Who Are You Talking To?

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 6:9-13.

            The first sentence of the Lord’s Prayer, as I’m sure you know, is this:  “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”

            At least, that’s the first sentence the way we say it now.  The Bible gives us two versions of the Lord’s Prayer, one from Matthew and one from Luke.  And they are not identical.  In the first sentence of the prayer, we use Matthew’s version.  Luke does not say, “Our Father”, he simply says, “Father”.  Luke also does not say, “in heaven”.  He leaves that out.

            We don’t know if Luke left that out for a reason, or if it’s just a different way different people remembered the prayer.  Remember, these gospels were probably written thirty years or so after the death of Jesus.  It would not be at all surprising if, that many years later, there were slight differences in the way people remembered exactly what Jesus said.

            I think there is a point to be made here, though.  God certainly is in heaven, of course. But God is also present on earth.  That may or may not be a physical presence, but as Christians, we believe that God is active in our lives through the Holy Spirit.  In other words, God is in heaven, but God is not only in heaven.  God is here on earth, too.

           The part of the prayer I want to focus on today, though, is the part Matthew and Luke agree on.  They both tell us that Jesus said of God the Father, “hallowed be your name”.

            That word “hallowed” is an old English word.  We rarely use it outside of the Lord’s Prayer.  The only reason we continue to use it there, really, is out of tradition.  There’s a more common word we could use.  That word is “holy”.  Something that’s hallowed is holy.

            So what does it mean to say God is holy?  I mean, just because we use that word more does not mean we necessarily know what it means.  What it means, in this context, is “being entitled to worship as being sacred”.  So when we say that God is holy, we mean that God is worthy of worship.

Why do we need to start our prayer with that?  I mean, God already knows that He’s holy, right?  God certainly already knows that He is worthy of worship.  God does not need to hear it from us.  But Jesus told us we need to say it to God.  And Jesus told us it was the first thing we need to say in our prayer to God.

I think at least part of the reason is that, when we begin praying by saying God is holy, it focuses our prayer.  It forces us to think about who it is we’re praying to.  We’re praying to God.  We’re praying to someone who is greater than anyone or anything we can imagine, in every sense of the term.  God is more powerful than anyone or anything we can imagine.  God is wiser.  God sees more.  God knows more.  God is stronger.  God has more ability.  God is more caring.  God is more loving.  God is better than anyone or anything that ever was, ever is, or ever will be.

In fact, God is perfect.  That’s what Jesus says in Matthew Chapter Five, Verse Forty-eight:  God is perfect.  God is absolutely perfect, in every way we can imagine and in ways we cannot imagine.  God is so perfect that God even loves God’s enemies.  God is so perfect that God continues to try to change even those who persecute him.  Those are the things Jesus told us to do, too, if we want to be perfect.  The reason he said that is that those are the things our perfect God does.

When we begin our prayer by saying God is holy, we remind ourselves that we are praying to a God who is worthy of our worship.  God is worthy of our worship because God is perfect.  And I think, when we remember that, it changes the way we pray.

How many of us, when we pray, include “the list”?  You know what the list is.  The list is the list of stuff we want God to do.  Now, the list may or may not be things for ourselves.  It may be prayers for healing for loved ones.  It may be prayers for our country or for our world.  And if it is things for ourselves, it’s not necessarily because we’re greedy or selfish.  There are times when we need to turn to God for help with things.  In fact, there are times when we have nowhere else to turn but to God.

Using “the list” is not necessarily a bad type of prayer.  After all, Jesus told us that if we ask, we will receive.  But I think a lot depends on our attitude.  

If we come to God with a list of demands, if we start treating God like some sort of cosmic vending machine where all we do is put in a little money and press a button and out pops whatever we want, well, I don’t know that God really appreciates that type of prayer.  And I think that if we start out our prayer by recognizing who God is, by saying that we worship God because we know that God is better and greater than we can imagine and that God is perfect in every way, including ways we cannot even think of, we’re a lot less likely to treat God that way.  We’re a lot less likely to demand that God do this or that.  

We’re a lot more likely, instead, to come to God humbly.  We’re a lot more likely to recognize what a privilege it is that God allows us to come to him.  We’re a lot more likely to see that it’s an honor to be allowed to pray to God at all.  And we’ll see how arrogant and foolish and just downright ridiculous it is for us to come to God and try to tell God what to do.  Instead, we’ll very quietly and humbly ask God to consider doing what we ask.

And we’ll also be a lot less upset with God when God does not do what we’ve asked.  Because we’ll realize that God, being perfect, cannot make mistakes.  When God does not do what we want, it’s not because God messed up.  It’s because God knows better than we do.  It’s because what we asked for is not what’s best, or because the timing is not right, or because God has something else in mind for us.  We’ll see that it’s we who’ve made the mistake, not God.

That does not necessarily make things any easier to accept, of course.  There are those among us who are suffering very serious medical conditions.  There are among us who’ve lost loved ones recently.  There are those among us who are dealing with family issues, or broken relationships, or family problems.  There are all kinds of things that happen in this world that just seem wrong.  And when we pray about those things, and we ask God to take care of them--not out of selfishness on our part but because we honestly want those things to be made right--and nothing happens, or sometimes the situation even seems to get worse, well, it’s hard to understand why God does not seem to be taking care of things.  And sometimes, we get upset or even angry with God for not taking care of things the way we think God should.

I understand that.  I’ve done that.  I’m sure God understands it, too.  But here’s the thing.  When we get upset or angry with God, what we’re really saying--whether we know it or not--is that God owes it to us to take care of us.  We’re saying that we deserve to have God take care of things for us.  We don’t necessarily intend to say that.  In fact, we probably don’t realize we’re saying it.  But if we think about it, that’s what we’re saying:  that we deserve to have God take care of things the “right” way, the way we want God to take care of them.

But the other aspect of recognizing that God is perfect is recognizing that you and I are not.  We are flawed, sinful people.  Because of that, God does not owe us anything.  We don’t “deserve” any good things from God.  In fact, the truth is that all of us, most definitely including me, are very lucky that God does not give us what we deserve.  Pretty much anything God gives us is much better than what we deserve.  God does that for us because God loves us, not because we deserve it.

