What Love Means

The Sunday evening message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on May 26, 2024.  The Bible verses used are 1 John 5:1-12.

            Do you love God?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Fear or Faith?

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on May 26. 2024.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 10:1, 16-33.

One of the things almost everyone feels at some point in their life is fear.  The causes may be different for each of us–your fears may not be the same as mine–but we pretty much all feel fear at some point.  We all have things we’re afraid of.

God knows that, of course.  That’s why the Bible talks about fear so much.  Do you know how many times the words “fear” or “afraid” show up in the Bible?  It depends on the exact translation you use, obviously, but in the New International Version “fear” shows up in the Bible three hundred thirty-six times.  “Afraid” is there two hundred five times.  And most of the time, it’s in the context of God telling someone not to fear, not to be afraid.  Obviously, fear is a huge factor in human life, and it has been for a long time.

            So what can we do about that?  How can we keep fear from playing such a big part in our lives?

            Before we get into that, a couple of things.  First, there’s an extent to which fear is a good thing.  Fear is what keeps us from running in front of a speeding car.  Fear is what tells us to be careful when we’re driving.  Fear can be what keeps us from breaking the law.  A certain amount of fear can be a good thing, just because fear can keep us from doing dumb things.

            And second, I come to you today as someone who has felt a lot of fear in his life.  Not because I’ve led such a terrible life or anything like that.  I’m not saying that my fears were always legitimate.  But the fact is that for a lot of years I was a very shy person.  I had a really hard time interacting with people.  I still feel that, sometimes.  And so, I’ve had a lot of fears.

            And the thing is that when you feel fear, even if it’s an irrational fear, there’s really nothing anyone can say to you that will make the fear go away.  Here’s an example.  One of the fears I still deal with is that I really don’t like to fly.  Anyone else have that fear?  I can force myself to do it, but I’m never comfortable while we’re in the air, and I’m always very happy when I’m back on the ground.  And you can give me all the statistics about how safe air travel is, you can show my how I’m more likely to get killed in a car accident, you can show me how there’s an almost infinitesimally small chance of anything happening when I fly, and it won’t make any difference.  I’m still not going to like flying.  That’s just the way it is.

            But there are a few things that can help with fear.  Want to know what they are?  The first one is being prepared.  Looking at a situation in advance, thinking about all the things that could happen, and being ready for them.  If we’re ready for a situation, if we know what’s going to happen, then we won’t be nearly as scared of it.

            That brings us to our Bible verses for today.  Jesus sends out the twelve disciples.  They’re supposed to spread Jesus’ message, that the kingdom of God is near.  In a verse we did not read, Jesus tells them they’re supposed to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons”.

But it’s not going to be easy.  The disciples are going to have a tough road ahead of them.  And Jesus does not want them to get scared and give up when the tough times come.  So, Jesus gets them prepared.  He tells them, “Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

            Now, Jesus never forced the disciples to do anything.  They could’ve quit and gone home at any time.  But Jesus is telling them, yes, if you follow me, if you do what I’m telling you to do, bad things are going to happen.  But you don’t have to be afraid of them, because you know ahead of time that these things are going to happen.  And you know something else, too.  You know that the Holy Spirit is going to be with you.  Again, “do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

            That brings us to the second thing that can help with fear:  knowing that God is with us.  Being confident that God is going to help us, that God is going to be there no matter what may happen.  We may have to face scary things, but we don’t have to face them alone.

            Remember what it says in the Twenty-third Psalm?  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.  For you are with me.  Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

            When we follow God, when we do what the Lord tells us to do, we can know that God will be with us.  The Holy Spirit will be speaking for us.  God will give us comfort and strength.  And things will go the way they’re supposed to go.

            But that does not mean things will go smoothly and easily for us.  Even though Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would tell them what to say, Jesus did not promise that the disciples would be released.  And there was still that bit about being flogged.  Jesus did not promise that the Holy Spirit would prevent that from happening, either.

            And so, even though we know God is with us, we can still be afraid.  The disciples were, too.  And that brings us to the third thing that can help with fear:  taking the long view.  Jesus says to them, in effect, you don’t have to be afraid of what’s going to happen.  These people who are going to arrest you cannot hurt you.  All they can do is kill your body.

            You say it that way, and it almost sounds like an old comedy routine.  You can hear Moe saying that to Curly.  “Go ahead, kid.  What are you afraid of?  Those guys can’t do anything to you.  All they can do is kill you.”

            But if we believe in Jesus, if we truly believe, that’s the absolute truth.  If we follow Jesus, if we do our best to serve God, if we truly believe that we can have eternal life in heaven, then we don’t need to worry about what people do to us on earth.  All they can do is kill us.  And if they do, we’ll go to heaven and be with God.  Again, here’s how Jesus says that.  “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

            Jesus puts that about as bluntly as he can put it.  You and I have nothing to fear from following Jesus.  We do have something to fear if we don’t.  Period.

