Not the Savior We're Looking For

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church August 27, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Mark 12:35-44.

            Have you ever talked to someone on the phone, or met them online, or maybe heard them on the radio or something, but never actually seen them?  You get kind of a mental picture of what you think they look like, right?  And then you actually see them, and--you get confused.  Because they don’t look anything like what you thought they’d look like.  Your mental picture of them turns out to be completely wrong.

            I bring this up because one of the things that confused the religious leaders of Jesus’ day is that they all had a mental picture of what the Messiah would be like.  Not just his looks, but his actions, his beliefs, everything.  The Messiah would be the Son of David.  The Messiah would come as a conqueror.  The Messiah would raise an army, defeat the Romans, and re-establish the Kingdom of Israel.  And, of course, the Messiah would make sure the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and all the other religious leaders had a prominent place in the kingdom once it was established.

            And then, here comes Jesus, and he’s nothing like what the Messiah was “supposed” to be like.  He had no interest in establishing an earthly kingdom.  He did not want to fight the enemies of Israel--in fact, he said people should love their enemies.  He did not try to raise an army--he preached a gospel of peace.  And he had no particular use for the Pharisees or the teachers of the law or any other religious leaders of his time.

            It was not only that, though.  Jesus simply did not see things the way the Messiah was “supposed” to see them.  Jesus turned all the established rules on their head.  And we have three examples of that today.

            We start out with the idea that the Messiah would be the Son of David.  Now, the genealogies of Jesus, as set forth in Matthew and in Luke, establish that Jesus was, in earthly terms, descended from King David.  But Jesus says, worrying about that misses the point.  David himself said so.  Jesus said, David calls the Messiah “Lord”.  David would not call his son “Lord”.  So, the Messiah must not be his son.

            We’re told that the crowd around Jesus listened with delight.  We’re not told how the Pharisees or other religious leaders reacted.  But it’s not hard to guess that they were not very pleased.  “Everybody knew” that the Messiah would be descended from David.  For Jesus to say that did not matter--well, that was outrageous.  It certainly was not something the Messiah would say.

            Then, Jesus says something even more outrageous.  He tells people to watch out for the teachers of the law, and not in a good way.  Jesus said the teachers of the law were arrogant.  They made a big show of how great they thought they were, and they expected everyone else to think they were great, too.  Jesus says, “These men will be punished most severely.”

            Again, we’re not told how the teachers of the law reacted, but I’m pretty sure they were not happy about it.  These were the people the Messiah was supposed to love and bring to prominence.  These were the people who were supposed to get the top spots in the new kingdom of Israel.  To say they would be severely punished--well, again, that’s just not something the Messiah would say.

            Then Jesus goes to the temple.  He watches people put their money into the treasury.  He sees some people put in big amounts.  Then, a poor widow comes by and puts in a few cents.  And Jesus says her contribution was more valuable than all the others, because she has put in everything she has to live on.

            And again, the religious authorities were outraged.  Does Jesus not know how much money it takes to run the temple?  Does Jesus not know how many salaries have to be paid, how much the supplies cost?  How can Jesus say this little bit that the poor widow put in is more valuable than the big donations?  I mean, yeah, we get that she put in as much as she could, but if everybody put that little in, we’d never make it.  We need the heavy hitters, the big contributors.

            Now, it’s not that Jesus did not understand economics.  And note, he does not criticize the wealthy people for the amounts they put in.  He does not say their contributions are unimportant or are not valued.  His point is that most of us, no matter our financial status, put in what we can afford.  This woman put in everything she had.  She did not worry about whether she could afford it.  She was completely sold out for God.  And that’s what the religious authorities could not understand.  It just did not sound like something the Messiah would say.

            Now, we look at this, from our perspective, and we wonder how the religious authorities could be so dense.  How could they not understand what Jesus was saying?  How could they not see how wrong they were?  What was wrong with those people?

            And yet, are those religious leaders really all that different from you and me?  How many times do we just kind of ignore what Jesus said, because it does not fit our mental image of what the Savior should be and what the Savior should say?  I mean, we might pay lip service to it.  We might say, yeah, that’s what we ought to do.  That’s how we should live.  But then, so many times, we don’t live it out.  We just keep living like we have been, because what Jesus told us to do does not fit what we want the Savior to say.

            And again, I do this, too.  I know I say that a lot, but I never want anyone to think that I’m standing here thinking I’m better than you.  I don’t want this to sound like I think I get this and you don’t.  There are many, many times, as a pastor, that you preach to yourself as much as you preach to anyone else, and this is definitely one of those times.  I struggle with this at least as much as anyone else.

            But think of some of the things Jesus said, and think of how little we tend to live those things out.  “Love your enemies”.  How many of us do that?  How many of us even try?  I mean, maybe we do it in theory, but what actions do we take to show that we love our enemies?

            “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also.”  How many of us have ever done that?  I mean, even once, much less as a regular practice?  It just does not fit the way we think a person should live their life.

            “Do to others as you would like others to do to you.”  Again, it sounds good in theory, but do we actually live it out?  Too often, we treat others as they actually treat us, not as we’d like them to treat us.  If people are nice to us, we’re nice to them.  If they don’t treat us well, we don’t treat them well, either.  Again, it just does not fit with how we think people should live.

            “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.”  That one does not even make sense to us, does it?  Did Jesus not understand human nature?  If we give to everyone who asks, we won’t have anything left.  Why would Jesus even say such a thing?

