Bring Them Along

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, July 10, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 24:32-51.

            We live in turbulent times.  There’s no denying that.  Wars.  Protests, sometimes violent protests.  Economic turmoil.  A pandemic.  There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and sometimes it seems like none of it is good.

            Because of that, there are people who believe we are in the end times.  It’s understandable why, when we look at the world.  The things we just mentioned are only a partial list of what’s going on.  Plus, every survey you can find shows that people, at least in this country, are turning away from God.  And of those who say they do believe in God, there are fewer who believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, and who believe that faith in Jesus is the way to heaven.  There are a lot of things that are going on right now that seem similar to what the Bible tells us are signs of Jesus’ return.

            Now, if we’re honest, we have to admit that this is not the first time things like this have happened.  Nor is it the first time people have believed we were in the end times.  So far, all of those people have been wrong.  But we cannot let that to lead us to just dismiss the possibility, either.  At some point the end times will come, and the people who are predicting it will be right.  And there’s nothing that says that time could not be now.

            Whatever you may believe about the end times is your decision, and I doubt I could convince you either way.  But just suppose, for the sake of supposing, that you believed we are in the end times.  What would you do differently?  If you believed that the return of Jesus Christ is going to come very soon–within a few weeks, within a few months, within a year–what would you do differently?  What would you change about your life if you thought Jesus was about ready to come again?

            After all, Jesus said that we need to be ready.  Jesus said we won’t know when the time is going to come, but it could come at any time.  And it’s going to come suddenly.  As he said, two people will be working together, and one will be taken and the other one left behind.  When the time comes, it’s going to be too late to do anything about it.  It’s going to be just like the time of Noah when the flood came.  By the time people realized what was going on, it was too late.

            We don’t know when the end is going to come, so we need to be ready all the time.  We need to be ready now.  So again, I ask you–if you believe that the return of Jesus Christ is coming, what do you think you should do differently?  What do you think you should change about your life?

            Now, maybe, you say “nothing”.  Maybe you’re completely confident about your faith, maybe you’re completely confident that you’re among the saved, and that you don’t need to do anything differently in order to be among those who are taken up to heaven when the end comes.

            And you know what?  You may very well be right about that.  Because, after all, we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ.  We are not saved by how holy or righteous we are.  We are not saved by the number of good things we do.  We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  If you have that faith, you have nothing to worry about when the end comes.

            But here’s the thing.  Even if you have a strong faith in Jesus Christ, even if in fact you are saved and have nothing to worry about–do you know someone for whom that is not true?  Do you know someone who does not have faith in Jesus Christ?  Do you know someone for whom you’re not sure about their faith in Jesus Christ?  Do you know someone whom you maybe have always just assumed had faith in Jesus Christ, but whom you’ve never really talked to about faith, so you really don’t know if they have faith or not?

            I suspect you do.  I suspect all of us do.  I know I do.  That means we know people who are not saved, who are not going to heaven, who are not going to receive eternal life.  

Now, understand, that’s not because I say so.  I don’t decide who receives salvation and eternal life.  God decides that.  And I’m very happy to leave the decision in God’s hands.  But I do believe what the Bible has to say on the subject.  And I especially believe what Jesus Christ had to say on the subject.  And Jesus said that the only way to receive salvation and eternal life is through faith in Him.  He did not say faith in Him is one of many ways to heaven.  He did not even say faith in Him is the best way to heaven.  Jesus said faith in Him is the only way to heaven.  Period.  So, again, if you believe that, the chances are that you and I know people who will not go to heaven, who will not receive salvation and eternal life.  Or at least, we know people who we really don’t know for sure whether they will go to heaven and receive salvation and eternal life or not.

So, if you’ll concede that, here’s the question:  what are we going to do about that?

We know that Jesus said we are to spread his teachings as far and wide as we possibly can.  We know that Jesus said we are to go and make disciples.  Are you doing that?  Am I doing that?  If so, how.

One of the things we love to say–and believe me, I’ve said it, too–is that “I show my faith in Jesus by the way I live my life.”  And don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing to do.  Our faith in Jesus should be shown by the way we live our lives.  Where we get into trouble, though, is by assuming that’s enough.

What I mean is that, when we show faith by the way we live our lives, others will probably think of us as good people.  But will they know why we’re good people?   Will they know we’re doing these things because of our faith in Jesus Christ if we don’t mention that faith? Doing good things, helping people, living good lives–are people going to know we do that because of our faith in Jesus Christ if we don’t tell them?  I don’t see how.

Think about those people you know who don’t believe in Jesus Christ, or whom you’re not sure whether they believe in Jesus Christ.  You–or I–could be the ones to bring them to faith.  But it’s not going to happen if we never talk about Jesus.  It’s not going to happen if we don’t do the things Jesus said to do–spread the good news, and go and make disciples.

I’m not saying we should spend every minute of our day talking about Jesus.  That’s not practical, and it’s probably not going to be very persuasive.  But every day, there are openings in conversations for us to talk about our faith, if we just look for them.  It can be as simple as telling someone who’s going through a tough time that you’ll pray for them.  It can be as simple as telling someone you feel God has blessed you when something good happens.  It can be as simple as saying “May God bless you today” to the cashier at the convenience store as you leave.  And sometimes, those simple things can lead to deeper, more substantive things.  But it only happens if we’re willing to take that first step.

