God and Viruses

We know about all the major holidays:  Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.  And we know there are some lesser, but still important, holidays, too:  Labor Day, Memorial Day, Presidents’ Day, and so forth.  And there are other “unofficial” holidays, like Valentine’s Day, where nobody gets the day off but we all know that it’s supposed to be a special day.

But if you know where to look on the internet, you find that every day has some sort of holiday attached to it.  It might be something important, like VFW day, a day to celebrate Veterans of Foreign Wars.  Or, it might be something silly, like National Saxophone Day.  But every day has something.  And last Saturday, it was National Virus Appreciation Day.

I looked at that, and it was hard to believe.  Why would we appreciate a virus?  Viruses make you sick.  And in some cases, like the corona virus, they can make you really sick or even kill you.  Why in the world would we appreciate viruses?  And who would ever have the idea to create a Virus Appreciation Day?

Well, I don’t really know the answers.  But as I thought about it, I remembered this:  God is all-powerful.  And God is all-knowing and all-wise.  And God is always in control of everything.  

So, God knows that there are viruses on earth.  And God allows them to exist.  And God allows them to make us sick, and even kill us sometimes.

Why?  I don’t know.  I don’t know why God would allow things like the corona virus to exist.  But I always remember what it says in Romans 8:28.  God can work all things for the good of those who love Him.

All things.  Not just the things we like.  Not just the things we approve of.  All things.  Bad things.  Terrible things.  All things.

If we believe that, then we have to believe that God is going to use even the corona virus for the good of those who love Him.  How will God do that?  I don’t know.  When will God do that?  I don’t know.  What’s going to be the way God chooses to do that?  I don’t know.  But I know God will do it.  God has promised us that.  And God always keeps God’s promises.

I still don’t appreciate viruses.  But I appreciate God.  And I know that somehow, in some way, at the right time, God is going to act.  All of this stuff we’re going through right now will, some day, be shown to have been for the ultimate good of those who love God.  And we are all going to be amazed at the wisdom and the power and the love of God.

So hang in there.  God is still in control.  And God is going to work this out for our good.

 

 

Judgment

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, October 4, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 7:1-5.

            “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  That’s probably one of the most quoted verses in the whole Bible.  You hear it all the time, right?  “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”

            Of course, we usually quote that right after we’ve done something we know we should not have done.  We quote it after we’ve been called out for having done something we know goes against common opinions of right and wrong, good and bad.  We say it, of course, to try to avoid taking responsibility for our actions.  We used as if it was a divinely-given Get Out of Jail free card.  “You don’t have the right to judge me!  Jesus said so!  Only God can judge me!”

            Now there is truth in that.  At least in the last sentence.  God will judge us.  And in the end, that’s the judgment that’s going to be the most important one of all.  Yes, we can try to use Jesus’ statement to avoid the judgment of human beings, or at least to make ourselves feel better about that judgment, if we want to.  But there is nothing we can do to avoid God’s judgment.  And God’s judgment is final--there is no higher court to appeal to.  Human judgment can be wrong, but God’s judgment is always right, and it is always put into effect.

            But let’s look at the rest of it.  We can probably agree that Jesus did not mean for us to use this statement as a way to avoid responsibility for what we say or do.  But what did he mean?

            Well, first of all, let’s look at who Jesus was talking to and who he was not talking to.  He was not talking to people who may be on the receiving end of judgment.  He did not say, “If you ever feel like someone is judging you, here’s something you can use in your defense.”  Jesus was talking to the people who might be doing the judging.

            But did he really mean it literally?  Did he mean that you and I cannot judge that actions or words of other people?  That would lead to an attitude of “anything goes”, right?  If I cannot say that anything you do or say is wrong, and if you cannot say that anything I do or say is wrong, then everything is allowable and nothing is forbidden.  Is that really the kind of society Jesus believed in?

            Well, no, I don’t think so.  Remember, Jesus believed in Jewish law.  In fact, in this same speech, the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew Chapter Five, Jesus says this:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 

Jesus did not have an “anything goes” philosophy.  Jesus believed in right and wrong, in good and evil.  And Jesus had no doubts about which side he was on.

