Jesus Is Coming Soon

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on November 26, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Revelation 22:12-21.

            There’s one thing about me that really frustrates Wanda.  Well, actually, there are a lot of things about me that frustrate Wanda, but there’s one in particular that I’m going to talk about right now.  Wanda will ask me to do something.  And I’ll say “Yes, of course, dear, I’ll do it.  I’ll do it soon.”  And then some time passes--a few hours, a few days, a week, a year, whatever--and I have not done it yet.  And she’ll say, “You said you were going to do that.”  And I say, “I know.  I am going to do it.”  And she’ll say, “Well, when?”  And I’ll say, “Soon.”

            It seems to frustrate Wanda when this happens.  She gets kind of impatient when “soon” does not mean within a short period of time.  I’ve tried to explain to her that “soon” is a flexible concept, that it does not necessarily mean right away, but for some reason that explanation does not seem to satisfy her.  Does this sound familiar to anybody else, or am I the only one?

            The thing is, I think I’ve got some pretty solid backing on this one.  Look at our reading for today from Revelation.  At the start of it, Jesus says, “Look, I am coming soon!”  And near the end, he says it again.  “Yes, I am coming soon.”

            Well, it’s been nearly two thousand years.  And he has not come yet.  We say, “Jesus, you said you were going to come back.”  And Jesus says, I know.  I’m going to.  And we say, “Well, when?”  And Jesus says, “Soon.”

            Sometimes we get impatient with that.  In fact, it’s one of the ways non-Christians will mock Christianity.  “Well, your Bible said Jesus was coming soon.  Where is he?  Did he fall asleep?  Did he get stuck in traffic?  What’s taking him so long?”

            We wonder, too, why Jesus seems to be taking so long.  We look at the world.  Yes, I’ve said many times that there’s a lot of good in the world, and a lot of beauty, and I believe that to be true.  But there’s a lot of bad in the world, too.  And you know that–you don’t need me to go through the list for you. 

With all the trouble in the world, we may feel like maybe it’s time for Jesus to come.  And yet, he has not come.  So, if we assume that Jesus was telling the truth, what did He mean when He said He would be coming “soon”?

            Well, there are a few different explanations that people give.  One is that the word translated as “soon” does not refer to a specific period of time, but simply means “without unnecessary delay”.  In other words, Jesus will come when the time is right, and that any delay, if we want to call it that from our perspective, is necessary, even if you and I may not understand why.  

And I think that’s true.  Jesus will come when the time is right.  After all, he’s Jesus.  Whatever time he chooses will be, pretty much by definition, the right time.  If he delays, it’s for a good reason.  But while that may be true, it’s also pretty much Jesus saying, “I’ll come when I come.”  It may be true, but it does not really tell us anything.

            Another explanation is that the word translated as “soon”, again does not refer to a specific period of time, but instead means “suddenly”.  When Jesus returns, we’re not going to get any advance warning.  God is not going to give us a countdown.  It’s not going to be “Jesus will come in five months, so you’d better get ready.”  When Jesus comes, he’s going to come now, and we’d better already be ready, because we’re not going to get any more time.

            I think that’s true, too.  God has given us prophets, He’s given us the Bible, He’s given us theologians and preachers and teachers and scholars.  God gave us Jesus himself, the first time Jesus came to earth.  I suspect that’s all the warnings we’re going to get.  It’s up to us to be ready when the time comes, no matter when that time is.

            But I think there’s another aspect to this, too.  We’ve talked before about how God is a long-term God.  After all, God exists in eternity.  

Here are a couple of ways to think of this.  We think of someone who’s lived a hundred years as having lived a long time.  A hundred years is nothing to God.  The Bible tells us that a thousand years are like a day to God.  So while we’ve been waiting two thousand years, for God it’s only been a couple of days.  

Another way to think of this is to think of the Old Testament prophecies.  How long did it take some of them to come true?  Quite often, it was hundreds of years.  That includes the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.  People waited and waited.  And some of them gave up.  But eventually it happened, because as the angel said to Mary in the first chapter of Luke, no word from God will ever fail.

Or, think of it this way:  our best scientific guesses are that the universe is about fourteen billion years old.  Our best scientific guesses are that the earth is about four and a half billion years old.  And of course, God existed before the beginning of the universe.  So what’s two thousand years compared to billions?  Almost nothing.  It’s like less than a second out of a day.  So when Jesus says He is coming “soon”, it may be “soon” to Him.  It just may not be soon to us.

But here’s the thing.  I think all these things are true.  Jesus will come when the time is right.  Whether that’s in the next week or in the next billion years, Jesus will come when the time is right.  He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”  Just as the first chapter of the gospel of John tells us that Jesus was involved in the creation of the world, this passage tells us that Jesus will be involved in the end of the world and in the creation of the new heaven and new earth.  We might live to see it, or we might be gone for many years.  But even if we’re not around to see Jesus come again, there will be a day when it’s time for us to leave this world.  Jesus will come for us, one way or another.  And you and I had better be ready.

Because this passage makes clear that not everyone is going to go to that new heaven and new earth.  It says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.  Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”  And later, it says, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll:  If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.  And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”

That phrase “wash their robes”--just to make sure we understand, the full phrase is to wash your garments in the blood of Jesus Christ.  It’s symbolism.  It means to accept the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross.  It means to accept Jesus as the Savior.  To allow the blood of Jesus Christ to wash away our sins and allow us to come into the presence of God.  If we have accepted that sacrifice and accepted Jesus as the Savior, our sins are forgiven and we have salvation and everlasting life.

But some will not accept that sacrifice.  And while it might be nice to think they’ll go to heaven anyway, that’s not what the Bible tells us.  That’s not what the words of Jesus are.  We don’t have to like that.  In fact, as I’ve said before, there’s a part of me that does not like it, because there are people I know who have not accepted Jesus as the Savior, and there does not seem to be anything I can do about that.  I don’t like to think that they may miss out on salvation and eternal life.  And of course, it’s not up to me to decide whether they will.  But the Bible does make pretty clear that not everyone goes to heaven.  Whether I like that or not is irrelevant.  It’s just the way it is.