And that’s when our faith gets tested.  Because it’s easy to be afraid of what happens to us on earth.  Earth is real to us.  Our earthly bodies are real to us.  The pain our earthly bodies, whether we’re talking about physical pain or emotional pain, is real to us.  The pain of hell, and the joy of heaven, seem more speculative.  We may believe in them, or claim to, but we’ve never seen them and we cannot feel them right now.  We have to have faith that the joy we’ll feel in heaven is real, too, and that it’s going to be worth any pain we may feel on earth.

            Maybe you think you’ve never had your faith tested that way.  And certainly, if we’re talking about the kind of faith that Christians have shown in other parts of the world, where they’ve been beheaded rather than deny their faith in Jesus, you’re right.  We have not had our faith tested in that way.  And I pray we never will.

            But still, you and I have had our faith tested.  And we still do.  Any time we make a decision about whether we’re going to take a risk on behalf of Jesus, we have our faith tested.  When there’s an opening in a conversation to talk about Jesus, we have our faith tested.  When we have the chance to invite someone to church, we have our faith tested.  When we see someone who’s not part of the “in” group and needs a friend, we have our faith tested.  Any time we have a chance to do or say something that we know is right, but that might make us less popular, we have our faith tested.  And we could go on and on.

            It’s fear that keeps us from doing the right thing.  It’s faith that tells us to do it.  It’s fear that keeps us from living the way Jesus told us to.  It’s faith that tells us to do it.  That’s the choice we make:  fear or faith.  And we have to make it over and over again.

            Fear is a powerful emotion.  But if we’re prepared for it, if we know that God is with us, and if we have faith that following Jesus is worth the risk, then you and I can give up fear.  If we invite God’s Spirit into our hearts, the Spirit will tell us what to do and what to say.  And we’ll be able to give up fear, not just for Lent, but for the rest of our lives.

 

The Gospel of Peace

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on May 19, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 6:10-18.

            We live in a rapidly changing world.  That’s been true for a long time, but it’s as true now as it ever was.  You don’t need me to tell you that, of course.  All you need to do is look at news headlines.

            Some of the changes have been good and necessary, and others not so much.  That’s always true when we’re in a time of change.  And with many of these changes, we don’t yet know what the outcome of it all is going to be.  That’s always true when we’re in a time of change, too.

            You may have heard the phrase “the winds of change”.  When things are changing this rapidly, we can sometimes feel like we’re being pushed around by strong winds.  We feel like we’re constantly being knocked off balance.  The things we’ve always counted on to be there, the things we’ve considered constants, the things we’ve thought would always be our refuge in the wind and in the storm--a lot of those things are not there anymore.  And they’re being replaced by--what?  We don’t know.  It’ll be a while before we do know.

            Again, my point is not to say whether the changes are good or bad.  But what happens, in this time of change, is that sometimes feel like we’re standing on the deck of ship that’s in the middle of a storm.  The ship is moving up and down, side to side, and we’re trying desperately to stay on our feet.  We’re trying to keep our feet planted, strong and secure, in the face of these winds, in the face of all this upheaval.  We’re trying to find something, anything, that we can rely on, something that will keep us standing upright and help us withstand all these winds and storms.

            The Apostle Paul tells us what that thing should be.  He tells us that have our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

            This is, of course, part of a section in which the Apostle Paul tells us about the armor of God.  Oddly, unlike the other aspects of the armor of God that we read about, we’re not given an analogy for this.  You know, we have the “belt of truth” and the “breastplate of righteousness”.  We don’t have the “shoes of the gospel” or the “boots of the gospel” or anything like that.  We don’t even have the “sandals of the gospel” or even the “socks of the gospel”.  But still, our feet are to be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel.

            And you know, of all the things Paul talks about in discussing the armor of God, in some ways this is the most important one.  I say that because Paul says three times about how we need to stand our ground, to stand firm.  He says the whole purpose of the armor of God is “so that, when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.”  Paul then says it again, “and after you have done anything, to stand.”  And then one more time, “Stand firm, then”, with the armor of God.  Our feet, after all, are what we stand on.  If we’re not able to stay on our feet, the rest of the armor of God is not going to help us much at all.

            What strengthens our feet, what makes us able to stand our ground, what makes us stand firm, is the gospel.  The gospel of Jesus Christ.

            In Hebrews Chapter Thirteen, Verse Eight, we read, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  I know some of you have heard that before.  But that is one of the most important verses in the Bible.  And in terms of standing firm in a time of change, it may be the most important verse.  No matter what else may happen, no matter how much the world may change, Jesus Christ is the one who will never change.  And the things Jesus told us to do will never change, either.

            What that means is that the storms of the world do not affect our faith.  Now, don’t take that the wrong way.  I am not saying that Christians should ignore the storms of the world.  I am not saying that Christians should have nothing to say about what’s going on in the world.  What I am saying is that our faith should not be changed by what goes on in the world.  Our faith should not change, because the one in whom we have faith has not changed.  Our faith in Jesus Christ remains the same, regardless of what the world says, regardless of what the world does, regardless of what happens.

