Archive for Rehoboth UMC

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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Sermon: 9.13.09

September 20, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermons · Tagged ,

Title: The Call of Wisdom

Text: 1:20-33

Topic: Listening to the voice of wisdom

Introduction

I told you so

One of the worst things that we can hear someone say to us is, “I told you so”.  When I was in middle school, nylon Nike shorts were popular.  All of my friends had a pair of these Nike shorts and I just had to have a pair too.  So my birthday was coming and I told my Mom, “Mom, all that I want for my birthday is a pair of these shorts”. So my birthday came around and sure enough she got me a pair.  I was incredibly excited.  I couldn’t wait to wear them to school the next day.  Well, these shorts are very similar to swim trunks and they have a net in them.  So I asked my mom if she would cut the netting out.  She was too busy at the moment but she told me to wait and she would eventually cut them out. I couldn’t wait. So I took my scissors and began to cut the net out.  It actually took longer than I thought so I began doing it faster.  Afterall, I couldn’t wait to put on my new shorts.  Well, I finally finished cutting them out.  Then I noticed that in the process of cutting out the net I managed to cut a huge hole in the back!  So I went crying to mom, thinking that in some way she could go back into the future to stop me.  Well, she couldn’t.  All that she said to me was, “I told you so!”

Ignoring wisdom

She tried to share her wisdom with me, but I ignored her and suffered the consequence.  In the same way, God is trying to share his wisdom with us.  The question is, are we listening? 

The call of wisdom

Wisdom calling out

Wisdom is calling out to us.  As we can see, God desires to share His wisdom with us. 

Proverbs shows this wisdom shouted out.  Wisdom is trying to make herself known in a desperate way.  In the busyness of life, she is trying to guide us.

Calls out in the public places

Notice where the call is coming from. Wisdom isn’t calling us in our privacy.  It’s calling us in the streets.  It’s calling us in the workplace. 

Everyday life

Wisdom is at work the most when it is affecting lives.  

Wisdom isn’t something that we show off.  We aren’t wise whenever we read a book and come away smarter.  We are wise whenever our daily, routine lives are changed.  We are wise when our knowledge puts our hands to work.  Abraham was wise not when he heard God say, “Go to a land that will show you.”  No, he was wise when he went and obeyed.

Everyone

Wisdom calls everyone to participate.  V.22 says that she is calling out to the naive ones, the simple-minded ones, the scoffers, and the fools.  Wisdom is offered to everyone.  Everyone can hear the voice.  But unfortunately, not everyone stops to listen.

Calls us to a new way of being and discipleship

This wisdom is calling us to a new way of being.  It’s calling us to a life of discipleship.  It’s calling us to ignore the voices that surround us and listen to her.  It’s calling us to follow Christ instead of our selfish ways.  It’s showing us a new way.  With all the voices calling, can we hear?

The call of folly

The Indian and the cricket

There was an Indian who went to visit his friend who lived in Atlanta.  They met on a reservation and they tried to stay in contact with each other.  They were able to spend some quality time together.  Whenever the Indian was going to catch his bus to leave, his friend went with him to send him off.  As they were on the busy sidewalk, waiting on his bus, the Indian suddenly got quiet.  Then he said to his friend, “Do you hear that cricket?”  His friend looked at him strangely.  “Umm, no.  It’s very noisy out here.  How do you expect me to hear a cricket?”  Then he told him, “Just listen for it.”  So his friend listened and he still didn’t hear it.  So, whenever the traffic cleared, the Indian took his friend to the other side of the street.  Sure enough, when they got over there, there was a cricket.  His friend was amazed.  As they walked back to the other side of the street, he was asking him how he heard it.  Then he reached in his pocket and pulled out a handful of change. He then dropped it to the ground.  People passing by immediately stopped and looked at the change on the ground as if it were an instinct.  Then the Indian said, “People hear what they want to hear.”

So many voices

The problem is, there so many voices calling to us.  We have Oprah telling us what to do.  Whenever we are having marital problems we turn on Dr. Phil and he tells us what to do.  Everyone has an opinion.  However, among all of these voices, can we hear wisdom calling?  Wisdom is shouting.  Can we hear her?

Consequences

Not listening

Unfortunately, this passage is full of examples of when people didn’t listen to wisdom.  And just like when I didn’t listen to my mom, those who don’t listen to wisdom suffer the consequences.

Responsibility

Ultimately, we have a responsibility.  Unfortunately, Christians are some of the best people at dodging responsibility. 

The broken sound system

There was a pastor who got a phone call from one of his parishioners.  The parishioner said, “Pastor, we have a problem at the church.”  “What’s the problem?”  Well, we have church Sunday and our sound system is messed up.”  The pastor said, “You are right, that is a problem. What do you think we should do about it?”  “Well, I think we should get the prayer group together early Sunday morning and pray!”

Now, all preachers love having someone in their congregation that’s willing to pray.  Prayer is important.  However, sometimes the Christian response is to act.

A smart person can tell you how to fix the sound system.  But a wise person understands that we need the sound system to work and is willing to fix it.