And if you and I ignore that, we just get ourselves into more trouble.  Again, if we add anything to this prophecy, God will add to us the plagues described in it, and they are some pretty awful plagues.  And if we take words away from it, God will take away our share in the tree of life and the Holy City.

So these are words we need to take seriously.  Jesus is coming soon.  We may not know what “soon” means to God, but we know what Jesus coming means.  If we’re ready, if we have faith, if we believe in and trust Jesus as the Savior, it means salvation and eternal life.  If we’re not ready, then it’s going to be too late.  Our fate will be set, and we won’t get another chance.  Not because that’s how I want it to be, but because that’s how the Bible tells us God said it is.

I can make an excuse to Wanda when I don’t get things done when I should.  But I don’t think our excuses are going to work with God.  So let’s be ready.  And let’s do what we can to help others be ready.  Because this is not just a matter of life and death.  It’s a matter of eternal life and death.

 

Waiting for God

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on November 26, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 1:1-18.

            This is kind of an unusual year.  Most of the time, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is also the first Sunday of Advent.  But this year, just because of the way the calendar falls, we have a Sunday in between Thanksgiving and Advent.  It’s kind of strange.  Thanksgiving is over, but Advent is not here yet.  So, while we might like to start celebrating the coming of the Savior, we have to wait.

            As I thought about that, I thought about how long the people of Israel waited for the Savior to come.  Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah go back at least to seven hundred B. C., maybe earlier.  That means the people of Israel had been waiting for the Savior to come for at least seven hundred years.

            And we’ve talked about this before, but sometimes, when we look back this far into history, we lose sight of how long a time seven hundred years is.  In our minds, it all kinds of falls into the category of “a long time ago”.  We don’t think about how long it was between seven hundred B. C. and the coming of Christ.

            Think of it this way.  Seven hundred years ago was 1323.  Seven hundred years ago most people thought the world was flat.  Seven hundred years ago there were no gasoline-powered engines, no steam engines, no power of any kind, really, other than human power and horse power.  And I mean actual power from horses, or donkeys, or oxen, or whatever animal you might have.  Seven hundred years ago there was no such thing as the printing press.  Anything that was written was written by hand.  Seven hundred years ago Europeans had no idea that there was such a thing as the Americas.  That’s how long seven hundred years is.

            And that’s how long the people of Israel had been waiting for the Savior to come.  And of course, during that time, there were lots of false Saviors.  There were lots of people who claimed to be the Savior who were not.  There were lots of people in whom the people of Israel invested their hope, only to be disappointed.

            I’m sure some people probably gave up.  I mean, seven hundred years is a very long time to wait for something.  We think seven years is a long time to wait.  In fact, sometimes we think seven months or seven weeks or even seven days is a long time to wait.  Waiting for seven hundred years--I don’t think you and I can even imagine what that’s like, to wait that long for the promise of God to be fulfilled.

            And even after Jesus came, a lot of people had a hard time believing it.  And if we think about it, we can understand why.  I mean, have you ever really, really wanted something to happen, and you kept waiting and hoping for it to happen, and then it finally did, and you had trouble believing it?  You had to pinch yourself.  You had to keep reminding yourself.  You just could not believe that this thing you had wanted for so long was actually real.

            That’s the position some of the people of Israel were in.  They wanted to believe Jesus was the Savior, but--could it really be true?  After all this time--seven hundred years--could he really be the one we’ve been waiting for?  After all the disappointments, all the false Saviors we put our hope in only to find out it was not true--could Jesus really be the one we’ve been waiting for at last?

            That’s the context the apostle John was dealing with when he wrote his gospel.  Yes, there were some who already believed, but there were a lot who did not.  They could not believe that, after seven hundred years, the one they had waited for had finally come.

            And so, John starts his gospel by trying to explain to people who Jesus was.  And what does he say?  Well, we’ll get to it in a minute, but first, we need to deal with how John refers to Jesus.  He calls Jesus “the Word” and later calls him “the Word made flesh”.  In other words, Jesus was sent to earth as God’s message, God’s truth, God’s word to us.  So in that Bible reading, when you hear the phrase “the Word”, know that he’s referring to Jesus.

So what does John say?  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus existed from the beginning.  In other words, when Genesis says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”, Jesus was there.  And it’s not that Jesus was there with God, it’s that Jesus is God, God the Son.  Jesus is not some guy who was born two thousand years ago.  Jesus is eternal, because God is eternal.  Jesus existed before this world was ever created.  Jesus will exist after this world is gone.  Jesus always was, always is, and always will be.  That’s who Jesus is.

And the reason that’s important, or at least one of the reasons why it’s important, is to explain why they had to wait seven hundred years for the Savior to come.  As we said, seven hundred years is an incredibly long time for us.  When your life span is, at best, a hundred years or so, seven hundred years seems like a really long time.  But when you’re eternal, seven hundred years is nothing.  It’s the blink of an eye.  Psalm Ninety tells us that a thousand years are like a day that has just gone by to God.  So seven hundred years, to God, is really no big deal.

There are a lot of other things John said in our Bible reading today.  Jesus is the true light.  As John puts it, “the true light that gives light to everything was coming into the world.”  “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children...born of God.”  There are a lot of good sermons in that passage we read this morning.

But I want to keep the focus on that time of waiting.  Seven hundred years, at least, from the time of the first prophecy of the Savior to the time Jesus came.  And let me tell you why.

The Bible tells us some things about the second coming of Jesus.  Not as much as we’d like to know, but some things.  And one of the things it tells us is that, in its own words, Jesus second coming will be “soon”.

Now, it does not define “soon”.  But most of us would have thought that it meant sometime before two thousand years had gone by.  And so, people wonder about that statement.  If Jesus was supposed to come again “soon”, where is he?  Why has he not come yet?

And when we look around at the world right now, we see a lot of things that make us think maybe it’s about time.  Look at all the things going on in the world right now.  Look at all the wars and threats of war.  Look at all the hate aimed at specific groups of people.  And not even because of anything they’ve done, just because of who they are.  Look at all the crime in our major cities, and sometimes outside of our major cities as well.  Look at all the natural disasters and diseases and everything we deal with.  Look at all the accusations of corruption and immorality about our elected leaders.  We see all that, and sometimes we think “If Jesus is going to come again and set things right, maybe it’s about time he did it.”  We wonder why God has, for so long, allowed so many things to happen that just do not seem right.  We wonder why God does not step in and do something about it.  We wonder what God could be waiting for.

