This is the message from the WOW (Worship on Wednesday) service in Gettysburg. The Bible verses are Exodus 20:1-17.
On these Wednesday nights, we've been doing messages based on Old Testaments stories. You really cannot do a series based on the Old Testament without discussing the Ten Commandments, which we just read.
The Ten Commandments are considered to be the cornerstone of our religious faith. In fact, some people would go farther than that, and also say that they are the cornerstone of our legal system. You've probably heard some of the arguments about whether it should be allowed to post the Ten Commandments in courthouses or other public buildings. Pretty much everyone who claims to be a Christian would agree that the Ten Commandments are very important. Even if we don't always obey them, we still all agree about how important they are.
The way I've generally heard the Ten Commandments preached is for the pastor to talk about what the Commandments say and then to talk about how far short we fall from obeying them. And that's perfectly legitimate, of course. We do all fall short of obeying the Ten Commandments, and sometimes we need to be reminded of that.
Tonight, though, I'd like to take the opposite approach. I'd like to talk about how far short the Ten Commandments fall. What I mean is that there are people who consider the Ten Commandments the be-all and end-all of our Christian faith—everything you need to know to be a Christian in just a few sentences—and I don't think that's true. Again, the Ten Commandments are good, and they're important, but there are some important things about our Christian faith that are left out of the Ten Commandments, too.
So what I'd like to is read the Ten Commandments to you again, and this time I'd like you to think about what's not there. Think about what's left out. Think about the important things about our Christian faith that are not included in the Ten Commandments.
So here they are:
1) You shall have no other gods before me.
2) You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down and worship them.
3) You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name
4) Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work.
5) Honor your father and your mother.
6) You shall not murder.
7) You shall not commit adultery.
8) You shall not steal.
9) You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10) You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, of anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Okay. Those are the Ten Commandments. What's left out that's important to our Christian faith?
Love. That's right. Love, and mercy, and forgiveness. And probably some other stuff, too. Those things are all really important to our Christian faith. And yet they don't appear in the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are a series of rules. Some things that we're supposed to do, and some things we're not supposed to do. And that's okay, as far as it goes. Rules can be good, and rules can be important. A society without any rules would fall apart pretty quickly. The things the Ten Commandments tell us to do are all good things to do. The things the Ten Commandments tell us not to do are good things not to do.
But the thing about the Ten Commandments is that we're never told why we should do these things or not do them. God, through Moses, just says, “Here are the rules. Follow them and you won't get into any trouble. Don't follow them and you will get into trouble. That's the way it is.”
The thing to remember is that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses somewhere around fourteen hundred or fifteen hundred B. C. That's roughly three thousand, five hundred years ago. In some ways, people were still pretty primitive back then. In some ways they were not—I don't mean to sell our ancestors short—but in some ways they were.
It seems to me that it's sort of like when we're little kids. Our parents, and our teachers, will give us rules to follow. Do this. Don't do that. And when we're really little, we're not told why these are the rules. We're just told, “Here are the rules. Follow them and you won't get into any trouble. Don't follow them and you will get into trouble. That's the way it is.”
And when we're really little, we accept that. Partly we accept it because we trust that our parents and our teachers love us and know what's best for us. Partly we accept it because we really don't have much choice. Our parents and our teachers are bigger and more powerful than we are. They can punish us if we don't follow the rules. So if we don't want to get punished, we do what they say.
For a while. As we get older, though, we don't accept it so well any more. We start to think we have some power and intelligence ourselves. And so we start to ask, “Why? Why do I have to do this? Why can't I do that?” And if we don't get answers that we like, answers that satisfy us, we start doing things our own way.
And that's what happened in Old Testament times. At first, the people accepted the Ten Commandments without question. But after a while, they started asking the question, “Why? Why do we have to do these things? Why can't we do those things?” And when they did not get answers they liked, answers that satisfied them, they started doing things their own way.
The thing is, of course, that we have the ability to ask these questions before we have the ability to understand the answers to them. As we're growing up, and we start asking why we should do certain things and should not do certain other things, there are answers. And they're good answers. But because we have not lived long enough yet, because we don't have enough life experience yet, we don't want to accept those answers. We decide to do things our own way, and we get knocked down, and we have to suffer the consequences of doing things our own way.
That happened in Old Testament times, too. The people questioned the Ten Commandments, and the other laws that came from God. There were answers for why they should follow the rules, but they did not want to accept the answers. So they decided to do things their own way. And they got knocked down. And they had to suffer the consequences of doing things their own way.
And this was still going on in Jesus' time. Some of you remember the story of when Jesus is talking to some people and someone comes up and asks him, “Which commandment is most important?” Just the fact that they would ask that question tells us that people were starting to have questions about the Ten Commandments. Because if you'd asked Moses that question, “Which commandment is most important”, he'd have looked at you like you were nuts. He'd have said “They're all important. They come from God. God engraved them on stone tablets. God did not say focus on this one and don't worry about the others. They're all important.”
Did you ever wonder why Jesus came along when he did? I mean, Jesus could've come to earth at any point in human history. Why that particular point? Well, there are probably lots of reasons, and
only God knows what they are, but I suspect one of the reasons Jesus came along when he did is that at that point, at least some people were far enough along that they could start to understand and accept the answers to the questions that they had. And Jesus, of course, was able to give them those answers.
When Jesus answers this question about which commandment is most important, he does not cite one or two of the Ten Commandments and say, “This is the most important.” Instead, he says the most important commandments are that we love God and that we love our neighbors. He says nothing else is more important than that.
Jesus supplied what was left out of the Ten Commandments. Jesus supplied the love. And in other things Jesus said, he supplied the mercy, and the forgiveness, and all the other things that are so important to our Christian faith. Jesus did not say, “Here are the rules. Follow them or else.” Jesus said, “If you love God, you'll love the people God created. If you love God and love the people God created, you'll follow the rules. Not because you have to do it or else. You'll follow the rules because you want to, because that's the best way to show love to God and to the people God created.”
The Ten Commandments are important. We should follow them. But the most important thing is that we love God and love the people God created. If we focus on doing that, the Ten Commandments, and all the other rules, will take care of themselves.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Happy Birthday!
The tenth anniversary of the first service of the Wheatland Parish was last Saturday, July 20. Below is a poem my wife, Wanda, wrote for the occasion.
WHEATLAND AT TEN!
Ten years done
Wheatland Parish as one
With Pastors Gary, Susie, and Don
Then we came along
Gettysburg, Onida, and Agar
Each one is a star
A three-point charge
Is not too small or too large
Every Sunday on Highway 83
Lots of pheasants and deer to see
With a handshake when through
And a “How do you do?”
Through the parish the word is spoken
A strand of three cords can't be broken
With many years to come
Serving God with joy and fun.
WHEATLAND AT TEN!
Ten years done
Wheatland Parish as one
With Pastors Gary, Susie, and Don
Then we came along
Gettysburg, Onida, and Agar
Each one is a star
A three-point charge
Is not too small or too large
Every Sunday on Highway 83
Lots of pheasants and deer to see
With a handshake when through
And a “How do you do?”