But the thing is, when people quote that sentence about not judging, a lot of times they stop right there.  But look at the next sentence.  Jesus said this:  “In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Does that remind you of anything?  It’s the same principle Jesus used when it comes to forgiveness.  In the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  And right after giving us the Lord’s Prayer, in Matthew Chapter Six, Jesus says, “If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”  And there are other examples in the Bible of Jesus saying pretty much the same thing.

When it comes to things like judgment and forgiveness, Jesus is pretty clear.  If you and I want God to forgive us, we’d better be willing to forgive others.  If you and I want God to show mercy to us, we’d better be willing to show mercy to others.  If you and I want to feel God’s grace, we’d better be ready to extend grace to others.

In a way, it’s sort of the reverse of the Golden Rule.  Jesus told us that we should treat others the way we would like others to treat us.  Here, Jesus is saying the way we treat others will determine how God will treat us.  

And that’s all consistent with what comes next, too.  Jesus says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”

Again, Jesus is not talking to a person who’s on the receiving end of the judgment.  He’s talking to the one who might be doing the judging.  And he’s saying, look, anyone who’s going to judge someone else had better have their own life in order.  If you’re going to tell someone else what they’re doing wrong, you’d better make sure you’re doing things right first.  Because, again, the standard by which we judge others is the standard by which God is going to judge us.

So, what does that mean for our lives?  Does that mean that, if we see someone going down the wrong road, we should never say anything to them?  That we should let them continue going down that wrong road, because after all, we make some mistakes, too?

Not necessarily.  I’ve told you before that I’m very fortunate that, at some important times in my life, people loved me enough to tell me what I was doing was not right and that I needed to change some things.  Maybe you’ve had that happen, too.  I did not like hearing it at the time, but after I looked back on it, I could see how lucky I was that they did that for me.  Had they looked at me and said, “Well, I’ve got to let Jeff keep doing things the way he’s doing them, because I have no right to judge him”, my life would not have gone as well as it has.  So yes, sometimes the most loving thing to do is to call somebody out when they’re headed down the wrong road.

But it’s something we need to do carefully.  And one of the things we need to be careful about is our attitude.  When we try to correct someone in this way, are we truly doing it because we love them?  Or are we doing it for some other reason?  Are we approaching them with love and forgiveness and grace and mercy?  Or do we have some other motivation?   Are we acting in the way we would want someone to act toward us, if the situation was reversed?  

Those are tough questions.  Knowing our own motivations can be a tricky thing.  It can be hard, sometimes, for us to know what our real motivations are.  It can be really easy for us to convince ourselves that we’re acting for totally pure and selfless reasons when in fact, that’s not really the case.  And the thing is that, a lot of times, we don’t even realize we’re doing it.  The sad fact is that, quite often, the biggest lies we ever tell are the lies we tell ourselves.  I don’t know if that’s true of you, but I can think of times when it’s been true of me.  The reason I can talk about this stuff is that I’ve done it myself.

And that’s probably one of the biggest reasons Jesus warns us against doing this, or at least to be really careful about doing it.  Because Jesus understood human nature better than you or I ever could.  Jesus understood human nature from two standpoints.  He understood it from the human standpoint, because he was fully human.  And he understood it from a divine perspective, because he was fully divine.  Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves.  And Jesus knows how easy it is for us to tell ourselves what we want to hear and then to convince ourselves that what we’ve told ourselves is true.

Jesus did not tell us we should say “anything goes”.  But Jesus did say we need to be careful about judgment.  Because the way we judge others will determine the way God judges us.  If we want God to forgive us, we need to forgive others.  If we want God to give us mercy, we need to give mercy to others.  And if we decide that we can judge someone else, God is going to judge us by that same standard.  And if we cannot stand up to judgment by that standard, there will be consequences for us.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  Jesus did not give us a Get Out of Jail Free card.  Jesus gave us a warning.  And when Jesus gives us a warning, we’d probably better pay attention.

 

Be Strong and Courageous

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, September 27, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Joshua 1:1-9.

The passage we read tonight is one of my favorite passages in the Bible.  Maybe it’s one of yours, too.  It is for a lot of people.  Whenever there’s a survey of favorite Bible passages, this one always comes out near the top.