We have responsibilities.  Sometimes we look at passages like proverbs one and think that God is mean.  “God wouldn’t laugh at our calamity.  He wouldn’t allow these things to happen.”  Well, after I disobeyed my mom I can promise you that she didn’t go running back to the store to get me another pair of shorts.  I made a dumb mistake and I had to suffer the consequences.  Part of being free people is that we have the freedom to make our own decisions.  Wisdom is always calling to us, but sometimes we ignore her. 

listening

The chapter concludes on a positive note: “But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil”.

Missing the final

In my junior year of college we had finals.  I had already finished with all of my classes and had one final exam left.  I wasn’t sure when the exam was, so I asked a friend and he told me it was on Thursday.  Well, on Wednesday, I had another friend come to me and say, “Hey Josh, why weren’t you in class to take the final?”  “Because the final is tomorrow.”  “Ummm, no.  We just took the final today and you missed it.”  So I had to rush over to my professor’s office and begged for mercy.  He let me take it, but I didn’t get to study.  I had an A the entire semester in the class but because I failed the final, it dropped me down to a B.

I listened to the wrong person.  Whenever we listen to God’s voice, God’s wisdom, he will guide us in truth. 

Conclusion

Maybe you are one of the ones who ignore wisdom.  Or maybe you don’t ignore her, but the other loud voices around you causes you to become distracted.  Maybe you have suffered the consequences of ignoring wisdom and going your own way.

There’s forgiveness.  I may have cut a hole in my shorts, but eventually, my mom bought me another pair.  The Israelites complained and complained and complained.  They ignored God and found themselves wandering in the wilderness. God gave them land but they were conquered by the Babylonians and the Assyrians.  They made mistake after mistake.  So do we. But God sent Jesus Christ.  He sent Him to save us from our mistakes and to guide us in truth.  Just like wisdom, Jesus is calling to us to come and follow him.  There are many voices calling, which one will we listen to?

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Sermon: 8.30.09

August 30, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermon helps, Sermons · Tagged ,

Title: Cross-eyed

Text: Eccles. 1:1-2;1:12-18;2:1-11

Topic: Our lives, even our successes, can sometimes pull us away from Christ.

Introduction

Floods and rivers

In 1994, the entire city of Albany, Georgia flooded.  We had an enormous amount of rain that year and when rain mixes with a river, it will flood.  Many lives were damaged because of the flood. Countless homes were destroyed.  Lives were lost.  The local university was badly damaged.  The Flint River caused a lot of damage to the small town of Albany.

What’s interesting is that usually the Flint River is a great resource for the people of Albany.  It’s used for recreational use and fishing.  I’ve personally spent much time on the Flint with family and friends.  What usually a source of life quickly became deadly in the summer of 1994.  What’s the difference?  Focus.

Rivers are very resourceful and helpful while floods are destructive.  The difference between the two is simply focus.  In a river the water is focused and stays within its boundaries and in a flood the water goes all over the place. 

Our lives are like a flood

It’s easy for our lives to be like floods.  We have very busy schedules and can find ourselves all over the place.  We have work, then we to pick up the kids from school.  Then we have to cook dinner.  Then we have to take the children to soccer practice. Then, on top of that, we have to go to church meetings.  Busy, busy,busy. Very easily, in our busyness, we can become numb to what we are doing.  We have so much on our plate that we are no longer focused. Very easily, we can become like a flood.

Solomon’s life is meaningless

Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon.  In the book, Solomon is toward the end of his life.  Remember, King Solomon was considered to be the wisest man/wealthiest in the bible.  But towards the end of his life, he begins to realize that his wisdom and pleasures aren’t enough.  He understands that they have there limits.  So, let’s take a look at what Solomon discovered about life. 

One thing he discovered is that wisdom is meaningless.

Wisdom is meaningless

Ecclesiastes 1:17,18 says “I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, the more knowledge, the more grief.”

What did you do about them?

There was an owner of a company who was interested in expanding her business overseas.  So she planned a trip and left her assistant manager in charge of the company.  While overseas, the owner wrote letters to the company, giving them certain instructions to follow while she’s gone.  Months went by.  Then she returned.  As she walked up to the front door, she noticed that there were weeds in the flower beds and the grass hadn’t been cut in a while.  A few of the windows had been broken.  As she walked to the receptionist’s desk, she found her doing her nails, chewing gun, and playing games on the computer.  The trash cans were overflowing, the carpet looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed in weeks, and no one seemed concerned that she had returned home.  Finally, she found the person she left in charge playing cards in the break room.  She asked him to step into her office.  “What in the world is going on here?”  “What do you mean?”  “Well, look at this place!  Didn’t you get any of my letters? Didn’t you get my instructions?”  “Oh yeah, sure we did.  As a matter of fact, we had a letter study every Friday since you left, spending time reading the letters and talking about them.  We even formed small groups to discuss the letters outside of work.  And you’ll be pleased to know that some of us even committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs.  One or two of us even memorized an entire letter!  Great stuff in those letters!”  She responded, “Ok, you got my letters, you read them, studied them, and even memorized them, BUT WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT THEM?”  “Do?  We didn’t do anything about them.”