            “Whoever believes in the Son is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already.”  But God loves everyone, right?  Why would God condemn people for not believing in Jesus?  I mean, sure, maybe murderers and people like that, but why would God condemn good people, people who love others and do things for others, just because they don’t believe in Jesus?  That cannot be right.

            We could go on and on.  The point is that we tend to try to make Jesus fit our image of what the Savior should be, just like the Pharisees and the other religious authorities tried to make Jesus fit their image of what the Savior should be.  And when Jesus’ words do not fit our image, we tend to ignore them, or try to explain them away, or try to come up with some reason why Jesus did not actually mean what he said.  We don’t want to adjust our image to the reality of Jesus.  Instead, we want to adjust the reality of Jesus to fit our image.

            God understands why we do that.  God will forgive us for it, if we ask Him to.  But God does not want us to keep doing it.  God wants us to forget our image of what the Savior should be.  God wants us to believe in the Savior that is.  God wants us to hear the words of Jesus and take them seriously.  It’s only by doing that, that we can say we truly believe in Jesus Christ, rather than just believing in our image of Jesus Christ.

            So let’s take an honest look at the words of Jesus.  Let’s not ignore what he said.  Let’s not explain it away.  Let’s not come up with reasons why Jesus was not serious about it.  Let’s really look at Jesus’ words.  Let’s take them to heart.  And then, let’s ask for God’s help in living them out.  Let’s not worship the Savior who fits our image.  Let’s worship the real Savior, Jesus Christ.

Free

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish August 27, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Galatians 3:23-29.

Have you ever felt like you were trapped?

            There are a lot of things in life that can trap us.  Jobs can trap us--we can feel like we’re stuck in a bad job, a job we don’t like but one that we feel like we have no choice but to keep doing.  We can feel trapped financially--we go into debt, for whatever reason, and we get stuck in a situation where all our money is going to try to pay those debts and no matter how much we pay we just don’t seem able to get out of it.  We can feel trapped in a relationship--we know it’s not really working, but we don’t see any way to easily get out of it.  We can feel trapped by a health situation--we wish we could get better, we wish we could do the things we used to do, but we no longer can.  We can even feel trapped in things we like.  We volunteer for something, because we believe in it, but then it seems like we get stuck working on it more and more and we feel like we’re no longer in control of this thing we volunteered for.  Instead, it’s controlling us.

            That’s the thing about getting trapped, right?  When we’re trapped, we don’t have any control over anything.  Or at least, it seems like we don’t.  It feels like we have no choice but to keep doing what we’re doing.  We don’t like it, but we don’t see any way out of it.

            That’s how a lot of the people of Israel had come to feel about the law before Jesus came.  They felt like they were trapped by the law.  Back years ago, when it was just the Ten Commandments, that was something people could understand.  They could follow that.  But since then, there had come all these rules and regulations.  There had come all these explanations and technical decisions.  We’re not supposed to work on the Sabbath, we’re supposed to keep that as a holy day?  Okay.  But what do you mean by work?  Is it okay if I feed my cattle?  Is it okay if I go visit a friend?  And what constitutes keeping the day holy?  Do I have to sit and pray and meditate and read the scriptures all day?  Or can I relax a little bit and have some fun?

            And so all sorts of decisions were made, and rules were put forth.  And a lot of them got pretty technical, and eventually people got to where they could not even remember all the rules, much less follow them.

            And they felt trapped.  Because after all, the law had come from God.  It was important that they follow it, because it was what God wanted.  And a lot of them wanted to follow it.  They wanted God to be pleased with them.  They wanted God to look on them with favor.  But there was just so much law.  They could hardly even remember all of it.  They were trying so hard to do everything right, but it was just so hard to do.  They were never sure if they’d done things right, or if they’d done enough.  The law had become a burden to them.  And they felt trapped by it.

            That’s what Paul means when he says that before Jesus came, “we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.”  Faith in God was not something that was giving them joy.  It was not giving them hope for a future.  It was something that made them live in fear, looking over their shoulders, constantly afraid of making a mistake or doing something wrong.  

            If you’ve ever lived like that, you know it’s no way to live.  When we live in fear of making a mistake, what’s going to happen?  We’re going to make mistakes, right?  We’ll probably make them anyway, because none of us is perfect, but we make even more of them when we’re afraid of making them.  We overthink everything.  We second-guess everything we do.  We get afraid to take chances and we miss opportunities.  And we get depressed, and we get frustrated.  It’s a terrible thing.

            So let me ask you this:  have you ever felt trapped, and then something happened that you got out of the trap?  You got out of that bad work situation, and into a job that you liked with people you liked.  You somehow finally got your debts resolved.  You got out of that bad relationship.  Your health finally improved.  Somebody came and took some of the burden off you, so you could get back to enjoying that thing you volunteered for.  If that ever happened, how did that feel?

            It felt awesome, right?  It felt incredible.  I’ve felt it a couple of times.  I hope you have, too.  I felt it when I became a pastor and for the first time in my life had a job I really loved.  I felt it when I finally got my student loans paid off and was no longer in debt.  Feeling trapped is terrible.  But when you get out of the trap, when you get out of that bad situation, when you’re finally free from it, it’s the most wonderful feeling in the world.  There’s nothing like it.  And somehow, it makes all the time being trapped worth it.