But the thing to remember is that we have no idea what “soon” may mean to God.  Two thousand years?  Two thousand years is nothing to God.  Two thousand years is the day before yesterday, or the day after tomorrow.  Two thousand years is an incredibly long time on a human scale, but it’s nothing on God’s eternal scale.

We don’t know how much longer it will be.  It could be another two thousand years.  It could be another two hundred thousand years.  Or it could be two hours.  We don’t know.

And so, we wait.  We don’t know how long we’ll be waiting, just like the people waiting for the first coming did not know how long they’d be waiting.  We wonder if it’ll come in our lifetime, just like the people waiting for the first coming wondered if it would happen in their lifetime.  And sometimes we’re tempted to give up, just like people waiting for the first coming were tempted to give up.

But don’t give up.  Because Jesus is coming again.  And we need to be ready.  Even if Jesus does not come in our lifetimes, we still need to be ready.  Because if Jesus does not come to earth in our lifetimes, we will go to meet him.  And we need to be ready for that, too.  Because we don’t know when that day is going to come, either.  But we know it is going to come.

            In human terms, it took a long time for the Savior to come.  Seven hundred years or more after the first prophecy.  People did not understand why it took so long.  Some of them gave up.  But the Savior did come, and the world changed forever because of it.

            In human terms, it’s taking a long time for Jesus to come again.  Two thousand years since the first mention of it.  Some people don’t understand why it’s taking so long.  Some people are tempted to give up.  But the Savior will come again, and again the world will change forever.

            May we all be ready for that day when it comes.

 

The Greatest Gift

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on November 19, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 2:1-10/

            What’s the greatest gift you’ve ever received?

            There are all kinds of answers we could give to that, right?  When we’re kids, we probably think more of material things--a favorite toy or game, or maybe a pet.  When we get older, we might think about the love of a spouse.  We might think of someone who gave us a boost in our career.  A lot of people would say their children or grandchildren are the greatest gift they ever received.  We might even say the gift of life is the greatest gift we ever received.  

            But if we really think about it, we know what the greatest gift we’ve ever received truly is.  The greatest gift we’ve ever received is the chance for salvation and eternal life through our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            As I said, we know that if we really think about it.  But why do we have to think about it to realize it?  I mean, it seems like this should be something that we should constantly be thanking God for.  We should thank God every day for the chance for salvation and eternal life.  And instead, too often, we take it for granted.  We don’t even think about it.

            Now having said that, I understand that I run the risk of painting with too broad of a brush here.  I don’t know how often you thank God for the chance for salvation and eternal life.  Maybe you do it all the time.  If you do, then know that I’m not talking about you.  But I know I don’t do it as often as I should.  And I doubt that I’m the only one.

            And so for those of us who don’t thank God for this as much as we should, I want us to think about what an incredible gift this really is, and how undeserving we are of it.  Think about what salvation and eternal life really mean.  It means going to heaven.  It means going to be in the presence of the awesome, holy, righteous, perfect, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise God.  I mean, that’s something we really cannot even imagine.  Think of how excited people get at just meeting a human celebrity.  Now, take that reaction times about a thousand and you still don’t really get anywhere close to how awestruck we’re going to be in the presence of God.  

Or look at it this way--think of the times in the Bible when people see an angel.  The first words out of the angel’s mouth are “Do not be afraid” because people are so amazed and fearful at the sight of an angel.  If that’s the human reaction to an angel, think of what our reaction is going to be to God.

I mentioned fearful as one of the reactions people have to an angel.  There may be some fear when we enter into God’s presence, too.  After all, the Bible does talk, many times, about the fear of the Lord.  Why?  Well, there could be a lot of reasons, but I think one of them is that we realize how unworthy we are to be in God’s presence.

Think of all those words I used to describe God.  Awesome.  Holy.  Righteous.  Perfect.  All-knowing.  All-seeing.  All-wise.  And of course there are lots of other words I could use to describe God, too.  But think about those words.  Those words describe God.  Do any of them describe you?

Probably not.  They sure don’t describe me.  None of them come close to describing me.  They don’t come close to describing any of us.  We don’t deserve to be in God’s presence.  We don’t deserve to be anywhere close to God’s presence.  

What did the Apostle Paul say in our reading for today?  We “gratify the cravings of our sinful nature”.  We follow its thoughts and desires.  And what does Paul say we deserve because of that?  Not salvation and eternal life, that’s for sure.  We deserve God’s wrath.  We deserve God’s anger.  We deserve punishment.  

And you’d think it would be tempting for God to get angry and to give us that punishment.  But God does not do that.  And in fact, I don’t think it ever crosses God’s mind to do that.  I mean, here we are, all sinners from the beginning.  From Adam and Eve to the present day, every human being that ever was has been, as Paul says in Romans Chapter Three, a sinner who has fallen short of the glory of God.  We all deserve condemnation and death.  We deserve God’s anger.  And yet, what’s God’s reaction?

God’s reaction is not to get angry.  God’s reaction is not to condemn us.  God’s reaction is to think, what can I do to save these people?  What can I do so they won’t be condemned?  What can I do to give them the chance for salvation and eternal life?  What gift can I give them that will make them want to turn away from what they’re doing and accept the chance for salvation and eternal life?

And of course, that gift was the divine Son.  Jesus Christ.  In a little over a month, we’ll celebrate his birth.  Jesus Christ, the divine Son, born to ordinary people.  Giving up his life in heaven.  Coming to earth to live as a human being among human beings.  Coming here to teach us, to heal us, to be an example for us.  And coming here, eventually, to die for us.  Coming here to take the punishment that we deserve.  Coming here to give us the greatest gift we could ever be given--the chance for salvation and eternal life.