Jesus told us to do these things, and that really should be motivation enough for us.  But if it’s not, think about this.  What if you get to heaven, and you discover that someone you loved on earth, someone you cared about, is not there?  What if that someone is someone you talked to many times, but you just never got around to mentioning Jesus to them?  What if that someone is someone who might have gone to heaven if someone had reached out to them with the good news of Jesus Christ?  What if that someone could have been you?  That’s not to say it will be your fault that they did not get to heaven, or that God’s going to punish you for it–because we all have to make our own choices in the end.  But still, that would be a really sad thing, don’t you think?

You see, this is where this stuff gets real.  This is where we find out just how seriously we take all this stuff about salvation and heaven and eternal life.  It’s where we found out just how seriously we take Jesus’ statement that faith in Him is the only way to heaven.  Because if we really do take it seriously, it seems like we would do everything in our power to try to convince the people we care about to have faith in Jesus Christ.  And we would not just assume it about any of them–we would do everything we could to make sure they had that faith.  Because if we take this seriously, their eternal life depends on that.

Again, this is not me pointing fingers at you on this.  This is a sermon I’m preaching to myself as much as anyone.  I need to do more about this.  Most of us need to do more about this.  

I don’t want the people I care about to miss out on salvation and eternal life.  I’m sure you don’t want the people you care about to miss out on it, either.  So let’s all do what we can to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  Let’s do all we can to go and make disciples.  I hope and believe that everyone here has faith in Jesus Christ, and is saved, and that’s great.  But let’s do all we can to bring as many people as we can along with us.  It’s what Jesus told us to do.  And really, it’s what we want to do, too.

 

Will God Bless America?

The sermon given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on July 3, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 33.

            The United States of America has existed for nearly two hundred fifty years.  That’s a long time.  None of us, obviously, can remember a time when the United States did not exist.  Our parents could not remember a time like that.  Our grandparents could not remember a time like that.  Our great-grandparents could not remember a time like that.  When we talk about something that’s two hundred fifty years old, we’re talking about something that, in our minds, has basically been around forever.

            And because we cannot remember a time when the United States did not exist, we really cannot imagine a time when it will not exist.  I mean, sure, if we think about it, we can imagine scenarios in which the United States is destroyed.  But those are for works of fiction, for movies and TV shows and books and stuff.  Most of us don’t really believe there will be a time when the United States does not exist.  

            But of course, that’s what the nation of Israel thought, too.  At the time Psalm Thirty-three was written, the nation of Israel had existed for hundreds of years.  No one could remember a time when it had not existed.  No one believed there would be a time when it did not exist.  They thought God had blessed them, and that God would always bless them.  In fact, they pretty much took it for granted that God would always bless them.  

            Psalm thirty-three says that’s not true.  Psalm thirty-three says the nation of Israel cannot take it for granted that God will bless them.  If they want God to bless them, they need to obey God and fear God.

            The psalm starts out by telling us to sing praises to God.  Then it tells us about the character of God.  The word of the Lord is “right and true; he is faithful in all he does.  The Lord loves righteousness and justice.”

            The psalm then tells us about God’s power.  “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.  He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.”

            Because God is righteous and faithful and just, and because of the incredible power God has, we’re told “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.”  That phrase, “fear the Lord”, often sounds strange to us.  When we think of God, we think of a loving God:  “God is love.”  We think of a forgiving God.  We think of a God who’s our friend.  “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is the old hymn.

            And of course, all that’s true.  God is love.  God is forgiving.  God is our friend.  But that’s not all God is.  As the psalm says, God is also righteous and faithful and just.  God may always love us, but as any parent knows, love sometimes requires discipline.  When we do wrong, or simply fail to do right, there are consequences to that.  If there were not, we would never learn anything.  So while God loves us, and God will forgive us, God sometimes makes us accept those consequences and deal with them.

            And God’s righteousness and justice also come into play when we take God for granted.  That’s what the nation of Israel did.  They thought they could do anything they wanted and God will always bless them because, well, they were Israel.  They thought they could ignore God, that they could disrespect God, that they could mock God, and that there would be no consequences for them for that.  They thought God would always bail them out because, again, they were Israel.

            As our psalm goes on to say, that’s not the way it works.  It says, “The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”

            Israel might think it was in control of its own destiny, it might think it could do whatever it wanted, but God was stronger than Israel.  It did not matter what Israel’s plans were.  It was God’s plans that would prevail.  

            And what was God’s plan?  To bless the nation that stayed faithful to Him.  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.  From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he sees all who live on earth–he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do….the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.”

            Much of the Old Testament is Israel having to learn the same lesson over and over.  God would bless them, and they would prosper.  But eventually, they would turn away from God.  And they would not prosper anymore.  In fact, quite often, they would be taken over by a foreign nation.  Then, the people would repent, turn back to God, and ask God to forgive them.  God would forgive them, God would bless them again, they would be a free nation again, and they would prosper again.  And then, they would turn away from God again.  And the circle would start all over.

\           Now, we have to be a little bit careful in how we apply this.  The promises God made to Israel are specific to Israel.  There is nothing in the Bible that says they apply to other nations.  There is certainly nothing in the Bible that says they apply to the United States–the United States would not exist for well over a thousand years after the Bible was written.  God knew it would exist, of course–God knows everything in the past, present, and future.  But the Bible does not mention the United States or even hint at it.  

            Having said that, though, it is undeniable that God has blessed America.  God has blessed us with freedom and prosperity.  God has blessed us with vast natural resources.  God has blessed us with a land of great beauty.  God has blessed America in more ways than we would have time to list tonight.