            We need to stand firm in our faith no matter what.  Again, remember what the armor of God is.  It’s not an offensive weapon--armor is defensive.  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness--they don’t enable us to attack anyone.  They protect us from attacks.  And remember whose attacks they protect us from.  It’s not the attacks of other people.  Other people may be involved, but that’s not what we’re protected from.  We’re protected from the powers of the dark world and the spiritual forces of evil.

            The gospel of Jesus Christ is always our best protection from that.  And how does Paul describe that gospel?  Paul describes it as a gospel of peace.

            There does not seem to be a lot of peace in the world right now.  Whatever you may think of what’s going on in the world right now, peace is not the word any of us could use to describe it.  The world is in turmoil.  We can hope that, at some point down the road, what’s going on will ultimately result in peace, but we do not see peace right now.  We don’t even hear very many people who seem to be interested in peace.  And in fact, there are some people who argue that peace is not and should not be a goal right now, that there are other things in the world more important than peace.

            And yet, here’s the Apostle Paul telling us that our feet need to be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  We need to stand firm in that gospel of peace, no matter what the world is saying or doing.  How do we do that?

            Well, let’s think about armor.  Armor is a very personal thing.  You don’t have armor that protects a society.  You don’t have armor that protects a community.  Armor protects one person.  If I put on the armor of God, it’s going to protect me.  If you put on the armor of God, it’s going to protect you.  Each of us, if we want the protection that comes from the armor of God, has to make the individual, personal choice to put on that armor.

            Another way of saying that is that the only person whose behavior each of us can determine is our own.  I cannot put on the armor of God for you, and you cannot put on the armor of God for me.  We can attempt to persuade people to put it on, but ultimately, it’s a choice each of us has to make for ourselves.

            So, as we see what’s going on in the world, that’s what we need to remember.  We cannot control what other people do.  We cannot control what other people say.  We cannot control what other people think.  But we can control what we do, what we say, and what we think.  That is true, and that will always be true.  No matter how hard other people may try to control us about those things, they cannot control us unless we allow them to.  You and I always have control over what we do, what we say, and what we think.

            And so, no matter what’s going on in the world, you and I need to continue to follow what Jesus Christ has told us to do.  What are those things?  You know them.  We’ve gone through them before, but we can never go through them too many times can we?  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Love your enemies.  Pray for those who persecute you.  Treat others the way you would like them to treat you.  Not the way they actually do treat you, but the way you would like them to treat you.  And go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Spread the gospel of Jesus to everyone you can in whatever ways you can.

            That’s the gospel of peace.  That’s the gospel that, some day, is going to bring peace to the entire world.  And you know what else?  That’s the gospel that will bring you and me inner peace, too.

            If you and I respond to what’s happening in the world this way, we will have inner peace.  Because we will know that those things cannot touch us.  If you and I follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we follow the gospel of peace, we are completely protected from the powers of the dark world and the spiritual forces of evil.  Yes, they may affect our lives here on earth.  But they cannot affect our eternal lives.  They cannot affect our salvation.  If have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, if we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of peace, we know that we will have salvation and eternal life.  And no matter what else is going on in the world, that knowledge can give us inner peace.

            The world is constantly changing.  I have no idea what’s going to happen.  But God does.  And God has told us how to handle it.  Stand firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Stand firm in the gospel of peace.  If we do that, we can withstand whatever the world may throw at us.

 

Lessons From a Tax Collector

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on May 19, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 9:9-13.

            One of the things we need to deal with, when we read the Bible, is that the things that interest us are not always the things that interest God and vice versa.  There are times when the Bible goes into great detail about things, and we wonder, what’s the point of that?  And there are other times when something seems really interesting to us, and yet the Bible deals with it very quickly, with no details at all.  The Bible tells us all the things we need to know, but quite often it does not tell us all the things we’d like to know.

            In our reading for today, Jesus is walking along, and he sees Matthew at his tax collector booth.  He says to Matthew “follow me”.  And Matthew gets up and follows him.

            Well, there are all kinds of things I’d like to know about that.  Did Jesus know who Matthew was?  Had he met him before?  Did Jesus know Matthew would be there, sitting at his tax collector booth at that time?  Did Jesus deliberately seek out Matthew?  Or was this just a coincidence?  Did Matthew just happen to be in the right place at the right time?  If Matthew had not been there, would Jesus have gone to look for him?  Or would Jesus have chosen someone else to be his disciple?  

            And what about looking at it from Matthew’s point of view?  Matthew was a tax collector.  We’ve talked about this before, but tax collectors were considered the lowest of the low by the common people.  I mean, yes, they were usually wealthy and powerful, so people had to treat them with a certain amount of respect.  But the reason they were wealthy is because they cheated people.  They were able to do that because they had the force of the Roman government behind them.  A tax collector could take whatever he wanted from the people, and as long as Rome got its cut the tax collector could keep the rest.

So, while tax collectors had money and power, no one liked them.  The reason we hear the phrase “tax collectors and sinners” in the Bible so much is that tax collectors were considered lower than ordinary sinners.  And yet, one of these tax collectors, Matthew, is one of the people Jesus chose to be one of his disciples.

