Archive for October, 2009

Sermon:10.25.09

October 25, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermons · Tagged , ,

When Suffering Ends

Job 42

I. Introduction

My long day

One of the worst couple of days of my life were the days that we spend moving here.  Those were probably two of the longest days of my life.  The day before we moved we spent the entire day packing.  That seemed to take forever.  Then, once we were finally finished, Jade locked the keys in the car.  So, after running a coat hanger through the window and finally getting it unlocked, we got the keys out.  Then we had a lot of people wanting us to come by and see them one last time.  As much as we wanted to, we were exhausted.  Then, when the morning came and we were ready to go, we couldn’t find our cat.  It took us about 30 minutes to find him and then another 15 to get him out from his hiding place.  Finally, we were on the road.  Now comes the best part, a 12  hour drive.  It’s not very easy trying to weave in and out of traffic when you have four cars following you.  It’s an understatement to say that I couldn’t wait to get to Henderson.

Learning about yourself

Usually, when things are tough, it seems that the goal is to tough it out until the end.  However, I don’t think that’s the case.  I believe that goal is learning about ourselves and God  through the trials.

Marathon

Whenever you run a marathon, you usually think about the end and can’t wait to finish.  However, what’s great about a marathon really isn’t where you finish but what you learn about yourself.  As much as I couldn’t wait to get to Henderson after a long couple of days, I was surprised what I learned about myself during that trip.  Mainly, I’m not nearly as patient as I thought. 

Job’s trial ends

Finally, after much suffering, pain, and heartache, Job’s trial ends.  He is restored and get’s back family and possessions and lives a long life. However, as great as those things are, we miss the point of the story if we think that’s what the story is about.  This story isn’t about God rewarding us if we just hang on through trials.  This story is about what Job learns about himself and about God during his trials. 

One thing that he learns is that there’s more to God than he could ever imagine.

II. There’s more to God than we could ever imagine.

Job 42:1-3 Job says “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.  Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?  Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

Finding more than you bargained for

Adopted parents getting twins

Have you ever gotten more than you bargained for?  I remember hearing a story about a married couple who couldn’t have a baby.  So they decided to adopt.  They went through the massive amounts of paper work and finally found someone that would let them adopt her baby.  They elected to wait to find out the sex of the baby.  So they spent time getting the room ready.  They just couldn’t wait.  Well, they finally got a phone call saying that the woman was in labor and that they were invited to come to the delivery room.  When they got there, she was ready to have the baby.  So they stood by each other in excitement as she gave birth to their beautiful daughter.  When it was over and they took the baby out, the couple was about to leave the room.  “Where are you going?”  The doctor asked.  “We still have another baby to deliver.”  “What do you mean?”  “Oh, she didn’t tell you?  She’s having twins.  The other is on the way as we speak!” 

Talk about getting more than you asked for! 

What Job doesn’t learn.

This is a story where we never find out the answer to our question.  Job never finds out why God allowed him to suffer.  Why on earth would God allow a good man to suffer?  Unfortunately, we never find out. 

We usually ask the wrong questions.

One of the most frustrating things that I have encountered so far at seminary is the lack of answers I get. Whenever we ask a question, there’s usually not one answer which I can find really frustrating.  However, the teacher tells us that he’s not there to give us the answers. 

Teacher: “I’m not here to give you answers.  I’m here to teach you to ask the right questions.”

Job learns that God is deeper than he thought

During his trial, Job learns to ask different questions about God.  He learns to look past himself and even his suffering to see God’s activity in the world.  As you go through trials, ask yourself, what can I learn more about God?  What questions about him is he inviting us to ask.  It’s ok to ask questions. When we serve a true God, these questions have a solid foundation. As we ask questions, we may never get them all answered.  However, we will learn more and glimpse the depths of his mercy and love.

Through our trials, we will learn more about God.  Also, our theological foundations will be shaken.

III. When we face struggles, our theological foundations are shaken.

My first years as a Christian

A couple of nights ago, a few of us when to a Christian concert.  Going to this concert reminded me of the first years as a Christian.  Being a Christian then seemed so easy.  So simple.  And I found myself wanting to grab that simple faith again. 

Painful process

Unfortunately, our faith isn’t easy.  The more we learn about God, the more we understand how complex it can be. 

Job learns about God/simple faith

Job was a righteous man who thought that righteousness would lead to a blessed life.  However, he suffered.  His theological foundation was shaken.