            Listen again to how Paul describes that gift:

We were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus...For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

What an incredible gift.  What an indescribable gift.  We don’t have words in our language that describe how incredible this gift is.  God is so great and God is so good.  Because of our sins we were deserving of wrath.  We were dead in transgressions.  And what does God do?  God does not just forgive us for all that.  God does forgive us, and that’s incredible in and of itself.  But God does not stop there.  God goes on make us alive with Christ.  God raises us up with Christ and seats us with Christ in heaven.  In Romans Chapter Eight, Paul describes this as God making us God’s adopted sons and daughters.  And he goes on to say that God makes us co-heirs with Christ.

Think about that.  As sinful as you and I and all other human beings are, God does not just forgive us.  God puts us on a level equal with Jesus Christ.  What a gift that is!  I keep using these words like “awesome” and “incredible”, and yet even those words fall short of describing this gift that God has given us.  I mean, we know who we are.  We know how often we mess up.  And yet, if we accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, God puts us on the same level as Jesus, the divine Son of God.  It’s hard to even imagine that.  But it’s true.

Thanksgiving is this Thursday.  And we know we should thank God for this incredible gift.  But when you think about it, the words “Thank you” seem really insufficient.  We say them because, really, there’s not much else we can say.  But there is something we can do.

[What we can do is follow God.  What we can do is have faith in Jesus.  What we can do is open our hearts and our souls to the Holy Spirit.  If we truly want to show God how much we appreciate this incredible gift God has given us, that’s the best way we can do it.  We can dedicate our lives to listening to God, to following God, to loving God, to trusting God.

Now, if you’re like me, you hear that, and you hesitate.  Because the fact is that completely following God will change our lives.  And I don’t really know that I want my life to be changed right now.  I’m pretty happy with my life as it is.  

Maybe you think the same thing.  If you do, I understand.  I’m pretty sure God understands, too.  But if we really want to thank God for this incredible gift, this is the best way to do it.  If we want to show that we don’t take God’s awesome gift of salvation and eternal life for granted, if we want to show that we really do appreciate it, we will follow God’s will.  And we’ll do that wherever it takes us, because we’ll trust that a God who loves us so much that He offers salvation and eternal life will surely take care of us any time we do what God wants us to do.

God’s gift of salvation and eternal life is the greatest gift there could ever be.  Let’s accept it.  And let’s show our thanks to God by listening to God, by following God, by loving God, and by trusting God.  Because a God who would give us that greatest gift is more than worthy of our love and our trust.

 

Trust and Be Thankful

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on November 19, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 6:25-34.

            If I asked you what you’re thankful for, what would you say?

            Well, there might be a lot of answers.  Family.  Friends.  Health, if we have it.  Some of us might say we’re thankful for our freedom.  Some of us might mention material possessions, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  We should be thankful to God for the material possessions we have, as long as we’re not arrogant or selfish about it.  Some of us might say the church.  Some of us might even mention our salvation that comes from Jesus Christ.

            But how many of us would mention that we’re thankful for our lives on earth?  We should be, you know.  I mean, in the church we talk about looking forward to the eternal life that’s coming through our faith in Jesus Christ.  And we should talk about that.  It’s very important.  But our lives on earth are important, too.  We should be thankful for them.  And on some level, we probably are.  But how often do we actually stop and give thanks to God for them?  How often do we actually say, “Thank you, God, for the life you’ve given me on earth?”

            Maybe you do, I don’t know.  I do, sometimes.  But not nearly as often as I should.  I mean, when I stop and think about it, I have a pretty great life.  I have a wonderful wife.  I have work that I love and find great satisfaction in.  I’ve got great people to work with.  I live in a beautiful area of the country.  I’ve been able to live out childhood dreams in a small way:  singing, being a sports announcer.  I’ve got plenty to eat and decent clothes to wear and a nice place to live.  Why am I not more thankful to God for that?  Why are a lot of us not more thankful to God for the life we have here on earth?

            Well, I think there are at least two things going on here.  Well, actually, I think it’s one thing, but it shows itself in at least two ways.  One of them is that we take the good things in life for granted.  After all, we say that God is good and that God loves us.  Jesus said that God knows how to give good gifts to those who ask.  So, when we get good things from God, well, that’s what God’s supposed to do, right?  If things are going well, God’s just doing God’s job.  We accept it.  But let something go wrong and, well, what’s the matter with God?  Why is God doing this?  Why is God allowing this to happen?  And of course, a lot of times what we mean when we ask those questions is, why is God doing this to me?  Why is God allowing this to happen to me?  What’s wrong with God?  Why is God not doing God’s job?

            What are we doing when we saying when we ask those questions?  Basically, we’re saying that we don’t trust God.  When things happen that we don’t understand, when things don’t go the way we think they should, and we start criticizing God for that, we’re really saying that we don’t trust God to do God’s job properly.  We think God needs us to tell God what to do.  Because God obviously does not know what to do on His own, right?  If God did, God would get on the stick and straighten things out.  God would be doing things our way.  Because, obviously, we know what God should do.  All God needs to do is listen to us.

            Now, put it that way and it sounds kind of silly, but how many of us have done some variation of that at some point?  And it’s understandable, in a way.  There truly are things happening that we don’t understand.  And some of them are no fault of ours.  Hurricanes.  Floods.  Fires.  Diseases.  When those things happen, it can be hard to trust God.  It can be hard to trust that God has a plan.  God understands why we struggle with that.  And I don’t think God gets mad at us for asking questions, as long as we ask those questions sincerely and not arrogantly.

            But God would like us to trust God.  Not because God will be upset if we don’t, but because we will be better off if we do.  And that, finally, brings us to our Bible reading for today.  

            This is part of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount.  It’s a fairly long sermon, one that covers three chapters of the gospel of Matthew.  Jesus has covered a lot of things already.  He’s given the beatitudes, giving blessings to certain people.  He has taught people what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer.  Right before this, Jesus has made the famous statement that no one can serve two masters, that we cannot serve both God and money.  

            Then, Jesus says this:  “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life.”  He tells us we don’t need to worry about what we’re going to eat.  We don’t need to worry about what we’re going to wear.  He tells us we don’t even need to worry about tomorrow.  He says if we seek God’s kingdom, if we love God and trust God, God will take care of things.  You and I don’t need to worry about them.