What do you suppose Matthew thought?  It seems likely he knew who Jesus was.  After all, in the gospel account, Jesus had already healed people and worked some miracles by this point.  Did he recognize Jesus, as he approached?  Did he wonder what Jesus would want with him?  Or did he not even realize that Jesus was coming to see him?  Did he think Jesus was just walking along, and it was not until Jesus spoke to him that he realized Jesus was coming for him?

And according to the gospel account, Jesus just says two words to him.  “Follow me.”  And amazingly, Matthew, this lowlife, this tax collector, gets up and follows Jesus.

Why would he do that?  What was going through Matthew’s mind at that point, do you think?  Had he ever considered following Jesus before?  Was there at least a part of him that wanted to?  Did he think Jesus could never be interested in someone like him?  Was he amazed, even stunned, when Jesus said those words to him?  Did he jump up eagerly, thankfully, when Jesus gave him the chance to follow?  

We’re told that Jesus then went to Matthew’s house for dinner.  As a tax collector, Matthew probably had servants and plenty of good food.  And we’re told lots of other “tax collectors and sinners” came to eat, too.  And of course, the Pharisees could not understand this.  They would not have been caught dead among such undesirable company.  

So they asked why Jesus was willing to eat with such people.  They did not ask Jesus himself–they asked the disciples.  But Jesus heard them, and he answered.  He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

So, I’ll ask the questions I’ve asked many times before.  Why is this story in the Bible?  What are we supposed to learn from it?

Several things, I think.  One is that God does not see people the way human beings see them.  Most people looked at this tax collector and saw one of the most despicable people they’d ever known.  Someone who was out to cheat them.  Someone who had grown wealthy on the backs of other people’s hard work.  Jesus looked at him and saw the good in him.  Jesus looked at him and saw a man who could be a valuable disciple, someone who could help spread the good news of salvation and eternal life.

That’s important in two ways.  One is that, when we see someone, it’s easy for us to make a snap judgment about them.  Especially if they’re someone society would look down on.  We need to learn to see past appearances and see the good that may lie under the surface.  

Because there’s one more thing Jesus saw that society did not see.  Jesus saw someone who wanted to change his life.  After all, there had to be other tax collectors around, right?  And most of them probably were happy being tax collectors.  They did not care what they were doing to other people, as long as they took care of themselves.  But this tax collector, Matthew, was not happy being a tax collector.  Somewhere, deep down, he knew that what he was doing was not right.  He probably wanted to change, but he had no idea how to do that.  Who would trust him?  Who would give him a chance?  

Jesus would.  Jesus trusted him.  Jesus gave him a chance.  And sometimes we need to give people a chance, too.  Because if someone does not get the chance to change, they probably never will.  If Jesus had not gone to Matthew, Matthew would probably have gone on being a tax collector.  He never would’ve been saved.  If we don’t go to people, people society may look down on, and give them a chance to change, they probably won’t.  And they won’t be saved.

But sometimes, in this scenario, we’re Matthew.  We’re the one who is looked down on.  We’re the one who needs to change.  We’re the one, maybe, who wants to change, but we don’t think anyone will give us a chance.  If you’re in that situation, remember this:  Jesus will give you that chance.  Jesus is always ready to call us to follow.  Jesus will always give us the chance to follow.  

But we need to be ready to say yes when the chance comes.  If Matthew had hesitated, if Matthew had said, “well, I’m not sure”, if Matthew had said, let me get back to you on that, his chance might never have come again.  We don’t know–maybe Jesus would’ve come back to him, but maybe Jesus would not have.  Maybe Jesus would’ve gone on to someone else.  You know, when you think about it, we don’t know that the twelve people Jesus chose as his disciples were the first twelve he asked.  Maybe he asked some other people, and they said no.  Or maybe they hesitated, and Jesus moved on.  The Bible does not say that happened, but it does not specifically say that it did not happen, either.  When we get the chance to follow Jesus, we need to be ready to take it.  When Jesus says “follow me”, we need to do what Matthew did.  We need to immediately get up and follow.

There’s one more thing we need to be willing to do, too.  We need to be willing to actually change our lives.

Jesus compared himself to a doctor.  When a doctor encounters a sick person, what does the doctor do?  The doctor does not just let them continue to be sick.  The doctor heals them, to the extent he or she can.  And of course, Jesus, as the great healer, can heal anyone.

But in order to get well, a patient needs to follow the doctor’s orders.  And in order to be healed by Jesus, we need to do what Jesus tells us to do.  Think about this:  if Matthew had eaten with Jesus, and then gone to be and the next morning gone right back to his tax collector booth, would he have been saved?  Would we even have ever heard of him?  It was only because Matthew was willing to follow the doctor’s orders, was willing to truly follow Jesus right away, and follow him wherever the road might lead, that Matthew was able to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Jesus sees things in people that no one else sees.  We need to do that, too.  And Jesus sees things in us that no one else sees.  When he does, we need to be ready to follow wherever he leads us.  And we need to be ready to follow now.

Jesus is our doctor.  Let’s follow and be healed.  And let’s do what we can to help others follow, so they can be healed, too.