Our sloppy faith

As we live our Christian lives, we learn that our faith isn’t as neat as we thought as Children.  Unfortunately, it can be a little sloppy.  There are no clean formulas to guide us.  We can’t say, if you live right, you won’t suffer.  We can’t tell people, don’t worry, you will be ok.  The truth is, we don’t know.  All across the world people are suffering for their faith. 

Invite questions, invite doubt

God is ok with us asking questions.  He’s even ok with us doubting.  If you are really serious about your faith and about seeking truth, you will doubt God at times.

God is greater than we can ever imagine, we we face struggles, our theological foundations are shaken, and above all, the Lord is with us.

IV. Above all, the Lord was with Job

Job’s search

Throughout the book, Job spends some time searching for God.  As he searches, he can’t find him.

But then he says, “Now my eyes have seen you.”  Sometimes it takes a difficult trial to become aware of God. 

CS Lewis

God shouts in our pain.

What this story isn’t telling us.

This story isn’t telling us that, once we get through trials, all will be restored.  However, this story tells us that God is with us, even when we are unaware.

Riding a bike

One of the most difficult things for a child to learn to do is ride a bike.  It’s one of their first steps into independence and it’s scary.  Usually, their parents will buy them training wheels to help them.  They will spend time learning the techniques with the training wheels and then, it’s time to take them off.  Usually, the parent will walk with their child as they try to adjust to riding with the training wheels.  They will run along side of them to guide them and make sure that they don’t fall.  Then eventually, the child will look back and see that their parent has let them go on their own.  To their amazement, they are riding on their own!

Sometimes, they will fall.  They might even scrape their knee.  But, no matter what, they have learned something about themself.  They can ride a bike.  They need work and practice, but they can do it. 

In your trials, what have you learned about yourself?  What have you learned about God?  Whenever you look over your shoulder and not see God, what do you learn about your spiritual life?  Do you doubt?  As you struggle, be reminded that Job realized that God was with him always.

V. Conclusion

 Learning in community

Thankfully, we aren’t alone.  We have the family of God to help us when we struggle.  When we look over our shoulder and can’t see God, to church will remind us that God is with us. Job was restored with much, but he’s greatest gift was the return of his family.  Rejoice in your church family this morning! In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Kyrie Irving to DUKE!!!

October 22, 2009 · Filed under Duke, Duke Basketball · Tagged , ,

The #5 player in the class of 2010 committed to Duke tonight. Let’s hope that Harrison Barnes follows. Looking forward to seeing him in Cameron!

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Duke Hype 2009/2010 video

October 17, 2009 · Filed under Duke, Duke Basketball · Tagged

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Sermon: 10.11.09

October 14, 2009 · Filed under Sermons · Tagged , ,

Title: When God is Silent

Text: Job 23:1-9;16,17

Topic: Finding ourselves when God is silent

Introduction

Recap

This is our second week looking at the story of Job.  Last week we looked at how Job lost everything that he had.  He lost his possessions, family, and health. But regardless, he still remained faithful to God.  He began to question God, but he remained faithful.  Well, eventually he had some friends to come a visit him.  They were trying to comfort him but they actually made it worse.  Our text this morning is Job’s response to one of his friends. 

Lost underwater

As I’ve shared with you before, this summer I went to the beach.  While I was there, I tried to get certified as a scuba diver.  Now, I’m not a very good swimmer nor am I comfortable in the water, so I really had no business being there.  But I tried anyways.  We spent time preparing in the pool and then it was time to go into the water.  Several things went wrong for me as I was submerged underwater.  One thing was that I felt like I couldn’t breath.  I hadn’t quite gotten used to breathing with scuba gear.  Another problem was that I was in the ocean and there were probably bigger fish than me swimming beside me.  Also, well, I was in the ocean where I didn’t belong!  However, the scariest moment was when I couldn’t see my instructor.  We had been under for no more than 1 minute and for an eternally long 5 seconds I couldn’t see my dive partner or my diving instructor.  Well, I had already been thinking about going back up to the surface, so I thought that this was as good a time as any.  When my instructor reached the surface, he said that he saw me the entire time.  While I felt lost, my instructor knew where I was.   

Who was lost?

Sometimes when we think we are lost, we really aren’t.  I remember being lost in Wal-mart when I was a child.  I walked around panicked looking for my dad.  Whenever I found him, I just knew that he would be crying and already have a search team sent our looking for me. But that wasn’t the case. He looked at ease and wasn’t worried at all.  He told me, “You weren’t lost.  I knew where you were the entire time.”