Through the parish the word is spoken
A strand of three cords can't be broken
With many years to come
Serving God with joy and fun.
The Plan
Below is the message at the WOW (Worship on Wednesday) service in Gettysburg July 24, 2013. The Bible verses are Genesis 37:1-36.
The story of Joseph is worthy of a sermon series by itself. In fact, maybe we'll do that sermon series sometime. It starts in Genesis 37, which is what we ready tonight, and covers pretty much all the rest of the book of Genesis. In fact, there's probably more there than we could do in one sermon series, unless it was a pretty long one.
We just read the beginning of the story tonight, the opening chapter, we might say. In this part of the story, Joseph gets favored by his dad, Jacob. Now, that's always dangerous, when one sibling gets favored over the others. It's especially dangerous when the favoritism is really obvious, as it clearly is here, with Jacob giving Joseph this fancy multi-colored robe to wear.
And what happens to Joseph is what happens a lot of times to kids who get favored. He got the big-head. He starts telling his brothers about these dreams he has where he becomes greater than they are and all of them, and even their dad, are bowing down to him. Now, as far as we know, Joseph was telling the truth. He actually had these dreams. Still, there's nothing in the Bible that says God told him to tell everybody about these dreams. As far as we know, this knowledge of Joseph's future greatness was just meant for Joseph. He did not have to let everyone else know how great he was going to be.
But he did, and that worked about about like you'd expect it to. Joseph's brothers got pretty mad at him. Finally, they decided they'd had enough of seeing their brother act like he was better than they were and get treated like he was better than they were. They were originally going to just kill him, but then they decided they could get something for him, so they sold him into slavery in Egypt.
Now, if you know the rest of the story, you know it all worked out in the end. Joseph ends up being the number two person in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself, and is put in a position to save Israel when a famine hits it. And we can draw a lesson from that, that God can take even really bad things and use them for good.
That's an important lesson for us, of course. In fact, it's a really good thing for us to know when something bad happens to us, or when we don't understand what's going on. We need to know that, no matter how bad things are, God can always use those things for good.
That does not mean, though, that God necessarily caused those bad things to happen. It also does not give us an excuse for bad behavior. We should not just feel free to do what we want and trust that God will bring good out of it. God may do that, but there could be some pretty tough things to go through in the mean time.
After all, look at what happened to Joseph. In the long run it all worked out for him, but it was a pretty long run. It took a long time for those things to work out, and Joseph had to go through a lot of hard stuff before it did.
First, he gets sold into slavery. This favored kid from a wealthy family is all of a sudden the lowest of the low. That had to be a pretty rude awakening for him. Then, he got taken to a foreign country. We don't even know if he could speak the language there. After he got to Egypt, he had to wait until he got sold to a specific person. I don't know how long that took, and I don't know where they kept slaves before they got sold, but I'm pretty sure it was not a very nice place.
Joseph was sold to a man named Potiphar, and eventually worked his way up to running all of Potiphar's affairs. But then he ran afoul of Potiphar's wife, and even though he did nothing wrong, Joseph was thrown in prison.
Now, I know prison is not a nice place now, but it is compared to what it was in Joseph's time. I'm not going to go into detail about it, and I'm not going to show you a picture, either, but if you're interested, go home tonight and do an internet search for something like “ancient prisons”. I'll just say that if there's one thing they knew how to do back then, it was punish people. Prison back then was a really hard thing to endure.
And that's where Joseph was for over two years. So yes, God worked everything out for good, but it was a long, hard road to get there. There were at least three years there where Joseph's life was anything but good. And it was all because Jacob favored Joseph, and Joseph let it go to his head. I have to think that God would've preferred for Joseph to have been a little more humble to begin with, so God would not have had to work so hard to work everything out.
So, what's the point? Well, I think there are a couple of points. One is that God does have a plan for our lives. Those dreams Joseph had were real. He was not making them up. God did plan for Joseph to be a great and powerful person. And no matter what we do, God will keep working to make God's plan come about.
The second is that you and I can mess up God's plans. Not because we're more powerful than God or anything, but because God allows us free will. God allows us to make our own choices, and God sometimes makes us deal with the consequences of those choices. Joseph did not have to become arrogant and brag about how great he was going to be, but he did. And he had to deal with the consequences of that.
And we have to remember that other people have free will, too. That means that God allows other people to make their choices, and the choices those other people make affect our lives. I mean, we can understand why Joseph's brothers got mad at him, but their reaction was a little extreme. They did not have to first threaten to kill him and then sell him into slavery. But they did. Potiphar's wife did not have to get Joseph thrown into prison. But she did. The choices those other people made had consequences for Joseph, too, and he had to deal with those consequences.
But even through all that, God kept working in Joseph's life. God kept working to make God's plans work out. I doubt that God's plan for Joseph was for him to become an arrogant jerk, but after that happened, God still kept working to make God's plan for Joseph come about. I doubt that God's plan for Joseph was for him to become a slave, but after that happened, God still kept working to make God's plan for Joseph come about. I doubt that God's plan for Joseph was for him to be thrown in prison for a couple of years, but after that happened, God still kept working to make God's plan come about. No matter what happened to Joseph, no matter how many mistakes he made, no matter how many things people did to him, God kept working to make God's plan for Joseph come about. And ultimately, it did.
God will do that for each of us, too. God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for my life. Sometimes we make bad choices, and we mess up God's plan. But when we do, God still keeps working to make God's plan come about. Sometimes other people make choices that affect our lives. But when they do, God still keeps working to make God's plans come about. God never stops working to bring about God's plan for our lives.
But notice one thing. Through everything that happened, Joseph never lost faith in God. Even when he was kind of an arrogant jerk, Joseph still believed God had a plan for him. When Joseph was sold to Potiphar, Joseph still believed God had a plan for him. When Joseph was thrown in prison, Joseph still believed God had a plan for him. Through it all, Joseph kept believing in God's plan for him, and kept believing that God would make it come about.
God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for my life. No matter what happens, keep believing in that plan. Even when we mess up, keep believing in God's plan. Even when other people do things to you, keep believing in God's plan. No matter what happens, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, keep believing in God's plan for you, and keep believing God will make it come about.
We have free will, and that free will has consequences. Other people have free will, too, and their free will has consequences for us. But God has a plan for you. If you keep believing that, God will keep working. And ultimately, God's plan will work out.
The story of Joseph is worthy of a sermon series by itself. In fact, maybe we'll do that sermon series sometime. It starts in Genesis 37, which is what we ready tonight, and covers pretty much all the rest of the book of Genesis. In fact, there's probably more there than we could do in one sermon series, unless it was a pretty long one.
We just read the beginning of the story tonight, the opening chapter, we might say. In this part of the story, Joseph gets favored by his dad, Jacob. Now, that's always dangerous, when one sibling gets favored over the others. It's especially dangerous when the favoritism is really obvious, as it clearly is here, with Jacob giving Joseph this fancy multi-colored robe to wear.