 

Mother Mary

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are Luke 2:21-40/

    This is, of course, Mother’s Day.  And probably the most famous of all mothers in the Bible is Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.  There are others who might claim the title–Eve, of course, the first mother; Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel; Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist–but Mary is probably the first one we think of when we think of a mother in the Bible.

            When you think about it, it really is an amazing thing that Mary did.  Agreeing to become the mother of the Savior of the World.  I mean, it’s a pretty awesome responsibility to be a parent at all.  But to the mother of the Messiah?  To be responsible for caring for Him, for raising Him, for nurturing Him?  That’s pretty incredible.

            We read about Jesus’ birth every year, of course.  We read about the visits by the angels.  We read about the trip to Bethlehem, about there being no room in the inn, about the stable and the visits of the shepherds and the wise men.  But the bit we read today is one we sometimes overlook.  And when we do talk about it, we tend to look at it from Simeon and Anna’s perspective.  But Mary was there, of course, and she heard all these things that Simeon and Anna were saying about her Son.

            From what I’ve read, this would’ve been forty days after Jesus was born.  Jesus was taken to the temple to be consecrated to the Lord.  In other words, Mary and Joseph were saying that Jesus would be dedicated to God.  This was in keeping with Jewish law at the time, and it was what Jewish families did with their first son–they dedicated him to God.

            When Mary and Joseph went to the temple that day, they had no reason to think anything unusual was going to happen.  I’m sure it was a special day for them–a consecration day was always kind of a special thing for parents–but they had no reason to think anything beyond just the ritual consecration of Jesus was going to happen.

            They walk into the temple courts, and there’s a man named Simeon. We don’t know whether Mary and Joseph even knew who he was.  They might have, but the Bible does not really say.  But anyway, Simeon takes Jesus in his arms.  And here’s what he says:

Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:  a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.

            We’re told that Mary and Joseph marveled at that.  I wonder if they even really understood it.  I’m sure they remembered what the angel had told them, that their child was the divine Son of God.  But still.  “A light for revelation to the Gentiles”?  “The glory of your people Israel”?  What did that even mean?  And how in the world could their son, a kid who was going to grow up in the little backwater town of Nazareth, do all that?  I mean, it sounded good and all, but was that really going to happen?  How?

            Simeon gave them a blessing, which I’m sure they appreciated.  But then Simeon said this:

This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many others will be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul, too.

I imagine Mary and Joseph understood even less about that.  I mean, their son was to be the Messiah.  He was to bring salvation to the Jewish people.  Why would that cause the falling of people in Israel?  The rising they could understand, but the falling?  How could salvation cause people to fall?

And “a sign that will be spoken against”?  The Jewish people had been waiting hundreds of years for the Messiah.  They’d been praying for His coming.  They’d been making sacrifices, begging God to send Him.  Now, there were going to be people who would speak against Him?  How could that be?  Who would do that?  Why would anyone do that?  I would think this did not make any sense to them at all.

And then, that last part.  “A sword will pierce your own soul, too”.  What?  Why?  What had Mary and Joseph done?  What were they going to do?  All they were going to do, as far as they knew, was take this child home and raise him as best they could.  They were going to do what God had asked them to do.  Why would a sword pierce their souls?  Was that mean literally?  If not, what did it mean?  They had to be really confused.  

And as far as we know, that’s all Simeon said.  He did not explain any of this.  The next thing we hear about is Anna, an elderly widow who, we’re told, “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”  And then, we’re told, Mary and Joseph went home.

How do you think they felt, hearing all this?  Again, I would think they would be confused.  Probably scared.  I would think they had to be thinking, what in the world have we gotten ourselves into?  I mean, sure, the angel told us we were going to be the earthly parents of the divine Son of God, but the angel never mentioned any of this stuff.  The angel never said anything about people falling or their Son being spoken against.  And I’m pretty sure they would’ve remembered if the angel had said something about a sword piercing their souls.  

Why did Gabriel not tell us all this stuff, when he talked to us about being Jesus’ parents?  Did Gabriel not think this was something we’d want to know ahead of time?  Was God afraid we’d say no if we knew all this?  Was God trying to trick us or trap us into saying yes, so He waited to tell us until it was too late for us to back out?  I mean, I’m sure they still loved Jesus and everything, but even so.  They had to have a lot of mixed emotions about all this.

And I suspect there’s an extent to which all parents, especially first-time parents, can relate to this.  Now, there’s obviously only one divine Son of God, and most parents I know did not get visited by the angel Gabriel.  But–while I’ve never been a parent–I suspect there are times when first-time parents feel confused.  And probably scared.  And probably wonder, what in the world have we gotten ourselves into?  And I suspect there are all kinds of things that first-time parents wish they had known before they got into this, but did not find out until it was too late to back out.  They still love their child and everything, but still.  I suspect there are times first-time parents have some mixed emotions about all this.

But here’s the thing.  Despite their confusion, despite their fears, despite everything, Mary did what needed to be done.  And so did Joseph.  They did not have an easy time of it.  Just the circumstances of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, miles from home, were hard.  Then they had to go to Egypt to escape Herod.  And then, finally, when Herod died, they were able to go back to Nazareth and start their lives in some semblance of normality.  