            That’s what Paul says Jesus did for us if we accept him as the Savior.  If we have faith in Jesus, we don’t have to worry about it anymore.  We’re not under the law any more.  We have the grace and forgiveness offered through the life and death of Jesus Christ.

            In other words, we’re not trapped by the law any more.  We’re free of its burden.  We don’t have to be afraid of making mistakes.  We don’t have to worry about whether we’ve done everything right, or whether we’ve done enough.  We’re out of the trap, and we’re out of it forever.  We’re free, and our sins are forgiven, through our faith in Jesus and by God’s incredible love and grace and mercy.

            Now, that does not mean that we can just do whatever we want because, hey, God will forgive us.  Paul dealt with that in the sixth chapter of Romans.  He says, in effect, that God’s forgiveness is not a get out of jail free card.  Yes, we’re free, but we’re not free to sin.  What we’re free from is worry.  We don’t have to worry about whether we’ve done every little thing right, whether we’ve taken care of every last detail in accordance with the precise specifications of the law.  We’re free to serve God as best we can.  We’re free to love God and to follow God.  And when we do, when we do that to the best of our ability, we can be confident that God will see what we’ve done, and that God will bless what we’ve done.  God will not hold it against us if we did not do everything perfectly.  God is not going to judge whether we’ve dotted every i and crossed every t.  God is going to judge what’s in our hearts.

           Here’s an example of what I mean.  When I was in seminary, I had to go to Kansas City to take this one class.  The class lasted a week.  I got to know some people there, including a guy who was a musician for a huge church in the Kansas City area.  He said that, in that church, everything about the worship service had to be absolutely perfect every week, or someone was going to get fired.

            Can you imagine being part of a church like that?  Can you imagine the pressure you’d be under?  Can you imagine how little joy there would be in a church like that?  Talk about feeling trapped.  Where’s the forgiveness in that?  Where’s the grace in that?  I would never want to be part of a church that had that attitude.  Not that they’d ever hire me anyway, but even if they did, who’d want to be part of that? 

I don’t even know if God would want to be part of a church like that.  Because God does not expect perfection from us.  God knows we’re not capable of perfection.  God just asks us to do the best we can.  Do the best we can to serve God, to love God, to show love to others, to go and make disciples.  Do the best we can to do the things Jesus told us to do, and trust God to take it from there.

How we do that will be different for each of us, because God made us all different.  And there’s freedom in that, too.  I don’t have to serve God in the same way that you do.  You don’t have to serve God in the same way I do.  I don’t even have to serve God in the same way that other pastors do.  None of us has to feel trapped into fitting into a certain mold.  We’re all free to use the gifts and talents God has given us in whatever way we can, as long as we use them in God’s service.  That’s an awesome kind of freedom. 

God does not want us to be trapped.  God does not want us to feel pressure to be perfect.  God does not want us to feel like we have to fit a certain mold.  Jesus came to set us free from all of that.

If we accept Jesus as the Savior, we are free.  We are free to love God and to serve God in the best way we can.  If we do our best, we can trust God to use it.  God will bless what we do.  And God will bless us.

 

The Way to Heaven

The Sunday night message in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on August 20, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Mark 10:17-31.

            How do we get to heaven?

            You probably know the answer, right?  We get to heaven by faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  Jesus Himself said so.  God, out of His great love and grace and mercy, sent Jesus to earth to take the punishment we should get for our sins.  “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall have salvation and eternal life.”

            We know that.  And yet–we don’t always act like we believe it, do we?  I guess it just seems too simple, too easy.  We keep thinking there must be a catch to it.  There must be things we have to do.  There must be certain standards we have to meet.  It just somehow does not compute with us that all we have to do is believe and we are saved.

            It did not compute with the man in our story, either.  He comes up to Jesus.  And note, we’re told he fell on his knees before Jesus.

            This is not a man who came to Jesus arrogantly.  This is not a man who came to Jesus thinking he was so great.  This is a man who came to Jesus humbly.  We don’t know whether he fully understood who Jesus was, but he at least knew that he was a wise, important man who knew about eternal life and how to get it.  So he asks Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

            To the man, that seemed like a perfectly logical question.  But to Jesus, it was not a logical question at all.  It was a question that contained a completely wrong assumption about eternal life and how to get it.  It looked at eternal life as something we earn, something we get by the things we do.  It contained the assumption that we have to be “good” to go to heaven.

            Jesus tells him, look, no one is good except God.  But if you want to look at it that way, well, you know what the commandments are.  And Jesus lists some of them.

            And the man says, I know.  And I’ve followed all those commandments.  But he does not tell Jesus, okay, thanks.  I’ll just keep following the commandments then.  He says, “All these I have kept since I was a boy”, but he stays there.  He wants to hear more from Jesus.

            And he does.  Jesus says, okay, if you really want to get eternal life by being good, here’s what you have to do.  Go and sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and follow me.

            And of course, the man walks away, sad, because, we’re told, he had great wealth.

            This is sometimes taken as a story about how it’s harder for the rich to get to heaven than it is for others.  I may have preached it that way myself.  And I suppose the reason we look at it that way is Jesus’ next statement.  “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”...It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

            But I don’t think that’s what Jesus was saying.  He was not saying it’s harder for the rich than for anyone else.  What Jesus was saying is that it’s impossible for anyone to enter the kingdom of God and have eternal life–if they are relying on their own goodness.  

