that we, as imperfect and sinful as we are, could just rely on the way we live and not need to talk to people about faith?  That’s not how it works.

            Now, is this easy?  No.  I’m not standing here telling you it’s easy.  It can be hard.  If you’re kind of a shy person anyway, it can be even harder.  But you know what?  There’s only one way it’s going to start getting easier, and that’s if we start doing it.  It’s if we start trying.  The only way to get over our fears, to get over our silence, the only way to start talking about our faith to people is to actually do it.  Look for openings in conversations.  Be aware of the chances that come up in everyday life to talk about faith.  We don’t have to force it—God will provide those chances to us, if we look for them and take advantage of them when they come up.

            Now, it’s okay if we want to practice for a while.  It’s okay if we want to start by talking with somebody safe, somebody we know won’t get mad at us.  It’s okay if we do role playing exercises.  Whatever it takes is fine.  But the point is that we need to do it.  We need to do whatever we can to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

            And don’t forget to pray about this.  There are times in the gospels when Jesus tells the disciples, don’t worry about what you’ll say when situations come up, because the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say.  You and I can rely on the Holy Spirit, too.  If we open ourselves up to God and let God lead us, God’s Holy Spirit will teach us how to talk about our faith.  And the more we do it, the easier it will get.

            God is sad when people don’t accept Jesus as their Savior.  But while God won’t force us, God is determined to do everything God can to encourage us to accept Jesus.  That’s why God sent you and God sent me.  It should make us sad, too, when people around us don’t accept Jesus as their Savior.  But it should also make us determined.  Let’s be determined to do everything we can to encourage everyone in our community to accept Jesus as their Savior.  It truly is a matter of eternal life and death.

 

For the Children

The morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, June 18, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 18:1-10/\

            Today is Father’s Day.  And on this Father’s Day, it seems appropriate to talk about children because, after all, you cannot be a father if you don’t have children, right?

            But of course, there’s a lot more to being a father–or a mother–than simply creating a child.  To be a father, or a mother, you need to actually take responsibility for that child.  And that responsibility comes in a variety of forms.  There’s financial responsibility, making sure your children have food and clothing and shelter.  There’s educational responsibility, and that does not mean just sending them to school.  That means really teaching your children the things they need to know to get along in the world.  There’s emotional responsibility, showing love to your children and making sure they always know that you love them.

            But for a Christian, there’s a responsibility that comes above all that.  For a Christian parent, the number one responsibility you have for your children is raising them in a way that they will come to accept Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            Now, before I go any farther, I want to make one thing clear.  I am not saying that if your children do not accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, that it’s all your fault or that you’ve failed as a parent or anything like that.  Eventually, all children grow up, and when they do they make their own choices.  That’s true in all respects, including faith.  They make their own choices, and they are responsible for the consequences of those choices.  Parents can only do so much for so long, and then they have to let the children go.

            But parents do need to do the best they can.  They need to do the best they can to give their children the best chance they can to make the right choices.  And again, the most important of those is giving your children the best chance you can to choose Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            And that brings us to our Bible reading for today.  Jesus is talking about children.  He makes the statement, which many of us have heard before, that children are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and that if we want to be great in the kingdom of heaven, we need to be as humble as children.

            And we kind of like that.  After all, it’s become a cliché to talk about the importance of children.  “Children are our future”, we love to say.  “We’re doing it for the children”, the politicians say when they’re trying to push their pet program.  “We have to listen to the young people”, we say–as long as those young people agree with us, of course.  We’re fine with Jesus saying children are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

            But then, Jesus starts talking about our responsibility to those children.  “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea. “  Jesus warns against being a stumbling block for those children.  He says, “See that you do not disdain one of these little ones.”

            Now, look around you.  How many children do we have here today?  How many children do we ever have in our churches?  How many children do any of the churches of our community have?

I’m sure some of them have more than we do.  But we also know that there are a lot of children who don’t go to church anywhere.  Some of them come to our Faith Builders program in Gettysburg, and we’re glad of that.  Some of them might come once in a while, on a special occasion.  But many of them never go to church.  Think about that.  We have children in our communities who have never seen the inside of a church.  They have no idea what goes on here.  They have no idea what happens in a church on Sunday morning.  They have no idea who Jesus Christ is.  And because of that, they have no idea why they might want to come here.

Now, before I go any farther, two things.  If you bring your kids to church regularly, I’m not talking about you.  You are doing your job.  You are fulfilling that most important responsibility of giving your children the best chance they can have to accept Jesus as the Savior.  Again, they may or may not accept Him–they will make their own decision as they get older.  But you are doing everything you can to make the right decision.  And that’s a wonderful thing.  I congratulate you for that.