But of course, even that did not put an end to all their problems.  It is never easy, even under the best circumstances, to be a parent.  But somehow, they did it.  They did it, because they knew God was with them.  And they trusted that God would help them and see them through whatever they had to go through.  I don’t suppose they were perfect parents–I don’t know that there is such a thing as a perfect parent.  But they did their best, and God helped them, and somehow things worked out.  

Because, while we know very little about Jesus’ life as he was growing up, they apparently did a pretty good job.  Because Jesus did grow up, and He was the divine Son of God.  He did all the things He was supposed to do–healing, teaching, and so forth–and eventually He gave up His earthly life so that we could have the chance for salvation and eternal life.

And those of you who are parents, or have been, can relate to that, too.  It is not easy to be a parent, but somehow you did it.  Or you are doing it.  You know God was with you and is with you.  I don’t suppose any of you are or were perfect parents.  But you do your best, and God helps you, and somehow things work out.  You trust that God will see you through whatever you have to go through.  And, with God’s help, the chances are that you’re doing a pretty good job, too.

The reason Mary is the most famous mother in the Bible is not because she was a perfect mother.  It’s because she trusted God, and she did the best she could.  She was confused sometimes, and scared sometimes, and sometimes she wondered what she’d gotten herself into.  But she still trusted God, and she still did the best she could.

That’s what God wants all parents to do.  Not try to be perfect.  Just trust God and do the best you can.  You’ll be confused sometimes, and scared sometimes.  And sometimes you’ll wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into.  But trust God and do the best you can.  You may not raise the divine Son of God.  But you will raise a child of God.  And that’s a pretty awesome thing to do.

 

Faith of Our Parents

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on May 12, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Exodus 1:5--2:10.

            I hope everyone has a very happy Mother’s Day.  Today, we’re going to look at a mother–and a father–who you may not be terribly familiar with, but who are incredibly important in Biblical history.  We're going to look at the story of Jochebed and Amram.

            And if your response was “Who?”, you’re probably not alone.  There are probably not a lot of people who are familiar with the names “Jochebed” and “Amram”. As you may have guessed from the Bible verses we read today, though, these were the parents of Moses. Jochebed was Moses' mother, and Amram was his father.

If you did not catch the names during the Bible reading, that's not your fault. Their names are not mentioned in that reading. Amram is referred to only as “a man of the house of Levi” and Jochebed is referred to simply as “a Levite woman”. It's only in some lists of genealogies, one found in Exodus six, one in Numbers twenty-six, and one in First Chronicles six, that we learn that the name of Moses' father was Amram, his mother's name was Jochebed, and that they had three children together, Moses, his brother Aaron, and their sister Miriam.

And by the way, I did not know all this stuff off the top of my head, either. Before I started working on this sermon, I could not have told you what the names of Moses' mother and father were. I had to look this up just like you would.

Moses, of course, became the greatest leader of the nation of Israel. He led Israel out of captivity in Egypt. He stood up to the mighty Pharaoh and demanded “let my people go”. He talked directly to God. The Ten Commandments were given to us by God through Moses. Lots and lots of Jewish law came through Moses. Moses led Israel to the doorstep of the Promised Land.

And because we know all that, it became really easy for Jochebed and Amram to be forgotten about. What I want you to do today, though, is try to put yourselves in their place and think about what they did.  Because what they did showed great courage and great faith in God.

The nation of Israel had come to Egypt during the time of Joseph. Joseph, of course, was an Israelite who was sold into slavery in Egypt but eventually worked his way up to become the number two person in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. There had been a famine, and so lots of Israelites had come to Egypt to find food. Then they stayed and lived there.

And for a while, that was fine. But then Pharaoh died. Joseph died. All the people who were around when this had happened died. And there was a new group of leaders in Egypt. Those new leaders looked around and saw all these foreigners living in their country, and they got scared. They were not sure they could trust these Israelites. So they forced them into slavery.

More time passed. The Israelites kept having children. There were more and more of them living in Egypt. And because the Egyptians had mistreated them, now they were even more scared of them. They did not want all these Israelites living in their country. On the other hand, they could not just kick them all out, because they'd come to depend on that slave labor.

They felt like they needed to do something to keep the Israelite population from growing. Since they did not have modern methods of birth control back then, they took some pretty drastic action. They decided that every male child born to the Israelites should be killed. They let the girls live because they figured the girls would not form an army and take over the country. But the boys would all be killed.

So that's what the world was like for Amram and Jochebed. Think of what it would be like to live in that world. You're a slave, and you're probably always going to be a slave. If you have a son, he's going to be killed. Would you even want to get married in that situation? Would you want to have children at all in that situation?

Well, Amram and Jochebed did get married. And eventually, Jochebed told Amram that they were going to have a baby.

