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.

Money, Stuff, and Peace

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on May 5, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Luke 12:13-34.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who Are You Talking To?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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