Jesus told us to begin our prayers by remembering who God is.  God is holy.  God is worthy of worship.  God is perfect.  God does not owe it to us to even hear our prayers, much less answer them.  God allows us to come to God with our prayers because God loves us.

So when we pray, let’s pray this way.  Let’s remember who God is.  Let’s go to God humbly.  Let’s go to God knowing that prayer is not a right, it’s an honor and a privilege given to us by God.  And no matter what happens, let’s trust our holy and perfect God.

 

Looking for Chances

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on April2 8, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 4:5-4.

I want to ask you a question.  What would you say is the hardest thing about being a Christian?

            Well, it could be a lot of things, I suppose.  It could be that whole “love your enemies” thing--a lot of us struggle with that one.  It could be continuing to trust in the Lord when it seems like your life is falling apart--some of us have been there, and know that it’s not easy.  It could be the struggle of why the Lord allows so many bad things to happen in the world--that’s really hard for us to understand sometimes.  And I’m sure it would not be hard for us to think of other things, too.

            But for a lot of us, one of the hardest things about being a Christian is sharing the gospel message.  The technical word for that is “evangelism”, and just that word scares us.  It brings to mind images of TV preachers, or someone standing on a street corner shouting at people to repent and be saved.  Evangelism does not have to be that, of course.  As I said, it’s really just sharing the gospel message.  But even so, it scares us.  

            There are reasons why.  Our faith is a very personal thing.  It can be scary to open up about our faith.  What if someone does not like it?  What if someone disagrees?  What if I come off as arrogant or holier-than-thou?  

And the world discourages us from talking about our faith.  We hear this idea that the two things you should never discuss in public are politics and religion.  And yet, I hear people talking about politics all the time any more, so apparently religion is now the only thing we’re not supposed to talk about in public.  

And so we fall back on cliches.  We say, well, that’s just not a talent I have.  We say, well, I share my faith by the way I live my life.  We say, well, there are too many things about faith that I don’t understand myself.  How can I share faith with others?

And yet, we know we’re supposed to.  According to Matthew, the last instructions Jesus gave us before he ascended to heaven were for us to go and make disciples.  And he did not make it optional.  He did not say “do it if you feel comfortable doing it.”  He did not say “do it if you think you have a talent for it.“  He did not say “do it if you have everything about your faith figured out”.  He said do it.  Period.  It’s our mission as Christians.  In fact, it’s specifically our mission as United Methodists, too.  The official mission statement of the United Methodist church is “to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  

We know we’re supposed to do it.  If we believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, then we know people’s eternal lives depend on us doing it.  And yet--we hesitate.  We feel unsure.  We feel like we don’t know how to do it.  We’re afraid people will think we’re strange if we do it.  

Now, maybe there are some here who don’t feel that.  Maybe there are some here who are really good at sharing the gospel message.  If so, that’s awesome.  Thank you.  Please keep it up.  In fact, please help some of the rest of us learn from you.  Because I have to be honest with you:  I’m not all that comfortable doing this, either.  I do it sometimes, but I miss an awful lot of chances, too, and for a lot of the reasons I’ve already given.

Maybe, if we struggle with this, our reading for today can help.  The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus and the disciples are traveling through Samaria on their way to Galilee.  Jesus sends the disciples into town to buy food, and he sits down by this well.  The Samaritan woman comes to the well to get water, and Jesus asks her for a drink.  The Samaritan woman basically says, how are you even talking to me?  You’re a Jewish man and I’m a Samaritan woman.  You’re not supposed to have anything to do with me.  And Jesus responds, as you heard, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Now, we don’t know the mind of Jesus.  It’s entirely possible that Jesus planned this whole thing, that he deliberately timed his trip so that he’d be at the well when this woman got there, and that he deliberately sent the disciples away on some pretext so he could talk to this woman alone.  After all, he’s Jesus, the divine Son of God, and he could know things that it would not be possible for a mere human to know.

But there’s nothing in the Bible that indicates that.  The way this is written, this appears to be just a chance encounter.  Jesus is just resting by the well because he’s tired.  And this woman just happens to come out at this time.  And Jesus, who after all was never too concerned with social conventions and who talked all the time to people he was not “supposed” to talk to, just asks her for a drink because he’s thirsty.  Again, we don’t know, but the way the story is written, what happens does not appear to have been part of some grand plan of Jesus to find this woman and make her a disciple.

But look at what happens.  They’re having this normal conversation, and the woman gives him an opening.  She says, “How can you ask me for a drink?”  And when Jesus gets that opening, he jumps through it.  That’s when he tells her about the living water.  And that leads to the entire conversation about the water that will never let you thirst again, about her husbands, and about where to worship.  And ultimately, it leads to Jesus telling this woman, this Samaritan woman, straight out that he is the Messiah--something he rarely said to anyone.

That’s the example for us.  You and I don’t have a grand plan of going out and spreading the gospel message to anyone and everyone.  I mean, some people are called to do that, and if that’s you, that’s great.  I’m not speaking against it.  But we don’t have to do that to spread the gospel.  All we need to do is pay attention.  Pay attention during the normal conversations we have every day.  Look for an opening in the conversation to talk about our faith.  And when we get that opening, be ready to jump through it.  

It won’t happen in every conversation.  I mean, I’m not suggesting that we should start talking about Noah and the flood every time someone says it looks like rain.  But there are times when it will come up naturally.  It can be as simple as someone telling us they’re having a bad day, and us responding, “I’ll pray for you.”  It can be as simple as, instead of saying “Have a nice day”, saying “Have a blessed day.”  It can be as simple as, when someone asks you why you’re in a good mood, saying that you’re feeling God’s blessings today.

Now, of course, we can get deeper than that, too, and we should.  We don’t want to settle for just superficial statements.  But we have to start somewhere, and this is a place to start.  If we’re having trouble talking about our faith, these are simple ways we can get started doing it.  And as we get more comfortable doing these things, then we can gradually move into the deeper statements, and the deeper conversations.  But if we don’t start someplace, we’ll never get anywhere.