And the second thing is, there are probably some of those parents who are teaching their children about God at home.  It’s certainly true that you can be a Christian without going to church.  It’s harder, because you don’t have the support system of a church to help you when your faith wavers.  But it is possible.

But we know there are many families who are not doing that.  And that means those parents are failing at that most important responsibility.  I’ve heard many parents tell me, in regard to Faith Builders, “Well, my kids just don’t want to go.”

Think about that.  We don’t give kids a choice about going to school during the week–we tell them that they’re going whether they want to or not.  We’ll do everything we can to push kids into music or sports or other activities.  But when it comes to something that impacts their eternal life, we say, “Well, I’ll just let my kids do whatever they want.”

These are parents who love their kids.  These are parents who take care of their kids in many ways.  These are parents want what’s best for their kids.  Except, again, for the one thing that’s most important of all–a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now, you may be thinking that I’m addressing this to the wrong audience.  After all, you’re here.  And most of you have raised your kids.  And most of you had them come to church on Sunday.  Many of you had them in Sunday School, too.  So you may agree with all this, or you may not, but you may be thinking it really does not apply to you.

I understand why you might think that.  But Jesus did not just direct those words we read today to parents.  He directed them to everyone.  All of us have an obligation to do everything we can to help out children accept Jesus Christ as the Savior.  Remember, in Jesus’ last statement in the gospel of Matthew, he tells us to “go and make disciples.”  Parents may have the primary responsibility here, but you and I still have a responsibility, too.

What does that mean?  That means that all of us–you and I and every Christian–have an obligation to do what we can to reach those young people.  I’m pretty sure that just about everyone here knows someone who has children.  We need to do what we can to help those children know about Jesus.  We need to do what we can to help those children accept Jesus as the Savior.

Maybe that means encouraging those parents to bring their children to church.  Maybe that means encouraging those parents to bring their children to Sunday School or Faith Builders.  Maybe, if you have the chance, it means getting to know the children themselves.  Maybe, if you have the chance, it means telling them Bible stories.  Whatever it means, we need to do whatever we can to bring those children to faith in Jesus Christ.

And maybe you’re thinking, well, but I’ve tried that, and it did not work.  Or, maybe you’re thinking, there’s no point in trying that, because it won’t work.  And maybe it won’t.  Almost certainly there will be times when it won’t.  But I want to encourage you to keep trying, anyway.  I encourage you to do that for two reasons.

One is that our definition of success is not the same as God’s definition of success.  God does not define our success by how many people we can bring to Christ.  God defines our success by how faithful we are to Him.  Jesus told us to do what we can to bring children to Christ.  If you and I do everything we can to bring children to Christ, we will have succeeded in God’s eyes, regardless of how many children we actually reach.  Because we will have been faithful to God.

But here’s the other reason.  I think that if there is even one child who has salvation and eternal life partly because of something we said or did, it will all be worth it.  No matter how many children we don’t reach, if we can reach just one, it will all be worth it.  How awesome would it be to get to heaven and to find out that there was someone else who was there because of what you said, or because of what you did?  And what if there was more than one?  What if there were two, or three, or four, or even more?  That would be the greatest thing ever, don’t you think?

Jesus said that children are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  If we believe that, let’s do what we can to make sure those children get to the kingdom of heaven.  Yes, the parents have the first responsibility.  But you and I have a responsibility, too.  Let’s do all we can to give the children in our communities the best chance we can to accept Jesus Christ as the Savior.

 

Get Close to Jesus

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on June 11, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 15:29-39.

            Our Bible reading for today is the story of a miracle.  Jesus feeds four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish.  In fact, Jesus fed more than four thousand people--what the Bible says is that he fed four thousand men, besides women and children.  So Jesus might have fed eight thousand, ten thousand, twelve thousand people that day.  We don’t know.  But we know that however many thousands of people he fed, Jesus did it with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish.  A miracle.

            And when we read this story, that’s the part we usually jump to--the miraculous feeding.  In fact, in my Bible, the story is headlined “Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand”.  But when we really look at the story, there’s a lot more to it than just one of Jesus’ miracles.  In fact, if we focus just on that, we miss a lot of the meaning of this passage.

            First, we’re told that Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down.  Did Jesus know people would follow him there?  Did Jesus even want people to follow him there?  After all, the Bible tells us many times of Jesus going off by himself, often into the mountains.  Jesus would do that to pray, to renew himself, to keep in touch with God the Father.  Maybe that’s what Jesus was doing here.