The point of wisdom

Wisdom is good. But wisdom isn’t the end but only a means to an end.  Reading and studying the letters that the owner sent was good, but that’s not the point.  The point is how it affects your life and prompts you to action.  We don’t read scripture and memorize it just to say that we did.  We read it to hear from God and to see how he wants us to respond. Wisdom is meaningless if the focus is on the knowledge and not how it affects us to live.

John 8:32 Jesus says “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

wisdom is a means to freedom

Wisdom is also our way to freedom.  Wisdom is like a lamp in the dark.  It’s a great guide for you, but it does no good if you don’t walk.  In the same way, wisdom is meaningless unless we use it to get to God.  It’s useless unless we allow it to keep our eyes on the cross.

Solomon concludes that wisdom is meaningless.  He also learns in life that pleasures are meaningless.

Pleasures are meaningless

In Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 Solomon says “I thought in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. “Laughter,” I said, “is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?” I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly-my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.”

Solomon concludes that even pleasures prove to be meaningless.

Children on Christmas morning

My favorite holiday is Christmas.  One of my favorite things about Christmas is watching the children opening their presents.  They get in the floor in sheer excitement to see what Santa Claus has brought.  Then when they finish opening their presents, they are occupied for the next few minutes.  However, it doesn’t take long for the newness to wear off.  Even though they have all of these new toys, not long afterwards they begin looking around at the other children’s toys, wishing that they had them.  The children are at first pleasured to have their new gifts, but for their pleasures to continue to be satisfied, new gifts have to come.

Adults are no different

The truth is, adults are really no different.  Whenever our friend gets a new vehicle, we feel like we need one.  Whenever a woman gets made at her husband, what does she usually do?  She goes shopping, usually with her husband’s credit card.  But overtime we realize that Solomon was right.  Material pleasures can’t buy happiness.  We eventually realize that pleasures are meaningless.

Occupations

A study was done a couple of years ago about jobs.  They were trying to find out what the most fulfilling and satisfying jobs were.  Here’s the top ten: 1. Clergy 2.Firefighter 3.Physical Therapists 4.Authors 5.Special Ed Teachers 6.Teachers 7.Educational Administrators 8.Painters and Sculptors 9.Psychologists 10.Security and Financial Services Salespeople.

You can see a common theme is these careers: They all seek to help others. Most of them aren’t the highest paying jobs, but the people are satisfied.

I believe this shows that joy isn’t found in the pleasures of possessions, but in living the life of Christ. Joy in life comes whenever we take up our crosses and follow Christ.  Even the world catches a glimpse of this whenever it finds fulfillment in helping people. 

Michael Jackson

Over the last ten years or so we have followed the tragic story of the life of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was probably the greatest musician of my generation.  He had almost everything. He had money, fame, but there was one thing that he didn’t have: happiness.  Many people within his circle have said that Michael lived a pretty miserable life.  I’m sure that he would agree with Solomon, pleasures are meaningless. 

Pleasures and material possessions don’t offer life.  We find life only in Christ. Pleasures can be a good thing as long as you don’t try to find fulfillment and life in them, as long as they don’t take your eyes off of Christ.

In Solomon’s life, he has discovered that wisdom is meaningless, pleasures are meaningless, and work is meaningless.

Work is meaningless

In Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 Solomon says “I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well-the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

Solomon was considered the wisest man in the bible.  He was also considered the richest.  However, at the end of his life, he concluded that it was pointless. He concluded that all that he had gained was meaningless.

Story of Martha and Mary

One of my favorite stories in the bible is the story of Jesus coming the Mary and Martha’s house.  Jesus is invited to come in to dine with them.  Now imagine if you had a guest like Jesus in your home.  I’m sure that you would want everything to be perfect.  You would make sure the floor was vacuum, the candles were lit, the food was prepared.  Well, whenever Jesus was visiting, Martha was busy in the kitchen, making sure that everything was prepared.  Meanwhile, her sister Mary was spending time with Jesus.  Martha eventually came in and asked Jesus, “Will you tell my sister to help me?”  Jesus responded, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. “  Those are probably not the words that Martha wanted to hear. 

I think what Jesus was saying to her was, “There is a time to work, but while you are in the kitchen, you are missing your chance to spend time with me.”

Who are you like?

Do you think you are more like Martha or Mary?  Does your work ever get in the way of you spending time with God?

Your achievements

 

Solomon lived a very successful life.  But at the end, he realized that all was meaningless. 

Conclusion

In chapter 5, Solomon let’s us know what we should be focusing on. In conclusion of him discussing what is meaningless, he says what one should be focused on doing. Chapter 5:7 says to “stand in awe of God”.

Floods and Rivers

Like the flood in Albany, our lives have no aim. We can be so busy trying to become wiser and learn more, trying to become wealthier, and trying to work harder.  Unfortunately, what eventually happens is that we can lose sight of what we should be focused on.  When this happens, we become like a flood and prepared to cause damage. Solomon doesn’t think that wisdom, pleasures, and work are bad in and of themselves.  We know that it’s good to be wise.  It’s also good to find pleasure in life.  What Solomon is trying to tell us is to be careful not to let these pleasures take the place of God.  In New Testament terms, don’t let them take our eyes off the cross!