            We have to put this in the context of the society Jesus was living in.  In Jesus’ time, the rich were considered to be rich because they had been blessed by God.  I mean, not thieves and robbers and such, but just your ordinary rich people.  It was thought that God had blessed them and their families, and that was why they were rich.

            That’s why the disciples responded the way they did.  When Jesus said it was that hard for a rich person to get to heaven, we’re told they were amazed.  And they asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?”  What they were asking was, basically, if it’s that hard, basically impossible, for a rich person to get to heaven, then what chance do the rest of us have?  If the rich cannot get eternal life, none of us will.

            And of course, Jesus responds with his famous statement.  “With man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

            The reason it was so hard for the rich man to gain eternal life was not because he was rich.  It was because he was trying to earn his way into heaven.  He was trying to get there by his own goodness.  He thought that if he just did enough good things, if he could just make enough points with God, God would grant him salvation and eternal life.

            And if we had to get eternal life that way, it would be hard.  As Jesus said, it would be impossible, because no one is good except God.

            But even if it was possible, think what a miserable way that would be to live.  To try to earn your way into heaven by doing good.  For one thing, the good things we did would never be motivated by love, would they?  They’d be motivated out of selfishness, out of a desire to earn our way to heaven.

            Think about how you feel when you do something for someone with no expectation of anything in return.  When you do something just because you want to do something nice for someone.  When you do something just because you know it’s the right thing to do, and for no other reason.  It feels pretty good, right?  In fact, sometimes it feels wonderful.  To know you did something that really helped someone, to know that you did something that made someone’s day.  That’s an awesome feeling.

            But we’d never get that if we did those things to earn our way into heaven.  We’d miss out on all that good, wonderful warm feeling.  That would be sad, I think.

            But there’s another reason trying to earn our way into heaven would be a miserable way to live.  We’d never have any assurance that we, in fact, were going to heaven, that we did have salvation and eternal life.  Because no matter how much we’d done, we’d never know if it was enough.  We’d always be wondering, have I qualified yet?  Is there something more I need to do?  Are there more good things I need to take care of, more people I need to help?  It would be like running on a treadmill.  We’d be running as fast and as hard as we could, but it would never feel like we’d gotten where we wanted to go.  We’d feel like we were still in the same place we’d been, trying to do more, trying to make more points, trying to get that one more good thing done that might be enough to get us over the finish line and into heaven.

            God could’ve done it that way, you know.  God could’ve made it really hard, almost impossible, for us to have salvation and eternal life.  God would’ve had every right to do it that way.

            But God did not do it that way.  Why not?  Because that’s just not who God is.

            God is a loving God.  God does not want it to be hard for us to go to heaven, because God wants us all to go to heaven.  God wants us all to be with Him.

            What an amazing thing that is.  What an incredible thing that is.  Think about how good, how great, how awesome, how far beyond our ability to describe Him that God is.  Think about how small, how weak, how sinful we are.  Why would God want us around?  Why would God want us to be in heaven with Him?

            Because God loves us.  God loves us so much that he gave us this incredible gift–the chance for salvation and eternal life.  And to get it, we don’t have to do anything hard.  We really don’t have to do much of anything at all.  All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            That’s it.  That’s the only test there is.  We don’t have to score points with God.  We don’t have to earn our way into heaven.  We don’t have to be “good” to get to heaven.  There’s no long list of things we need to do to get to heaven.

            And we don’t have to wonder about whether we’re going to get there.  If you and I have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, then we will get to heaven.  We will have salvation and eternal life.  We don’t have to wonder if we’ve done enough.  Faith in Jesus Christ is enough.  That’s all there is.

            Without God, it is impossible for us to go to heaven.  But with God, it is possible.  In fact, it’s easy.  God wants us to be in heaven with him.  All if we have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, we will be.

 

Lessons From Bartimaeus

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on August 20, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Mark 10:46-52.

            Once Jesus started His ministry, He started attracting crowds.  Some of them came because they truly believed He was the divine Son of God.  Some came because He was a really good speaker, and they wanted to hear Him talk.  Some came because they had heard about His miracles and were hoping to see Him perform one.  Some probably just came because Jesus had become a celebrity.  And I’m sure there were lots of other reasons, too.

            Jesus and His disciples had been in Jericho.  We don’t know what they did there or how long they were there.  Mark just says they came there, and then he says they were leaving.  There was a big crowd with them.  They were walking along the road, and they came to where a blind man was sitting, begging.

           His name was Bartimaeus, which we’re told means “son of Timaeus”.  I’m not sure why Mark thought it was important for us to know that, but we’re told that everything in the Bible is there for a reason, so I assume there’s some reason for this, even if I don’t know what it is.

            Anyway, Bartimaeus is blind.  He’s sitting there by the side of the road, begging.  There was not much else a blind man could do back then.  There were no government assistance programs for the blind.  There was no disabilities act protection.  There was no real work a blind man could do then.  So, Bartimaeus did the only thing he could do.  He sat by the side of the road and begged, hoping someone would give him enough to get through the day.  It was not much of a life.  Try to get through today so you can get up and try to get through tomorrow.  I’m sure Bartimaeus did not like it much, but it was about the only option he had.