            But if he was, it did not work.  We’re told that “great crowds came to him”.  And they brought “the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others”.

            I’ve talked before about how often the Bible says extraordinary things in a really matter-of-fact way.  This is one of those times.  Think about this.  Jesus is on a mountainside.  We don’t know how high up the mountain he was, but it had to be a significant distance, or Matthew would not have mentioned it.  And yet, all these people, “great crowds”, followed Jesus.  They followed him up the mountainside.  That would not have been easy, in and of itself--climbing up a mountainside.  But that’s not all.  They did this bringing all sorts of disabled people with them.  Again, they’re described as “the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others.”

            Think of the faith that took.  Think of how determined these people were to be close to Jesus.  They were not only willing to climb up a mountain to be close to Jesus, they brought others with them, people who could not get to Jesus on their own.  They helped those people get to Jesus, too.

            They did that not knowing what would happen when they got there.  They hoped Jesus would heal their friends, of course.  They knew Jesus had that power.  They’d heard the stories of Jesus’ miraculous healing.  But they had no way to know whether Jesus actually would heal them.  After all, it’s not like Jesus had invited them to follow him up this mountain.  Again, for all we know, Jesus might have gone up on the mountain specifically to get away from people.  Jesus might tell them to go away.  Jesus might tell them to leave him alone.  Jesus might not even see them or talk to them--he might just send the disciples out to chase them off.  They had no way to know.

            And yet they came.  That’s how much they knew they needed Jesus.  That’s how desperate they were to get to Jesus.  They were willing to undergo hardship, they were willing to risk rejection, just to get close to Jesus.  They knew they needed him that much.

            Jesus did not send them away, of course.  Jesus healed them.  Jesus healed all the people who were brought to him.  But here’s another amazing thing.  After the people were healed, they did not go away.  They did not go home.  Their friends did not go home, either.  They stayed there, praising God.  They stayed there for three days.  They had nothing to eat.  They probably did not have a change of clothes.  We don’t know whether they had any water.  And I don’t even want to think about the lack of sanitary facilities.  And yet, they stayed.  They stayed, despite everything, because they wanted to be close to Jesus.  Even after they were healed, they knew they needed to be close to Jesus.  Again, they knew they needed him that much.

            Jesus feeds them, of course.  Again, that’s the part everyone remembers.  Jesus took the little bit of food they had and made it enough to feed all those people and have some left over.  The crowd ate, and was satisfied.  And eventually, Jesus sent them on their way.

            Jesus performed a miracle, feeding all those people.  Jesus performed a whole lot of miracles, healing all those people.  And that’s important, for a couple of reasons.  One of them, of course, is simply these miracles show the divine power that Jesus had.  They show that he was, in fact, not just a human being.  He was who he said he was, the divine Son of God.

            These miracles also show how much Jesus cared about people.  Jesus may not wanted to perform miracles when he went up on the mountainside.  He may not have wanted to be around people at all.  But when Jesus saw these people in need, he did not hesitate.  He healed them.  He healed everyone who was brought to him.  For three days, he healed people.  And when they needed food, we’re told Jesus specifically said, “I have compassion for these people...I do not want to send them away hungry.”  The love for people Jesus shows in this story is incredible.

            But none of it would have happened if not for the faith of the people involved.  None of it would have happened if these people had not been determined to get and stay close to Jesus.  They were willing to do whatever it took to get close to Jesus.  They would undertake a long and difficult journey.  They would bring people with them, people who could not undertake that journey on their own.  They would do so with no food, no water, no supplies of any kind.  All so they could get close to Jesus.

            What are you willing to do to get close to Jesus?  What am I willing to do to get close to Jesus?  What would we be willing to risk?  What would we be willing to undertake?  What would we be willing to give up, to get close to Jesus?

            You and I are in a lot better position that the people who followed Jesus up that mountain.  We don’t have to undertake a difficult journey to get close to Jesus.  We really don’t have to do anything that’s all that difficult.  All we really need to do is simple things.  Pray.  Read the Bible.  Open our hearts to God’s Holy Spirit.  Take some time, every day, to think about where the Lord might be leading us to go or what the Lord might be leading us to do this day.  Feel Jesus’ presence with you as you go through your day.

            So, do we do those things?  Maybe you do.  I hope you do.  My point is not to judge anyone--I don’t know how close you might be to Jesus.  But I think we’d all like to be closer than we are.  I think we’d all like to feel God’s Holy Spirit with us as we go through our day.  I think we’d all like to feel that we’re going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do.