            So now, how many of us live our lives without ever worrying about anything?  Yeah, me neither.  We may or may not worry about what we’re going to eat or what we’re going to wear.  But I’ll guarantee that there are plenty of us here who worry about tomorrow.  And by that, I don’t just mean the next twenty-four hour period.  I mean the future.  There are a lot of us here who worry about the future.

            And again, it’s understandable.  The future is, by definition, uncertain.  We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen.  There’s no way we can know.  And what do we tend to do when we don’t know what’s going to happen?  That’s right, we worry.  It seems like the most natural thing in the world to do.

            But when we worry about the future, what are we doing?  Again, we’re saying that we don’t trust God.  We’re saying that we don’t trust what Jesus said, that God knows how to give good gifts to those who ask.  We’re saying that we don’t trust what the Apostle Paul said, that God can work all things for the good of those who love him.  We’re saying that we need to worry about what’s going to happen, because we cannot trust God to do things right.

            Again, God does not get mad at us when we do that.  Jesus does not say that if we worry about the future we’re committing a sin.  God understands our doubts and our fears, just like God understands everything else about us.  God is not mad, but I think God is sad.  God is sad that we don’t trust God more.  I think God says to us, why don’t you trust me?  Your life would be so much easier, so much happier, if you just trusted me.  I did not give you this life as a punishment.  I did not give it to you so you could be consumed with worry and fear.  I gave you this life to enjoy.  

Jesus said in John Chapter Ten, Verse Ten, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  God wants us to have an abundant life.  God wants us to live lives that are full.  When we lose that with worry and doubt and fear, we’re not really sinning against God.  What we’re doing is cheating ourselves.  We’re robbing ourselves of those good gifts that God wants to give us.

Now, understand, when Jesus said not to worry about the future, he was not saying that we should not prepare for the future.  In fact, preparing for the future is the exact opposite of worrying about the future.  When we’re prepared for the future, we don’t need to worry about it.  We’ll be ready for it.  But part of preparing for the future is being able to trust God.  Part of preparing for the future is having confidence in God.  Part of preparing for the future is having faith that, if we’ve done the best we can, God will take it from there.  And that does not just apply to preparing for the future.  That applies to every aspect of our lives.  In fact, that’s what trusting God really means--doing our best, in every circumstance and every situation, and trusting God to bless our efforts and take it from there.

If we trust God, we can stop worrying about our lives.  If we trust God, we can enjoy our lives.  If we trust God, we can stop cheating ourselves and robbing ourselves of the good gifts God wants to give us.  If we trust God, we can have that abundant life that Jesus came to give us.

As we approach Thanksgiving Day, let’s stop doubting, and let’s stop worrying.  Let’s put our fears away.  Let’s do our best in every circumstance, and trust God to take care of the rest.  If we do that, we can be thankful to God for every day of life on earth that God gives us.

 

What Happens Next?

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  November 12, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 14:13-21.

Imagine you’re one of the crowd on that day described in Matthew.  You know who Jesus is, of course; you don’t know everything about him, but you know a lot of things.  He’s pretty famous, after all, this Jesus.  He’s done a lot of things.  He’s preached a lot of sermons, and there’s a lot of difference of opinion about him.  The people who are for him say he’s the Savior, the King who was promised by scripture.  They even say he has the power to forgive sins.  The people in charge, though, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes, all say he’s a dangerous man and needs to be stopped.  The Roman authorities say that, too, although that does not mean much to you—after all, who trusts them?

You’ve heard some other things, too, some stories.  Supposedly, he’s got some sort of special power to heal people.  You’ve even heard a story about him having raised someone from the dead, although you’re not real sure about that one.  That’s not possible, is it?

At any rate, he’s in the area, and there are a lot of people going out to see him, so you decide you’re going to go out there, too.  If nothing else, this guy’s a celebrity, so it should be interesting to go see him.  

Apparently, he’s out on a boat somewhere.  The word is that his famous cousin, John the Baptist, was killed, and Jesus decided he wanted to get away for a while.  You think, well, maybe we should just leave him alone, then.  No one else seems to think so, though.  There’s a pretty big crowd gathered, and they seem to know where Jesus was headed, and they’re going to follow him.  So, you figure you might as well follow him, too.  After all, one person more or less is not going to make any difference.

You see that a lot of these people have brought sick people along with them, relatives or friends.  They must have heard those stories about Jesus healing people, too.  You keep moving with the crowd, keep going, and eventually there he is!  There’s Jesus, big as life, still in the boat, but not very far from shore/

Jesus turns and sees the crowd.  Well, how could he not, really.  People are calling to him, wanting him to come and provide healing.  It’s interesting, the different ways they ask. Some of them don’t ask.  They demand.  They act like Jesus has some sort of obligation to heal them, like he owes it to them or something.  Others, though, are more polite, asking calmly. Some of them are begging.  You can see that they’re desperate.  They look like they’ve been sick a long time, and that there’s nothing any other doctor can do for them.  Jesus is probably their last chance.

Now Jesus is bringing the boat to shore.  He gets out of the boat and looks at the crowd.  You can see in his face that he feels for those people.  So, he starts healing them.  At first, the scene seems chaotic, totally disorganized, and yet, Jesus does not seem at all rattled or bothered by it.  In fact, he seems to be in total control.  There’s no visible organization to anything, yet everything seems to make sense.  Somehow, it all seems to be going just like it’s supposed to go.

Jesus continues to heal people.  It’s an amazing thing to see.  When you heard these stories of healing, you thought it was probably some big, theatrical production.  You expected to see flashes of light, puffs of smoke, maybe even hear a loud, almost unearthly voice or something.  There’s none of that.  Jesus simply talks to people.  You cannot quite hear what he’s saying, but he seems to be quite calm.  As he talks to them, the people who’ve come to him calm down, too.  There are a lot of people in front of you, so you really cannot see what happens next, but all of a sudden, the person is healed.  Whatever was wrong with them is gone.  It’s more than a cure; it’s like they were never sick in the first place.  They instantly seem to be totally healed, perfectly normal.  Then, Jesus goes on to the next person, and the same thing happens, over and over again.  It’s the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen.  This Jesus guy is better than a doctor.