            So Bartimaeus is sitting by the road, and a crowd starts going by.  I assume Bartimaeus could hear them.  Somehow, he heard that Jesus was the reason for the crowd.  Maybe he asked somebody, I don’t know.

He apparently knew who Jesus was.  We don’t know how much he knew, but he knew enough to know that Jesus could help him.  So when he heard it was Jesus, he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Have you ever been in a big crowd of people?  How easy is it to hear one solitary voice in a big crowd?  It’s pretty hard, right?  Bartimaeus had no way to know whether Jesus would be able to hear him.  And in fact, the people around him told him to be quiet.  But he just shouted even louder, the same thing.  “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

And somehow, Jesus heard him.  Did Bartimaeus shout so loudly that he could be heard above the crowd?  Did Jesus use His divine power somehow?  We don’t know.  But Jesus heard him.  And he called Bartimaeus to him.

Bartimaeus came as fast as he could.  He even threw aside his cloak, which may have been about the only thing he owned, so he could get to Jesus faster.  We don’t know if he followed Jesus’ voice, or if someone steered him in the right direction, or what.  But there Bartimaeus is, standing in front of Jesus.

And you know the rest of the story.  Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Bartimaeus responds, “Rabbi, I want to see.”  Jesus says, “Go, your faith has healed you.”  Bartimaeus can see, and he follows Jesus.

This is a wonderful story of faith, of course.  It’s also a wonderful story of Jesus’ power.  But it seems to me that there’s more we can learn from this.  There are things in this story we can apply to our lives.

First, don’t be afraid to cry out to Jesus.  As far as human beings were concerned, Bartimaeus’ situation was hopeless.  He had always been blind.  He always would be blind.  We don’t know if anyone ever tried to help him, but even if they did, there was nothing they could do to help him see.  But Bartimaeus believed that Jesus could help him.  And so, when Jesus came by, he cried out to Jesus.

We all have times when we’re in a bad spot.  It may or may not seem like a hopeless situation, but even if it does not, it can sure be a tough one.  When that happens, don’t be afraid to cry out to Jesus.  We don’t have to wait until we have a really bad situation, of course.  We can call on Jesus anytime.  But especially, if things look bad for you, cry out to Jesus.

Because, here’s the second thing.  Jesus will hear you.  No matter how much noise or confusion there is in your world.  No matter how much noise or confusion there is in your life.  No matter how much noise and confusion there is in your own mind.  Jesus will hear you.  You can be completely confident of that.  If we cry out to Jesus, Jesus will hear us.

And Jesus will respond.  That’s the next thing we can learn from this story.  Not only will Jesus hear us when we cry out to Him, Jesus will respond.  Jesus wants to hear from us.  In fact, I suspect there are times when Jesus is just waiting for us to cry out to Him, so He can respond.  The Lord will never leave us or forsake us.  The Lord will never ignore us, either.  When we cry out to Jesus, Jesus will hear, and Jesus will respond.

But when Jesus does respond, the responsibility falls back on us.  Jesus asked Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?”  When we cry out to Jesus, Jesus may very well ask that same question of us.  “What do you want me to do for you?”

Bartimaeus had his answer ready.  He said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”  Do you have your answer ready?  If so, what would it be?

You know, sometimes, when we read this story, that part seems a little strange.  Why would Jesus ask Bartimaeus what he wanted Him to do?  I mean, the man’s blind.  Everyone knows he’s blind.  Surely Jesus knew he was blind.  So you’re asking him what he wants?  He wants to see.  What do you think he wants?

But you know, there are all kinds of ways Bartimaeus could’ve responded to that question.  I mean, after all, he’s a beggar.  It’s not his fault that he’s a beggar, but he is.  He could’ve said, “Lord, give me some money.”  He could’ve asked for a large sum of money, enough that he wouldn’t have to beg anymore.  He could’ve asked for nice clothes and a good place to live.  He could’ve asked for servants to help him.

There’s another way this could’ve gone, too.  Beggars were looked down on in society back then.  They still are, I guess.  The chances are there were people who did not treat Bartimaeus very well.  Bartimaeus could’ve said “Lord, I want you to punish all those people who’ve pushed me around, who’ve made fun of me, who’ve treated me like dirt just because I’m blind.  I want you to get back at those people for me.”

But of course, Bartimaeus did not say any of those things.  He had what was really a very simple request.  “Rabbi, I want to see.”

And that’s another thing we can learn from this story.  When we ask the Lord for things, we need to be careful about what we’re asking for.  We need to not make our requests too small, which Bartimaeus would’ve done if he’d just asked Jesus for some money.  We need to not make our requests selfishly, which Bartimaeus would’ve done if he’d ask Jesus for a lavish lifestyle.  We need to not make our requests things that will hurt people, which Bartimaeus would’ve done if he’d asked for revenge on people.

Bartimaeus asked for the one thing he needed.  It was the one thing that would allow him to live a life that would honor God.  Not that blind people cannot honor God, of course, but again, think of the society Bartimaeus was living in.  There was little he could do but beg.  Bartimaeus asked for his sight so that he could live a normal life, a fulfilling life, a life that would allow him to bring honor and glory to God the way he wanted to.

And one last thing.  What did Bartimaeus do when Jesus gave him his sight?  He followed Jesus.  When the Lord gives us what we asked for, we need to follow Him.