            And it’s easy to see why.  God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous.  God says that over and over again, “be strong and courageous.”  And even better, God is going to help Joshua be strong and courageous, because, God says, “I will be with you.  I will never leave you nor forsake you...The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

We all need to hear that sometimes, right?  We all need to hear God tell us to be strong and courageous, and we especially need to hear that God will be with us.  It’s hard for us to be strong and courageous a lot of times.  It’s really helpful to hear God telling us that we can do it, because God will be with us no matter what.  

Joshua especially needed to hear that, because he was in a pretty tough position.  Moses has died.  Moses, one of the greatest heroes of the Bible.  If there was a Bible Hall of Fame, Moses would be in it.  After all, Moses stood up to the mighty Pharaoh.  Moses led the people of Israel across the Red Sea into freedom.  Moses led the people of Israel for forty years of wandering in the wilderness.  Moses talked directly to God.  Moses brought the people the Ten Commandments and all of the Mosaic law.  

Not only would Moses be in the Bible Hall of Fame, he’d be in on the first ballot, no question.  After Moses died, here’s how the Bible described him: 

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.  For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

            That’s what the people thought of Moses.  So now, here comes Joshua.  He’s supposed to replace Moses.  He’s supposed to be the next leader of Israel.  Talk about having big sandals to fill.  These would be size twenty-five quadruple X’s.

            Now, Joshua was not unknown to the people of Israel.  He’d been Moses’ chief aide.  He’d fought for Israel and gone out on spying missions for Israel.  He’d served the people loyally for many years.

Still, there’s a big difference between being the number two guy and being number one.  There’s a big difference between executing someone else’s decisions and being the one who’s supposed to make the decisions.  Joshua had to be pretty nervous about this. 

He had to be nervous, really, on a couple of levels.  For one thing, he had to have some doubts about himself.  He had to wonder whether he could ever be as great, as wise, as strong as Moses had been.  Plus, he also had to wonder whether he could ever get out of Moses’ big shadow.  He had to wonder whether he could ever get the people to follow him the way Moses had.  After all, even as great as Moses was, there were plenty of times when the people had questioned him and threatened to rebel.  If there were times when the people had not even wanted to follow the great Moses, why would they ever want to follow Joshua?

That, to me, is one of the coolest things about the reading from Joshua that we heard today.  When we read the words God said to Joshua, it’s obvious that God understood exactly what Joshua was going through.  God knew all the doubts and fears that Joshua had.  God knew that Joshua was pretty unsure of himself, that Joshua did not know if he had what it took to lead the people of Israel.

The thing is, though, that God remembered how it was when Moses started out.  Do you remember that story from the Bible?  Moses was nobody when God called him.  He was just out tending the sheep.  When God called Moses and told him to go and talk to the great Pharaoh and tell him to let the people of Israel go, Moses’ reaction was basically, “Who, me?”  Moses came up with every excuse he could think of for why he should not be the one to go and talk to Pharaoh.  But God saw that Moses had greatness in him.  God worked with Moses, God was there for Moses, and eventually God helped Moses develop greatness and let it out for all the world to see.

God knew that was true of Joshua, too.  God knew Joshua had greatness in him, too.  He might not be Moses, but God was not asking him to be Moses.  Moses had done what Moses was supposed to do.  Now it was time for Joshua to do what Joshua was supposed to do.  God did not ask Joshua to be Moses.  God asked Joshua to be the best Joshua he could be.  In doing that, Joshua would achieve greatness on his own.

Just like with Moses, though, God knew Joshua would need some help to develop that greatness.  So, what God basically does is give Joshua a pep talk.  Listen again to what God says to Joshua:

…get ready to cross the Jordan River…I will give you every place where you set your foot…No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you…Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land…Be strong and very courageous.  Be careful to obey all the law…Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips…Then you will be prosperous and successful…Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Replacing Moses was not going to be easy.  God knew that.  So, God told Joshua that he did not have to do it by himself.  God promised Joshua that God would be with him, every bit as much as God had been with Moses.  Then comes the big part, the part that we love, the part that God says to Joshua three times in these few verses:  Be strong and courageous.

You see, each one of us has been chosen by God to do something.  You and I may not be chosen to do great, important things that will be remembered forever, the way Moses and Joshua were.  We may be--it’s not my place to limit what God may have chosen you to do.  Maybe God has chosen you to do something great and important that will be remembered forever, I don’t know.