And the thing is, we never know where even a superficial statement might lead.  After all, Jesus started by asking someone for a drink of water.  He then saw an opening to talk about faith and took it.  That led, not just to this Samaritan woman coming to believe in Jesus, but to a whole lot of other Samaritans coming to believe in Jesus as the Savior.  All those people were saved, and it all started by Jesus asking for a drink of water.

Now, I’m not suggesting that this happened every time Jesus had a conversation with someone.  I’m sure there were many times Jesus just had regular conversations, with no faith component to them.  I’m also sure there were times when Jesus tried to take advantage of an opening in the conversation and the person he was talking to did not want to hear it.  We’re even told in the Bible of a few occasions where Jesus was talking to someone and they walked away, refusing to follow him.

But in an odd way, I always find that kind of encouraging.  If we look at that the right way, it can take the pressure off us.  If even Jesus could not get everyone to follow him, then you and I cannot expect to, either.  So if sometimes we talk about our faith, and nothing happens, we don’t need to get discouraged.  It happened to Jesus sometimes, too.  We’re in good company.

I don’t know what percentage of the time we’ll make a difference in someone’s life this way.  Maybe not very often.  But ask yourself this:  how many people would you have to bring to Christ to make this worthwhile?  How many people would need to receive eternal life to make this worth the effort?  Twenty?  Ten?  Five?  Maybe, even just one?

Again, I know that for a lot of us, this is not easy.  But Jesus told us to do a lot of things that are not easy, and this is one of them.  Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say, “you don’t have to do this if you find it hard” or “you don’t have to do this if you don’t feel like it.”  When Jesus said to do something, he said to do it. Period.  No exceptions given, and no excuses allowed.

It’s not easy for a lot of us.  Including me.  But we need to do it anyway.  The eternal life of someone we know may depend on it.

 

Peace in Uncertain Times

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on April 21, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Colossians 3:1-17.

            The world is changing.  It always is, of course.  But in recent years, it seems like the pace of change has accelerated.  And in the last four years or so, really since COVID, the pace of change has gotten faster and faster.  Things we never would have imagined five years ago now seem to be a permanent part of our world.

            Change can be a hard thing for people to deal with.  Most of us like routine.  We can carry routine too far, of course, and allow our routine to become a rut.  But still, most of us like for things to stay more or less the same.  Even if things are not great, we don’t like them to change too much too fast.  We like to know how things are going to be tomorrow, next week, next month.

            It’s unsettling to live in a time of uncertainty.  We hope things will get better, we fear things will get worse, but we have no real evidence that convinces us of either one.  Yes, we believe that God is still in control, and that God is eventually going to win.  We even believe that, if we stay faithful to God and believe in Jesus as the Savior, we will eventually win, too.  But it’s that “eventually” that’s the tricky bit.  We can know things will be all right “eventually”, and still be unsettled and even fearful about what’s going to happen until that “eventually” gets here.

             In times like this, what we need, what we want, is peace.  We look for peace in lots of places.  We look for it in money or material possessions, thinking security can be found there.  We look for it in status, thinking the belief that others think well of us will make us feel better.  Sometimes we look for it in politics, thinking that if the “right people” are in control of the government, then somehow everything will be all right and we can be at peace.

            But peace cannot be found in any of those places.  True peace can only be found in one place, and that’s in faith in Jesus Christ.

            But maybe you think, wait a minute.  I have faith in Jesus Christ.  But there’s still all this stuff going on.  There’s still all this uncertainty.  I have faith, but with everything that’s happening, how can I possibly feel peace?

            The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, tells us.  He says, “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

            When you think about it, all the things that have us concerned, all the things that get us upset, all the things that get us rattled and even fearful, are earthly things, right?  Whatever they are, whether it’s physical health or financial health or relationship problems or concerns about the country or the world or whatever it is, they are all earthly things.  They are not the things above.  They are not the things of heaven.  

            Now, it’s understandable why we have all these concerns about earthly things.  Earth is where we live, at least for now.  Earth is the only home we’ve ever known.  We have the hope and the promise of heaven, but we have a hard time really understanding what heaven actually is.  And besides, heaven is for someday.  Our concerns are for now, today.  And again, knowing that things will “eventually” be all right is not necessarily a lot of comfort when it seems like things are not all right now.

            But here’s the thing.  Paul is not saying we should ignore all earthly concerns.  He’s saying we need to focus on the things that concern both earth and heaven.  

            What are those things?  Paul lists them.  Compassion.  Kindness.  Humility.  Gentleness. Patience.  Bear with others.  Forgive others.  And over all those things, Paul says, put on love.

            Those are earthly things.  But they’re heavenly things, too.  They’re the things Jesus wants us to do.  They’re the things Jesus did.  And they’re the things that lead to peace.

            What do those things have in common?  Well, maybe a lot of things, but one of them is that they take our focus off of ourselves.  They are things we feel toward other people.  They are things we do for other people.

            It seems to me Paul is saying that’s how we can feel peace.  Take the focus off ourselves.  Take the focus off our concerns and our fears.  Put the focus on others.  If we do that, a lot of the things that make us feel unsettled, that keep us rattled, that keep us from feeling peace, will go away.  I mean, they’ll still be there, but they just won’t seem as important anymore.  We won’t have time for them.  We’ll be too busy focusing on others.

            So how can we do that?  Well, Paul tells us that, too.  He says this:

Be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

            The way we focus on others is to focus on God.  Learn from God.  Acquire wisdom from God.  Do that through psalms, hymns and other songs of the Spirit.  Take in everything the Bible has to teach us, so that Christ’s message will dwell in us.  When we do that, when Christ’s message really dwells in us, it becomes part of us.  When Christ’s message truly becomes part of it, we can no more get rid of it than we can get rid of a part of our body.  Christ’s message is no longer something we can choose to ignore.  We may not think about it every waking moment, but it’s always there.  It’s always part of us.