And what happens to Joseph is what happens a lot of times to kids who get favored. He got the big-head. He starts telling his brothers about these dreams he has where he becomes greater than they are and all of them, and even their dad, are bowing down to him. Now, as far as we know, Joseph was telling the truth. He actually had these dreams. Still, there's nothing in the Bible that says God told him to tell everybody about these dreams. As far as we know, this knowledge of Joseph's future greatness was just meant for Joseph. He did not have to let everyone else know how great he was going to be.
But he did, and that worked about about like you'd expect it to. Joseph's brothers got pretty mad at him. Finally, they decided they'd had enough of seeing their brother act like he was better than they were and get treated like he was better than they were. They were originally going to just kill him, but then they decided they could get something for him, so they sold him into slavery in Egypt.
Now, if you know the rest of the story, you know it all worked out in the end. Joseph ends up being the number two person in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself, and is put in a position to save Israel when a famine hits it. And we can draw a lesson from that, that God can take even really bad things and use them for good.
That's an important lesson for us, of course. In fact, it's a really good thing for us to know when something bad happens to us, or when we don't understand what's going on. We need to know that, no matter how bad things are, God can always use those things for good.
That does not mean, though, that God necessarily caused those bad things to happen. It also does not give us an excuse for bad behavior. We should not just feel free to do what we want and trust that God will bring good out of it. God may do that, but there could be some pretty tough things to go through in the mean time.
After all, look at what happened to Joseph. In the long run it all worked out for him, but it was a pretty long run. It took a long time for those things to work out, and Joseph had to go through a lot of hard stuff before it did.
First, he gets sold into slavery. This favored kid from a wealthy family is all of a sudden the lowest of the low. That had to be a pretty rude awakening for him. Then, he got taken to a foreign country. We don't even know if he could speak the language there. After he got to Egypt, he had to wait until he got sold to a specific person. I don't know how long that took, and I don't know where they kept slaves before they got sold, but I'm pretty sure it was not a very nice place.
Joseph was sold to a man named Potiphar, and eventually worked his way up to running all of Potiphar's affairs. But then he ran afoul of Potiphar's wife, and even though he did nothing wrong, Joseph was thrown in prison.
Now, I know prison is not a nice place now, but it is compared to what it was in Joseph's time. I'm not going to go into detail about it, and I'm not going to show you a picture, either, but if you're interested, go home tonight and do an internet search for something like “ancient prisons”. I'll just say that if there's one thing they knew how to do back then, it was punish people. Prison back then was a really hard thing to endure.
And that's where Joseph was for over two years. So yes, God worked everything out for good, but it was a long, hard road to get there. There were at least three years there where Joseph's life was anything but good. And it was all because Jacob favored Joseph, and Joseph let it go to his head. I have to think that God would've preferred for Joseph to have been a little more humble to begin with, so God would not have had to work so hard to work everything out.
So, what's the point? Well, I think there are a couple of points. One is that God does have a plan for our lives. Those dreams Joseph had were real. He was not making them up. God did plan for Joseph to be a great and powerful person. And no matter what we do, God will keep working to make God's plan come about.
The second is that you and I can mess up God's plans. Not because we're more powerful than God or anything, but because God allows us free will. God allows us to make our own choices, and God sometimes makes us deal with the consequences of those choices. Joseph did not have to become arrogant and brag about how great he was going to be, but he did. And he had to deal with the consequences of that.
And we have to remember that other people have free will, too. That means that God allows other people to make their choices, and the choices those other people make affect our lives. I mean, we can understand why Joseph's brothers got mad at him, but their reaction was a little extreme. They did not have to first threaten to kill him and then sell him into slavery. But they did. Potiphar's wife did not have to get Joseph thrown into prison. But she did. The choices those other people made had consequences for Joseph, too, and he had to deal with those consequences.
But even through all that, God kept working in Joseph's life. God kept working to make God's plans work out. I doubt that God's plan for Joseph was for him to become an arrogant jerk, but after that happened, God still kept working to make God's plan for Joseph come about. I doubt that God's plan for Joseph was for him to become a slave, but after that happened, God still kept working to make God's plan for Joseph come about. I doubt that God's plan for Joseph was for him to be thrown in prison for a couple of years, but after that happened, God still kept working to make God's plan come about. No matter what happened to Joseph, no matter how many mistakes he made, no matter how many things people did to him, God kept working to make God's plan for Joseph come about. And ultimately, it did.
God will do that for each of us, too. God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for my life. Sometimes we make bad choices, and we mess up God's plan. But when we do, God still keeps working to make God's plan come about. Sometimes other people make choices that affect our lives. But when they do, God still keeps working to make God's plans come about. God never stops working to bring about God's plan for our lives.
But notice one thing. Through everything that happened, Joseph never lost faith in God. Even when he was kind of an arrogant jerk, Joseph still believed God had a plan for him. When Joseph was sold to Potiphar, Joseph still believed God had a plan for him. When Joseph was thrown in prison, Joseph still believed God had a plan for him. Through it all, Joseph kept believing in God's plan for him, and kept believing that God would make it come about.
God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for my life. No matter what happens, keep believing in that plan. Even when we mess up, keep believing in God's plan. Even when other people do things to you, keep believing in God's plan. No matter what happens, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, keep believing in God's plan for you, and keep believing God will make it come about.
We have free will, and that free will has consequences. Other people have free will, too, and their free will has consequences for us. But God has a plan for you. If you keep believing that, God will keep working. And ultimately, God's plan will work out.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Cross Purposes
This is the message given in the Wheatland Parish Sunday, July 21, 2013. The Bible verses are Mark 15:16-39.
One of the best-loved hymns of all-time is The Old Rugged Cross. I was really kind of surprised it did not go farther in our hymn tournament than it did, although the hymns that went farther are all really good, too. It made it to the Elite Eight of our bracket challenge, defeating All Creatures of Our God and King, Just As I Am, and When We All Get to Heaven before narrowly losing to What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
The Old Rugged Cross was written by George Bennard in 1913. George Bennard was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His family moved to Albia, Iowa, and then to Lucas, Iowa, when he was young. He aspired to be an evangelist, but he had to support his family when his father died suddenly. He later got married, was active in the Salvation Army, and preached throughout the United States and Canada before retiring to Reed City, Michigan.
Bennard wrote a number of other hymns, but none of the others became famous. He wrote The Old Rugged Cross the day of a revival service he was holding in Albion, Michigan, where he was living at the time, and it premiered that evening. At some point, the famous evangelist Billy Sunday heard it and started using it his services, and it became popular all over the country. The success of the song did not make Bennard wealthy. He sold the rights to a music publishing company for five hundred dollars.
The cross is, of course, one of the greatest Christian symbols there is. I think that fact tells us a lot about our Christian faith. The cross is, as Bennard says, an emblem of suffering and shame.
See, crucifixion was not a punishment that was given to just anybody. In fact, it was not even the only way of putting someone to death. Crucifixion was reserved for people who had committed the worst crimes possible. First, you had to carry the crossbeam of the cross, which weighed about a hundred pounds, out to the place where you were going to be executed. Then you would be tied or nailed to the cross, completely naked. Then you would be exposed to the elements, and to the scorn of all the people, until you died. The actual death could come in any number of ways. It could be heart failure, running out of air, infection, dehydration, you could be killed by animals, or lots of other things.