            It is also undeniable that, in many ways, America has turned away from God.  Every poll you can find shows that fewer and fewer Americans believe in God, and of those who do believe in God, fewer and fewer believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior.  And I think any objective look at American society would show a country in which more and more people believe they can do whatever they want.  That we can ignore God, that we can disrespect God, that we can mock God, and there will be no consequences for that.  We will continue to be a strong, prosperous nation because, well, because we’re the United States of America.

            Now, again, I’m not saying that the United States has taken the place of Israel.  I also don’t pretend to be able to read the mind of God.  But it seems unlikely to me that God would continue to bless a nation–any nation–that ignored Him, that disrespected Him, and that mocked Him.  Again, God could–God can do whatever God chooses to do.  But it does not seem likely.

            So, if we want God to continue to bless America, we need to turn back to God.  Now, there’s no guarantee that, if we do, God will continue to bless America.  Again, God can do whatever God chooses to do.  We cannot manipulate God into doing what we want God to do, and God does not owe it to us to do anything.  But it does seem more likely that God will bless us if we turn back to God.  Again, from our psalm, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

            But how can we, sitting here in a small town in north-central South Dakota, make that happen?  Well, I don’t know if we can.  But I have an idea of how we can start.  We can start with ourselves.  We can start by making sure we stay faithful to God, or by turning back to God if we have not stayed faithful to Him.  We can start by serving God, showing love to God, and showing love to others.  And we can start by living lives that show we do those things.

            I know there are not a lot of people here tonight, and there are probably not a lot of people watching the livestream, either.  But if we all start living lives that show our love for God and our love for others, I think there’s a good chance someone will notice.  And maybe that someone will decide to live their life that way, too.  And maybe that someone will influence someone else, and someone else, and someone else.  After all, every great movement had to start with some person in some place.  Who’s to say it could not start with you and me here in Gettysburg, South Dakota?  That may not seem very likely.  It may even seem impossible.  But remember, with God, all things are possible.

Two hundred fifty years might seem like a long time to us, but it’s not long compared to the history of the world, and it’s even a shorter time to God.  If we want America to continue to receive God’s blessings, we need to turn back to God.  And the best place to start is with ourselves.

 

Freedom

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, July 3, 2022.  The Bible verses used are John 8:31-38.

            Freedom.  It may be the thing Americans value most.  The Statue of Liberty says, “bring me your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.”  The song “America”, which we sang a little while ago, says, “Let freedom ring.”  The old song by The Rascals says, “people everywhere just want to be free.”

            Freedom is part of our DNA as Americans.  The first amendment lists a whole bunch of freedoms we have as Americans:  freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition the government.  As we celebrate Independence Day tomorrow, one of the things we celebrate is our freedom.

            From the time we’re young, we want freedom.  Little kids will try to get away from their parents and explore.  In middle school, we dream of when we’ll have a car so we can have freedom.  When we’re in high school, we can’t wait for the time we can get out on our own.

            Even animals desire freedom.  House cats try to get out of the house.  Dogs try to get out of the yard.  The desire for freedom seems like it’s part of life on earth.

            But the thing is, when we talk about freedom, what, exactly, do we mean?  We talk about freedom so much, and yet we rarely define the word.  What really is freedom?

            Some would say it’s the ability to do whatever we want to do.  And that is freedom, of a kind.  But when I think about it, I don’t really think that’s a very good or a very healthy kind of freedom.  For one thing, a lot of times, the things we want to do are not good for us.  We may have the freedom to do them, but they’ll have consequences that can get us into trouble.  For another thing, if we truly can do whatever we want to do, it probably means that there’s no one else in our lives that we care about or who cares about us.  That’s why we can do anything we want to:  because nobody really cares what we do.  And that can be a very sad way to live.

            In our Bible reading for today, in just those few verses, Jesus talked about freedom.  He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”  A little later, he said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

            Of course, Jesus clearly did not mean free to do whatever we want.  Jesus never preached a gospel of “anything goes”.  Jesus said the truth sets us free, and the Son sets us free.  When you think about it, that’s really two ways of saying the same thing, because Jesus is the truth.  As he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

            In a way, any truth contributes to setting us free.  George Orwell once wrote that “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four.  If that is granted, all else follows.”  Now, maybe you say, well, of course two plus two makes four.  But Orwell’s point was that if something is true, it is true in all circumstances and in all situations.  It does not matter whether we like it or not.  It does not matter whether somebody else likes it or not.  In Orwell’s story, 1984, it did not matter whether the government approved of it or not.  No matter how much someone might want it to be five, and might try to force you to believe it’s five, two plus two remains four.  And as long as we have the freedom to acknowledge that, then we have the freedom to acknowledge all other truths, too.  It is the truth that sets us free.

            But of course, Jesus was not just talking about the freedom to say two plus two makes four.  Jesus was talking about the truth that he is the divine Son of God.  That he is the Savior of the world.  And that true freedom can be found only in following Jesus.

            The freedom Jesus was talking about has two aspects to it.  One is that we are freed from something.  And the other is that we are freed for something.

            What are we freed from?  Sin.  The truth that Jesus is the Savior frees us from sin.  That has a couple of aspects to it, too.  One is that we are freed from the consequences of our sin.  And the other is that we are freed from our desire to sin.