            When Christ’s message dwells in us, and becomes part of us, that message influences everything we do and everything we say.  It influences us even when we’re not consciously thinking about it.  It influences us even when we don’t realize it.  Because Christ’s message of compassion and kindness and humility and gentleness and patience and forgiveness and love is so strong, it’s so powerful, that once it’s in us we cannot help but be influenced by it.  We can ignore it, for a while, but Christ’s message will always come back.  It may come back in the form of regret or guilt or conscience or something else, but it will always come back.  Once Christ’s message truly dwells in us, it is a part of us forever.

            The key to it, really, is what Paul tells us next.  “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”  That’s how we feel peace in our lives:  by living them for Jesus.  That’s how we can stop focusing on ourselves and our problems:  by living our lives for Jesus.  If we do everything in the name of Jesus, we won’t have time to be focused on ourselves.  In fact, we won’t even think about that.  We’ll be too busy doing things for others in the name of Jesus.

            It sounds simple.  And it is simple.  But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.  Our “earthly nature”, as Paul puts it, is strong.  It’s powerful.  Even when we really try to live our lives for Christ, when we really try to do everything in the name of Jesus, our earthly nature keeps coming back at us.  It tries to pull us away from Jesus, and back to our earthly concerns and fears.

            How do we avoid that?  Paul tells us that, too.  He says, “Be thankful.  Give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.”

            Being thankful to God keeps our focus on God.  Being thankful keeps us living our lives for Jesus.  Being thankful is what will give us lives of peace.

            How does being thankful do that?  Because when we focus on being thankful to God, we realize how much God has done for us.  And when we realize how much God has done for us, we realize how much God loves us.  And when we realize how much God loves us, we think about all the times God has been there for us.  

We think about all the times when we were worried, when we were concerned, when we were scared, when things in our lives were uncertain and that uncertainty had us rattled.  And then God was there.  God showed up, and somehow God made it all work out.  Not necessarily the way we wanted, but in a way that was best.

God has done that for me time after time after time.  And I suspect God has done that for you, too, time after time after time.  And when I think about that, I know there’s only one thing I should feel.  I should be thankful to God for all that God has done for me for almost sixty-two years now.  And I suspect, when you think about it, you’re thankful for God for all that God has done for you for all your life, too.

And when we feel that thankfulness, we also feel confidence.  If God has always been there for us in the past, why would God not be there for us now?  God does not set us up just to let us fall.  The same God who has been there for us all our lives is still there for us now.  God promises to never leave us or forsake us.  God will see us through everything we’re going through.  We don’t have to be afraid of what’s going to happen.  God will see us through all the chaos and uncertainty and fear that’s going on right now.  

Knowing that, we can take our focus off ourselves and our problems.  We can live lives of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love.  We can live our lives for Jesus.  And we can feel at peace.

The times are uncertain, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  If we trust him, take our focus off ourselves, and live for Jesus, God will take care of us.  And we will feel the peace that we all want in our lives.

 

Not My Problem

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on April 21, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Mark 6:30-44.

            Our reading for today is one most of us have heard before.  Even people who do not know much about the Bible are often familiar with it.  It’s a story that appears in all four gospels. In fact, Matthew and Mark each have two stories like this, with Jesus once feeding five thousand and then later feeding four thousand. The stories are all fairly similar, but the one we’re going to look at today comes from the book of Mark, and is about feeding five thousand.

As the story is presented, this was not something Jesus planned ahead of time. Mark says Jesus had intended to take the disciples with him in a boat to a quiet place where they could get some rest. The problem was that people got wind of where they were going and went on ahead to meet Jesus there. By the time Jesus and the disciples were ready to get off the boat, there was already a big crowd waiting for them.

I wonder, when Jesus and the disciples saw that, if there was at least a little bit of them that was disappointed. I mean, I would be. Here they were, thinking they could get away from everyone and just get a little rest, and here there’s this big crowd of people there waiting for him. If Jesus was disappointed at all, though, he did not give any indication of it. Instead, we’re told, Jesus had compassion on them and started teaching them.

We don’t know how long he taught them, but eventually it got late. The disciples told Jesus to send the people away so they could get something to eat. Instead, Jesus tells them, "You give them something to eat."

I wonder how the disciples reacted when Jesus said that.  I mean, that’s quite a thing Jesus is telling them to do, right?  How were they supposed to give all these people something to eat? They did not really even have enough for themselves to eat. All they had were five loaves of bread and two fish. 

But they take that little bit of food to Jesus.  Jesus takes the bread and fish, gives thanks, gives them to the disciples, and tells them to distribute them to crowd. And the disciples must have thought, "Oh, yeah, right.  This is really going to work. We’ll get maybe ten people fed, and the other four thousand nine hundred and ninety are going to kill us." They probably start out just giving a little tiny bit to each person, trying to make this food last as long as they can. Still, they know it’s going to run out pretty soon.

Except it does not run out. They feed ten people, they look in the basket, and—there’s more food there. They think, "Huh. I guess this’ll go a little farther than we thought." They feed a few more people. They look in the basket again. And—there’s still more there. This keeps happening. They keep thinking they must be about out of food, but there’s always more food there.

At some point, they must’ve figured out what was going on. And so, they look over at Jesus.

I picture Jesus just kind of smiling at them. Not making fun of them, not being upset with them, but just having this knowing smile on his face. I imagine him thinking, "See? See what I can do if you just trust me?"

Think about how the disciples reacted to this situation. When the problem of food first came up, the disciples’ idea was that Jesus should send the people away and let them fend for themselves. The thought that they, the disciples, should help these people does not seem to have occurred to them. They did not think it was their responsibility to feed these people. After all, they had not told these people to come all this way out into the middle of nowhere without any food. If those people were dumb enough to do that, well, that was their own fault. The disciples had wanted to get away from these people. They were tired. They’d been working hard, and they wanted a chance to rest. The disciples knew the people did not have anything to eat, but the disciples did not see that as their problem.

Jesus told them it was their problem. He told them, no, we’re not going to send these people away to fend for themselves. We’re going to give them something to eat. In fact, Jesus said, you’re going to give them something to eat.