When God seems to be missing.

Sometimes, we feel like we are lost.  As we are looking around, we don’t see God anywhere.  We feel like the lost coin, only no one is searching for us.  We feel that God has abandoned us and left us in the dark.  In today’s text, Job feels alone.  He feels like God has abandoned him because he can’t find God.  He is suffering and he has friends around, but they aren’t helping him but actually making things worse.  In the midst of his suffering and pain, God was silent. 

How you ever felt this way?  Have you ever felt that at times God seems to be hard to find?  I have found that for myself, God is usually indeed speaking, but I’m looking at other places for God. Maybe God is speaking, but we aren’t listening.  Or maybe God is speaking, but we don’t want to listen to what he has to say.

Regardless of how we feel, we can bring our frustrations to God.

We can bring our frustrations to God.

When Jade has a bad day

One bad thing about men is that we want to fix everything.  Whenever someone comes to us with a problem, we take it upon ourselves to fix it.  Well, as you can imagine, Jade, being a middle school teacher, has a bad day every now and then.  Regardless of what you believe, all 6th graders aren’t saints. Some days she comes home with hope that she is getting through to the kids and that they are learning.  Other days she comes home stressed.  So, whenever she first began teaching and would have a bad day, she would come home and talk to me about it.  She would tell me how she’s having a hard time with so and so, and that she feels like some of the kids aren’t learning.  So, I thought to myself, “If she’s coming to me to tell me all of this, she apparently wants my advice.” So, I went on to tell her all that she was doing wrong and what I would do if I were in her situation.  Well, come to find out, she didn’t want my advice at all.  She just wanted someone to talk to and vent to.  So men, if you haven’t found out already, when your wife shares her frustrations with you, it’s usually not for your advice. 

Argumentative church meetings

Over the years I’ve had the chance to be in many church meetings.  And sometimes, those meeting can get a bit heated.  But something that I’ve found out is that these people aren’t arguing with each other because they don’t like each other.  They are arguing because they care deeply about their church.

 

Job’s friends

Job’s friends heard about his problems and immediately came to him. They came to try to fix his problems.  However, not only did they give bad advice, but they also missed the point entirely.  At this point in his life, Job simply needed someone willing to listen to him. 

Being genuine

As you read throughout the story of Job, we begin to question whether Job is this upright man that we thought.  He seems to spend a lot of time complaining and questioning God.  He seems to at times lose faith. But the truth is, it’s ok to bring our complaints and questions to God.  Above all, God wants us to be genuine with him.  Sometimes having a loss of faith can show faith to be more genuine.  Above, God wants us to be real and honest with him.  When we are frustrated, God wants us to know that we can bring our frustrations to him.  One of our biggest frustrations in our faith comes when God is silent.

We can find God when we are silent

Lost sunglasses

There have been many times when I was getting ready to go someplace that, at the last minute, I realize that I have misplaced something and end up late because I can’t find it.  One time, I spend about 10 minutes looking for my sunglasses just to realize that they were on my head the entire time. 

God is missing?

Whenever we can’t hear God, is God really missing?  Or has he been there the entire time, but we are looking in the wrong place?

Bad listeners

Have you ever met any of those people who, while you are talking to them, you know that they aren’t listening?  You can just see it in their eyes that they could care less what you have to say.  Usually these people are so eager to talk that while you are talking they aren’t listening to you, but rather thinking about what they are going to say next. 

Job building his case

From this text, I get the feeling that maybe Job was a bad listener.  In V. 3 and 4 Job says “Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling!  I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments!”  Could it be that Job can’t find God because Job is so busy thinking about his argument?  Could God be speaking to him, but Job isn’t listening but rather thinking about what he is going to say next?

When we are silent

We live in a noisy world.  A world full of distractions.  No wonder we feel like God isn’t with us.  No wonder God seems silent to us.  Maybe God is speaking to us, but our surroundings are so loud that we can’t hear God.  Maybe, if we were silent, then we could hear God speak.  Maybe, instead of listening to the advice of others all the time like Job, we can hear the voice of God. 

We can bring our frustrations to God, we can hear God when we are silent, and whenever we find God, we find our true place.

Finding God results in us finding our place.