            As the Apostle Paul wrote, we are all sinners.  We are all in need of forgiveness.  And that forgiveness comes from our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  If we believe in that truth, then the death of Jesus Christ was Jesus taking the punishment that we should get for our sins.  Because of that, we no longer have to take that punishment ourselves.  We still deserve it, but we won’t receive it.  We are freed from it because of our acceptance of the truth that Jesus is the Savior.

            But can we really say that we are freed from our desire to sin?  Not totally, perhaps.  Satan will still tempt us.  We will still tempt ourselves sometimes, too.  But if we follow Jesus Christ, we will do the things Jesus wants us to do.  We will live the way Jesus wants us to live.  Our acceptance of the truth that Jesus is the Savior, that Jesus is worthy of our worship, that faith in Jesus is the way to salvation and eternal life, will keep our desire to sin away from us.  We cannot both follow sin and follow Jesus.  If we truly follow Jesus, we will leave sin behind us.

            And that leads to the other part of the equation:  what we are freed for.  We are freed to follow Jesus.  We are freed to be faithful to Jesus.  That means, again, doing the things Jesus told us to do and living the way Jesus told us to live.  We are freed to serve Jesus.  We are freed to do things that bring honor and glory to His holy name.  We are freed to love Jesus and to love our neighbors, the way Jesus told us to.

            Now, some might say, but that’s not real freedom.  I’m not free to do what I want.  If I do this, I have to do what Jesus told me to do.  And sometimes I don’t want to.  Some of the things Jesu told us to do are hard.  Some of the things Jesus told us to do are no fun.  If I have to do those things, I’m not free.  I’m still a slave.  It’s just that I’m a slave to Jesus.

            Well, I suppose that’s one way to look at it.  But when we live the way Jesus told us to live, we have a higher freedom.  It’s not a freedom to do whatever we want.  It’s a freedom to be who we were meant to be.  It’s freedom to be who God wants us to be, who we were called to be.

            And that’s one of the greatest freedoms there could ever be.  Have you ever tried to be someone you’re not?  It can happen in a lot of ways, but usually it has to do with trying to be who someone else thinks we should be.  Maybe we try to be someone we’re not because we want to be popular.  We want to be liked and accepted, and we’re afraid that people won’t like us unless we try to be something other than what we are.  Maybe we try to be someone we’re not because we want to succeed in our work, and we think that to do that we have to do certain things even though we don’t want to do them.  Maybe we try to be someone we’re not because we see things on TV or in movies or on social media that teach us that only certain thoughts or ideas are “acceptable” in our current society, and we think we have to believe those things to live in society as it is.  There can be all kinds of reasons we can try to be someone we’re not.

            But if you’ve ever done that, you know what a trap it is.  We can never be happy when we’re trying to be something other than who God calls us to be.  We may try to convince ourselves we’re happy.  We may even manage to believe it, for a while.  But deep down, we know it’s not true.  In the long run, we can never be happy trying to be someone we’re not.  We can only find true happiness by being who we were meant to be.  Who God wants us to be.  Who we are called to be.

            When we live the way Jesus told us to live, we are as free as it’s possible to be.  Not because we’re free to do what we want.  But because we’re free to be who we’re meant to be.  If you’ve ever experienced that freedom, you know it’s about the greatest feeling there is.  To not have to pretend anymore.  To not have to live a lie anymore.  To truly be who we were meant to be.  It’s an incredible freedom.

            That’s how the truth sets us free.  That’s how Jesus sets us free.  Through our faith, we are free to live in the Lord’s love and to live lives of faith in Jesus Christ.  It’s the greatest freedom of all.

            We truly are yearning to breathe free.  So let’s put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  Let’s live the way Jesus wants us to live.  Let’s let the divine Son set us free to be the people God intended us to be.  And let’s let that freedom ring!

 

It's Not About Points

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on June 26, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 19:16-30.

            There’s an old story about this guy who dies and goes to meet St. Peter at the Pearly Gates of Heaven.  St. Peter says, “Okay, so you need to tell me why we should let you into heaven.”

            The man says, “Well, you know, I lived a pretty good life.  I think I should get into heaven.”

St. Peter says, “Well, here’s the deal.  You need 1000 points to make it into heaven.  You tell me all of the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item.  When you reach 1000 points, you get in.” 

“Okay,” the man says, “Well, I was happily married to the same woman for fifty years and never cheated on her, not even in my mind.” 

“That’s wonderful,” says Peter, “that’s worth two points!” 

“Two points?” he says. “Well, I attended church all my life and gave my ten percent tithe faithfully.” 

“Terrific!” says Peter. “That’s definitely worth a point.” 

“Only one point? My goodness! Well, what about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for the homeless?” 

“Fantastic, that’s good for two more points,” he says. 

“TWO POINTS!” the man cries. “At this rate the only way I can get into heaven is by the grace of God!” 

“Now that’s what we’re looking for!  That’s worth a thousand points.  Welcome to heaven!”

Now that’s just a story, of course.  And yet, how often do we look at our faith that way?  We know, and we say, that we get into heaven by faith in Jesus Christ and by God’s love and grace and mercy.  And yet, we often feel like we have to earn our way to heaven.  Like we need to accumulate points with God in order to receive our salvation.

That’s what the guy Jesus was talking to in our Bible verses for tonight seemed to think.  He comes up to Jesus and says, “What good thing must I do to receive eternal life?”  Not “what must I believe to receive eternal life?”  Not “who must I believe in to receive eternal life?”  “What good thing must I do to receive eternal life?”  He was trying to accumulate points, and he wanted to know what he could do that would boost his point total over the line.