The disciples reacted pretty strongly to that. They were incredulous. They thought Jesus was giving them a hopeless task. He was asking them to do something that was clearly impossible. There was no way they could do what Jesus was asking them to do. Even if they wanted to, even if they forgot how tired they were and tried really hard, there was no way they could feed all those people. The little bit of food they had would make no difference at all. The disciples were probably stunned, trying to figure out why Jesus would tell them to do something they clearly would not be able to do.

How many times does this happen to us? We see a situation. We know people are in trouble and they need some help. But we think, "That’s not my problem. I did not put those people in that situation. They got themselves in trouble, and they can get themselves out of it. The little bit I could do would not make any difference anyway. I’m tired. I just want to get away and rest for a while."

Please don’t think I’m pointing fingers here. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I’ve done it plenty of times. I can be awfully quick sometimes to judge people and decide their problems are their own darn fault. I can be very quick to decide there’s nothing I can do that will make a difference. This is not me trying to make anyone feel guilty, or at least not any more guilty than I am myself.

But the thing is that Jesus says the same thing to us that he said to the disciples. He says it is our problem. We’re not supposed to just leave people in trouble and let them try to get themselves out of it, even if it is their own fault. We’re supposed to help them. In fact, Jesus says to us, as he said to the disciples, you are supposed to help them.

And, many times, we react the same way the disciples did. We’re incredulous. We think Jesus is giving us a hopeless task. He’s asking us to do something that’s clearly impossible. There’s no way we can do what Jesus is asking us to do. Even if we want to, even if we forget how tired we are and try really hard, there’s no way we can do it. The little bit we can do will make no difference at all. We cannot figure out why Jesus would tell us to do something we clearly will not be able to do.

But give the disciples this much credit: they trusted Jesus enough to do what he told them to do. Even though they did not understand, even though they thought there was no way this could work, even though they could not understand how this little bit they could do would be enough to get the job done, they went ahead and did it anyway. They trusted Jesus enough to do what Jesus wanted them to do, even when they thought it would do no good. And when they did, Jesus took that little bit they could do and turned it into enough to get the job done. In fact, it was more than enough. We’re told that when they got done, everyone was able to eat as much as they wanted and there were still twelve basketfuls of food left over.

Can we do what the disciples did? Can we trust Jesus that much?

There are lots of situations that we think are not our problem. There are also lots of situations that we don’t think we can do anything about. That’s true about situations in the world. It’s true about situations in our country. It’s true about situations in our state. It’s true about situations in our community. It’s even true about situations in our families sometimes. We look at a situation like that and we think "I can’t do anything about that. It’s hopeless. And besides, it’s not my problem anyway." Or, sometimes we might try to think of something we could do, but we cannot think of anything. Or, if we do think of something, we don’t see the point of doing it, because the little bit we could do would make no difference to anyone.

Jesus tells us to do it anyway. Even if we think the situation is hopeless, even if we cannot see the point of doing the little bit we could do, Jesus tells us to do it anyway. And when we do, Jesus can take what we do and bless it and make it go a lot farther than we ever imagined it could.

It’s not easy to trust Jesus that much. It was not easy for the disciples. I suspect that when they took those five loaves and two fish and started distributing them to the crowd, they felt pretty foolish. They may even have been kind of scared, not knowing how people would react when they ran out. They thought Jesus was asking them to do something that was not only silly, but that could be dangerous. And yet, they trusted Jesus enough to do it anyway.

That’s the kind of trust you and I need to have. We need to trust Jesus enough to do what Jesus wants us to do. We need to be willing to do it even when we feel foolish. We need to be willing to do it even when it could be dangerous. We need to trust Jesus enough to do it anyway.

If we can, Jesus will bless what we do. And we just may see the effects of what we’ve done spread far beyond what we ever imagined.

 

Jesus or the World

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on April 14, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 15:18-27.

            Most of us want to be liked.  It’s a natural human thing.  I’m not saying it’s the most important thing in everyone’s life, necessarily.  But we all want to have friends.  We all want people to think well of us.  It’s just part of being human.

            And it’s not that that’s wrong or anything.  I’ve said many times that God put us into communities, into churches, into other groups because God knows that life is too hard for us to go through by ourselves.  We need other people to be there for us, and we need to be there for other people, too.  After all, even Jesus had his inner circle, his close friends, the twelve disciples.  Even Jesus did not try to go through life on earth alone.

            But while it’s natural to want to be liked, and it’s natural to want to have friends, even that can be carried too far.  Jesus had his close friends, but he also had a lot of enemies.  That’s why he was killed, after all--Jesus had powerful enemies, people who were scared of what he was doing, people who thought he had to be stopped at all costs.  Those enemies thought the way to stop his was to kill him, and they did.

            We know now, of course, that not even death could stop Jesus.  But the point is that Jesus was not universally loved, or even liked.  He had people who hated him.  They did not hate him for any specific thing he had said or done.  I mean, if they’d been asked, they’d probably have tried to point to certain things, but those things were not the reason they hated him.  In fact, according to Matthew, Chapter Twenty-six, his enemies had no real evidence to present against him at his trial, and so they just made up some lies to tell against him.  Jesus’ enemies did not hate him for anything specific that he had said or done.  They hated him because of who he was.  They hated him because he was the divine Son of God.  And they hated him because he was not afraid to say so, and he was not afraid to speak on behalf of God the Father.

            Jesus could have compromised on that, you know.  Jesus could have tried to appease his enemies.  He could’ve said, well, you know, I’ll stop claiming to be the Son of God.  I’ll still heal people and I’ll still talk about love, but I’ll just shut up about judgment and about repentance and all that other stuff.  Then my enemies will stop hating me and leave me alone.

            Jesus could’ve said that.  But if he had, he would not have been true to who he was.  He would not have been the Savior, the Messiah.  He would’ve still been a good guy.  He would’ve still done some good things.  And he would’ve probably had a lot more people like him.  But he would not have been able to give us salvation and eternal life.  And he would not have done what God the Father had sent him to earth to do.  The only way for Jesus to do those things was for him to be who he truly was.  And that meant that he was going to have enemies, powerful enemies.