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Sermon: 8.23.09

August 23, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermons · Tagged , , , ,

Title: Weapons of the Spirit

Text: Ephesians 6:10-20

Topic: We are equipped with spiritual weapons to overcome evil.

Introduction

Recap

Sadly, we are in our final week of our study through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. As you have probably already discovered, Ephesians is a very deep book in which we haven’t even scratched the surface.  If you are interested in doing a basic study of the Christian faith in depth, Ephesians is a good place to start. 

Ephesians has shown us how God has chosen us.  Then we looked at how He united us together with the church.  Once we accept Christ, we are united into the family of God.  Then we saw how, since we are the body of Christ in the world, we are to imitate Christ (Eph. 5:1).  Since we are Christ’s representatives, we must strive to be like Him.  We are to live sacramental lives.  In the same way that the sacrament of Holy Communion represents the body of Christ to us, we represent Christ to the world.  God chose us, united us, and seeks to live through us.

Not the end of the story

If only the story ended there.  If it did, life in the Christian colony would be easy.  If the story ended here, Paul wouldn’t be writing this letter from prison.  It sounds like a very happy story.  We are chosen, sort of like Cinderella, we are united, and also like Cinderella, we are changed. But unfortunately, like all stories, we have an enemy.  Evil and darkness spends its time trying to knock us off track.

Christian persecution

As the Christians would soon find out, living lives counter-cultural to the world brings on enemies.  Christianity became illegal which resulted in them being tortured and many killed.  Whenever the Christians were the minorities, they were persecuted for their faith.  Even today, Christians are being persecuted for what they believe.  We are at war.  We have an enemy.

At war with the forces of darkness

Ephesians 6 makes it clear to us who our enemy is.  It’s not with the people in the world.  It’s not with the people persecuting Christians. It’s not with the person who cut you off at the red light.  It’s not even with that family member who you can’t get along with.  It’s against the powers of darkness.  It’s against evil and wickedness in the spiritual world.  Sometimes this evil can be represented in others, but we are at war with the evil within them, not the person.

Christian Violence

Unfortunately, our darkest times in Christian history comes from our understanding of this text.  Some in the church, usually when the Christians were the majority, went to battle with the people rather than the evil.  This resulted in an embarrassing history.  Orthodox Christians brutally punished heretics to “purify” the church.  Christians also persecuted Turks, Jews, other Christian heretics, and witches, all in the name of God.  While Christ called us to leave peaceful lives, to love our enemies and to pray for our persecutors, we have turned to violence and hatred.  It’s important to know that we are at battle, but it’s imperative that we know whom the battle is with. I hesitate to use “battle” language because it brings us disturbing images.  But the truth is, we are in a very real spiritual battle and it’s important for us to know where our help comes from.

Spiritual Weapons

We are at war.  We have a battle to fight.  And like any battle, you need weapons.  As Christians, we don’t take up arms.  We have spiritual weapons. The question is, where do our weapons come from?  Where does our power come from?  God has given us weapons to use as we face darkness.  Those weapons are Christian Truth, Prayer, and the Holy Spirit. 

Christian Truth

One weapon that we have in the church is Christian Truth.

Ephesians 6:11 says to “stand firm”.  Ephesians 6:13 says to “stand firm”. Ephesians 6:14 says to “stand firm”. 

Christian Truth

In order to stand firm, we must have a solid foundation to stand on.  This solid foundation is Christian truth. 

Historical Christians standing up for their principles

Our history is filled with people standing up for their principles against adversity.  Martin Luther King Jr., whenever he had hate crimes against him, continued his peaceful movement without violence.  Non-violence was one of his main principles, and even when his principle was challenged the most, he and his followers remained strong.  During the holocaust, many Christians opposed Hitler’s treatment of Jews.  They were standing firm on their principles. In order for us to remain strong, we must have a solid foundation of principles to live by. We must seek Christian truth.

Re-evaluating your foundation

Christian truth is what we are seeking as Christians.  However, in order to seek truth, sometimes we have to question our presuppositions.  If our goal is indeed truth, we should be open to listening to others to try to find truth.  Sometimes we find ourselves defending what we believe to be truth. 

Going to extremes

The dean of Duke Divinity School, Greg Jones, gave a lecture to us this past week about diversity.  He mentioned a book entitled “Going to Extremes” written by Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein.  In the book, Sunstein discusses how whenever we are around like-minded individuals who share a common belief, it’s likely that the group will go to extremes about the issue.  For example, if someone holds the view that the war in Iraq is a just war and they spend all of their time around people who believe that same thing, chances are that they (and the group) will go to extremes about the belief.  If you are pro-choice and spend all of your time with pro-choice people, odds are that you will go to the extreme. 