And you can see that as the conversation continues.  Jesus tells him that he should keep the commandments, and he answers “Which ones?”  Again, how can I get that high point total?  Which commandments will give me the most points if I keep them?  

Jesus gives him a list.  And the guy basically says, yeah, yeah, I know all that.  I’m doing all that.  But I don’t feel like it’s enough.  My point total is not high enough yet.  There’s got to be something else, something that’ll get me over the limit.  What is it?

And Jesus, of course, responds, “Go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor”.  And of course, the man turns away, sad because, we’re told, he had great wealth.

But you know, I wonder.  What was it that really held him back?  Because if you were paying attention, you noticed that I cut off Jesus’ quote.  Jesus did not just say, “Go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor.”  He told the man to do that, of course, but he told the man to do one other thing.  That other things was, “Then come, follow me.”

Which was it that was the real stumbling block?  Was it that he did not want to give up his possessions?  Or that he did not want to follow Jesus?

Probably it was both.  Because this guy was simply looking for a good thing to do.  He wanted a box to check, something that, again would give him brownie points with God.  

That was not what Jesus had in mind.  Jesus knew what he was telling this man to do would be incredibly hard for him.  Jesus deliberately told him to do something incredibly hard.  After all, in all the gospels, there is not another instance of Jesus telling anyone they had to sell all their possessions.  This man is the only one Jesus told to do that.  Did you ever wonder why?  Why would Jesus single this man out to do something he did not ask of anyone else?

Well, it was not because Jesus was trying to be mean to him.  Jesus was trying to make a point.  It’s not the fact that this man had wealth that was the problem.  The problem was that this man was too attached to his wealth.  His wealth was getting in his way.  His wealth was keeping him from truly worshiping God.

Think of it this way.  If this man had sold his possessions, and given the money to the poor, but had not followed Jesus and had not changed his life in any other way, would he have received eternal life?  No, I don’t think so.  The only thing that would’ve changed about him would’ve been his financial status.  He would not have loved God more.  He would not have loved his neighbor more.  He would not have done any of the things the followers of Jesus are supposed to do.  He just, again, would’ve been trying to earn his way into heaven, trying to accumulate more points.  But he would not have done anything to show his faith in God or his faith in Jesus as the Savior.  And so, in God’s eyes, he really would not have accomplished anything.

What Jesus was telling this man, and us, is that getting eternal life is not a matter of doing things and accumulating points.  Getting eternal life requires a change in our life on earth.  To receive eternal life, we need to follow Jesus.  And we need to get rid of everything that’s holding us back from following Jesus.

Jesus recognized how hard this would be for the man to do.  He told the disciples about it.  He said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  In other words, as Jesus later acknowledged, it’s impossible.  It’s impossible for humans.  But it’s not impossible for God.  We cannot get into heaven by doing good things and accumulating points.  But we can get into heaven by having faith in Jesus Christ and receiving God’s love and grace and mercy.

But to do that, we need to get rid of the things that are holding us back from following Jesus.  For this man, it was wealth.  What is it for you?  What is it for me?  What is it that’s holding us back from truly following Jesus?

None of us here, and probably no one watching the livestream, would be considered wealthy by American standards.  Still, don’t just discount that wealth and possessions could be holding us back.  A person does not have to be wealthy for wealth and possessions to have a hold on them.  No matter what our financial status is, we’re all subject to letting wealth and possessions be more important to us than they should be.  And so, we’re all subject to letting wealth and possession hold us back from truly following Jesus?

But it can be lots of other things, too.  In fact, it can be almost anything.  Anything that’s more important than to us than it should be.  Anything that, if Jesus asked us to give it up, we would be hesitant to do so.  Sports.  Chocolate.  Quilting.  Music.  None of those are bad things, of course.  In their place, they can be good things.  They can even be used to honor and glorify God.  Okay, I’m not sure how chocolate can be used to honor and glorify God, but the other things can.  But the point is that even things that are not bad, even things that can be good, can be things that hold us back from following Jesus if they become too important to us.

So take a look at your life.  Is there something that’s holding you back from following Jesus?  Maybe not–I don’t know.  It’s not my place to judge you.  Only you can answer this question for you, just as only I can answer this question for me.  

But it’s an important question, and it’s important that we do answer it.  So again, we all need to take a look at our lives.  Is there something that’s holding us back from following Jesus?  And if there is, what can we do about that?  How can we get rid of that thing that’s holding us back?

Well, we can try to do it on our own.  But–I don’t know about you, but I seriously doubt that I can do this on my own.  I could maybe do a few little things, maybe make a few changes at the margins.  But I very much doubt that, on my own, I could truly make the kind of changes in my life that Jesus asks us to make.

So how do we make these changes?  How do we get rid of the things that are holding us back?  We do it the same way we get into heaven–by the grace of God.  

We need to ask God to help us make these changes.  We still have to do our part–we cannot expect God to just automatically and magically change us.  But we also need to allow God to do God’s part.  We need to allow God to help us make those changes.  More than that, we need to rely on God to help us make these changes.  For me, this might be impossible.  But as Jesus said, with God, all things are possible.

So, if you feel you need to make changes in your life, if you feel there’s something that’s holding you back from following Jesus, ask God to help you.  Ask God to pour out God’s Holy Spirit on you.  Ask God to show you what you need to change, and to give you the courage and the strength to change it.