            Our Bible reading takes place on the last night of Jesus’ life on earth.  Jesus knows what’s going to happen.  He knows he’s going to be arrested and ultimately killed.  And the disciples know it, too.  At least, they know Jesus is going away.  And so, Jesus is trying to get the disciples prepared to carry on without him.

            Jesus knows that, when he leaves, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the disciples.  See, while Jesus was with them, Jesus took the brunt of the criticism.  Jesus was the focus of all the hatred.  But when Jesus leaves, that hatred is going to be focused on the disciples.  

            And Jesus knows that it’s going to be a real temptation for the disciples to compromise.  Again, we all want to be liked.  No one wants to have enemies, especially powerful enemies.  And so Jesus tries to warn the disciples about what’s going to happen.  He wants them to be ready, so they can resist the temptation to compromise, to go along and get along.  He wants them to be able to stand firm in their faith, so they can continue his work of spreading the gospel.

            So, Jesus tells them right out.  Look, if you stay true to me, the world is going to hate you.  It’s going to hate you every bit as much as it hated me.  Because if you follow me, you’re going to be doing things differently from the way the world does them.  You’re going to say things that are different from what the world says.  You’re going to live your life differently from the way the rest of the world lives their lives.  And people are going to hate you for that, just like they hated me for it.  

And Jesus tells them, there’s nothing you can do about that.  They don’t hate you because of anything specific that you’ve said or done.  They hate you because you follow me.  The only way you can get them to stop hating you is to stop doing what I’ve told you to do, stop saying what I’ve told you to say, and stop living like I told you to live.  The only way you can get them to stop hating you is to go along with them and be like them.  If you go along with what the world wants, they won’t hate you anymore.  But you won’t be my disciples anymore, either.  You won’t be able to call yourselves my followers.  You’ll be following the world, not me.

Those are things Jesus tells us, too.  If we stay true to Jesus, there are people who are going to dislike us.  They may even hate us.  The only way to stop that is to stop following Jesus and to follow the world instead.  

Maybe we don’t feel that so much here, in small-town South Dakota.  But at the same time, I suspect it affects us.  It’s just that we’ve gotten used to it, so we don’t really think about it.

But just how open are we really willing to be about our faith?  How often do we talk about it with people?  How often do we even do something like posting about it on facebook?  I mean, we might make some soft, generic statement about believing in God, although we might not even do that.  But how many of us are willing to really take a stand, to really be bold about our Christian faith?

I don’t say this judgmentally.  Maybe you are willing to do that.  In fact, you may be more willing to do that than I am.  Because I have to admit there are times when I’m not as open with my faith as I should be.  There are times when I back off about it, times when, in effect, I censor myself.  I’m not proud of that, but it’s true.  And I don’t think I’m the only one.

Why do we do that?  Because of what Jesus said.  We’re afraid that if we’re really bold about our faith, if we really stay completely true to Jesus, people will dislike us.  They may even hate us.  We don’t want to get into arguments about our faith.  We don’t want to have to defend our faith.  And so, we back off.  We soft-pedal it.  We censor ourselves.  We make compromises with the world, rather than standing up the way Jesus did.

I would think that the disciples had those same fears.  And I think Jesus knew that.  That’s why Jesus told them one other thing.  He told them that, even though he was leaving, he was not leaving them alone.  He said, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.  And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

The Advocate.  What we now call God’s Holy Spirit.  Jesus will send the Holy Spirit from God the Father.  The Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth.  And he will testify about Jesus.

I wonder if the disciples understood what that meant.  I doubt it.  But at the same time, it must have made them feel better.  Jesus was leaving, and that made them sad.  But at least they knew someone was coming.  And that someone was being sent by Jesus, so they knew it would have to be someone who was pretty good.  And knowing that, they could be confident in their faith.  They could stand up to the world, if they needed to.  They could handle it even if the world hated them.  Because they knew the Lord was still with them.  And knowing the Lord was with them, they could deal with anything that could happen, even if it was something that looked really bad.

Jesus tells us that, too.  Jesus tells us that we are not alone.  The Holy Spirit is with us.  The Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth.  If we are on the side of truth--God’s truth-- the Holy Spirit will help us deal with whatever may happen.

Knowing that, let’s do what the disciples did.  Let’s be confident in our faith.  Let’s stand up to the world, when we need to.  Let’s not compromise with the world.  Let’s not soft-pedal our faith or censor ourselves out of fear.  Let’s be bold about our faith in God.  Let’s be bold about saying that Jesus is the Savior.  Because that’s the truth.

It’s a human thing to want the approval of the world.  But it’s a Christian thing to want the approval of Jesus Christ.  Let’s speak out and live out our faith the way Jesus told us to.  If we do that, the Holy Spirit will help us stand up to the world.

 

From Grief to Joy

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are John 16:16-24.

            In my nearly thirteen years here, I have conducted two hundred sixty funerals.  That’s twenty funerals a year.

            Now, they have not all been people from our church.  But the vast majority have been people from one of the communities of this parish.  What that means is that, at any given time, there are people in our parish, people you know, who are grieving the loss of a loved one.  It may be recent, it may have been a while ago.  But either way, as you go around one of the communities of the Wheatland Parish on any given day, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll run into somebody who is dealing with grief.

            Our reading today talks about grief.  It talks about grief turning to joy.

            That’s one of those things that sounds good in principle.  No one wants to live their life feeling grief all the time.  We’d like that grief to turn to joy.  But sometimes it’s hard to see that happen.  In fact, sometimes, it’s hard to even imagine that it could happen.

            In our reading for today, Jesus is in the last night of his life on earth.  The disciples don’t know that, of course.  They know they’re in danger–they know the authorities are trying to figure out a way to stop them–but they don’t know that Jesus is going to be killed, and they certainly don’t know that he’s going to be killed the next day.

            But Jesus knows.  Jesus knows this is his last night alive on earth.  And so, he tries to prepare his friends for his death, and for them to go one with their work to go on without him.

            This comes near the end of a pretty long speech Jesus makes.  It takes up about four chapters of the gospel of John.  Jesus has already told the disciples all kinds of things to get them ready for him to be gone.  

Now, he tells them that time is coming soon.  He will leave them.  And they’ll be sad.  But then, he tells them, “Your grief will turn to joy.”