But for most of us, that’s not how it works.  Most of us are chosen by God to do smaller things, things that may only be remembered by a few.  Maybe by no one.  Maybe they’re not even noticed when we do them.  But they’re still important.  If God has chosen you to do something, then in God’s eyes that thing you’ve been chosen to do is every bit as important as what Moses and Joshua were chosen to do.  All people are important in God’s eyes, and everything God chooses us important people to do is an important thing, too.

And you know, the thing is that a lot of times, deep down, we really know what we’re supposed to do.  Not always, but a lot of times.  The fact is that we just don’t want to do it.  One of the main reasons we don’t want to, frankly, is because we’re scared to.

You know, the things God chooses us to do are not always easy.  The things God chooses us to do sometimes take us out of our comfort zones.  A lot of times, we’re happy with the life we already have.  And if we’re not happy, at least we’re more-or-less satisfied with it.  And even if we’re not satisfied with it, we’re at least used to it.  We know how to handle it.  We don’t know what might happen to that life if we do what God has chosen us to do.  We don’t know where the things God has chosen us to do might lead.  We don’t even know if we’re actually capable of doing the things God has chosen us to do.  Agreeing to do what God has chosen us to do can be pretty scary. 

If that’s where you are, if you feel like you’re not sure you can do what God wants you to do, know this:  God understands.  And God is saying the same thing to you that God said to Joshua.  Get ready.  I will be with you.  I will never leave you nor forsake you.  Be strong and courageous, because you will be able to do what I’ve chosen you to do.  Be strong and very courageous.  Do what I’ve told you to do.  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

God knows why we hesitate.  God knows why we’re scared.  But God knows we have what it takes, and God will bring that out in each one of us.  When we’re weak, we can rely on God’s strength.  When we’re scared, we can rely on God’s courage.

Each one of us has greatness in us.  God may not select us to lead a nation, like God did with Moses and Joshua, but again, that’s not the qualification for greatness, at least not in God’s eyes.  Greatness, in God’s eyes, means agreeing to do whatever God has chosen us to do, whether it’s something big or something small.  Remember, too, that something that seems to be small in human eyes can be something big and great in God’s eyes.  Human beings might not consider us to be on a level with Moses or Joshua, but doing what God has chosen us to do will make us hall-of-famers to God.

            You have greatness in you.  In God’s eyes, we all have greatness in us.  If we trust God, and rely on God, we can say yes when God chooses us.  And we can be strong and courageous, just like Joshua was.

Extra Strength

About two and a half weeks ago, I started getting pain in my lower back.  It started on a Monday morning, got better for a little while, then got worse.  It was better Tuesday evening, but much worse Wednesday.  So, I went to the doctor and discovered I have bulging discs in my back.

Now, I don’t want you to waste a lot of time feeling sorry for me.  They gave me some medication, and I’m much better than I was.  For the most part, I don’t really even feel it any more, other than when I do something I shouldn’t.  I’ll start some physical therapy to strengthen my back next week, and I’m sure I’ll be fine.  I’m just getting older, as happens to all of us.  I’m sure many of you have to live with a lot more pain than what I have.

The reason I bring it up, though, is that I started thinking about how fortunate I am--how fortunate all of us are--to live in the time we do.  I mean, people didn’t just start having bulging discs in the 21st century.  What did people do a hundred years ago when they had bulging discs in their back?

Well, I looked on the internet.  It appears that what people did was have surgery.  And sometimes that helped, and sometimes it didn’t.  Sometimes it might make things worse.  If you lived out in the middle of nowhere, the way we do, you probably didn’t have access to a doctor who could do that kind of surgery.  And even people who did have that access to that sort of doctor were probably hesitant to have the surgery, because again, there was no guarantee that it would work and it might have the opposite effect.  So, lots of people probably just learned to live with the pain and kept going as best they could.  That wouldn’t be easy--I only had the worst pain for a few days, and it was no fun at all.  To have to live with it for years--well, I don’t like to think about it.

But I’m sure people did it.  They did it because, really, what choice did they have?  They did what they had to do, and for the most part, they probably didn’t even complain about it.  It just was what it was.