Finding ourselves

The truth is, God isn’t lost.  We are.  Just as the earth is lost if it doesn’t know where the sun is, just like the baby bird is lost if it doesn’t know where its mother is, just like a fish is lost if it doesn’t know where the water is, we are lost when we don’t know where God is.  It’s not a matter of us finding God, but finding ourselves in God.  The story of Job helps us, above all, to see our place in the story of God.  We need to spend our days seeking to orient our lives around God, and not trying to orient his life into ours.  Finding God helps us find our place. 

Jacob wrestling with God

While traveling with the Israelites, Jacob met God.  He wrestled with him and walked away with a limp.  He also walked away with a new name.  Whenever Jacob found God, we found his place in Israel’s history.  He met God as Jacob, but he walked away as Israel.

Conclusion

Have you found God?

Have you found God?  If so, where have you found your place?  What have you learned about yourself?  When God is silent, search for Him.  And when you find him, you will never be the same!  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Sermon: 10.4.09

October 4, 2009 · Filed under Sermons · Tagged , ,

Title: Finding our place

Text: Job 1:1; 2:1-10

Topic:

I. Introduction

An Atheist response

Being from the bible belt, we usually don’t come across many people who don’t believe in God. I think it has been said that 86% of US citizens believe in God.  I’m certain that number is much higher in the South.  So whenever I do come across an atheist, I like to ask them, “Why don’t you believe in God.”  I sometimes get pretty thought provoking answers.  Sometimes I get, “I don’t believe in God because Christians are so hateful.”  I’ve also heard, “I don’t believe in God because I’ve never seen him.  If he’s real, why won’t he show himself? I have to see before I believe.”  I heard many answers, but the one that I have heard by far the most is this: ” I don’t believe in God because there is so much suffering in the world.  I refuse to believe that if a good God exists, he would allows these bad things to happen.”

Many questions

The book of Job raising many questions.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Why would God allow these terrible things to happen to Job?  It’s not just in Job.  If you spend time seriously reading the bible, you will come across stories that will probably make you question God.  As you look at the lives around you, the same questions will arise. Why do you allow this, God?  Like Job, I’m sure that we have asked this question. But the truth is, Job doesn’t give us an answer for this.  The truth is, good people will suffer.

II. Good people will suffer.

 

Zac

I have a friend that  I knew pretty well when I was growing up.  He was a really good guy.  The kind of guy that would do anything for you.  Well, about three weeks ago he was jumping into a shallow pool and broke his neck.  The doctors are saying that it will be a miracle if he will ever walk again.  As I’ve thought about this, I can’t help but ask God Why?

Job didn’t deserve suffering.  Who does?

We usually read that Job was an upright man and automatically think, “It’s not fair for him to suffer!”  But seriously, does anyone deserve to suffer?  Does anyone deserve to lose all that he or she has, including his family and health? Does Job’s righteousness have anything to do with this?  Sure, good people like Job and Zac certainly don’t deserve this, but does anyone? 

Hurricane Katrina

I remember when Hurricane Katrina happened in the fall of 2005.  It destroyed many lives.  One church put on it’s sign “The Big Easy is the modern Day Sodom and Gomorrah”.  I have had many conversations where people actually believe that this terrible tragedy happened because God was mad with some people in New Orleans.  No wonder we question God.  If we truly believe that God causes terrible tragedies like this, we can rightly question him.

 

We are never promised that life won’t hurt.

The truth is, God never promises us a life that won’t hurt.  We are never promised that, once we follow Christ, all will be well with life.  As a matter of fact, Jesus warned the disciples on many occasions that following him could possibly bring on more suffering.  Maybe the problem is that we enter the Christian walk oblivious to suffering.  Maybe, when we share our faith with others, we fail to tell them the whole story.  Maybe, while trying to share the love of Jesus with others, we forget to tell them Jesus’ words that in order to follow him, we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow.  Maybe we enter our Christian faith with unreal expectations.

Life hurts

Life hurts, but the truth is, God still speaks to us, even when we suffer.

C.S. Lewis/ Problem with pain

In C.S. Lewis’s book, Problem with Pain he says this: We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities, and everyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. 

GPS

I’m terrible with directions.  I still get lost almost everytime that I go to Henderson.  Well, knowing how bad I am with directions, Jade bought me a GPS this past Christmas. The GPS is a great invention.  However, it’s pretty pointless if I don’t turn it on.  Every now and then, when I’m feeling confident that I know where I’m going, I won’t turn on the GPS.  It always feels better to find something on your own rather than using the GPS.  However, if I’m not 100% sure where I’m going, I usually still get lost and end up turning on the GPS anyways.