It’s questionable whether the disciples understood Jesus at all.  But if they did, they must have wondered, how can that be?  How can our grief turn to joy?  Jesus dying was probably about the worst thing they could probably imagine.  I suspect Peter and James and John and the others would rather have died themselves than to have Jesus die.  How could their grief over Jesus’ death possibly turn to joy?

It’s a question we may ask sometimes, too.  Because grief is a very hard thing.  It’s more than just being sad.  It’s a deep sorrow.  It’s a sense of mourning.  It’s a sense that something has been lost, taken away from you, and that things will never again be like they were.

As I said, when we’re grieving, joy is about the last thing we can imagine feeling.  Joy does not even appear on our radar screen.  I mean, yes, we’ve heard all the Bible verses.  We may even believe them.  “There’s a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”  “Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”  “God can work all things for the good of those who love him.”  We hear those verses, and we nod our heads, and maybe somewhere in our minds we agree with them.  But at that moment, when we’re grieving, we really don’t want to hear it.  All we know is what we’re feeling, and at that moment, we don’t think we’ll ever feel anything else ever again.

And you know what?  That’s okay.  Because there is a time to mourn, and we need to take that time.  And we’re allowed to take whatever time it takes.  After all, even though Jesus told the disciples that he was going to die and that he was going to rise again, when Jesus died they still felt grief.  They were completely at a loss.   The only thing that got them out of their grief was when they saw proof that Jesus was raised from the dead.

So it’s okay to grieve.  And it’s okay to take some time to grieve.  But in our grief, can we somehow, in some way, also hold onto hope?  Can we have enough faith to believe that, somehow, in some way, we will feel joy again, even if, at the moment, we cannot see how it could possibly happen?

Because that’s what we’re really talking about here.  It’s not that our grief goes away.  Yes, the disciples felt joy when Jesus came back to them, but eventually Jesus did go back to heaven.  And when that happened, the disciples were sad.  We’re told that, when Jesus ascended back to heaven, the disciples just stood there for a while, staring after him.  Probably wishing desperately that he might come back.  It was only after two men dressed in white, whom we assume to be angels, told them Jesus had gone back to heaven that they left.  

It’s not that the disciples stopped feeling bad that Jesus was gone.  I’m sure they wished he could be back with them.  But they also felt joy that Jesus was now in heaven.  And they felt joy at the assurance that someday, they would join Jesus in heaven.  Their grief turned to joy, not because their grief disappeared, but because they could see reasons for joy despite their grief.

And it seems to me that’s how it works.  God turns our grief into joy, but not by making our grief magically disappear.  God turns our grief into joy by showing us that there are reasons for joy in spite of our grief.

And part of that is doing what the disciples did when the angels left them.  They prayed, and they figured out a way to start again.  They figured out a way to move forward.  Yes, Jesus was gone, and they were still sad about that.  But they still had work to do.  God still had a purpose for them.  And they set about figuring out how to fulfill that purpose.

That’s what we need to do, too, when we’re grieving.  Feel the grief.  Don’t deny it.  Don’t pretend it’s not there.  But then, look for reasons for joy in spite of our grief.  Figure out a way to move forward.  Because God still has purposes for our lives.  There are still things God wants us to do.  And we need to figure out how to fulfill those purposes God still has for us.

I don’t mean to pretend this is easy.  It’s not.  It was not easy for the disciples.  In fact, you could say the disciples went through grief at losing Jesus twice.  Jesus was crucified, and they grieved his death.  And then Jesus was resurrected, and he came back and was with them again, and they were overjoyed.  But then he left them again, this time for good.  And they were left grieving again.

It could not have been easy for the disciples to get over that.  But they did.  It’s not easy for you and me to get over grief, either.  But we can.  We can through our faith in Jesus Christ. Again, it’s not that our faith takes our grief away.  But what our faith can do is show us that our grief does not have to be permanent.  

The reason we know it does not have to be permanent is that we know who God is.  Not completely–no human being can fully understand God.  But we know that God is all-powerful.  We know that God is all-loving.  We know that God is righteous.  We know that God is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-wise.  We know that God is holy and perfect.  We know that God is all-caring, all-forgiving, and all-merciful.

Because we know all those things about God, we know this:  in the end, God wins.  No matter what happens on earth, God wins.  And if we have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, we win, too.  No matter what happens on earth, by our faith in Jesus Christ and by God’s love and grace and mercy, in the end, we win.  And we go to be with the Lord in heaven.

Now again, that’s not to say we cannot grieve sometimes.  Even Jesus grieved, when he was on earth.  Jesus cried when His good friend Lazarus died, and Jesus knew He was going to bring Lazarus back to life.  If Jesus could grieve, we can grieve, too.  It does not show any lack of faith.  It’s okay.

But through our faith, our grief can turn into joy.  Because we can know that, in the end, we will win.  We will go to be with the Lord in heaven.  We, and everyone else who believes in Jesus, will go to be with the Lord in heaven.  We will be where there is no pain, no worries, and no fear.  We can be where there is nothing but peace and joy and love.  Love of each other, and love of God.  And we will feel God’s love for us, a love that never dies and never weakens.

The disciples grieved, but their grief eventually turned to joy.  We will grieve, but our grief will eventually turn to joy.  Through our faith, we can look for reasons to move forward.  Through our faith, we can find the purpose God still has for our lives.  Through our faith, we can fulfill that purpose, and feel the joy that comes from that.  And through our faith, we can know that our grief is not permanent.  Eventually, we will feel the joy of being in heaven with the Lord.

“You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”  It was true for the disciples.  It’s true for us, too.

 

Untroubled Hearts

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on April 7, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 14:1-7.

            When we think of Jesus’ commandments, we think of things like “love your neighbor as yourself.”  “Pray for those who persecute you.”  “Turn the other cheek.”  “Love your enemies.”  

            We talk about those commandments a lot in church.  We talk about how hard they are for us to do.  We talk about how we should do them, anyway.  We talk about how God will help us keep those commandments.