I think that tells us something about human nature.  All of us are a lot stronger than we think we are.  All of us can do things we don’t think we can do.  But when we have to do those things, when we have to be that strong, we are.  We do it because we know that, really, we don’t have any other choice.  So we develop that strength, and we do it.  And we probably don’t even complain about it.  It just is what it is.  You’ve probably already experienced that in your life, maybe more than once.

But it also tells us something about God.  God put that strength in us.  God knows that life can be challenging.  In fact, life can be very hard.  God knew there would be times when we would need extra strength.  And so, God put that strength inside us, waiting to be called on when we need it.

But God also knows that there are times when, no matter how strong we are, it won’t be enough.  That’s why God allows us to call on Him.  When our own strength is not enough, we can rely on God’s strength.  God will encourage us, God will sustain us, God will empower us.  God will give us whatever we need when we need it.

So, if your own strength seems like it’s not enough, pray.  Ask God to give you some of God’s strength.  God’s strength never fails.  And God will allow us to use as much of it as we need whenever we need it.

Trust God With Your Fears

 This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church September 20, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Deuteronomy 20:1-4.

            What are you afraid of?

            I suspect that if we all got together and worked on it, we could put together a pretty long list of things we’re afraid of.  We could start just by watching the news.  There’s the coronavirus, of course.  There are the wildfires.  There are hurricanes.  There are riots and protests, people getting attacked all the time.  Recently, we’ve started to hear more about missing children and sex trafficking--not that that’s a new thing, we’ve just heard more about it lately.  It seems like there’s always the threat of a war someplace.  And we could go on and on.

            And even apart from that, we have plenty of things to be afraid of in our personal lives.  We might run out of money and not be able to pay our bills.  There could be a financial crisis, and everything we have could be wiped out.  Our house could be destroyed in a fire.  We could have a terrible health problem that threatens our lives.  We could have relationship problems.  We could lose our loved ones and end up alone--loneliness is something we all fear.  And again, we could go on and on.

            And there are just the simple day-to-day-things we fear.  I don’t like to fly.  There are car accidents.  Some people are afraid of crowds, or public speaking.  We can be afraid of failure, afraid of rejection, afraid of change, afraid of losing control, afraid of being in control.  Again, the list goes on and on and on.  It seems like we never run out of things to be afraid of.

            Sometimes it seems like we have an entire army of fears lined up against us.  And that army looks like an overwhelming force to us.  We feel like there’s no way we can fight all those fears.  In fact, sometimes we feel totally helpless.  We feel like there’s nothing we can do but surrender to our fears.

            Our Bible reading for tonight is in Deuteronomy.  Moses is speaking to the people of Israel.  This is part of a long speech by Moses.  It takes up several chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy.  Most of it is God’s laws, which the people are supposed to follow.  But then, Moses starts talking about war.

            Moses talks about seeing an enemy that looks really big and really strong.  He talks about seeing horses and chariots that are greater than yours.  He talks about seeing an army that is greater than yours.

            That’s something to be afraid of, right?  I’d be afraid of that.  To see an enemy that looked bigger and stronger and more powerful than you are.  To know that enemy wanted to fight you, and to feel like you had nothing to fight back with.  That’s a really scary thing.

            But what does Moses say about it?  Moses says no.  Don’t be afraid of them.  Don’t panic.  Don’t give it to feeling terror.  Moses says there’s nothing to be afraid of.  God will be with you.  God will fight for you.  God will defeat your enemies.  God will give you victory.

            Do you think the people of Israel believed that?  Would you believe it?  In fact, do you believe it now?  When you look at the things you’re afraid of, when you start to feel overwhelmed by fear, when you feel like panicking, can you fight off that fear?  Can you trust that God is with you?  Can you trust that God will fight for you?  Can you trust that God will defeat whatever it is that has you fearful and give you victory?

            It can be hard to do.  We want to.  It sounds good, right?  Just get rid of those fears and turn everything over to God.  Just let God fight our battles for us.  Just let God defeat whatever it is that has us scared.  That sounds like it would be really good.

            It does sound good, but.  But it’s hard to put that much trust in God.  The things we’re scared of are right in front of us.  They’re real, or at least they seem real to us.  God, on the other hand--well, we say that we believe God is with us.  And on some level, we probably believe that.  It’s just that--we don’t see God.  We cannot touch God.  We cannot hear the voice of God, the way Moses did.  And it’s hard to put complete trust in someone we cannot see, especially when the thing we’re afraid of is something we can see, something that’s right in front of our eyes.