We can never accumulate enough points to go to heaven.  But through faith in Jesus and by the grace of God, we can all have salvation and eternal life.  For humans alone, this is impossible.  But with God, all things are possible.

 

Reminders of God

The message given on Sunday morning, June 26, 2022, in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Acts 17:16-34.

            The Apostle Paul is considered to be the first traveling Christian evangelist.  He went all over the world to spread the gospel, or at least all over the part of the world that he knew about, to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

            He has already visited a lot of cities at this point in his journey.  He started in Antioch, then went to Syria and Cilicia.  He went to the cities of Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, then to Phrygia and Galatia, then to Philippi in Macedonia.  He then went to Thessalonica, then Berea, and now Paul is in Athens, Greece.  

            Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy, who were supposed to join him in Athens.  And while he was waiting, he walked around the city.  Seeing the sights, trying to learn more about the place.  Trying to get the lay of the land, so to speak.

            And as Paul walks around, he sees a lot of idols.  Because the Greeks, at that time, had a god for just about everything.  They had a god for the sun and a god for the moon.  They had a god for the rain and a god for the wind.  They had a god for grain, a god for cattle, a god for traveling, a god for the home.  You name it, they had a god for it.  And then, just in case they missed something, they had one more god, the “unknown god” that Paul referenced in our reading.

            And that, of course, is the hook Paul used in his evangelism.  He said, you have an unknown god.  Would you like to know Him?  Because I know Him, and I’ll be happy to tell you about Him.  God is the One who created everything.  He’s everywhere, and He does not need anything from us.  We, however, need everything from Him.  We are His offspring, God’s sons and daughters.  And God calls each of us to repent of our sins, because His divine Son, Jesus Christ, will judge the world with justice.

            Well, some of them believed, and some did not.  Some were willing to consider it and hear more.  That’s pretty much how it always is when we try to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  Some people believe, some don’t, and some don’t want to make up their minds.  It’s kind of how human beings are.

            But here’s what I got to thinking about.  Suppose the Apostle Paul was to come to one of the towns of the Wheatland Parish.  Suppose the Apostle Paul came to Gettysburg, or Onida, or Agar.  And he started wandering around, looking at all the things we have in our towns.  What would he see?  What would he think?  Would he think we were worshiping Jesus Christ?  Or would he think we have a bunch of idols, just like the Greeks did?

            I started thinking about what Paul would see, as he walked around.  He’d see the churches, of course.  I hope he would approve of them.  He might wonder why we needed so many.  Why would the towns of Gettysburg and Onida need four or five different churches, if they all claim to worship Jesus Christ?  Maybe he’d think these towns were really on fire for Jesus, that we needed that many churches because none of the buildings was big enough to hold everybody.

            If he came here on Sunday morning, of course, he’d find out that was not true.  So what else would Paul see?

            Well, he’d see the fire department building.  I assume he’d be okay with that.  He’d see the schools, at least in Onida and Gettysburg.  I assume he’d be okay with those, too.  I have no idea how he’d feel about the sports complexes.  And he’d see the business places and the houses.

            What else would he see?  Would he see anything that appeared to be an idol?  And would he see anything that appeared to be offered to some sort of unknown God?

            I think these are questions worth thinking about.  What is it, as a community, that we worship?  And if we say that, as a community, we worship Jesus Christ, what proof of it is there?  What would Paul see, if he walked around our town, that shows we worship Jesus Christ?

            Now, you might say, well, the whole point is that we’re not supposed to have a bunch of idols.  We’re not supposed to show off and have a bunch of altars and stuff all over town to prove we worship Jesus.  In fact, Jesus specifically told us not to make a big, public show of our faith.  

            Okay.  There’s certainly truth in that.  So let’s look at it another way.  Suppose Paul walked up to you.  Or to me.  And he started talking to us.  And he asked us about our religious faith.  And he asked us who or what it is that we worship.

            We might say that we worship Jesus Christ.  And Paul says, really?  That’s great!  Awesome!  I worship Him, too!  So tell me, what are you doing as a result of that?  What are you doing to share the gospel with others?  What are you doing to show love to your neighbor?  What about you is different because of your faith in Christ Jesus?

            Now, I don’t mean to suggest you would not have an answer.  You might have a really good answer.  I cannot presume to know what your answer is.  But I think that I need to think about what my answer would be.  Maybe you do, too.  Maybe not–maybe you already know what your answer is, and maybe you’re perfectly satisfied with it.  But maybe you need to think about it, just like I do.

            Because if we truly worship Jesus Christ, our lives should show that somehow.  Because to worship Jesus Christ means to put Jesus Christ first in our lives.  It means that worship of Jesus is not just one of many things in our lives, it’s the most important thing in our lives.  It’s the thing that everything else in our lives is dependent on.  If we worship Jesus Christ, that worship affects everything we do.  There should be nothing in our lives that is not affected by our worship of Jesus Christ in some way.

            I’m emphasizing this because we human beings are really good at compartmentalizing things.  And I’m just as good as anyone.  And it’s really easy for us to compartmentalize our faith.  To have our Jesus time and our non-Jesus time.  Our prayer time and our non-prayer time.  Our church time and our non-church time.

            And don’t get me wrong.  I’m not suggesting that we should spend every waking moment praying and reading the Bible.  That’s not practical.  But I am saying that we should not segregate our prayer time.  We should not segregate our Jesus time.  That time should influence all the other times of our lives.  That time should be a part of everything we do.