In the church, we need to be willing to discuss issues with people who hold differing beliefs from our own.  This is how we grow in our faith.  This is how we build a solid foundation for our faith.

Asking questions

Asking questions about what you believe and questioning your presuppositions doesn’t mean that you are giving up on your faith.  It actually means that you highly value truth and are willing to listen to others to find it. 

Standing on truth

In order for us to overcome evil and darkness, we must be grounded in truth.  Above all, Jesus Christ is the truth.  Let us seek to be grounded in His truth.

One of our spiritual weapons is Christian truth. Another spiritual weapon that we have is prayer.

Prayer

Ephesians 6:18 says “with all prayer and petition pray at all times….v19. and pray on my behalf…”

Staying connected to God

Prayer is a way for us to communicate with God and for Him to communicate with us.

24

One of my favorite tv shows is 24.  24 is a show about a unit whose main job is to fight terrorism in the US.  The main character in the show is Jack Bauer played by Keifer Sutherland.  Bauer is the best of the best.  But he has one problem; He thinks he’s always right.  On many occasions during a very crucial point of a mission, Bauer will ignore instructions from his superiors and do the mission himself.  While he’s usually right, he always stays in trouble because of this. 

Ignoring God during difficult times

In the same way, whenever things get difficult, we can sometimes find ourselves trying to do everything ourselves.  Whenever we feel sickness sometimes we look for a doctor before we look for the great physician.  Whenever we are stressed we seek a psychologist before God.  Now I’m not suggesting that you not get medical help, but I am suggesting that your care comes from God a lot more than from physicians. This disconnects us from God. Prayer allows us to stay connected to God.  The most important time for a soldier to have good communication with his commander is in the warzone.  When things get difficult for us, that’s when our communication with God needs to be strong. 

Point of reference

Prayer keeps us connected to God while we are at battle.  Prayer reminds us who we are, even when we can get disoriented.  Sometimes we have to be reminded who we are.  Prayer reminds us by giving us a point of reference.

Swimming

I’m not the best swimmer in the world.  I have always been a little cautious of the water.  Unfortunately, I watched the movie Jaws at a young age and that has scarred me for life.  I was probably about 8 years old before I learned how to swim.  Even today, I’m still not very comfortable in the water.

We’ll this past May, while on vacation, I decided that it would be a good idea to learn how to scuba dive.  So a friend and I signed up to get certified in three days on vacation.  We’ll, the first day we did our pool dives and everything went fine.  I was confident.  I was able to swim around with my equipment.  I did all the drills well.  I was even able to clear my mask.  I was a little nervous, but I was doing fairly well for a non-swimmer like myself.  Then the next day was the real challenge; The ocean.  We swam out about 40 feet to a place known as the Jetties.  The Jetties are some rocks stacked about 60 ft deep in the water to separate the swimming area from the diving area.  So we got out there and I was at the point of panic.  Then our instructor said, “Deflate. Clear your ears.  See you at the bottom.”  And he was gone!  And then my diving buddy was gone.  And then I panicked.  I tried to get my composure together and began to descend.  Fortunately, I had the rock wall beside me to give me a point of reference the entire time.  I got down to about 30 feet and felt a bit panicked.  So I can up.  Then I tried again and couldn’t do it.  I gave a valiant effort, but I wasn’t ready for the ocean.

Despite how nervous I got, I always had a point of reference.  I wouldn’t have made it down 5 feet without the wall of rocks beside me.  The rocks let me know that, even though I was in water, the land was close by.  The rocks reminded me of the land. In the same way, prayer reminds us that God is with us, even in difficult times.  No matter where we are, we can pray and know that God is with us and we are His children.

Praying for enemies

Probably the most difficult text for me in the bible is Matthew 5:44 “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” One person was asked whether he prayed for his enemies.  He said that he does pray for his enemies often.  He prays that they would die!

Prayer is a spiritual weapon that we have, but it’s a peaceful weapon.  Praying for our enemies reminds us that it’s not the person who is our enemy but the evil that is in them.  Sometimes, when praying for our enemies, we become aware that the evil is within us.

Prayer reminds us of who we are and keeps us connected to God.

The weapons of the spirit are Christian truth, prayer, and the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit

Ephesians 6:17  “take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:18  “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the spirit…”

God is here

Some say that our battle is difficult because Jesus isn’t here.  But Jesus is here through the Holy Spirit.  We must never forget that the Holy Spirit is with us, guiding us as we journey the Christian life.  The Holy Spirit gives us strength to make it where we ordinarily couldn’t.

Where our power come from/The spirit-filled disciples

Think about the disciples.  They are famous now, but most of them were pretty useless in the gospels.  Peter is popular for denying Jesus three times.  He sank in the water as Jesus called him. Many of them couldn’t perform the miracles that Jesus wanted them to perform.  Even after Jesus explained parables to them, they still didn’t understand.  Whenever Jesus was giving them final instructions, their questions to Him proved that they still were clueless about their mission. Overall, they failed Jesus quite often.