Crucifixion was a particularly slow, cruel, painful, and shameful way to die. Crucifixion was intended to be a deterrent. It was supposed to be a warning to people not to do what this person had done, or they'd die the same way.
And yet, the cross is probably the number one symbol of our Christian faith. Why?
The cross reminds us of what Jesus did for us. This punishment, the worst punishment humans were able to come up with, was given to the one person who has ever walked the earth who was without sin. Jesus Christ had done nothing to deserve it. All of us had. We humans deserved punishment for our sins. But Jesus had not. Yet Jesus endured it. Jesus took our place on the cross. He suffered that punishment for each one of us, for you and for me. Think about it. The one person who had done nothing to deserve punishment took on the worst punishment possible.
And he did not have to. To me, that's the most amazing thing about it there is. Jesus did not have to do any of it. He could've put a stop to it at any time. And he did not.
As the song says, he “left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.” That's something we need to remember. Jesus did not begin to exist when he was born on this earth. That was when he came here. Jesus has existed since the world began. You remember in John, where it says “It the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God.” That's talking about Jesus. Jesus is the Word, the Word made flesh. Jesus existed in heaven long before he came to earth.
What the song reminds us is that Jesus made a deliberate choice to come to earth. It also reminds he came to earth for a specific reason. Jesus chose to come to earth specifically and purposely to be crucified, to take the punishment for our sins. He did not have to. He chose to.
After he was on earth, Jesus still could've put a stop to things at any time. He could've backed off from some of the things he said and did. He could've made some concessions to the Pharisees, said and done some things to get himself out of trouble. When things got tough, he could've gone into hiding. Or, he could've allowed his disciples to protect him. He could've raised an army and fought. He could've used his divine power to wipe out his enemies and take power on earth. There are any number of things Jesus could've done to avoid being crucified. Even when he was on the cross, he could've used his power to come down. He did not. He accepted the punishment.
And he did it for us. For you and for me. As the song says, he did it “to pardon and sanctify me.” And you, too. Through Jesus, not only are our sins are forgiven, our sins are wiped out completely. That word “sanctify” means to make holy. We are not made holy because we're so great. We're not made holy because of anything we've done. We're made holy because of the incredible, willing sacrifice Jesus made for us.
Think about what that says about our faith. The most important Christian symbol is a symbol of sacrifice. It's not a symbol of power. It's not a symbol of wealth. It's not even a symbol of holiness. It's a symbol of sacrifice.
What that does for us is remind us that, as Christians, we are supposed to sacrifice, too. That's what the last verse of the song tells us. We are asked to be true to that cross. We're asked to be true to the sacrifice Jesus made.
How do we do that? I think the way we're true to the cross is to do what Jesus told us to do. The way we're true to the cross is to live the way Jesus told us to live. The way we're true to the cross is to love the way Jesus loved. We are to do to others as we'd want them to do to us. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to do that no matter what anyone else says or what anyone else thinks. We are to do that even if it's inconvenient or even costly to us. That's the way we bear the shame and reproach of the cross, the way Jesus did.
That's not easy. Jesus knows it's not easy. We're not expected to do it perfectly. If we could do it perfectly, Jesus would not have had to come in the first place.
But we should not use that fact as an excuse. Even though we cannot do it perfectly, we're expected to try to do it perfectly. We are expected to do everything we can to live the way Jesus told us to live, to love the way Jesus told us to love, to do what Jesus told us to do. If we are going to accept what Jesus did on the cross, if we're going to be true to the cross, to the sacrifice Jesus made, we cannot do any less. We should not use our imperfection as an excuse for not doing everything we can.
Because Jesus will “call us some day to our home far away.” We will lay down all the trophies we've won on the earth, all the things we've achieved, all the accomplishments of this life. In other words, some day we all die. But if we truly cherish the cross, if we truly love the cross, if we truly understand what it stands for, we don't have to fear death. Because Jesus died on that cross, because Jesus took the punishment for our sins, we know our sins are forgiven. If we accept what Jesus did, if we cherish that cross, then we will some day go to share Jesus' glory. We will exchange that cross for a crown. Not a crown that makes us kings, but a crown that makes us children of God in heaven.
The Old Rugged Cross. Not a symbol of power or might. Not a symbol of holiness or virtue. A symbol of sacrifice. A reminder that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us. And a reminder that we are to make those same sacrifices for others. If we do, we truly will be true to that old, rugged cross. And then, someday, we will share in Jesus' glory in heaven.
One of the best-loved hymns of all-time is The Old Rugged Cross. I was really kind of surprised it did not go farther in our hymn tournament than it did, although the hymns that went farther are all really good, too. It made it to the Elite Eight of our bracket challenge, defeating All Creatures of Our God and King, Just As I Am, and When We All Get to Heaven before narrowly losing to What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
The Old Rugged Cross was written by George Bennard in 1913. George Bennard was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His family moved to Albia, Iowa, and then to Lucas, Iowa, when he was young. He aspired to be an evangelist, but he had to support his family when his father died suddenly. He later got married, was active in the Salvation Army, and preached throughout the United States and Canada before retiring to Reed City, Michigan.
Bennard wrote a number of other hymns, but none of the others became famous. He wrote The Old Rugged Cross the day of a revival service he was holding in Albion, Michigan, where he was living at the time, and it premiered that evening. At some point, the famous evangelist Billy Sunday heard it and started using it his services, and it became popular all over the country. The success of the song did not make Bennard wealthy. He sold the rights to a music publishing company for five hundred dollars.
The cross is, of course, one of the greatest Christian symbols there is. I think that fact tells us a lot about our Christian faith. The cross is, as Bennard says, an emblem of suffering and shame.
See, crucifixion was not a punishment that was given to just anybody. In fact, it was not even the only way of putting someone to death. Crucifixion was reserved for people who had committed the worst crimes possible. First, you had to carry the crossbeam of the cross, which weighed about a hundred pounds, out to the place where you were going to be executed. Then you would be tied or nailed to the cross, completely naked. Then you would be exposed to the elements, and to the scorn of all the people, until you died. The actual death could come in any number of ways. It could be heart failure, running out of air, infection, dehydration, you could be killed by animals, or lots of other things.
Crucifixion was a particularly slow, cruel, painful, and shameful way to die. Crucifixion was intended to be a deterrent. It was supposed to be a warning to people not to do what this person had done, or they'd die the same way.
And yet, the cross is probably the number one symbol of our Christian faith. Why?
The cross reminds us of what Jesus did for us. This punishment, the worst punishment humans were able to come up with, was given to the one person who has ever walked the earth who was without sin. Jesus Christ had done nothing to deserve it. All of us had. We humans deserved punishment for our sins. But Jesus had not. Yet Jesus endured it. Jesus took our place on the cross. He suffered that punishment for each one of us, for you and for me. Think about it. The one person who had done nothing to deserve punishment took on the worst punishment possible.
And he did not have to. To me, that's the most amazing thing about it there is. Jesus did not have to do any of it. He could've put a stop to it at any time. And he did not.