            But that’s not going to happen by itself.  It’s only going to happen if you and I do the things necessary to make it happen.  God will do God’s part--we can count on that.  But first, you and I need to do our part.

            Remember how things went in our reading for today.  Jesus did not seek people out.  Jesus did not go around to people’s homes and say, “Is there anyone here who’d like to be healed?  Anyone here who needs something to eat?”  Jesus went off by himself.  It was up to the people to come to him.  The people had to do their part.  When they did, Jesus did his part.  And everyone was healed, and fed.  And everyone was as close to Jesus as they could possibly get.

            We’re getting close to summer.  Summer tends to be a busy time in this area.  There’s all the farm work to be done, of course.  There’s yard work and gardening to be done.  And because we get so little nice weather around here, people like to find ways to be outside.  They go fishing, they go camping, they go swimming, they go boating.  They go to ball games.  They go golfing.  People do all kinds of things outside.

            And none of that’s wrong.  But it’s important, when we do those things, to still make Jesus part of them.  It’s important that we don’t leave Jesus out of our summer activities.  Whether work or play, if we want to be close to Jesus, we need to make Jesus part of everything we do.  If we don’t make the effort to stay close to Jesus, it won’t happen.  Again, Jesus will do Jesus’ part.  But you and I need to do our part.

            The people who Jesus fed, the people who Jesus healed, were willing to do whatever it took to get close to Jesus.  They knew they needed Jesus that much.  You and I need Jesus that much, too.  So let’s do whatever it takes to get close to Jesus.  When we do, we’ll find that Jesus wants to be close to us.

 

The Light

The Sunday night message in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  June 4, 2023.  The Bible verses used are John 1:1-18.

            “In the beginning”.  That’s the best way to start any story, right?  From the beginning.  It’s how the Bible starts to tell its story–the first chapter of Genesis starts “In the beginning”.  And, as you heard, the gospel of John echoes that.  It also starts out, “In the beginning.”

            But then they deviate.  Genesis says, “In the beginning, God created.”  It then goes on to tell all the things God created, and in what order: the heavens, the earth, the light, the water, the sky, the land, and so forth.  John, however, does not say, “In the beginning, God created.”  John says, “In the beginning was.”

What was, of course, came before what God created.  After all, if something already was, at the beginning, then it had to come before what was created.  

What John tells us was, was the Word.  “The Word”, as you may know, is a way of referring to Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ already was, before God created anything.  In fact, it was through Him that things were created.  “Without Him nothing was made that has been made.”

And then, John tells us this, “In Him”--Jesus–”was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Let’s think about that.  When we have Jesus, we have life.  Logically, then, if we do not have Jesus, we do not have life.

And you say, wait a minute.  I know people who are alive who don’t have Jesus in their lives.  And that’s probably true.  I know some, myself.  But there are a couple of things to know about that.

One is that, even for people who don’t believe in Jesus, their life still came from Him.  Again, all things were created through Jesus.  Nothing was created without Jesus.  So whether we believe in Jesus or not, our life still came from Him and through Him.

But there’s more to it than that.  The fact that we are alive is not the same as saying we have life.  The life that we have as Christians is light, the light of all mankind.  It’s a light that, as John says, shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

So what does that mean?  I mean, it sounds good and all, but what difference does it make, to say that as Christians we have the light of all mankind?

Well, here’s what I think.  When I look at the world right now, it looks pretty dark.  We have wars and possibilities of more wars.  We have lots of places where Christians are persecuted and where there is not much freedom. 

And things sometimes look dark in this country, too.  It seems like every day we hear about more violence.  We have all kinds of economic problems, with things that used to be readily available now either not there or cost more than we can afford.  Not only that, things that not long ago were considered basic Christian beliefs are under attack.  Sometimes, when we look around, it seems like the forces of darkness are advancing, if not winning.

And yet, as Christians, we have the light.  The true light.  The light of life.  It is a light that shines in the darkness.  The darkness has not overcome it.  The darkness will not overcome it.  We have that assurance, as followers of Jesus Christ.

That means at least two things for us.  The first is that, as we see the forces of darkness advancing, we should not panic.  We know that the darkness cannot win.  We have that hope, we have that assurance, from God.  The forces of darkness will only advance as far and as long as God allows them to advance.  God is stronger than any forces of darkness ever will be.  When God decides the day of the forces of darkness is over, it will be over.  It will be over very quickly.  And when it happens, the forces of darkness will be broken.  They will be shattered.  In fact, they will not even be.  The light will overcome the darkness.