Maybe that seems obvious, but let’s think about it a little.  We’ve had a lot of folks praying for rain.  Over the last couple of weeks, we got some good rains.  How many of us, including me, have done more than just say a perfunctory thank you to God?  In fact, how many people have failed to do even that?  How many of us have just accepted the rain, maybe said thank you or maybe not, and just gone on with our lives as if nothing much had happened?

Bartimaeus cried out to the Lord.  The Lord heard him.  The Lord responded.  Bartimaeus told the Lord what he wanted.  The Lord gave it to him.  Bartimaeus followed Jesus, not even going back to pick up his cloak.

We cried out to the Lord.  The Lord heard us.  The Lord responded.  We told the Lord what we wanted.  The Lord gave it to us.  What have we done?  Have we followed Jesus?

This is more than just a nice story about Jesus giving a man his sight.  This is a story about how we relate to the Lord.  We can always cry out to the Lord.  The Lord will hear and respond.  If what we ask for will bring honor and glory to God, the Lord will give it to us.  But then, it’s up to us to follow Him.

May we all respond the way Bartimaeus did.  May we all follow Jesus.

 

Christians Need Christians

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, August 13, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Mark 9:2-13.

            One of the things that always strikes me about the Bible–and I’ve mentioned this before–is how incredibly matter-of-fact it is.  We read all kinds of incredible, awesome, extraordinary things in the Bible, and they’re written in such a way as to make them sound no more interesting than a traffic report.

Maybe it’s just that writing styles change.  Or maybe it’s because the gospel writers, writing under the influence of and at the inspiration of God, were trying not to put too much of their own interpretation on things, and so they stuck with the just-the-facts approach.  But just listen again to how the events of our Bible reading for today–the transfiguration of Jesus–are described:  “After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.  His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.  And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.”

            Ho-hum.  Jesus becomes something we’ve never seen before.  He’s talking with the two greatest prophets ever, both of whom are dead.  Just another boring Tuesday.  Nothing to see here.

            Think about what this describes.  Try to picture it.  Better yet, try to imagine yourself there, seeing it.  Imagine that you’re James, or John, or Peter.  Put yourself in this story.

            You’ve been with Jesus for a while now.  You’ve seen him heal people.  You’ve seen Him feed five thousand men with five loaves of bread and two fish.  We sometimes think of the disciples as not having been exactly the sharpest pencils in the cup, but by this time you know there’s something special about this Jesus.  You know that He is the Son of God.  You may not know exactly what that means, but you still know it’s true.

            So now, Jesus takes you, along with two more of His closest disciples, up a high mountain.  You probably don't know why you’re going there.  You know, though, that Jesus often went up into the mountains to pray.  You probably feel honored that Jesus is taking you with Him.  If you’re Peter, you probably feel especially honored, because shortly before this you’d been arguing with Jesus and Jesus called you Satan.  There would not be very many things worse than having Jesus call you Satan, would there?  This would not be an apology, but it would be an indication that Jesus was not holding anything against you.  He still considered you one of His closest friends, close enough that He’s taking you and only two others up into the mountains with Him.

            So you’re going up a high mountain.  Do you say anything to Jesus?  Probably not.  Probably nobody’s doing much talking.  You may not know where you’re going or exactly why, but you know this is some kind of a special deal.  And you’ve been around Jesus enough to know that He does not always explain things to you right away.  Jesus will tell you what’s going on in His way and at His time.  Until then, you just keep walking in silence.

            And then, the four of you stop.  You figure, well, we must be here, wherever “here” is.  Something must be going to happen.  Maybe Jesus is going to tell you something.  You look over at Jesus.  And–what in the world is happening?  Jesus does not look like Jesus anymore.  He looks like–well, you’re not sure what He looks like.  His clothes are “dazzling white”.  Whiter than white.  Whiter than anyone could bleach them.  Whiter than anything you’ve ever seen or you can imagine.

            And then, you see Jesus is not alone.  There are two people with him.  And it’s Elijah and Moses!  How do you know it’s Elijah and Moses?  You don’t know.  But you know that’s who it is.  Elijah.  And Moses.  Two of the greatest prophets of all time.  And they’re talking to Jesus.

            Can you hear what they’re saying?  The Bible does not say, but I doubt it.  This is a conversation for them alone.  You feel privileged just to be present to see these three great people together.  

            But you’re not only privileged.  You’re a little scared, too.  After all, you don’t know what’s going on.  Jesus did not tell you.  Are Elijah and Moses going to take Jesus back to heaven with them?  Are you going to be left alone?  What if Elijah and Moses don’t approve of you?  After all, Jesus just called you Satan a little while ago.  What are Elijah and Moses going to call you?  You start talking about putting up shelters for them.  Maybe you think Jesus brought you there to be part of a work detail, to serve the three of them.  Maybe you’re just babbling because you don’t know what to say, but you feel like you have to say something.

            Then a cloud covers the three of them, and you hear a voice.  The voice says, “This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to Him!”

            And that’s it.  The cloud disappears.  No one’s there but Jesus, and Jesus looks, well, He looks like Jesus again.  Jesus tells you not to say anything to anyone until Jesus has risen from the dead.

            Do you obey Him?  I mean, there are lots of times when Jesus told us to do hard things, but think about this.  You’ve seen this incredible thing, and you cannot say a word about it to anyone.  You know that when they got back, the other disciples must have asked them where they went and what happened.  How do you keep a thing like that to yourself?