Then, all at once, you do hear a loud, almost unearthly noise.  You look around, and then you realize it’s coming from your stomach.  You look up, and you notice the sun is getting pretty low in the sky.  It’s getting late, and you’ve not eaten since breakfast.  You realize that you’re getting pretty hungry.  You also realize that you did not think to bring any food with you, and this place you’re in is pretty desolate.  It’s a long way home, and it’s also a long way to any town.  You ask around, thinking maybe you can buy some food from someone else, but no one else seems to have thought to bring any food with them, either.

You’re not the only one who’s starting to get hungry.  You hear some murmuring through the crowd.  Even the people who’ve been healed are starting to get a little upset.  No one has the guts to actually talk to Jesus about it, but they talk to a few of his friends, asking them to relay the message.  Sure enough, a little while later, you see Jesus’ friends talking to him.  You don’t really hear what they’re saying, but you know it’s got to be about the food situation.  Then, the crowd suddenly quiets down, and you hear Jesus tell his friends, “You give them something to eat.”

You think, just for a minute, that maybe his friends have brought a bunch of food with them, but the looks on their faces tell you that’s not true.  They obviously have no idea what Jesus is talking about.  They don’t have any food to give anyone.  They huddle for a minute, then scatter.  Are they going somewhere to get some food?  But where would they go?  Are they just leaving, taking off so they don’t have to deal with the situation?  No one knows.  The crowd is getting restless, and so are you.  Meanwhile, Jesus just sits there calmly, as if he’s completely unaffected by what’s going on.

His friends come back, and one of them is holding a basket.  It looks like it has a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.  Whoop ti do.  That’s not even going to be enough to feed Jesus and his friends, much less this huge crowd.  People are starting to get upset.

Jesus takes the food, and he tells everyone to sit down.  Surprisingly, they do.  You do, too.  Jesus says grace.  What’s going on?  They’re not going to eat while we just sit here and watch are they?  That does not make sense, but no one seems to be able to make any sense out of what’s going on.

Jesus breaks the bread into pieces and tells his friends to start passing the pieces out to the crowd.  There’ll never be enough, of course, but at least a few people will get to eat something.  You start pushing your way to the front, trying to be one of those few, but everyone else has the same idea.  You give up, knowing you’ll never be able to get anything.

You sit down again.  Some time passes.  It sure is taking a long time for them to hand out that little bit of food.  Then, there’s a shadow over you.  You look up, and there’s one of Jesus’ friends, holding out some bread.  He says, “Do you want something to eat?”

You reach out for it, amazed.  How can there still be some bread available?  You look around, and everyone has bread.  In fact, they have more than they can eat.  There seems to be plenty left over.  Where’d all this bread come from?

You look at Jesus, and he’s got this big smile on his face.  He looks back at you, and you know he knows exactly what you’ve been thinking this whole time.  Jesus had planned this out from the beginning!  That’s why he had not been worried about anything.  Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen and how it was going to happen.

You suddenly realize that the stories you’ve heard are true.  This Jesus really is who his supporters say he is.  He really is the King.  He really does have the power to forgive sins.  He really is the Savior.

Jesus tells everyone to leave, so everyone gets up to go home.  And you know what? That’s where the Bible leaves the story.  So, if we’ve really imagined ourselves as part of the crowd that day, each of us is going to have to write what happens next.

What do you do?  What do I do?  Do we try to stay with Jesus, or do we go back home? If we go back home, what do we do?  Has this meeting with Jesus, this realization of who he is, made a difference in your life?  Has it made a difference in my life?  Or are we going to just go back and go about our business, with a story to tell and a memory to keep, but no more?  If we are changed, is it going to be a permanent change, something that makes our lives different from now on, or is it like so many other things, something that gets us excited for a while but that eventually fades away.

We’ve heard the story.  The ending is up to each one of us.

 

Why Doubt?

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  November 12, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 14:22-33.

            Today’s gospel reading is a familiar story.  Most people have heard the story, even if they cannot remember all the details.  Even a lot of people who are not Christians are at least aware that the Bible says Jesus once walked on water.

            To me, though, Jesus walking on water is not the most interesting or even necessarily the most important part of the story.  Now obviously, if I’d been there at the time, that’s what I’d remember.  I mean, as far as I know, no one ever walked on water before, and no one has since.  If I actually saw someone do it, and I was sure it was not just some sort of trick, I’d remember it the rest of my life.

            I was not there, though, and I read this now knowing who Jesus really is.  If we accept Jesus as the divine Son of God, as part of the Holy Trinity, as someone with the power to work miracles, it’s no surprise that he could walk on water if he chose to.  It’s a miracle, of course, but not any more impressive than a lot of the other miracles Jesus performed while he was on the earth.

            To me, the most interesting part of this story is Jesus’ statement to Peter.  You remember how it went:  Peter wants Jesus to let him walk on the water, too; Jesus tells him to come; Peter gets close to Jesus, gets scared, sinks, Jesus pulls him up.  Then Jesus says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

            That always seems to me like such an unfair thing for Jesus to say to Peter.  After all, Peter was the only one who had enough faith to get out on the water at all.  I mean, you don’t hear anything about Andrew or Philip or Thomas or any of the others jumping out of the boat to go join Peter on that walk, do you?  Peter’s the only one who even dared to try getting out on the water, and his reward for his courage is to have Jesus accuse him of having “little faith.”

            At least, that’s how I’ve often heard this story explained.  It’s considered to be Jesus testing Peter’s faith, and Peter failing the test.  Now, granted, Jesus does not accuse Peter of having no faith at all.  Still, Jesus is not exactly complimenting Peter here, is he?  Saying he has “little faith”?  How would you feel if Jesus said that to you?

            But is that really what’s going on here?  Is Jesus’ statement really meant as an accusation, as a harsh criticism?  Let’s remember who Peter was.  He was not perfect, and the gospels don’t portray him as perfect or anything close to it, but he’s also the one to whom Jesus says, just a little while later, “You are the rock on whom I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”  That’s why Jesus changes his name from Simon to Peter; the word we translate as Peter means rock.  Would Jesus really build his church on someone whom he’d just accused of having “little faith”?