However, the book of Acts records that these are the men and women who spread the message of Jesus to the “ends of the earth”.  They overcame countless obstacles to complete their mission.  The same men who were constant failures in the gospels became heroes of the faith.  You and I are here this morning because of their mission.  What changed?  How did these failures become successful?  The Holy Spirit.

Relying on the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is God with us.  We can have confidence because we know that the Holy Spirit is with us.  The Holy Spirit is our teacher and comforter.  It is our guide.

Our weapons of the spirit are Christian Truth, Prayer, and the Holy Spirit. 

Conclusion

Our battle is God’s battle

These weapons are grounded in God. The truth is, this battle that we are facing in really God’s battle.  Ephesians 6:10 says “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”  Christian truth, prayer, and the Holy Spirit reminds us that God is where our strength comes from.  This is God’s battle and not ours.  While we find ourselves in the middle sometimes, this is God’s battle.  And the truth is, the battle has already been won through the sacrifice of Christ.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Sermon: 8.16.09

August 16, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermon helps, Sermons · Tagged , , , ,

Title: Walking Wisely

Text: Ephesians 5:15-20

Topic: As Christians, we are to walk different than others, using God given wisdom.

 

Introduction

Recap Ephesians

We are now in our sixth week looking at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  We began by looking at what God has done for us.  We talked about how God has chosen us, Christ has redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit has sealed us.  This is what God has done for humanity.  This is what God has done for us!

Now we are looking at how we are to respond to God for what he has done.  Since God has called us out to be his church, we are called to live differently.  We are called to be changed.  We are called to walk differently than the world.  This is what God wants from us.  He hasn’t chosen us to stay entangled in darkness. He has called us into his marvelous light. 

Our passage this morning gives us another challenge:  Be careful how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.

Wisdom/Associates in Business

Whenever I was a sophomore in college I knew that I was called into the ministry.  However, I wasn’t sure where I would be called to.  Growing up, I had heard horror stories from pastors just starting out in the ministry.  Some talked about how they didn’t get paid any salary.  Some talked about how they lived off of rice and water.  Some shared how they had to rely on the church to provide them with food, sometimes causing them to call parishioners to ask for food.  I loved God and I loved His people, but this wasn’t something that I wanted to sign up for.  So I set up a meeting with my biblical studies professor (I was a Christian Ministries major) and I talked to him about the possibility of getting an Associates degree in Business while I do my main degree in theology.  I told him about the horror stories that I had heard and how I thought that it was good “common sense” to have a little security.  He thought about it for a minute, then he asked me:  “Do you feel like God is leading you to do this?”  I responded, “No, but like I said, this seems like good common sense!  I think that it will be foolish for me to try to provide for my family without some type of backup plan.”  Then he said something to me that I will never forget:  He said, quoting 1 Corinthians 1:18, “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  He then told me, “There is nothing “common sense” about following Jesus”.    

The church and common sense

As followers of Christ, common sense choices aren’t always the correct ones.  What seems like common sense to the world may not be common sense to the church.  Ephesians 5:15 says that we should be careful how we walk, not as unwise men but as wise.”  As Christians, we make our decisions not through worldly common sense but through God given wisdom. 

So, as followers of Christ, how are we to walk wisely?  One way to walk wisely is by making the most of our time.

By making the most of our time.

Ephesians 5:15,16 says “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of our time, because the days are evil.”

“Jesus is coming soon!”

If I had a dollar for everytime I have heard the phrase “Jesus is coming soon!”, I would be a rich man.  I’ve heard it from my parents, grandparents, preachers, teachers, tele-evangelists; I’ve probably even said it myself a few times.  I think it’s a good way of looking at this life.  We have an expectation of our savior Jesus Christ coming back for us.  Even 2000 years after his ascension, His people still wait with anticipation.

Early Christians awaiting the parousia

The early church also lived their lives in anticipation.  They believe that they had very limited time here on earth.  Because of this, Paul found some to detach themselves from the world.  They thought, “If Jesus is coming back soon, why should I do anything?” 

However, Paul combated this line of thought by saying, “make the most of your time!”  “Be urgent, for the days are evil!”

Walmart on Black Friday

I don’t hunt very often, but I usually go with my dad every year on the day after thanksgiving.  We have hunting land that’s about 1 1/2 hours from our hometown so we have to leave really early, like around five.  On our way we have to drive through Albany and we pass by Wal-mart.  I don’t know how it is in Henderson NC the day after Thanksgiving, but in Albany GA, it is a madhouse.  We ride by Wal-mart at 5:30 a.m. and the parking lot is already packed.  People get up very early and wait in line for hours to get some great deals on Christmas presents.  They want to get there early because they know that the best items will sell out fast.

They understand that they need to make the most of their time.

Urgency

Paul challenges us to make the most of our time.  Time is all that we have, and as we know, it is limited.  As the shoppers on Black Friday are urgent to get into Wal-mart, we should live our lives with urgency, spending our time trying to see God’s kingdom in the world. As people of God, God gives us wisdom to see what we need to do and how we should live. 