            But Moses tells the people of Israel one more thing about this in our reading for tonight.  Moses does not just say “God will be with you.”  Moses says, “The Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.”

            There are at least two concepts we need to look at in that one sentence.  The first one is that Moses says, “The Lord your God.”  Not just “the Lord God”.  “The Lord your God.”

            When we’re talking about fear, and talking about God helping us fight our fears, that’s something we need to remember.  The Lord is our God.  I don’t mean that in an exclusionary sense.  What I mean is that we’re not talking about some vague, impersonal God.  We’re not talking about some God who is out there, someplace, but probably does not know or care much what’s going on in our lives.

            Instead, God is our God.  God knows everything about us.  God knows everything that’s going on in our lives.  Psalm One Hundred Twenty-one says God knows our going out and our coming in.  Psalm One Hundred Thirty-nine says God knows when we lie down and when we get up.  Jesus said that God knows the number of hairs on our head.  This is not some vague, disinterested, unattached God.  This is a God who wants to be an active participant in our lives.  This is a God who is willing, and in fact is eager, to help us, if we’ll just put our faith and trust in Him.  This God truly is our God.

            The second thing Moses does is remind people what God has done for them.  He says, “The Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

            Remember that story?  The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt.  They had been for years, longer than anyone could remember.  They still had a dream of freedom, they had a dream of independence, but that’s all it was, really--a dream.  Egypt was the most powerful country in the world.  Its leader, the Pharaoh, was the most powerful person in the world, and he commanded the most powerful army in the world.  There was no way the people of Israel could defeat Egypt.  They might dream of it, but it was like I might dream of being a professional baseball player--you know there’s no way it’s ever going to happen.

            Except that, for the people of Israel, it did.  And they did not have to do anything.  They did not have to take on that army.  They did not have to defeat the Pharaoh.  They did not even have to strike a blow or fire a shot.  God did it all for them.  All they had to do was watch God--their God--at work.

            Can you think of a time when you God has fought battles for you?  Can you think of a time when it seemed like everything was going against you?  When a situation looked hopeless?  When you felt like you had no idea what to do and like it would not do any good even if you did?  And then, all of a sudden, God helped you through the situation?  You may have had to do something, or maybe you did not, but you know that it’s not what you did that solved the problem.  It was what God did.  Can you think of a time like that?

            I suspect you can.  I sure can.  Most of us have those times.  In fact, too often, that’s the only time we really do put our full faith and trust in God--when the situation seems hopeless and we have no idea what to do.  We turn to God, and put our trust in God, because it seems like there’s nothing else we can do.

            But the good news is that, even in those situations, God comes through for us.  God helps us.  God may or may not solve the problem, but God gets us through it.  God is with us every step of the way, and somehow, in some way, we survive the situation and are able to get back on the right path again.

            So think of those fears we talked about at the start of this message.  Can we turn them over to the Lord, our God?  Can we trust God with them?  Do we have enough faith to let the Lord, your God, defeat the army of fears that we see?  Can we let God defeat those fears, just like God has done for us in the past?  Can we trust God that much?

            Each of us has to make that decision.  No one can make it for us.  Our God, the God who knows everything about us, is willing and eager to defeat those fears for us.  But we need to turn them over to Him and trust Him to do it.

            Whatever you’re afraid of, do not be afraid any more.  Because the Lord, your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.

           

 

 

Seek First God's Kingdom

 This is the sermon given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, September 27, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 6:25-34.

            This is one of my all-time favorite passages of scripture.  It is for a lot of people, actually.  This passage routinely makes the lists of most popular scripture passages.

            It’s pretty easy to see why.  It’s about worry, and worry is the one thing that just about everyone has in common.  It does not matter where you live.  It does not matter what you do.  It does not matter how much money you have.  It does not matter what gender you are, what race you are, what age you are, anything.  The one thing pretty much everyone does is worry.

            Everybody’s worried about something.  My worries may not be the same as yours, but we all have them.  And if we ever run out of things to worry about, all we have to do is look at the news.  The news is pretty much a list of things to worry about every day.