Like paying attention to the GPS when we are lost, we have a way of paying attention to God when we are suffering.  No, I don’t think God causes the suffering, but we can be more attentive to God. C.S. Lewis says that God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain.

Good people will suffer. But like, Job, when we suffer we are still called to continue to be faithful to God.

 

III.  Like Job, we are called to continue to be faithful to God.

Job 2:9,10 shows a conversation between Job and his wife.  After his suffering, his wife says to him; “Do you still hold fast to your integrity?  Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. 

He asked questions. 

Job stayed faithful to God, regardless of his circumstance.  However, as we continue through the book of Job, we see that he indeed questioned God.  He lamented.  He wondered, “Why is this happening to me?” 

 

We have questions

We somehow think that if we question God about something then we aren’t being faithful. That’s not true.  Job questioned God.  Moses questioned God. Jesus questioned God. It’s ok for us to express our human feelings to God.  We like to point the finger at Job’s wife here and say, “you should be more like Job!’  But truthfully, if we are honest with ourselves, we are probably more like his wife.  We may not vocalize it, but we may feel it.  That’s ok.  It’s ok to tell God and God’s people what’s on your mind.  For far to long the church has been a place where people have come with artificial smiles.  People who pretend that everything’s ok because, well we wouldn’t be true Christians if it wasn’t.  God wants us to be real and authentic. 

Put back in our original place

This text doesn’t answer our question, “Why does God allow suffering?”  It doesn’t give us a guideline for helping someone who is suffering.  I think this text asks another question: It doesn’t raise the question “why doesn’t God allow pain?”, but rather It asks, How do we understand our place in the universe?  I think this story of Job helps us to find our place in God’s world.  Are we the center?  Is the world made simply for the sake of humanity?  Is God’s goal in creation our happiness?  Is the world designed in a way that we always get what we deserve?  If not, and I believe the answer is no, then human happiness isn’t the end for God’s creation.

Copernicus

In the 13th century, a man by the name of Nicolaus Copernicus caused an uproar in the church.  Prior to him, everyone believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that everything revolved around it.  Copernicus, the astronomer, saw that that wasn’t the case. He point to the sun and said, “behold, the center of the universe.”  He was condemned from the church because of his beliefs.

For the longest time we thought that we were the center of the universe.  It’s all about us.  Everything is created for us.  The sun burns for our pleasure. The stars exist to give us decoration. Copernicus changed that. Just like Copernicus, we must seek to understand our place in this universe.  We aren’t the center.  God’s the center and all things are created by him and for him. Instead of asking the question, “Why do bad things happen to me?”, we should ask “Where’s my place in the universe?”

God calls us to be faithful, regardless of our circumstances

I think that Job understood his place. Just like Job, we are called to be faithful, even when it hurts.  We can ask questions, but like Job, let us “not sin with our lips”.

 

IV. Closing

God is with us

As you read the book of Job and you see his suffering, you will notice that God is with him.  We can find hope in our suffering because God is still with us.

Christ suffered

We have hope.  We have hope in the resurrection.  We also have hope because we worship and serve a Savior who suffered with us.  He’s not asking of us anything that he himself has not went through.  We at times find life to be full of pain and hurt. So did Jesus.  Be reminded this morning that God, even through pain, has been there. He is still with us.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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sermon: Homecoming 9.27.09

October 3, 2009 · Filed under Sermons · Tagged , , , ,

Homecoming Sunday

Title: Back to the Basics

Text: Romans 5:6-11

I. Introduction

Home

There’s no place like home.  Vacation is great. Visiting friends and family is great.  Going on adventures is great. But there’s no place like home.  Home has a way of bringing you back to reality.  Whenever you move away and start you own life, coming back home has a way of reminding you of who you are.

Going to college

 I can remember when I first went off to college.  I was so excited that I was going to be independent.  I didn’t need my family anymore. I was now ready to fly the nest and do things on my own.   Well, I had been at school an entire two weeks when I went back home for the first time.  I hugged my mom like I hadn’t seen her in 10 years. I was so glad to be back home. At school, everything seemed so complicated.  At home, everything made sense.  Jade and I are now 10 hours from home. However, we always stay in touch. We stay in touch with home because it keeps us grounded.  It keeps us connected to our roots.  We were made into the people who we are and home reminds us of who that is.  Home has a way of simplifying things.  Whenever we get in over our heads, home has a way of reminding us of what is important. When life gets complicated, home has a way of taking us back to the basics.