            I think that, when we focus on Jesus calling Peter, “you of little faith”, we focus on the wrong part of what Jesus said.  I think the important part of what Jesus said was not him saying Peter had little faith.  It’s the question Jesus asked him right after that.  Jesus asked him, “Why did you doubt?”

            Think of all the things Peter had already seen in his time with Jesus.  He’d seen Jesus heal people.  He’d seen Jesus stop a storm.  He’d seen Jesus cast out demons.  He’d seen Jesus bring someone back to life from the dead.  He’d seen Jesus feed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish.  He’d probably seen a lot of other things, too—after all, the Bible tells us there are a lot more things that Jesus did on earth than are contained in the gospels.

            If anyone should have not had any doubts about who Jesus was, it would be Peter.  In fact, Peter did not think he had any doubts.  When Jesus invited him to come out onto the water, Peter went right out there.  He did pretty well, too, as long as he focused on Jesus and walked right toward him.  Then, though, he started looking around, noticing things.  He felt the strong wind.  He saw the waves getting higher and higher.  He got scared, and when he got scared, that’s when the doubts started to hit him.  He started thinking about all the things that might happen to him while he was out there on the water.  The doubts got the best of him, and he started to sink.

            I think that happens to us sometimes, too.  There are times when it seems like our faith is pretty strong.  There are times, in fact, when we’re willing to step right out there and take risks for our faith in Jesus.  At first, we’re fine, as long as we keep focused on Jesus.  The trouble is that then we start looking around and noticing things.  We start getting battered by the winds of life.  We get scared, and the doubts start hitting us.  We start thinking about all the things that can happen to us in life.  Then, we start to sink.

            When Jesus asked Peter, “why did you doubt”, I don’t think Jesus was mad at Peter.  I don’t think he meant it as an accusation.  I think Jesus said those words sadly, almost wistfully.  Jesus was trying to give Peter the power to do anything in Jesus’ name.  He wanted Peter to know that with Jesus, anything is possible.  He wanted Peter to have so much faith in Jesus that he’d believe he could do anything, even walk on water.  He was hoping Peter could put his doubts aside and put his complete faith and trust in Jesus.  And at first, it looked like maybe he could.  I think Jesus was just kind of sad that Peter had not been able to set his doubts aside and accept what Jesus was trying to give him.

            I think Jesus asks that same question to us, and he asks it the same way.  Jesus looks at the way we live our lives, the number of times we try to do things our own way, the number of times we get scared, and asks us, “Why do you doubt?”  Jesus has so much power.  With Jesus, anything is possible, even walking on water.  Jesus wants so much for us to put our doubts aside and put our complete faith and trust in him.  I think Jesus is sad when we’re not able to do that, when we’re not able to just accept what Jesus is trying to give us.

            There is good news, though.  After all, when Peter got scared, when Peter gave in to the doubts, when Peter started to sink, Jesus did not just stand there and watch.  Jesus did not say, “Well, you doubted, so you deserve to sink to the bottom.”  Jesus reached out and caught Peter.  He lifted him back up, and they got into the boat together.

            That’s what Jesus will do for us, too.  When we give in to our doubts and start to sink, Jesus will reach out and catch us, too.  Jesus will reach out for us, and will lift us back up, just as he did for Peter.

            As long as we do one thing.  If you’ve been paying attention, you know what it is, too.  You know I skipped one really important part of this story.  When Peter started sinking, what did he do?  He cried out to Jesus.  It was not a long, complicated prayer or anything.  All he did was say three words:  “Lord, save me!”

            When Peter said those three words, we’re told that Jesus “immediately” reached out and pulled him up.  It sounds to me like maybe Jesus had been waiting for just that opening.  It sounds to me like Jesus was just waiting for Peter to acknowledge his fear and his doubt and to ask for Jesus to save him, because the second he did, Jesus saved Peter.

            You know, Bible stories like this give me a lot of confidence and a lot of hope.  I hope they do that for you, too.  They make me feel better about the fact that I give in to my doubts and fears sometimes.  For one thing, if even Peter, who was right there with Jesus and saw all those things happen and who was the rock on whom Jesus was going to build his church, if even Peter was subject to doubts sometimes, I think Jesus understands why you and I have that same problem.

            More importantly, though, a story like this shows us the way out of our problems.  When life gets to be too much for us, when we give in to our doubts, when fear overwhelms us, when it feels like we’re starting to sink, all we need to do is turn to Jesus.  We don’t have to do anything big or complicated to do that.  All we need to do is say, “Lord, save me!”  As soon as we do that, Jesus will lift us up and show us the way out.  The way out is not always easy, but it’s there, and Jesus will help us find it.

            Jesus wants us to believe.  Jesus wants us to trust.  He wants us to trust in his great power.  He wants us to trust in his great love.  He wants us to trust that he’s always there for us.

            We can do all things through Jesus Christ.  All we need to do is look to Jesus, put aside our doubts and fears, and accept the wonderful gifts Jesus wants to give us.

 

Money, Stuff, and Peace

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  November 5, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Luke 12:13-34.

            Have you ever been really worried about something?  Something that was really important to you, something that was weighing on your mind?  Something that you just could not stop thinking about, and could not stop worrying about, no matter how hard you tried?  And then you tell someone what’s on your mind, and they say, “Ah, don’t worry about it.  It’s no big deal.”

            How did you feel when you heard that?  Did it make you stop worrying?

            Probably not.  It probably just made you mad.  Or maybe it made you upset.  Or maybe you felt like this person just did not understand what you were going through.  But whatever it made you feel, it probably did not stop you from worrying.  

            It’s so easy to tell someone else, “don’t worry.”  But that’s actually what Jesus does in our reading for tonight.  Jesus looks at the common concerns of life, and he tells the disciples, hey, don’t worry about that.  Don’t worry about any of it.

            But let’s look at the context in which Jesus says this.  A guy comes up to Jesus and says to Jesus, “Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

            I would think Jesus had to feel really frustrated when he heard that.  Maybe even kind of annoyed.  I mean, think about it.  Here you have the divine Son of God standing in front of you.  You can talk to Him.  You can ask Him anything you want to.  You can ask Him what God is like.  You can ask Him what heaven is like.  You can ask Him how you can get salvation and eternal life.  You can ask Him what some of the scripture passages mean that you’ve always wondered about.  And what does this person do?  He asks Jesus to help Him get more money.