Calendar and Checkbook

I have always heard that you can tell what’s important to someone if you look at their calendar and their checkbook.  Stop sometime and look at your schedule and ask yourself, “Am I making the most of my time?”  “Like the shoppers who rise bright and early to go shopping on Black Friday, am I showing urgency as I live as a Christian in the world?”  “Am I spending my time doing things that are important?”

Don’t be drunk with wine

v. 18 says “do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Now I’m not anti-alcohol.  I rarely drink it, but I think it’s ok for followers of Christ to enjoy wine on occasion.  However, Paul does challenge the Ephesians to not be drunk with wine.  What does he mean?  We’ll, I do think that this text could be taken literally; “Don’t drink too much!”  and that would be good advice.  Many problems in our world are caused by the abuse of alcohol.  However, I also think that this could also refer to a state of being.  We can be “drunk” in the church whenever we are wasting our time.  Whenever we are out of touch with God, we move through life intoxicated and useless. What an alcoholic does more than anything is waste time.  May the church not suffer from “spiritual drunkenous” and become useless.  May we use our time wisely.

One way of walking wisely is by making the most of our time.  Another way is by seeking God’s will in every situation.

By seeking God’s will in every situation

Ephesians 5:17, “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Making Christ Lord

Whenever we decide to follow Christ, we decide to make Him Lord of our life.  What we are basically saying is, “Jesus, you are now in charge.  You make the decisions and I’ll follow.

Political views (health care)

There’s a big debate going on now about health care, specifically universal health care.  Unlike some, I do believe that Christians should be very involved and active in politics.  Afterall, Jesus was very political.  However, whenever we make Jesus Lord, we seek His will in every situation. 

Finding God’s will?

Whenever we are challenged to seek God’s will, an obvious question is asked?  What is God’s will?  How do we find it?  What’s the formula?  Unfortunately there is no formula for finding out what God’s will is.  I wish I could tell you that if you prayer about an issue at 7pm for 27 minutes, then God will reveal it.  Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. 

Discerning my call to ministry

However, I have found that we can discern God’s will best as a community.  Whenever I felt a call into ministry, my first reaction was to doubt it. However, the people in my congregation talked to me about it and gave affirming words.  I spend countless hours with my pastor as he helped me discern my calling. God wants to reveal His will, but it’s important to understand that His will for your life isn’t just for you, it’s for the church.  As we seek to walk wisely, we are at our wisest in community.

We walk wisely by making the most of our time, by seeking God’s will in every situation, and by having an attitude of praise.

By having an attitude of praise.

Ephesians 5:19,20 says “speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”

Wasting time with God

While Paul challenges us earlier in this text to make the most of our time, he also challenges us to waste time worshipping God.  There’s something unique about worshipping together with other believers.  It forms us.  It reminds us of who we are. 

Alma

In our bible study last week, we were discussing ways in which God speaks to us. I believe that Mrs. Alma gave one of the best answers when she said that she feels God through songs and music.  I think that she is onto something. 

the arts and overpaid artists

There is something about music, something about the arts, that speaks to us.  Think about it;  Whenever you think about doing something enjoyable, it usually involves the arts in someway.  Whether it be going to a movie, reading a book, going to a concert, etc.  What we do in leisure tells us a lot about ourselves and it is very clear that we are people who love the arts.  We love music, books, stories, movies.  These are what speaks to our hearts.  Have you even wondered why Jesus told so many stories?  It’s because stories speak to our hearts.  Have you even wondered why, when going through trails, David wrote songs?  It’s because it was songs that gave him encouragement. 

We love the arts.  I’ve heard it said on many occasions, “Why do musicians and actors get paid so much?”  They should give that move to people more important like doctors.  While I can understand the argument (indeed, some folks get paid entirely too much), I certainly don’t believe that doctors are more important that artists.  Just look at your spare time.  While doctors save us physically, the arts save us spiritually and emotionally.  Imagine a world with no music.  Imagine a world where we can’t express our love to God through songs or words? 

 

Being formed as God’s people during worship

Whenever we sing together, we are formed into disciples.  We are reminded that, even though the world may tell us differently, God is at work in this world. Above all, we are reminded that we are God’s children. 

We walk wisely by making the most of our time, by seeking God’s will in every situation, and by having an attitude of praise.

Conclusion

Wisdom from community

Our challenge is to walk wisely.  However, you may ask the same question that I have, “But God, I’m probably the least wisest person in the world.”  You and I may feel like that, but as followers of Christ, we are given God-given wisdom.  Our calling is to discern it, and then seek to live it.  However, there’s good news, we don’t have to discern it alone.  We have the Holy Spirit to guide us.  We also have the people sitting next to us to guide us.  The wisdom that you need for a certain situation may be known by the person sitting behind you.  We just need the courage to ask. Lord, give us eyes to see your wisdom and the courage to walk that past.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Sermon for 8.2.09

August 3, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermons · Tagged , , ,

Title: Ways to Walk

Text: Ephesians 4:1-16

Topic: We, as children of God, are called to walk worthy of our calling.