As the song says, he “left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.” That's something we need to remember. Jesus did not begin to exist when he was born on this earth. That was when he came here. Jesus has existed since the world began. You remember in John, where it says “It the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God.” That's talking about Jesus. Jesus is the Word, the Word made flesh. Jesus existed in heaven long before he came to earth.
What the song reminds us is that Jesus made a deliberate choice to come to earth. It also reminds he came to earth for a specific reason. Jesus chose to come to earth specifically and purposely to be crucified, to take the punishment for our sins. He did not have to. He chose to.
After he was on earth, Jesus still could've put a stop to things at any time. He could've backed off from some of the things he said and did. He could've made some concessions to the Pharisees, said and done some things to get himself out of trouble. When things got tough, he could've gone into hiding. Or, he could've allowed his disciples to protect him. He could've raised an army and fought. He could've used his divine power to wipe out his enemies and take power on earth. There are any number of things Jesus could've done to avoid being crucified. Even when he was on the cross, he could've used his power to come down. He did not. He accepted the punishment.
And he did it for us. For you and for me. As the song says, he did it “to pardon and sanctify me.” And you, too. Through Jesus, not only are our sins are forgiven, our sins are wiped out completely. That word “sanctify” means to make holy. We are not made holy because we're so great. We're not made holy because of anything we've done. We're made holy because of the incredible, willing sacrifice Jesus made for us.
Think about what that says about our faith. The most important Christian symbol is a symbol of sacrifice. It's not a symbol of power. It's not a symbol of wealth. It's not even a symbol of holiness. It's a symbol of sacrifice.
What that does for us is remind us that, as Christians, we are supposed to sacrifice, too. That's what the last verse of the song tells us. We are asked to be true to that cross. We're asked to be true to the sacrifice Jesus made.
How do we do that? I think the way we're true to the cross is to do what Jesus told us to do. The way we're true to the cross is to live the way Jesus told us to live. The way we're true to the cross is to love the way Jesus loved. We are to do to others as we'd want them to do to us. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to do that no matter what anyone else says or what anyone else thinks. We are to do that even if it's inconvenient or even costly to us. That's the way we bear the shame and reproach of the cross, the way Jesus did.
That's not easy. Jesus knows it's not easy. We're not expected to do it perfectly. If we could do it perfectly, Jesus would not have had to come in the first place.
But we should not use that fact as an excuse. Even though we cannot do it perfectly, we're expected to try to do it perfectly. We are expected to do everything we can to live the way Jesus told us to live, to love the way Jesus told us to love, to do what Jesus told us to do. If we are going to accept what Jesus did on the cross, if we're going to be true to the cross, to the sacrifice Jesus made, we cannot do any less. We should not use our imperfection as an excuse for not doing everything we can.
Because Jesus will “call us some day to our home far away.” We will lay down all the trophies we've won on the earth, all the things we've achieved, all the accomplishments of this life. In other words, some day we all die. But if we truly cherish the cross, if we truly love the cross, if we truly understand what it stands for, we don't have to fear death. Because Jesus died on that cross, because Jesus took the punishment for our sins, we know our sins are forgiven. If we accept what Jesus did, if we cherish that cross, then we will some day go to share Jesus' glory. We will exchange that cross for a crown. Not a crown that makes us kings, but a crown that makes us children of God in heaven.
The Old Rugged Cross. Not a symbol of power or might. Not a symbol of holiness or virtue. A symbol of sacrifice. A reminder that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us. And a reminder that we are to make those same sacrifices for others. If we do, we truly will be true to that old, rugged cross. And then, someday, we will share in Jesus' glory in heaven.
Friday, July 19, 2013
And Now, The Weather
So we got some rain last weekend. The amounts varied a lot. Just in this area, I heard reports of anywhere from 0.30 of an inch to three inches. Still, everyone got some rain, at least, which is a good thing. We've been wanting rain, and praying for rain, for some time. So, one would expect that everyone, at least everyone who was praying for rain, would be grateful to God for giving it to us.
And we are. I've heard several people express thanks to God for the rain. Still, even within the words of thanks, there was another word. Sometimes it was spoken, sometimes it was implied, but the word was always there. The word was “but”. “But, God, pretty soon we're going to need some more.”
I get that. I grew up on a farm. When your livelihood is dependent on the weather, you live with certain realities. One of those realities is that it could stop raining any time. Not forever, obviously, but for long enough that the crops will be damaged, if not made completely worthless. I understand why our thanks are a little bit subdued. We may have gotten enough rain for the moment, but we know it won't last. In fact, given the hot spell this week, there are places that already need more rain.
As I thought about that, I thought about the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness. God gave them manna to eat. But if you remember the story, God just gave them enough manna for one day at a time. Did you ever wonder about that? I mean, God could've given them enough manna for the whole year. God could've given them enough manna for a month, or for a week. But God did not do it that way. God did not even give them enough manna for tomorrow. God just gave them enough for today. No less, but no more, either. In fact, if they tried to make the manna last for longer than just today, it spoiled. God only gave them enough for today.
It seems to me that's how God often works when God grants our requests. It seems like there are a lot of times God grants just enough. Not less than we need, but not necessarily more, either. Not enough for the whole year, or the whole month, or the whole week. Sometimes, not even enough for tomorrow. God only gives us enough for today. And God asks us to trust God to give us enough for tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
Maybe that's how it works with rain, too. Some people, as I said, got a really good rain. But a lot of us only got enough rain for now. We got enough rain to get them by for a while, but not enough to assure that the crops will be good. Maybe God did that on purpose. Maybe God just gave us enough rain for now because God is asking for our trust. God wants us to trust God to give us enough for tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
That's what I'd like to suggest we do. Now, I'm not saying this is some sort of magic spell. I'm not saying that if we all just trust God, we'll all have great crops. Drought is always a possibility. So, of course, is flooding, as we found out a couple of years ago. I have no idea what the weather is going to do tomorrow, or the rest of the week, or the rest of the month.
I do believe, though, that God is worthy of our trust. So let's trust God to do what's right. And then, let's go out and do our best to serve God. If we do our best, we can be assured that God will do God's best. And then, things will go the way they're supposed to go.
And we are. I've heard several people express thanks to God for the rain. Still, even within the words of thanks, there was another word. Sometimes it was spoken, sometimes it was implied, but the word was always there. The word was “but”. “But, God, pretty soon we're going to need some more.”
I get that. I grew up on a farm. When your livelihood is dependent on the weather, you live with certain realities. One of those realities is that it could stop raining any time. Not forever, obviously, but for long enough that the crops will be damaged, if not made completely worthless. I understand why our thanks are a little bit subdued. We may have gotten enough rain for the moment, but we know it won't last. In fact, given the hot spell this week, there are places that already need more rain.
As I thought about that, I thought about the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness. God gave them manna to eat. But if you remember the story, God just gave them enough manna for one day at a time. Did you ever wonder about that? I mean, God could've given them enough manna for the whole year. God could've given them enough manna for a month, or for a week. But God did not do it that way. God did not even give them enough manna for tomorrow. God just gave them enough for today. No less, but no more, either. In fact, if they tried to make the manna last for longer than just today, it spoiled. God only gave them enough for today.