            And when I read Jesus’ response, He really does sound a little frustrated and annoyed.  He says, it’s not my job to deal with stuff like that.  Then he tells them, “Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

            That, in and of itself, kind of convicts us, right?  I mean, none of us here would be considered rich, but we all have some money and some stuff.  And that money and that stuff is pretty important to us.  In fact, we probably wish we had more money, and more stuff.  And that’s not necessarily wrong, but it is if that money and that stuff, and the acquisition of more money and more stuff, becomes too important to us.

            Jesus then goes on to tell a story.  Jesus did that a lot, of course.  Jesus told lots of stories to illustrate his points.  Here, he tells a story about a guy who owns a lot of farm ground.  Now, I don’t know how well people who live in New York City or someplace can relate to something like that, but it works pretty well for us around here, right?  So this guy owns a lot of farm ground, and he gets a really good crop this year.  So much that he does not have enough room to store it all.  So, he says to himself, I’ll build some bigger grain bins.

Again, that’s something we can relate to, because when you drive around this parish, you see a lot of grain bins. In fact, there may be more grain bins than people in this county.  So, the man says, I’ll build bigger grain bins, I’ll put the crops in there, and I’ll be set for life.  I won’t have to do anything the rest of my life.

And God says to him, you’re right.  You won’t have to do anything the rest of your life, because you’re going to die tonight.  And what good is all that stuff you have going to do you?

It’s after Jesus tells that story that he tells people not to worry.  His point is that money and stuff are not what life is all about.  In fact, he says that worrying about that stuff really shows a lack of trust in God.  He says, look at the birds.  Look at the flowers.  You think they care about money and stuff?  Of course not.  They don’t even know what that means.  The birds just fly around and live their lives.  The flowers just sit there and grow.  Birds don’t worry about whether they’re going to have enough tomorrow or next week or next month.  Birds live in the present.  They focus on today.  Flowers don’t worry about whether they’ll get watered tomorrow or next week or next month.  They grow today.

Jesus goes on to point out an obvious truth, but one that so often we forget.  He says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”

Now, understand, Jesus is not saying it’s a sin to worry.  What he’s saying is that it’s a waste of time.  It does not do us any good.  All it does is make us miserable.  We cannot enjoy today, because we’re sitting there worrying about a tomorrow that, for all we know, may never come anyway.  Just as it did not come for the landowner in Jesus’ story. 

Jesus says, people who don’t believe in God are the ones who worry.  They’re the ones who sit around worrying about money and stuff.  Jesus says, look, God knows that you need certain things to survive.  If God takes care of the birds and the flowers, and gives them what they need to survive, then surely God will do the same for you, because you’re worth a lot more than the birds and the flowers.  So don’t worry about it.

What does Jesus tell us to do?  Seek after God’s kingdom.  If we do that, we’ll get all the rest, too.  In fact, Jesus says, God is pleased to give us the kingdom.  So, Jesus says, get rid of your stuff and focus on seeking God’s kingdom

Now, Jesus does not say get rid of all of your stuff.  That’s not practical, and Jesus knows that.  He did not demand that the disciples get rid of all their stuff–after all, in Matthew Chapter Eight, we read about Peter having a house.  And we’re told in the gospel of John that Judas was in charge of the money for the disciples.  

The point is not that we are not allowed to have anything.  The point is, where is our focus?  And to sum it all up, Jesus says this:  “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So the question is, where is our treasure?  Is our treasure in money and stuff?  Or is our treasure in seeking God’s kingdom?

If our treasure is in money and stuff, we will never be free from worry.  Because we will never have enough money, and we’ll never have enough stuff.  We will always want a little bit more.  And we’ll always be afraid of losing what we have.

Why is that?  Well, because when our focus is on money and stuff, what does that mean?  It means our focus is on ourselves.  Maybe on our family, too, but mostly on ourselves.  We want to take care of ourselves.  We want to make sure we have enough.  And again, we never feel like we do have enough, so we always want more.  And we always worry about it.  Our hearts, our life focus, are all on ourselves, and we will never find peace that way.

Not only that, but we know, deep down, that in the end, our focus on money and stuff will be futile.  It will have been a waste of time.  Because, as with the landowner in Jesus’ story, the day will come when our lives are demanded of us.  And none of that money, and none of that stuff, will help us in the slightest.  Someone else may benefit from it, but we will not.  We’ll have spent all the time, and worried all that worry, on money and stuff that, in the end, is meaningless.  It’s no wonder money and stuff cannot give us peace.

            How do we find peace?  We find peace by having our treasure be in seeking God’s kingdom.  Because when we seek God’s kingdom, our hearts, our life focus, automatically go off of ourselves.  Because, after all, how do we seek God’s kingdom?  By doing what Jesus told us to do.  And what did Jesus tell us to do?  Love God and love others.  

            Love is never a waste of time.  Love benefits others, but it benefits us, too.  And love, the love of God and the love of others, can give us peace.

            When we love God and love others, we know we are pleasing God.  And when we please God, we feel God’s Holy Spirit being poured out onto us.  God’s Holy Spirit works in us and through us, helping us to please God even more.  And when we know we’ve pleased God, we can find real peace–the peace that can only be found with God’s Holy Spirit.

            When we seek God’s kingdom, when we love God and love others, two things–well, at least two things–happen, and they give us peace.  One is that we don’t need to worry about the results of what we’ve done.  When we love God and love others, we can turn the results over to God.  And we can be confident that God will bless what we’ve done in some way.  It may not be the way we had in mind, but God will bless what we’ve done in some way.  Just knowing that should give us peace.

            But another thing happens, too.  In Jesus’ words, we provide a purse “that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail.”  And that treasure is worth more than any treasure that can be found on earth.  The knowledge that we have treasure in heaven should give us complete and total peace.

            We can have money and stuff with us on earth, but we cannot take it with us when we die.  But we can have the love of God and the love of others on earth and in heaven.  That love gives us treasure in heaven.  And there can be no greater peace than the peace that’s found in heaven in the presence of God.