            So what’s the point of all this?  Well, there are a lot of points we could make, but here’s the one I want to talk about tonight:  Christians are not supposed to try to go through life alone.

            The life of a Christian can be very hard sometimes.  Sometimes we have the idea that if we follow Jesus life should be easier for us, but that’s not true.  A lot of times, following Jesus can make life harder.  Following Jesus means not always doing what society says we should do.  Following Jesus means being willing to say certain things are right and other things are wrong, and that’s not always popular.  Following Jesus means believing we need to repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness, and that’s not always popular, either.  Following Jesus means believing that the only way to heaven is through faith in Jesus, and that’s not always popular, either.  

            There are a lot of ways in which following Jesus is not popular.  And so, we need to have other Christians around us.  We need other Christians to encourage us.  We need other Christians to strengthen us.  We need other Christians, sometimes, to hold us accountable and keep us on the right path.  We need other Christians for lots of reasons.

            And if you want proof of that, think about this:  Jesus did not try to go through life alone.  Jesus did not need people to hold Him accountable, obviously.  But He did need people.  He needed people to encourage Him.  He needed people to strengthen Him.  And when the encouragement of the disciples was not enough, Jesus got help and strength from Elijah and Moses.  And even then, Jesus did not go to see them alone.  He took Peter, James, and John with Him, even when He was going to see Elijah and Moses.  We don’t know what Elijah and Moses said to Jesus, but I’m pretty sure whatever they said was intended to help Him and keep Him going.  If even Jesus needed other Christians, I think you and I probably do, too.

            I hope you have those people in your life.  If you don’t, please know you can always call on me.  But beyond that, also know that you can always call on Jesus Himself.

            The old song says, “What a friend we have in Jesus.”  It’s true.  Jesus is our friend.  You can always call on Him.  You can always talk to Him.  No, I don’t suppose He’ll appear in front of you in dazzling white.  I mean, He could–nothing is beyond His power.  But probably not.

            But even so, you can always talk to Jesus.  And He will always listen.  And if you really open your heart to Jesus, He will respond.  Maybe in words, maybe not.  But somehow.  In some way.  Jesus will respond.  And however Jesus responds, it will help.  Maybe He will give you encouragement.  Maybe He’ll give you strength.  Maybe He’ll call on you to repent and change.  I don’t know what Jesus will say, any more than I know what Elijah and Moses said to Jesus.  But I’ll guarantee you that whatever Jesus says, it’ll be exactly what you need to hear.

            Whatever Jesus says will be exactly the right thing.  It will be the most helpful thing.  You may not realize it at first.  You know, sometimes the thing we need to hear is not the thing we want to hear.  Sometimes it may take a little time for us to admit that we needed to hear what Jesus told us.  But eventually, if we open our hearts to Jesus, we’ll realize that it is.

            Life as a Christian is not meant to be lived in isolation.  We need other Christians in our lives.  And sometimes, other Christians need us in their lives, too.  So try to have other Christians in your life.  But if you cannot do that, then go to Christ Himself.  Because as Christians, we never have to be alone.  We can always go to the best friend we could ever have, Jesus Christ.

 

Reminders of God

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on August 6, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Acts 17:16-34.

            The Apostle Paul is considered to be the first traveling Christian evangelist.  He went all over the world to spread the gospel, or at least all over the part of the world that he knew about, to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

            He has already visited a lot of cities at this point in his journey.  He started in Antioch, then went to Syria and Celicia.  He went to the cities of Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, then to Phrygia and Galatia, then to Philippi in Macedonia.  He then went to Thessalonica, then Berea, and now Paul is in Athens, Greece.  

            Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy, who were supposed to join him in Athens.  And while he was waiting, he walked around the city.  Seeing the sights, trying to learn more about the place.  Trying to get the lay of the land, so to speak.

            And as Paul walks around, he sees a lot of idols.  Because the Greeks, at that time, had a god for just about everything.  They had a god for the sun and a god for the moon.  They had a god for the rain and a god for the wind.  They had a god for grain, a god for cattle, a god for traveling, a god for the home.  You name it, they had a god for it.  And then, just in case they missed something, they had one more god, the “unknown god” that Paul referenced in our reading.

            And that, of course, is the hook Paul used in his evangelism.  He said, you have an unknown god.  Would you like to know Him?  Because I know Him, and I’ll be happy to tell you about Him.  God is the One who created everything.  He’s everywhere, and He does not need anything from us.  We, however, need everything from Him.  We are His offspring, God’s sons and daughters.  And God calls each of us to repent of our sins, because His divine Son, Jesus Christ, will judge the world with justice.

            Well, some of them believed, and some did not.  Some were willing to consider it and hear more.  That’s pretty much how it always is when we try to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  Some people believe, some don’t, and some don’t want to make up their minds.  It’s kind of how human beings are.

            But here’s what I got to thinking about.  Suppose the Apostle Paul was to come to one of the towns of the Wheatland Parish.  Suppose the Apostle Paul came to Gettysburg or Onida.  And he started wandering around, looking at all the things we have in our towns.  What would he see?  What would he think?  Would he think we were worshiping Jesus Christ?  Or would he think we have a bunch of idols, just like the Greeks did?

            I started thinking about what Paul would see, as he walked around.  He’d see the churches, of course.  I hope he would approve of them.  He might wonder why we needed so many.  Why would the towns of Gettysburg and Onida need four or five different churches, if they all claim to worship Jesus Christ?  Maybe he’d think these towns were really on fire for Jesus, that we needed that many churches because none of the buildings was big enough to hold everybody.