            So, is it?  Does our worship of Jesus Christ affect everything else in our lives?  Again, I cannot say what your answer is.  Each of us needs to answer that question for ourselves.  If your answer is yes, that’s great.  In fact, that’s wonderful.  That’s awesome.  But if our answer is no, or if we’re not sure, well, then we probably want to look at doing something about that.

            What can we do?  Well, one thing we can do is what Paul told the people of Athens to do.  Understand who this God is that we worship.  Think about how God is so powerful that He made the world and everything in it, and did so just by speaking a word.  Think about how God does not need us for anything, and yet God offers us the honor and privilege of being allowed to serve Him.  Think about how God is everywhere, so He is always there when we need Him.  Think about how God gives us the honor and privilege of not just being His servants, but His offspring, His children.  

            Those are all really amazing things, when we think about them.  Those things show both the power of God and the love of God.  Power, in that God can create the entire universe and be everywhere at once and has no need to even have us around.  And yet, a love so strong that God wants to be near us, and for us to be near Him.  A love so strong that God does not just treat us as His servants, which God would have every right and ability to do.  Instead, God treats us as His children, and loves us and gives us everything we need.  And not just everything we need on earth, but the chance for salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            I really think that, if we could somehow keep who God is in the forefront of our minds, we would not be able to stop worshiping God.  We would not have to worry about whether our worship of God influences the rest of our lives.  It would happen automatically.  Maybe that’s how it is in heaven.  Remember, in Revelation, where it tells about how everyone is constantly worshiping God?  Maybe in heaven, we never stop thinking about who God is, and so the worship of God happens without anyone having to even think about it.

            But while we’re on earth, what can we do?  Well, here’s a thought.  Maybe we need to do something like what Moses told the people of Israel to do.  Talking about the commandments, Moses told the people to “tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

            I’m not saying to do that literally, but the point is:  give ourselves reminders.  Do something to remind ourselves of who God is.  Not just once in a while, but all the time.  So often that we cannot possibly forget it.  Maybe it seems silly to you.  Maybe it seems like overkill.  But if we did something like that, I think we’ll be a lot more likely to remember who God is.  And if we remember who God is, I think it’s a lot more likely that worshiping God will be involved in every aspect of our lives.

            The Apostle Paul is not likely to come to our town, and he’s not likely to ask us what we worship.  But God is already here, and God already knows.  Let’s make sure we’re worshiping God.  Not just on Sunday morning, but with our entire lives.

 

God's Encouragement

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on June 19, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 17:1-9 and 2 Peter 1:16-21.

            Do you ever get discouraged?

            I think most of us do.  In fact, it seems like it comes pretty easily to us human beings.  Discouragement, pessimism, disappointment--sometimes it seems like life is full of those things.  Even if we try to be optimistic, even if we try to stay upbeat and encouraging, it seems like life has a way of trying to drag us down.

            And it seems like the world does not help us much when it comes to stuff like this.  You turn on the news, and all it seems to be is bad news.  You go to social media and a lot of the times it’s people writing about how awful things are.  You go to the coffee shop and it seems like all we hear is complaints and criticisms.  And none of this is because people are bad people, not really.  It’s because people are people.  As I said, negativity seems to come naturally to us.  Patch Adams once said that the most radical act anyone can commit is to be happy.  There’s a lot of truth in that.  Staying upbeat, staying positive, in the face of all that the world throws at us, is not an easy thing to do.  And we don’t always have a lot of company in doing it.

            If it makes you feel any better, though, know that even Jesus had a hard time staying positive sometimes.  The Bible is full of times when Jesus got angry, when Jesus got disgusted, when Jesus was frustrated.  All those things we feel, Jesus felt them, too.  Remember the time he overturned the tables of the money changers and started chasing people with a whip?  Remember the time he said to Peter, his most trusted disciple, “Get behind me, Satan”?  Remember the time when he’d just been teaching the disciples about humility, and then he caught them arguing about which one of them was the greatest?  Jesus, even Jesus, got discouraged sometimes.  So we should not be too hard on ourselves if we get discouraged sometimes, too.

            God understands when we get discouraged.  But God does not want us to stay discouraged.  God did not want Jesus to stay discouraged, either.  That’s one of the lessons we can learn from our Bible readings for today.

            We read from the seventeenth chapter of the gospel of Matthew.  This comes right after one of those times of Jesus’ discouragement that I mentioned, the time Jesus told Peter “Get behind me, Satan”.  If you remember, Jesus was trying to tell the disciples about how he was going to suffer, and be killed, and then rise again on the third day.  And Peter starts arguing with him!  He says, “Never, Lord!  This shall never happen to you!”  

Now think about that.  You’re there with Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, God the Son.  And he starts telling you what’s going to happen, and you start challenging him!  You basically try to tell Jesus, the divine Son of God, that he does not know what he’s talking about!  I mean, ten out of ten for courage, I guess, but minus several thousand for clear thinking.

That had to be discouraging for Jesus.  Here he is, trying to prepare the disciples for what’s coming, and the leader of the disciples starts arguing with him.  He had to be wondering if he was really even accomplishing anything on earth.  I mean, if even the people closest to him could not understand, could not trust him, could not really believe, what good was any of this stuff doing?