Bank Teller

There was a woman who got a job as a bank teller.  She was really excited about her job and she wanted to do a great job.  So her boss gave her some instructions.  He wanted her to make sure that every person that came through got a piece of candy in there envelope with the money.  She really wanted to please her boss so she really took this serious. Every person that came through she made sure that she put candy in the envelope.  She even put two pieces of candy in some envelopes, just to go the extra mile.  Well, her day ended and she was proud of her work.  Before she left, her boss called her into his office. Then he told her “Sorry to tell you this, but you are fired.”  “Why? What did I do?  I made sure that I followed your instructions correctly and put candy in every envelope, sometimes two pieces.  I did exactly what you asked!”  “Well, you certainly did put candy in every envelope and I applaud you for that.  However, I’ve had 15 people call saying that while they appreciated the candy that you gave them, what they really wanted was their money.  While you put candy in all, you left money out of 15!”

Rediscovering the basics

Sometimes, I think we can be a lot like this bank teller in the church.  I think that sometimes we can get so busy with activities in the church, working hard for the church, preparing lessons from the church, that we can sometimes miss the point.  We can learn deep theological ideas, learn biblical languages, philosophy, etc., and all of these things are great, but sometimes we can put so much focus on these things that we, like the bank teller, forget what’s most important.

It’s good to go back to the basics.  It’s good to be reminded of God’s love.  Above all, understanding that God loves you is what’s most important. We can never be told enough that God love us. 

Now to understand the extent of God’s love, we must understand a few things.

II. We are helpless

One thing that we must understand is that we are helpless.  Romans 5:6 says that “for while we were helpless, Christ died for the helpless.”

The hardest thing to accept

This is the most difficult thing for us to understand.  So many of us want to do things on our own. We want to be the hero.  However, we are incapable. 

Our cover-up

Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t show ourselves to be helpless.  The greatest critique of the church is that we think that we are in some way morally superior to everyone else and to be a Christian, you must be like us and think like us.

Bill Clinton

Dependent

Just like a little child, we must be dependent on Christ. 

III. Christ died for the helpless

While we are helpless, Christ died for the helpless.  Romans 5:8 says that “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

Demonstration of love

Valentine’s Day

Let me brag on myself for a minute.  I’m usually not good at keeping things from Jade.  We usually exchange Christmas presents 10 days before Christmas, because we just can’t wait to see what we got each other.  We’ll, this past Valentine’s day I planned a trip for us to spend a night in Savannah.  I wanted to tell her so bad, but somehow I managed to wait until the do of the trip to tell her where we were going.  I planned this trip, one because I wanted to go, but also because I love my wife she had always wanted to go.  It was a demonstration of my love for her. 

Christ’s death

This is why Christ died.  Christ died to demonstrate his love for us.  Sometimes we treat Christ’s death like it’s some kind of transaction. 

Sharing our Faith

Whenever we share our faith, this is what we should communicate. So many times we communicate judgment to people. 

Sign 

Everyday when I’m driving back home from campus on 85 I see this sign that asks the question “Where will you spend eternity?”  While I’m certain that the people who wrote the sign meant it for good reasons, this is another example of the world seeing the church as superior.  We aren’t called to scare people into heaven.  We aren’t even called to tell people who knows Christ and who doesn’t.  That’s God’s job.  We are simply to share the love of God with people and the message of Christ’s sacrifice. 

IV. We rejoice in our reconciliation

We are helpless.  Christ died for the helpless. Because Christ died for us, we can rejoice in our reconciliation. Romans 5:10 says “while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through Christ’s death…”

Because of Christ’s death, we are reconciled with God and with one another.  

Heaven

I don’t know much about heaven, but I assume that, once we are reconciled people, we are experiencing it.  I’m certain that we are living in heaven even now as we are reconciled with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We experience heaven when we embrace a stranger.  We experience heaven when hug a family member that we once didn’t get along with.  We experience heaven when we embrace our neighbors of another race.  I don’t know much about heaven, but I’m certain that it will be a place of reconciled people. 

V. Conclusion

Welcome Home!

So, Welcome Home!  I don’t know what you were looking for when you decided to come home.  But I hope that as you fellowship with people that you have known for years, you are reminded of the essentials.  It’s my hope that, in this place, as you fellowship with you past, as you reminisce, you are reminded of the love of God, which is our true home.  In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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