            If he came here on Sunday, of course, he’d find out that was not true.  So what else would Paul see?

            Well, he’d see the fire department building.  I assume he’d be okay with that.  He’d see the schools, at least in Onida and Gettysburg.  I assume he’d be okay with those, too.  I have no idea how he’d feel about the sports complexes.  And he’d see the business places and the houses.

            What else would he see?  Would he see anything that appeared to be an idol?  And would he see anything that appeared to be offered to some sort of unknown God?

            I think these are questions worth thinking about.  What is it, as a community, that we worship?  And if we say that, as a community, we worship Jesus Christ, what proof of it is there?  What would Paul see, if he walked around our town, that shows we worship Jesus Christ?

            Now, you might say, well, the whole point is that we’re not supposed to have a bunch of idols.  We’re not supposed to show off and have a bunch of altars and stuff all over town to prove we worship Jesus.  In fact, Jesus specifically told us not to make a big, public show of our faith.  

            Okay.  There’s certainly truth in that.  So let’s look at it another way.  Suppose Paul walked up to you.  Or to me.  And he started talking to us.  And he asked us about our religious faith.  And he asked us who or what it is that we worship.

            We might say that we worship Jesus Christ.  And Paul says, really?  That’s great!  Awesome!  I worship Him, too!  So tell me, what are you doing as a result of that?  What are you doing to share the gospel with others?  What are you doing to show love to your neighbor?  What about you is different because of your faith in Christ Jesus?

            Now, I don’t mean to suggest you would not have an answer.  You might have a really good answer.  I cannot presume to know what your answer is.  But I think that I need to think about what my answer would be.  Maybe you do, too.  Maybe not–maybe you already know what your answer is, and maybe you’re perfectly satisfied with it.  But maybe you need to think about it, just like I do.

            Because if we truly worship Jesus Christ, our lives should show that somehow.  Because to worship Jesus Christ means to put Jesus Christ first in our lives.  It means that worship of Jesus is not just one of many things in our lives, it’s the most important thing in our lives.  It’s the thing that everything else in our lives is dependent on.  If we worship Jesus Christ, that worship affects everything we do.  There should be nothing in our lives that is not affected by our worship of Jesus Christ in some way.

            I’m emphasizing this because we human beings are really good at compartmentalizing things.  And I’m just as good as anyone.  And it’s really easy for us to compartmentalize our faith.  To have our Jesus time and our non-Jesus time.  Our prayer time and our non-prayer time.  Our church time and our non-church time.

            And don’t get me wrong.  I’m not suggesting that we should spend every waking moment praying and reading the Bible.  That’s not practical.  But I am saying that we should not segregate our prayer time.  We should not segregate our Jesus time.  That time should influence all the other times of our lives.  That time should be a part of everything we do.

            So, is it?  Does our worship of Jesus Christ affect everything else in our lives?  Again, I cannot say what your answer is.  Each of us needs to answer that question for ourselves.  If your answer is yes, that’s great.  In fact, that’s wonderful.  That’s awesome.  But if our answer is no, or if we’re not sure, well, then we probably want to look at doing something about that.

            What can we do?  Well, one thing we can do is what Paul told the people of Athens to do.  Understand who this God is that we worship.  Think about how God is so powerful that He made the world and everything in it, and did so just by speaking a word.  Think about how God does not need us for anything, and yet God offers us the honor and privilege of being allowed to serve Him.  Think about how God is everywhere, so He is always there when we need Him.  Think about how God gives us the honor and privilege of not just being His servants, but His offspring, His children.  

            Those are all really amazing things, when we think about them.  Those things show both the power of God and the love of God.  Power, in that God can create the entire universe and be everywhere at once and has no need to even have us around.  And yet, a love so strong that God wants to be near us, and for us to be near Him.  A love so strong that God does not just treat us as His servants, which God would have every right and ability to do.  Instead, God treats us as His children, and loves us and gives us everything we need.  And not just everything we need on earth, but the chance for salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            I really think that, if we could somehow keep who God is in the forefront of our minds, we would not be able to stop worshiping God.  We would not have to worry about whether our worship of God influences the rest of our lives.  It would happen automatically.  Maybe that’s how it is in heaven.  Remember, in Revelation, where it tells about how everyone is constantly worshiping God?  Maybe in heaven, we never stop thinking about who God is, and so the worship of God happens without anyone having to even think about it.

            But while we’re on earth, what can we do?  Well, here’s a thought.  Maybe we need to do something like what Moses told the people of Israel to do.  Talking about the commandments, Moses told the people to “tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

            I’m not saying to do that literally, but the point is:  give ourselves reminders.  Do something to remind ourselves of who God is.  Not just once in a while, but all the time.  So often that we cannot possibly forget it.  Maybe it seems silly to you.  Maybe it seems like overkill.  But if we did something like that, I think we’ll be a lot more likely to remember who God is.  And if we remember who God is, I think it’s a lot more likely that worshiping God will be involved in every aspect of our lives.

            The Apostle Paul is not likely to come to our town, and he’s not likely to ask us what we worship.  But God is already here, and God already knows.  Let’s make sure we’re worshiping God.  Not just on Sunday, but with our entire lives.