How do you suppose they felt? Were they happy to be having a child? I mean, a part of them probably was, but at the same time, they knew what would happen if they had a son. We're not told this, but I suspect they prayed. I don't know what they prayed, but I think they probably prayed a lot. Maybe they prayed that the child would be a girl. Maybe they prayed that, if it was a boy, God would take care of him somehow. There had to be all kinds of mixed emotions going on inside them.

The first child was a girl, Miriam. And Amram and Jochebed were relieved. A girl would be allowed to live. Life could go on for all of them.

Then, at some point, Jochebed must have told Amram that they were going to have another child. And they went through the same emotional roller coaster again. A part of them was probably happy to have another child. Maybe, in some ways, they even wanted to have a boy. But they knew what would happen if they did. So again they waited, and again they prayed, and again they had all kinds of mixed emotions going on inside of them.

Eventually, of course, this child was born, too. And this time it was a son. How would they have felt then? I'm sure both Amram and Jochebed loved their son, but they knew what was going to happen. They hid him as long as they could. Then, finally, Jochebed put Moses in a basket and put him in the reeds along the banks of the Nile.

And a miracle happens. It must have felt like a miracle to Jochebed and Amram, anyway. Moses is found. And he's not found by just anyone, he's found by the daughter of the mighty Pharaoh. What's more, she does not send him away to be killed, which is what they probably expected her to do. Instead, at Miriam's suggestion, she has Jochebed herself take care of Moses until he gets older, and then brings Moses into Pharaoh's household as her son.

It took a lot of faith for Amram and Jochebed to get married in that situation. It took a lot of faith for them to have children. They knew what the law said. And yet, somehow, they were able to trust God enough to have children. They trusted that, somehow, if they had a son, God would take care of that son. And of course, God did take care of Moses. Not only did Moses live, he was brought up in Pharaoh's house. Eventually, with God's help, Moses led Israel out of exile in Egypt and across the Red Sea into freedom. And it all started with the faith of Jochebed and Amram. That's a lot of faith.

But you know, it always takes faith to bring children into the world. We don't live in the world Amram and Jochebed lived in, but there are still a lot of problems in the world. There are wars going on, and there is the threat of more wars to come.  There are all kinds of protests and all kinds of violence in our society. There's all kinds of uncertainty about the economy.  There are drugs and crime.  There are lots of other dangers in the world, too. Things may not be like they were in Jochebed and Amram's time, but it's still a very dangerous and difficult world to bring children into.

And yet, people do. They do all the time. And I think a lot of it has to do with faith, the same faith that Amram and Jochebed had. A faith that says that somehow, bringing a child into this world is the right thing to do. A faith that says that, somehow, if we have children, God will take care of those children. A faith that says, if we have children, who knows what those children might become? With God's help, those children might even go on to do great things, just like Moses did.  

And if they don’t, they may do great things in a small way.  They may make their communities better.  They may lead people to Christ.  They may have a positive influence on people that lasts for generations.  They may do something that leads to something else, which leads to something else, which leads to many, many people coming to know Jesus as the Savior.  If we have children, with God’s help, anything is possible.

I think that's what we can learn from this mother and this father, Jochebed and Amram. That even in a situation that seems hopeless, we can still have hope. We can still have hope because of our faith in God. No matter how bad the world looks, there is always hope that God will make it better. And there is always hope that God will use us, and our children, to do it.  If we do nothing, nothing will change.  But if we put our faith and hope and trust in God, and we follow God’s will, things can change.  And they can change for the better.  That’s the hope our faith in God gives us.

So the next time you start feeling depressed about the situation the world is in, look at a little child. Think about what God may do with that child. And realize that as long as God lives, we're never without hope.

 

The Narrow Road

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist Church.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 7:13-23.

            God is love.  And God is forgiving.  And God is merciful.

            Those are some of the greatest things about God, right?  At least from our standpoint.  If those things were not true, you and I would all be in deep trouble.  It’s because of God’s love, and God’s mercy, and God’s desire to forgive, that Jesus was sent to earth in the first place.  Jesus Christ dying so that our sins could be forgiven is the ultimate act of love.

            But sometimes, we’re tempted to take God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s forgiveness for granted.  And we especially take it for granted when it comes time to talk about heaven and hell.  We say, well, if God loves us, and if God forgives us, and if God is merciful, than God surely does not allow people to go to hell.  Well, maybe a few people.  Maybe mass murderers and people like that.  But not most people.  Certainly not the kind of people we know.  God’s love conquers all and so God allows pretty much everyone into heaven in the end.

            We’d like to believe that.  And don’t get me wrong, I’d like to believe it, too.  I do not want to think of anyone going to hell.  If you take the concept of hell seriously, if you’ve read the Bible and know how hell is described, you would not want your worst enemy to go there.  I would like to believe that God will let just about anybody into heaven.