It seems to me that's how God often works when God grants our requests. It seems like there are a lot of times God grants just enough. Not less than we need, but not necessarily more, either. Not enough for the whole year, or the whole month, or the whole week. Sometimes, not even enough for tomorrow. God only gives us enough for today. And God asks us to trust God to give us enough for tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
Maybe that's how it works with rain, too. Some people, as I said, got a really good rain. But a lot of us only got enough rain for now. We got enough rain to get them by for a while, but not enough to assure that the crops will be good. Maybe God did that on purpose. Maybe God just gave us enough rain for now because God is asking for our trust. God wants us to trust God to give us enough for tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
That's what I'd like to suggest we do. Now, I'm not saying this is some sort of magic spell. I'm not saying that if we all just trust God, we'll all have great crops. Drought is always a possibility. So, of course, is flooding, as we found out a couple of years ago. I have no idea what the weather is going to do tomorrow, or the rest of the week, or the rest of the month.
I do believe, though, that God is worthy of our trust. So let's trust God to do what's right. And then, let's go out and do our best to serve God. If we do our best, we can be assured that God will do God's best. And then, things will go the way they're supposed to go.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Tough Love
This is the message given at the WOW (Worship on Wednesday) service in Gettysburg July 17, 2013. The Bible verses are Genesis 18:12-33, 9:1, 12-16, 24-25.
One of the questions we sometimes have about God is whether the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. What I mean by that is that a lot of times we think of the God of the New Testament as a God of love and forgiveness, but we think of the God of the Old Testament as a God of judgment and punishment. Naturally, we like that God we think of in the New Testament a lot better than the God we think of in the Old Testament.
Because of that, we tend to read the New Testament a lot more than we do the Old Testament. That’s one of the reasons we’re doing this sermon series focusing on Old Testament stories. The Old Testament is just as much a part of the Bible as the New Testament, and it’s just as much a part of our faith as the New Testament. It may be harder for us to understand, and it may not be as warm and fuzzy in places, but it still is a part of the Bible. Come to think of it, there are parts of the New Testament that are not particularly warm and fuzzy, either, but that’s a different sermon series.
As we’ve looked at these stories, I think we’ve found that the God of the Old Testament really is the same as the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament was a God of love and forgiveness, too. We've talked about how God gave Cain second chances, and how God promised Noah that no matter what humans did, they would never be wiped from the face of the earth.
We've also talked about something else, though. We've talked about how, some day, our second chances come to an end. That’s why it’s important that we take advantage of the chance God has given us now, today. After all, no matter how old we are, and no matter how healthy we are, God does not promise a tomorrow on this earth to anyone.
Which brings us to our story for today, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. If you’ve heard this story before, or even if you were just listening to the scripture reading this evening, you know what happened. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah had completely forgotten about God. Everyone did whatever they wanted. Not only had they forgotten about God, they’d forgotten the basic principles of right and wrong. Those towns were in a state of complete lawlessness, chaos, and sin. So, God sent down fire from heaven and wiped them out. Both cities were completely destroyed and all the people in them except Lot and his family were killed.
I've heard this story many times, of course. Many of you probably have, too. As I thought about it this week, though, it occurred to me that a lot the discussions I’ve heard about it missed something. Too often, this story is interpreted as the story of a vengeful God eagerly executing a death penalty on people who got too far out of line. I don’t think that’s what was going on here at all. As I look at this story, I see God doing everything possible to avoid destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. God only went ahead with it when there was no other way.
How else do we explain the discussion between God and Abraham? God could have just gone ahead and taken out Sodom and Gomorrah without saying anything to Abraham at all. In fact, the way the story reads, God considered doing exactly that. Instead, though, God not only told Abraham what he was about to do, God allowed Abraham to bargain with him to provide the two cities a way out.
We don’t know how big the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were. They’re mentioned a few other times in the Bible before this, so they were big enough that people knew about them and knew where they were. Cities were not as big back then, so say they had a couple thousand people or so. Abraham got God to agree that if there were even ten good and righteous people out of those couple of thousand, God would not destroy those towns.
To me, that does not sound like a God who’s eager to bring about destruction. That sounds like a God who wants to give these people another chance. Think of it: if less than one percent of the people in these towns were found to be good and righteous people, God would save all the people of both towns just for that fraction of a percent. That sounds to me like God is trying very hard to avoid destroying these towns, not looking for an excuse to do it.
As we know, though, not even ten good and righteous people could be found in those towns. The only ones found were Lot and his family. So, God went ahead and destroyed the towns, only allowing Lot and his family to escape.
It must have made God very sad to do that. Still, though, we hear that and we think, if God was so sad about it, could God not have let them off the hook anyway? Could God not have bailed them out, protected them, given them another chance?
Well, yes, I suppose God could have. After all, God can do anything God wants to do. As I was thinking about that, though, here’s what occurred to me.
Wanda and I don’t have children, of course, but we’ve known a lot of parents, including some of you. Sometimes, when we raise kids, those kids go off and live a lifestyle that’s totally opposite what we’d hoped when they were growing up. Sometimes kids get into drugs. Sometimes they get into a life of crime. Sometimes they refuse to work, and live off handouts. There are lots of other things that can happen, too.
As parents, you want to bail out our children. You want to protect them. You always want to give them another chance. It’s a natural, loving instinct. There are times when you do that, though, that you do them more harm than good. When I worked as a deputy state’s attorney, I saw that all the time. Either we or the judge would try to give a kid a break, give him or her another chance, and instead of being grateful and straightening out, they would inevitably think, “Gee, I did that, and nothing much happened. I wonder what else I could do.” Inevitably, they’d do something even worse, and a lot of times they’d start bringing other people down with them. We thought we were helping those kids, but in reality we were hurting them and others.
I would think that one of the hardest things parents ever have to do is to see their children in trouble and know that this time, the loving thing to do is to not bail them out. Instead, the loving thing to do this time is to let those kids sink or swim on their own.
Now, when you let someone sink or swim on their own, of course, you take the chance that they’ll sink. That has to be so hard, to watch your child sinking and know that you cannot bail them out. It’s called “tough love” not because parents want to be hard on their children, but because the toughest thing a parent can do is see their child in trouble and know that they cannot do anything to rescue them.
I suspect that’s how God felt when God saw that there were not even ten good and righteous people in the entire population of Sodom and Gomorrah. Every loving instinct of God must have wanted to bail them out, to give them another chance. It had to be incredibly hard for God not to do that. Yet, God knew that if God bailed them out, things would not improve. They would keep getting worse. What was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah would spread to other towns.
God must have wanted so badly to avoid destroying those towns. God knew, though, that doing so would not help the people there. They would continue what they were doing, and they would drag others down with them. It must be one of the hardest things God ever has to do. It has to be so hard for God to see God’s children in trouble and to know that this time, the loving thing for God to do is not to bail them out, but to allow them to sink. It’s hard for me to even imagine what God must go through when God has to do that.
I think the lesson of Sodom and Gomorrah is not that God is a judgmental, punishing God. The lesson is that, at some point, our second chances come to an end. The lesson is that, if we refuse to turn back to God, at some point God has to let us sink. It’s hard for God to do that, but God has to, so we don’t take others down with us.