For the most part, we wish we did not have these worries.  We wish that somehow, in some way, something or someone could come along and take all our worries away.  But it does not happen.  If we ever do get rid of one worry, here come three more to take its place.  One of the things that makes heaven so appealing is we assume that, in heaven, there are no worries.  After all, it would not be heaven if we had worries there, right?  In heaven, God will take all our worries away.

But the thing is, God will do that for us on earth, too, if we just let Him.  And Jesus tells us how God will do that.  And you know the funny thing?  The verse in which Jesus tells us that is the verse we tend to pay the least attention to.  I do, anyway.

Look at what Jesus says.  He says, don’t worry about food or drink.  After all, Jesus says, God feeds the birds and takes care of them, and you’re worth more than a bird.  He says, don’t worry about clothes.  After all, Jesus says, God makes the flowers look beautiful, and you’re a lot more valuable than a flower.  Jesus says, you don’t need to worry about any of that stuff.  God knows you need that stuff, and God will take care of it.  So don’t worry about tomorrow.  Tomorrow will take care of itself.  Each day has enough trouble, so just concern yourself with today.

And we really like all that.  The idea that we don’t need to worry about food, or drink, or clothes, or anything else--that’s really appealing.  The idea that we don’t need to worry about tomorrow, that all we need to do is concern ourselves with today--that’s really appealing, too.  We like all that stuff.

But did you notice that I skipped over one of the verses?  This is the one I said that we tend to not pay attention to, or at least I don’t.  And yet, it’s probably the most important verse in the whole passage.  It’s the verse that tells us how we can get rid of all those worries and turn them over to God.  Here it is:  “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.”  It’s simple, right?  If we want to get rid of our worries, all we need to do is focus on God.  Seek God’s kingdom.  Seek God’s righteousness.  In other words, serve God.  Do God’s will.  Live our lives the way God wants us to live them.  

All it is, really, is a matter of priorities.  Our tendency, as human beings, is to prioritize our own needs and wants.  That’s why, in Jesus’ words, we “run after all these things”.  That’s why we worry about them.  We believe we need to take care of ourselves first.  Once we get that done then, if we have time, we’ll start doing things for the kingdom of God.  But first we need to provide for ourselves.  God surely understands that, right?

And don’t think I’m pointing a finger at anyone here.  This is every bit as much my tendency as anyone’s.  It’s probably more my tendency that it is for some of you.  But it seems to me that it’s a natural human thing.  It’s part of the survival instinct God put into each one of us.  We feel like we need to take care of ourselves, and of our families, first.

But Jesus tells us we need to go beyond natural human things.  Now, Jesus does not say that it’s wrong to want to take care of ourselves and our families.  But Jesus says, if we would prioritize what God wants, if we would put God first, we would not have to worry about all that stuff.  If we would serve God, do God’s will, seek God’s kingdom, God would take care of all those other things for us.  We would not need to run after them.  They’d be given to us.

So what’s the problem?  Well, the problem is that it’s just darn hard for us to trust God that much.  We know we should.  It sounds good in theory.  But to actually trust God that much, to actually make seeking God’s kingdom our number one priority, to actually believe that if we spend our time seeking the kingdom of God, God will take care of us and give us everything we need--well, that’s a pretty big leap of faith.  

It’s a leap of faith that a lot of us just simply are not willing to take.  We may know we should.  We may even want to.  After all, what Jesus offers us sounds really good.  Freedom from worry.  Who would not want that?  We’d love to have that.  But--man, can I really do that?  Can I really put that much trust in God?  Can I really just put the main focus of my life on seeking God’s kingdom, and just take it on faith that if I do, God will provide me with everything I need?  That’s a lot of faith.  Do I have that much faith?  Do you?

Now, I do want to point out one thing.  Jesus does not say that if we don’t do this, we’ll go to hell.  Our salvation is based on our faith in Jesus as the Savior.  Jesus understands how hard this is for us.  Jesus knows that we’re flawed, weak, imperfect human beings.  We should not use that as an excuse, of course.  But Jesus’ point is not “do this or else.”

Jesus point is that we would be so much happier if we did this.  We truly could live a life free from worry if we did this.  If we could just trust God.  If we could just trust in the greatness and the goodness of God.  If we could just trust in the love of God.  If we could have enough faith to believe that Jesus’ words are true:  that if we seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, all these other things will be given to us as well.  If we could just do that, we would never have to worry about anything ever again.