            I’d like to believe it--but that’s not what the Bible actually says.  It’s certainly not what Jesus said in our reading for today.  Jesus said, “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

            Man, I wish Jesus had not said that.  But he did.  Now, Jesus does not say this because he’s happy about it.  I’m sure Jesus wished that everyone would find the road that leads to life.  But Jesus knew that’s not the way it is.  And so Jesus says this, not with pleasure, but as a warning.  Jesus says this for our benefit, really.  If Jesus had not said this, and other things like it, we’d be tempted to keep believing that God lets just about anybody into heaven.  And if we lived our lives counting on that, we’d be in for a rude awakening when we found out the truth.  And by the time we did find out the truth, it would be too late for us to do anything about it.  Jesus knew it was important for us to know the truth now, even if the truth is not what you and I might wish it was.

            And Jesus continues that theme.  He says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

            Think about that.  Jesus is saying that it’s not enough just to call on his name.  It’s not enough even to do all kinds of good things in his name.  Even driving out demons and performing miracles is not enough.  Jesus says that to enter the kingdom of heaven, we need to do the will of God the Father.

            See, the thing is, Jesus knew a lot about human nature.  Jesus knew that calling on his name is not necessarily the same as really following him.  Because what do we human beings tend to do?  We tend to call on Jesus when we get into trouble, right?  We turn to Jesus when things are going against us and we need help.  But when things are going well, we tend to just kind of go our own way, doing our own thing, not really making Jesus much of a part of our lives.

            There’s nothing new about that, by the way.  It happens all through the Old Testament.  The people get in trouble, they call on God, God bails them out, they promise to be faithful to God, things going well, the people forget God, they get in trouble again, they call on God again, and round and round and round we go.

            So just calling on Jesus’ name is not enough.  But what about prophesying in Jesus’ name?  What about driving out demons and performing miracles?  I mean, Jesus says we need to do the will of God the Father, but would those things not be doing God’s will?  What’s Jesus getting at here?

            I think what Jesus is getting at is that doing good things--even really good things--is not the same as doing God’s will.  Am I saying God does not want us to do good things?  No, of course not.  Obviously God wants us to do good things.  But Jesus did not say that the way to heaven is by being good people or by doing good things.  Remember, Jesus told us in Mark Ten that we should not even call him good, because no one is good except for God alone.  All of us human beings are sinners who fall far short of being “good”.  The way to heaven is by faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  And faith in Jesus Christ means that we do God’s will to the best of our ability, just as Jesus spent his life on earth doing the will of God the Father.

            Let me give you an example.  Wanda and I lived in Wessington Springs for several years before I became a pastor.  And we did a lot of “good things” there.  Not everything--I mean, we’re far from perfect people.  But we were part of the community club and we helped raise money for the senior citizens bus and we did a lot of work supporting the troops--we had a local National Guard unit that was called up to serve in Iraq at that time--and we did a lot of other stuff that most people would consider “good things”.

            But then God called us into ministry.  Had we said no, we would’ve stayed in Wessington Springs and we would’ve continued to do “good things”.  But we would not have been doing God’s will.  God’s will for us was not that we stay in Wessington Springs and keep doing “good things”.  God’s will for us was that we go into ministry, first in North Sioux City and now here.

            Now again, I don’t want to sound like I’m some sort of perfect person that everyone should look to as a role model.  There are plenty of times in my life when I have not followed God’s will, when I have gone my own way.  But the point is that doing “good things” does not make someone a Christian.  What makes someone a Christian is believing in Jesus Christ and do our best to follow God’s will.

            What that means is that there are probably people you know, people who we’d probably consider “good people” who do “good things”, who are not going to heaven.  I can think of people like that.  They are going on the broad road that leads to destruction, rather than the narrow road that leads to life.  And believe me, it gives me no pleasure to say that.  I wish it was not so.  But Jesus told us it is so, and any time we deny Jesus’ words, we become the false prophets Jesus told us to watch out for.  

            And so, there are at least two things we need to do.  The first one is to look at our lives.  Are we content to simply do “good things”?  Or are we truly trying to do God’s will?  It’s not always easy to know the difference.  We may need to spend some time in prayer.  We may need to spend some time reading the Bible.  We may need to spend some time talking to others whose opinions we trust.  We may need to spend some time truly listening for God’s voice, however God’s voice may make itself known to you.  

            But the second one is to do everything we can to bring others to Christ.  Including those “good people” who do “good things”.  We need to do what we can to help them truly accept Jesus Christ as the Savior and truly follow God’s will.

            Is that easy?  No, a lot of times it’s not.  It may lead to some very difficult conversations.  But remember, we don’t do it alone.  We do it with God’s help.  Any time we try to help someone accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, God will be with us.  God will give us the courage to act, and God will give us the words to say.  Will we always succeed?  No, probably not--even Jesus himself did not always succeed.  But one thing we know about God’s will is that God wants us to, in Jesus’ words, “go and make disciples of all nations”.  Any time we do that, we know we are doing God’s will.

            “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  That’s not the way I wish it was.  But Jesus says that’s the way it is.  Let’s keep our faith in Jesus Christ strong.  Let’s do everything we can to truly follow God’s will, and be one of those few who are on that narrow road that leads to life.  And let’s do everything we can to bring others to faith in Jesus Christ, and help them follow God’s will, so that more and more people can find that narrow road.  Let’s do everything we can to make that narrow road crowded with believers, all doing their best to follow the will of God.