When we do turn back to God, though, God promises to always be there for us. That does not mean God will always take away our problems, but God will always help us through our problems. The help may not come the way we wish it would, but the help will be there. Every time we turn to God, God will be there for us.
One of the questions we sometimes have about God is whether the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. What I mean by that is that a lot of times we think of the God of the New Testament as a God of love and forgiveness, but we think of the God of the Old Testament as a God of judgment and punishment. Naturally, we like that God we think of in the New Testament a lot better than the God we think of in the Old Testament.
Because of that, we tend to read the New Testament a lot more than we do the Old Testament. That’s one of the reasons we’re doing this sermon series focusing on Old Testament stories. The Old Testament is just as much a part of the Bible as the New Testament, and it’s just as much a part of our faith as the New Testament. It may be harder for us to understand, and it may not be as warm and fuzzy in places, but it still is a part of the Bible. Come to think of it, there are parts of the New Testament that are not particularly warm and fuzzy, either, but that’s a different sermon series.
As we’ve looked at these stories, I think we’ve found that the God of the Old Testament really is the same as the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament was a God of love and forgiveness, too. We've talked about how God gave Cain second chances, and how God promised Noah that no matter what humans did, they would never be wiped from the face of the earth.
We've also talked about something else, though. We've talked about how, some day, our second chances come to an end. That’s why it’s important that we take advantage of the chance God has given us now, today. After all, no matter how old we are, and no matter how healthy we are, God does not promise a tomorrow on this earth to anyone.
Which brings us to our story for today, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. If you’ve heard this story before, or even if you were just listening to the scripture reading this evening, you know what happened. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah had completely forgotten about God. Everyone did whatever they wanted. Not only had they forgotten about God, they’d forgotten the basic principles of right and wrong. Those towns were in a state of complete lawlessness, chaos, and sin. So, God sent down fire from heaven and wiped them out. Both cities were completely destroyed and all the people in them except Lot and his family were killed.
I've heard this story many times, of course. Many of you probably have, too. As I thought about it this week, though, it occurred to me that a lot the discussions I’ve heard about it missed something. Too often, this story is interpreted as the story of a vengeful God eagerly executing a death penalty on people who got too far out of line. I don’t think that’s what was going on here at all. As I look at this story, I see God doing everything possible to avoid destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. God only went ahead with it when there was no other way.
How else do we explain the discussion between God and Abraham? God could have just gone ahead and taken out Sodom and Gomorrah without saying anything to Abraham at all. In fact, the way the story reads, God considered doing exactly that. Instead, though, God not only told Abraham what he was about to do, God allowed Abraham to bargain with him to provide the two cities a way out.
We don’t know how big the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were. They’re mentioned a few other times in the Bible before this, so they were big enough that people knew about them and knew where they were. Cities were not as big back then, so say they had a couple thousand people or so. Abraham got God to agree that if there were even ten good and righteous people out of those couple of thousand, God would not destroy those towns.
To me, that does not sound like a God who’s eager to bring about destruction. That sounds like a God who wants to give these people another chance. Think of it: if less than one percent of the people in these towns were found to be good and righteous people, God would save all the people of both towns just for that fraction of a percent. That sounds to me like God is trying very hard to avoid destroying these towns, not looking for an excuse to do it.
As we know, though, not even ten good and righteous people could be found in those towns. The only ones found were Lot and his family. So, God went ahead and destroyed the towns, only allowing Lot and his family to escape.
It must have made God very sad to do that. Still, though, we hear that and we think, if God was so sad about it, could God not have let them off the hook anyway? Could God not have bailed them out, protected them, given them another chance?
Well, yes, I suppose God could have. After all, God can do anything God wants to do. As I was thinking about that, though, here’s what occurred to me.
Wanda and I don’t have children, of course, but we’ve known a lot of parents, including some of you. Sometimes, when we raise kids, those kids go off and live a lifestyle that’s totally opposite what we’d hoped when they were growing up. Sometimes kids get into drugs. Sometimes they get into a life of crime. Sometimes they refuse to work, and live off handouts. There are lots of other things that can happen, too.
As parents, you want to bail out our children. You want to protect them. You always want to give them another chance. It’s a natural, loving instinct. There are times when you do that, though, that you do them more harm than good. When I worked as a deputy state’s attorney, I saw that all the time. Either we or the judge would try to give a kid a break, give him or her another chance, and instead of being grateful and straightening out, they would inevitably think, “Gee, I did that, and nothing much happened. I wonder what else I could do.” Inevitably, they’d do something even worse, and a lot of times they’d start bringing other people down with them. We thought we were helping those kids, but in reality we were hurting them and others.
I would think that one of the hardest things parents ever have to do is to see their children in trouble and know that this time, the loving thing to do is to not bail them out. Instead, the loving thing to do this time is to let those kids sink or swim on their own.
Now, when you let someone sink or swim on their own, of course, you take the chance that they’ll sink. That has to be so hard, to watch your child sinking and know that you cannot bail them out. It’s called “tough love” not because parents want to be hard on their children, but because the toughest thing a parent can do is see their child in trouble and know that they cannot do anything to rescue them.
I suspect that’s how God felt when God saw that there were not even ten good and righteous people in the entire population of Sodom and Gomorrah. Every loving instinct of God must have wanted to bail them out, to give them another chance. It had to be incredibly hard for God not to do that. Yet, God knew that if God bailed them out, things would not improve. They would keep getting worse. What was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah would spread to other towns.
God must have wanted so badly to avoid destroying those towns. God knew, though, that doing so would not help the people there. They would continue what they were doing, and they would drag others down with them. It must be one of the hardest things God ever has to do. It has to be so hard for God to see God’s children in trouble and to know that this time, the loving thing for God to do is not to bail them out, but to allow them to sink. It’s hard for me to even imagine what God must go through when God has to do that.
I think the lesson of Sodom and Gomorrah is not that God is a judgmental, punishing God. The lesson is that, at some point, our second chances come to an end. The lesson is that, if we refuse to turn back to God, at some point God has to let us sink. It’s hard for God to do that, but God has to, so we don’t take others down with us.
When we do turn back to God, though, God promises to always be there for us. That does not mean God will always take away our problems, but God will always help us through our problems. The help may not come the way we wish it would, but the help will be there. Every time we turn to God, God will be there for us.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Doing What We Can
This is the message given in the Oahe Manor Communion service on Thursday, July 11, 2013. The Bible verses are Luke 10:25-37.
You know, it strikes me that most projects involve two basic things. The first one is know what to do. The second one is actually doing it.
Those things are both important, of course, but a lot of times, the second one is harder than the first one. It seems to me that there are a lot of times when we know what the right thing to do is. We just really don't want to do it.
That brings me to the story of the Good Samaritan that we just read. We're told that an expert in the law came up to Jesus. He asks Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus basically says, “Well, you're the expert in the law. What does the law say?” And the man gives him a textbook-perfect answer. “Love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
And Jesus says, “See? You've got the first part covered. You know what to do. So now comes the second part. Go do it.”