Paul says this light gives light to everyone.  There is nowhere anyone can go to escape this light, because it is the light of Jesus Christ.

Think of it this way.  Imagine this room is completely dark.  Then, imagine that one single bulb is lit.  Will there be darkness anywhere in the room?  No.  All it takes is that one light, and all the darkness is gone.  That’s how it will be when God decides the day of the forces of darkness is over.  God’s light will shine, and the forces of darkness will not even exist anymore.  They will be completely gone.

As Christians, we can be completely confident of this.  We sometimes refer to this as our “Christian hope”, but understand what that means.  It’s not “hope” in the way that I hope the Vikings will win the Super Bowl someday.  This is sure and certain knowledge.  This is something we know will happen.  There’s no doubt about it.  The only questions are how far God will allow the forces of darkness to go and when God will act to overcome them.  We know God will act sometime.  The only question is when.

So does that mean everyone will see the light?  Unfortunately, no.  Everyone has the chance to see the light.  Everyone can see the light, if they choose to.  But some will not.  Some will shut their eyes to the light.  Some will deny the light exists, even when they see it.  It’s sad to think of that, but it’s true.  

So, what do we do?  Well, that’s the other thing this passage means for us as Christians.  As long as the darkness exists, it is our job, as Christians, to be the light.  We need to let the light of Christ shine through us.  And by doing that, we can show others the way to Christ.

Now understand, it’s not our light that shines.  Our own lights are not strong enough to lead anyone anywhere, or at least not anywhere good.  And too often, that’s the mistake we make.  We make it, sometimes, with the best of intentions, but we still make it.  

What can happen to us is that we get out ahead of God.  We think we know best.  We think we know what needs to be done.  And so, we start trying to force things.  We start trying to make things happen with our own light, rather than waiting for God to shine the light of Christ.  Again, we may do that with the best of intentions, but we still do it.  And when we do, things don’t usually go very well.

Our own light is pretty weak.  Following it, we tend to get lost.  It’s only by following the light of Christ that we can lead others to Christ.

So, then, how do we let the light of Christ shine through us?  By doing what Jesus told us to do.  Stay faithful to God.  Serve God.  Show love to God.  Show love to others. 

It sounds simple.  And it is simple.  But while it’s simple, it’s not easy.  Because the darkness does its best to put out the light.  The darkness does everything it can, in every way it can, to put out the light.

Now, it cannot fully succeed.  Again, the light of Christ will overcome the darkness.  But the forces of darkness will keep trying.  And their efforts can make it hard for us to stay faithful to God and let the light of Christ shine through us.

That happens in lots of ways.  We’re told that, if we stay faithful to God, we’re out of step with society.  We’re told that our ideas are old-fashioned.  We’re told that times have changed, and we have to change with them.  We’re told that the traditional Christian beliefs, that some things are right and that others are wrong and sinful, that those ideas are bigoted and hateful.  We’re told that we need to be more tolerant, that we need to be more accepting of the way others live.  We’re told that God is love, so we need to show love to everyone, and the only way we can show love to everyone is to say that the things they say and do are okay, even if those things violate what we’ve read in the Bible.  In fact, we’re told that what the Bible says about a lot of things does not apply, that those things have been misinterpreted or need to be modified by modern thought.

The forces of darkness are persistent, and they can be persuasive.  When we hear those things, and when we hear them repeatedly, over and over and over, it’s easy to let it start to sink in.  We start to think, well, maybe that’s right.  Maybe we do have to change with the times.  After all, no one wants to be thought of as intolerant.  No one especially wants to be thought of as a bigot or a hater.  We want to show love to people.  It can be tempting to let those messages persuade us.

We need to resist that.  And the way to resist it is by staying close to Christ.  To do the things we’ve talked about many times.  To pray.  To read the Bible.  To study the Bible.  To know what God’s Word actually says, as opposed to what somebody claims it says.  And to trust that God’s Word is true, even if it’s not popular right now.  

Remember, Jesus said He is the truth.  And the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Times may change, but the Lord does not change.  The words of Christ do not change.  And so, if we want God’s light to shine through us, we need to hold onto those words and that truth.  And we need to make sure people know, both by our actions and by our words, that we are holding onto those words and that truth.  That’s the only way people will see God’s light shining through us.

The world may be growing darker.  But you and I need to show the world God’s light.  It’s a light that the darkness has not overcome.  And it never will.