So, does that mean we should all quit our jobs and completely change our lives so we can seek God’s kingdom?  No, not necessarily.  But it does mean that we need to re-orient our lives.  It’s possible that seeking God’s kingdom first may mean we need to make some changes in our lives.  But it’s also possible that the biggest change seeking God’s kingdom first requires us to make is in our attitude.

Think about the things you do.  Could you use those things to serve God’s kingdom?  Think about the people you spend time with.  Is there something you could do while you’re with them to serve God’s kingdom?  Think about the things you say to people.  Are there things you could say to them that would serve God’s kingdom?  In fact, sometimes what we need to do is think about the thoughts we think.  Are our thoughts, whether they’re expressed or not, thoughts that lead us to serve God’s kingdom?

These are not questions we can answer in a minute or two.  If we all leave here after the service and don’t think about this, nothing is going to change.  And I include myself in that, too.  If I leave here and don’t think about this, if I start thinking ahead to the Sunday night service and next week’s service and just forget all about what I said here today, nothing is going to change.  I’ll stay in the same spot I am right now.  And I’ll have all the same worries and fears and concerns that I have now.  That’s how it will work for all of us.  If we don’t think about this, if we don’t take it to heart, we’ll all just go on with the same worries and fears and concerns that we have now.

And maybe you’re okay with that.  Maybe you think things are okay the way they are.  And maybe they are okay.  But wouldn’t you like them to be better?  Wouldn’t we all like them to be better?  Wouldn’t we all like to be able to live our lives without all those worries and fears and concerns?  

Jesus offers us the chance to do that.  All we need to do is seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.  If we do that, Jesus promises us that all we need will be given to us.  

We can take that leap of faith, make God’s kingdom our top priority, and be free from worry and fear.  Or, we can continue to live as we are, with all of our human worries and fears.

Which will it be?

 

It Happens Gradually

          I got to my eyes checked this week.  I really don’t know that I really needed to have them checked, but I do know that I need new glasses.  What I mean is that the lenses on my current glasses are cracking, so that it’s very annoying to use them.  And since I’m going to need new lenses anyway, I figured I might as well get my eyes tested to make sure the new lenses are exactly right for me.

           I really haven’t noticed any change in my vision.  What I suspect, though, is that when I get my new glasses, I’ll notice a pretty substantial change.  That’s usually how it works, anyway.  Things will look sharper.  Things will look clearer.  Things might even look brighter--I’ve had that happen in the past, anyway.  It’s kind of amazing.  When I use the same glasses for years, I don’t notice that my vision has changed.  But then, when I get the new glasses, It suddenly becomes obvious what a difference there is.

           How can that be?  Well, the answer is that it happens gradually.  My eyesight changes, so that I needed a new prescription, but it happens gradually, so gradually that I don’t even notice it.  The cracking is the same way.  It did not all happen at once.  It happened gradually, a bit at a time, so that it did not seem like that big of a deal at first.  Ultimately, my sight through those old glasses changed tremendously, but it changed so gradually that I did not notice how big the change was.

           It seems to me that something similar can happen when we drift away from God.  It happens gradually.  We don’t even notice it at first.  Eventually, we start to notice that something’s not quite right, not the way it should be, but we don’t think it makes that much of a difference.  We know we really should do something about it, just like I’ve known I really should get new glasses.  But we don’t think it’s that important.  So, we let it slide.  We put it off.  We tell ourselves that we’ll get back in touch with God later, when we have time.

            The thing is that when I don’t get new glasses, when I wait, the only person I’m hurting is myself.  I make things harder on myself than they need to be.  I might be getting by, but I’m missing out on a lot of stuff.  That’s true of our relationship with God, too.  When we drift away from God, and we don’t get back in touch with God, the only person we’re hurting is ourselves.  And we’re hurting ourselves by making things harder on ourselves than they need to be.  We may be getting by, but we’re missing out on a lot of stuff.  We’re missing out on feeling God’s love and God’s guidance in our lives.  And that’s too bad.

            Our eyesight is very important.  But our relationship with God is even more important.  Let’s not neglect either one.  Get your eyes examined, so your vision can be all that it should be.  But examine your relationship with God, too, so it can be all that it should be.  If we can see God clearly, everything else will fall into place.