            But when we think of Jesus’ commandments, the one we read tonight rarely comes to mind.  In fact, I suspect most of us don’t even realize that there was a commandment in there.  But there was.  Here it is:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

Have you ever thought of that as a commandment?   Well, until I started thinking about the message for tonight, neither had I.  But it is.  After all, what is a commandment?  It’s something the Lord has told us to do.  And Jesus told the disciples, and us, “do not let your hearts be troubled.”

            And just like those other commandments I mentioned, this one is not easy for us to keep.  It seems like there are an awful lot of things that trouble our hearts these days.  Some of them just have to do with the everyday things of life.  We have health concerns, we have financial concerns, we have concerns about our families and our friends.  Some of them have to do with events happening in our country, or in the world.  We see wars and threats of wars, we see economic problems, we see rampant crime.  Some of them have to do with our faith.  We are called to be faithful to God in a country, and in a world, that seems to be turning away from God.

            But you know, when Jesus said those words to the disciples, they had a lot of things troubling their hearts, too.  Jesus said these words on the night of the Last Supper.  The night on which He was to be arrested.  The day before He was to be killed.  The disciples did not know all that was going to happen, but they knew they were in trouble.  They knew the Pharisees and the other religious leaders were plotting against them.  They knew that things were coming to a head, and that something big was going to happen soon.  But they did not know what it was or how it would come out.

            And to top it all off, Jesus has just told them He will be leaving them soon.  They probably did not understand that He meant He would be killed, but they knew He would no longer be there for them.  They were wondering how they would go on without Him.  They were wondering what they were going to do.  

            To say the disciples were worried would be an understatement.  And then Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Do you think that helped?  I mean, to me, it’s like when your wife is mad at you and you say, “Calm down.”  You’re probably going to get the exact opposite response from what you wanted.

            But Jesus tells them why their hearts should not be troubled.  First he says this, “You believe in God; believe also in Me.”

            Jesus understands why the disciples are worried.  He’s not mad at them for being worried.  But He’s saying to them, look, you really don’t need to be.  It’ll be all right.  Just trust Me.  Just believe in Me.  I’ll take care of you.

            But Jesus does not just leave it at that.  Jesus goes on to say, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am.”

            He’s telling the disciples, yes, I’m going away.  But it won’t be forever.  Hang in there.  Whatever happens to you here, it’ll only be temporary.  Because eventually, I’m going to come back.  And when I do, I’ll take you out of here.  I’ll take you to where I am, and we’ll all be together again.  

            And then, Jesus says this, “You know the way to the place where I am going.”

            Well, if the disciples' hearts were starting to get untroubled, this got them troubled again.  You can imagine them, staring at each other, with confused looks on their faces.  Finally, Thomas, of course, is the one to put into words what they’re all feeling.  “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

            And of course, Jesus answers, “I am the way.”  If we want to go to where Jesus is, we have to follow Him.  There’s no other way to do it.  There’s no one else we can follow who will get us to Jesus.  

And when we get to where Jesus is, there’s no reason for our hearts to be troubled.  Because, as Jesus says, “If you really know Me, you will know My father as well.”

When we follow Jesus, we eventually get to where Jesus is.  And when we are where Jesus is, we are in the presence of God the Father.  And at that point, there is no reason for our hearts to be troubled.  We are in the presence of God, and God will have everything handled.

We don’t know whether the disciples’ hearts became untroubled after this.  I somehow doubt it.  I imagine them thinking, well, yeah, that’s great that someday we’ll get to go to be with you in heaven.  And we look forward to that and everything.  But in the meantime, we’re here on earth.  We’ll be here, and You’ll be gone.  And we’ll have the Pharisees coming after us.  And maybe the Roman soldiers, too.  You’re going away, but we’re stuck here, having to deal with all this stuff without You.  How can you tell us to not let our hearts be troubled?

I suspect a lot of us feel that way sometimes, too.  We have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  We believe in Him.  We look forward to the day when we’ll be in heaven with Him and with all those who have gone before us.  It’ll be a great day.  It’ll be a grand reunion.

But in the meantime, we’re stuck here on earth.  And we have all those problems we talked about at the start of this message.  And we see the country and the world turning away from God.  How can our hearts not be troubled?

Well, the way we can do it is the way the disciples could do it.  Jesus goes on for the next few chapters telling them how to do it.  But what it amounts to is this.  Trust Me.  Believe in Me.  Be faithful to Me.  Do the things I’ve told you to do.  Love God.  Love each other.  Stay faithful no matter what may happen to you.  Yes, there will be times when things are bad for you here on earth.  But the Holy Spirit will be with you, and the Holy Spirit will help you through it.  And if you stay faithful to the end, you will go to be with Me in heaven.  As Jesus Himself puts it, “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

Jesus has overcome the world.  He did not just do that for Himself.  He did that for us, too.   And knowing that, and believing it, and trusting it, is how we can keep our hearts from being troubled.  

            This world we live in now seems so real to us.  And it is real, of course.  And the thing is, it’s the only world we’ve ever known.  And so, too often, we act as if we believe it’s the only world that is.  I mean, yes, we say we believe in heaven.  But we’ve never been there.  We’ve never seen it.  We don’t know what it’s like.  

Because of that, there’s a sense in which it does not seem real to us, at least not in the way this world is.  And so, our focus is on the problems of this world.  Our focus is on the things we see and hear and experience here on earth.  And a lot of those things are troubling to us.  When we have problems, when the people we love have problems, when we see things going wrong in this country that we love, our hearts are troubled.  

But they don’t have to be.  Jesus knows we’re going to have trouble in this world.  That’s the way it’s set up, ever since sin entered the world through Adam and Eve.

But Jesus gave us a promise.  He promised that He has overcome the world.  He promised that He will come back to take us to be with Him.  And then, we will be where our hearts will never need to be troubled again.  We will have nothing but peace and joy and love, in the presence of the Lord.

When we look at the world, it’s hard for us to not let our hearts be troubled.  It was hard for the disciples, too.  But take heart!  Jesus has overcome the world.  If we stay faithful to Him, and trust Him, and believe in Him, then through Jesus’ power, we can overcome the world, too.  And we will never need to have our hearts be troubled again.