But again, it's that second part that always causes the problem. This guy really does not want to go do it. It's too hard. It seems like it's asking too much. So, he tries to come up with a reason for not doing it. As the verses say, he wanted to justify himself. So, he asks, “But who is my neighbor.”
Now, that's thinking just like an expert in the law, right? Always trying to get out of things on a technicality. And, of course, Jesus does not let him do it. That's when Jesus goes on to tell the story of the Good Samaritan.
You know, this story of the Good Samaritan is not just a nice story, the way we sometimes think of it. If we take this story seriously, it's a very challenging story.
We've been conditioned to think of the two who did not stop, the priest and the Levite, as the bad guys in this story. But are they, really? I mean, think about this story from their point of view. They're walking down the road, minding their own business. They see this guy on the side of the road. They don't know him. They don't know anything about him. They don't know how he comes to be there or what's happened to him. They're busy people with things to do. It's not their fault this guy got beaten up. It's nothing to do with them. They really don't have the time to stop and help him.. Besides, this is a really dangerous area. If they stop, what happened to this guy might happen to them, too.
You see, they have all these reasons to not treat this man as their neighbor. And they're not just making those reasons up. They're good reasons. They're logical. They make sense. If someone heard about what they'd done—or, more accurately, not done—no one would've thought badly of them for it. They would've been able to justify themselves.
How many times do we do that? We see a situation in which somebody needs help. We probably know, somewhere deep down, that we should help. But we think, well, I don't know this person. I don't know how they came to be in this situation or what's happened to them. I have things to do. It's not my fault this person got into trouble. It's nothing to do with me. I really don't have time to stop and help. I'll just mind my own business.
We want to identify with the Samaritan. We want to think we'd be the one who stopped and helped. We want to think we'd be the one who'd go the extra mile, who'd do a lot more than what's expected of us.
That's what we want to do. But the truth is that, a lot more of the time, we're the priest or the Levite. We're the one who does not help, and who comes up with all kinds of “good reasons” for not helping.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, but what can I do?” I get that. I know you cannot do all the things you used to do. If you could, you would not be here. I know you do not have the energy or physical ability to do the things you used to do. Some days, it's probably all you can do to get out of bed and get dressed. In fact, I know some of you can no longer even do that for yourselves. And while I cannot say I know how that feels, I know it has to be really frustrating. So you hear a message like this, and you think, “Yeah, it's easy for him to say. If I could be out there helping people, I would. But I cannot do that any more.”
Like I said, I get that. But here's the thing. God does not ask us to do everything. What God asks us is to do everything we can. And everyone can do something. No matter what your condition is, you can do something. You can smile at people. You can listen to people who need to talk. You can give a compliment to somebody.
You know, sometimes, when I'm having a bad day, just having someone smile at me and ask how I'm doing means more to me than anything. Just knowing somebody cares can be so important. We all need people who care about us. And sometimes, we need to be the person who cares about somebody else. Little things like that can mean an incredible amount.
God never allows us to retire from being Christians. No matter what our age is, and no matter what our state of health is, we're still supposed to be like the Samaritan. We're still not allowed to come up with “good reasons” for not helping. We still need to do whatever we can do to help others.
You cannot do everything. You cannot do what you used to do. That's okay. You don't have to. Just do what you can. When we do, God will do the rest.
You know, it strikes me that most projects involve two basic things. The first one is know what to do. The second one is actually doing it.
Those things are both important, of course, but a lot of times, the second one is harder than the first one. It seems to me that there are a lot of times when we know what the right thing to do is. We just really don't want to do it.
That brings me to the story of the Good Samaritan that we just read. We're told that an expert in the law came up to Jesus. He asks Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus basically says, “Well, you're the expert in the law. What does the law say?” And the man gives him a textbook-perfect answer. “Love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
And Jesus says, “See? You've got the first part covered. You know what to do. So now comes the second part. Go do it.”
But again, it's that second part that always causes the problem. This guy really does not want to go do it. It's too hard. It seems like it's asking too much. So, he tries to come up with a reason for not doing it. As the verses say, he wanted to justify himself. So, he asks, “But who is my neighbor.”
Now, that's thinking just like an expert in the law, right? Always trying to get out of things on a technicality. And, of course, Jesus does not let him do it. That's when Jesus goes on to tell the story of the Good Samaritan.
You know, this story of the Good Samaritan is not just a nice story, the way we sometimes think of it. If we take this story seriously, it's a very challenging story.
We've been conditioned to think of the two who did not stop, the priest and the Levite, as the bad guys in this story. But are they, really? I mean, think about this story from their point of view. They're walking down the road, minding their own business. They see this guy on the side of the road. They don't know him. They don't know anything about him. They don't know how he comes to be there or what's happened to him. They're busy people with things to do. It's not their fault this guy got beaten up. It's nothing to do with them. They really don't have the time to stop and help him.. Besides, this is a really dangerous area. If they stop, what happened to this guy might happen to them, too.
You see, they have all these reasons to not treat this man as their neighbor. And they're not just making those reasons up. They're good reasons. They're logical. They make sense. If someone heard about what they'd done—or, more accurately, not done—no one would've thought badly of them for it. They would've been able to justify themselves.
How many times do we do that? We see a situation in which somebody needs help. We probably know, somewhere deep down, that we should help. But we think, well, I don't know this person. I don't know how they came to be in this situation or what's happened to them. I have things to do. It's not my fault this person got into trouble. It's nothing to do with me. I really don't have time to stop and help. I'll just mind my own business.
We want to identify with the Samaritan. We want to think we'd be the one who stopped and helped. We want to think we'd be the one who'd go the extra mile, who'd do a lot more than what's expected of us.
That's what we want to do. But the truth is that, a lot more of the time, we're the priest or the Levite. We're the one who does not help, and who comes up with all kinds of “good reasons” for not helping.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, but what can I do?” I get that. I know you cannot do all the things you used to do. If you could, you would not be here. I know you do not have the energy or physical ability to do the things you used to do. Some days, it's probably all you can do to get out of bed and get dressed. In fact, I know some of you can no longer even do that for yourselves. And while I cannot say I know how that feels, I know it has to be really frustrating. So you hear a message like this, and you think, “Yeah, it's easy for him to say. If I could be out there helping people, I would. But I cannot do that any more.”
Like I said, I get that. But here's the thing. God does not ask us to do everything. What God asks us is to do everything we can. And everyone can do something. No matter what your condition is, you can do something. You can smile at people. You can listen to people who need to talk. You can give a compliment to somebody.
You know, sometimes, when I'm having a bad day, just having someone smile at me and ask how I'm doing means more to me than anything. Just knowing somebody cares can be so important. We all need people who care about us. And sometimes, we need to be the person who cares about somebody else. Little things like that can mean an incredible amount.
God never allows us to retire from being Christians. No matter what our age is, and no matter what our state of health is, we're still supposed to be like the Samaritan. We're still not allowed to come up with “good reasons” for not helping. We still need to do whatever we can do to help others.
You cannot do everything. You cannot do what you used to do. That's okay. You don't have to. Just do what you can. When we do, God will do the rest.
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