But God the Father understood.  And God the Father did not want Jesus to stay discouraged.  So, six days later, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, and he goes up on a high mountain.  And he is transfigured.  Now there’s a churchy word for you.  I suspect none of us has ever used words like “transfigured” or “transfiguration” in any context other than in this story.  All it is, really, is a fancy word that means “a thorough or dramatic change in form into something more beautiful or more elevated”.

That’s what happened to Jesus.  He was changed.  And it was dramatic.  We’re not told how long it took, whether it happened in an instant or if it took some time.  But he was dramatically changed.  And he was definitely something more beautiful.  We’re told that “his face shone like the sun” and “his clothes became as white as the light.”  We assume he still appeared to be in the shape of a human being, although the Bible does not specifically say that.  But it was clear, to all of the disciples, that Jesus was not just a human being.  He was something higher.  He was something better.  And, yes, he was something more beautiful.

And he was not alone.  Moses and Elijah were there, too.  I wonder how Peter, James, and John knew who they were.  I mean, Moses and Elijah lived hundreds of years before this.  In fact, in Moses’ case, it was over a thousand years.  It’s not like anyone had pictures of them.  I guess, when you see something like that, you just know.  And how awesome would it be to know what Moses and Elijah said to Jesus, and what Jesus said in response?  I mean, don’t you wish there was a transcript of that conversation?  It had to be incredible.

But of course, we don’t know what they said.  We just know one statement.  We’re told that “a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”  And of course, that echoes the voice that came down from heaven when Jesus was baptized.  But in this case, the voice added three more words.  Those three words, words about Jesus but addressed to Peter, James, and John, were “Listen to him!”

I would think all this had to be encouraging to Jesus.  That feeling of discouragement he had must have left him.  Jesus, of course, is greater than Moses and Elijah--great as they were, they were still just human beings, while Jesus is the divine Son of God.  But still, they must have had some sort of message for Jesus, and one would think that message must have come from God the Father.  That had to encourage Jesus and strengthen him.  And not only that, but for a little while--we don’t know how long--but for a little while Jesus got to be more of what he truly was.  We don’t know if Jesus fully became what he is in heaven, but he became closer to it.  He was able to shed some of the restrictions of his earthly form, at least for a little while.

That had to be encouraging for him, too.  You know, Jesus had been on earth for over thirty years by this point.  And while thirty years is nothing in eternal terms, it’s quite a while in earthly terms.  I wonder if, at this point, Jesus remembered what it felt like to be in his heavenly form.  I mean, he knew who he was--he knew he was the divine Son of God and all that.  But did he remember what it felt like to be in heaven?  Did he remember what it felt like to be fully divine, without the restrictions of also being fully human?  Maybe he did, but maybe he did not.  I have to think that being closer to that form, being closer to being what he truly was, being reminded of what that felt like, also had to be incredibly encouraging to Jesus.

And you know, this was all encouraging to the disciples, too.  Especially Peter.  It had to be hard on Peter when Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan.”  To have Jesus call you Satan--I mean, Peter had to feel pretty small at that point.  I said earlier that it was probably not very smart of Peter to be arguing with Jesus, but at the same time, I think it was well-intentioned.  Jesus was saying that he was going to be killed.  Peter did not want Jesus to be killed, and you can’t blame him for that.  He probably thought he was coming to Jesus’ defense, saying that he would not let Jesus be killed.  And then, to have Jesus chew him out and call him Satan, well, Peter had to be pretty discouraged at that point, too.  

But despite that, when the time came for Jesus to be changed in this way, what did he do?  He took Peter with him.  James and John, too, of course.  But even though Jesus was upset with Peter, he did not give up on Peter.  He brought Peter with him.  He wanted Peter to see.  He wanted Peter to be encouraged, too.

And Peter was.  This whole thing made a deep impression on him.  That’s why we read the passage from Second Peter.  Peter is re-telling this story of Jesus being transformed.  He remembered it well, even though Peter’s letters were written many years after these events took place.  It had to be encouraging to Peter to know that, even though he’d made Jesus upset, Jesus still loved him.  In fact, Jesus loved him enough to keep him in his inner circle.  Jesus loved him enough to let him be one of the privileged few who not only saw Jesus in his glory, but he also saw Moses and Elijah.  That had to make Peter feel incredibly privileged and special.

If people like Peter and even Jesus got discouraged sometimes, it’s okay for you and me to get discouraged, too.  God understands it.  It’s not a sin.  But God does not want us to stay discouraged.  God wants us to bounce back and to feel encouraged again.  God wants that because God knows we’ll be happier that way, but God also knows we’ll be able to serve God better if we’re in a positive, hopeful frame of mind that we will if we’re always negative.   So, if we keep our eyes open, and keep our hearts open, we’ll see God doing something to help us get over our discouragement and get back to feeling positive about God’s world and about our lives.

The chances are we won’t get to see Moses and Elijah.  We probably won’t see Jesus in his glory, either, not while we’re on earth.  But God will do something.  It may come in a big way, but it may come in a small way.  A song that has meaning to us.  A kind word just when we need one.  Something that just, coincidentally, seems to go better than we expected it to.  There are all kinds of ways God will send encouragement to us.  It’s up to us to be looking for those things, so we recognize them when God sends them to us.

We all get discouraged sometimes.  It’s natural and normal.  But we worship the almighty, all-powerful, all-loving, all-caring, all-merciful, holy and perfect God.  The God who promises salvation and eternal life through faith in His Divine Son.  That, in and of itself, should be enough to keep us from staying discouraged.  In fact, that should be enough to make us rejoice!