 

Introduction

Whenever Jade and I first got here, we were entertained by a group of birds.  Right outside of the side door, under the carport, was a nest full of baby birds.  It was very interesting, watching these birds.  We watched as the mother would bring back food for her babies.  We watched as she fed them, their mouths wide open, waiting for Mama to feed them.  When we went outside, we walked cautiously to avoid being attached by the protective mother. 

Sadly, the birds are now gone.  They were fun to watch, but eventually, they fly away.  They rely on their mother to provide for them and protect them, but eventually they know that they must get out on their own.

Eventually, we must learn to walk.  Of course, we don’t walk on our own anymore than a bird must fly on her own.  A bird flies with others.  However, the bird must learn to take the risk, spread her wings, and fly the nest.

God chose us.  Christ redeemed us. The Holy Spirit sealed us.  Now we must walk.  However, we aren’t to just walk any way we want.  We are to walk as children of God. Paul tells the Ephesians that they are to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that they have received.  Again, they were chosen, redeemed, sealed, and united.  Now they must walk accordingly.  Now we must walk like God’s people.

One way that we are to walk is by maintaining unity within the church.

By maintaining unity within the church.

Ephesians 4:3-6 says “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

One.  One.  One.

Coach K and the Olympics

In 2004, something happened that had not happened since 1988. The US men’s basketball team didn’t win the gold medal.  They were unquestionably the most talented team in the Olympics.  They had players like Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, and LeBron James.  As talented as the team was, they left with only the Bronze medal.  They were incredibly talented, maybe the most talented team in history, but they didn’t work together as a team.

So, in 2008 they had a challenge:  They had to find a coach who could make them work as a team.  Eventually, they ended up with Mike  Krzyzewski.  Coach K had a challenge.  He had to make these great athletes somehow play together and somehow try to avoid the spotlight so that they could work as a team.  Well, under Coach K’s leadership, they won the gold medal again.  They learned how to unite and play together.  Even though they played on different teams in the NBA, even though some didn’t like each other, they understood what was at stake. Because of his great leadership, they have signed him again to lead the 2012 Olympic team.

Principle part: Unity

The principle part of the body of Christ is unity.  We can be terrific at everything, but if we aren’t united, we cannot accomplish our mission.  As talented as the 2004 men’s team was, it didn’t get the gold because they didn’t become one.

How are we to stay united?

So the question become, how are Christians, especially a group of very different people, to stay united?

One way Paul describes is through humility and gentleness.  You would be surprised at how you can avoid unnecessary conflict through humility.  By being humble, you are telling someone that you are willing to listen to them, even if you may disagree.

Adam Hamilton and the Muslim

Adam Hamilton, pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Kansas, tells of a time that he had a relationship with a Muslim.  He was really good friends with the Muslim, and one day the Muslim asked him, “Adam, I know why you are my friend.  You are my friend because you want to convert me to your religion.  However, I don’t feel like you have an agenda when you talk to me.”   Whenever Adam talked about faith with the Muslim, he wasn’t pushy or arrogant.  He allowed the Muslim to share about her faith and was open-minded.

If we want to keep unity, we must be willing to listen to others.  And not just listen, but we must also consider others.  Adam Hamilton understood that if he wanted the Muslim to consider his faith, he must first consider hers.   

Imagine the Jews and Gentiles.  Whenever they came together, they had a lot to consider.  They had a lot of differences. They needed to be humble because that’s the only way that they could have kept the unity. 

Patience and tolerance

Other ways for Christian community is through patience and tolerance.  Did you know that whenever non-Christians talk about their views of the church, they usually use words like intolerant.  They usually say things like, “If you disagree with them, they don’t want anything to do with you.  They won’t listen to you.  It’s either their way or no way.”  You might say, “Well, we are right.  Why should we listen to others?”  What do you have to lose?  I think that sometimes we are scared to be open about our faith and question it because we are scared of what we may find out. If Christ is true, and I believe that he is, we should be willing to discuss questions that arise.

Be diligent to preserve unity

Be humble, gentle, patient, tolerant, and also be diligent to preserve the unity.  Be diligent!  This means, “Do whatever is necessary to keep the peace.”

The Episcopal Church

The Episcopal Church is currently in a flux.  They are really having a hard time agreeing on certain issues, especially the homosexual one.  Many predict that it’s only a matter of time before The Episcopal Church splits.  Now I believe that certain issues need to be talked about and discussed, but at what cost?  Is this issue important enough to split one of our largest denominations over?  Paul told the Ephesians, “Do whatever is necessary to keep the peace.” 

Christ’s way towards unity is different from the ways in history.  If you disagreed with certain dictators in history, you were usually tortured if not killed. Christ has called us to be gentle, striving above all to keep peace and unity. 

We are to walk by maintaining unity in the church.  We are also to walk by recognizing and celebrating diversity.

By recognizing and celebrating diversity.

Ephesians 4:7,11-12 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift….He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”

Like most kids, when I was a child, my favorite time of the year was Christmas.  My grandmother passed away in 2001, but before then my entire family would go to her house for Christmas.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  We would eat together, laugh, and then eventually get around to the most important part: opening presents! My cousin Darin and I would sit side by side and open gifts.  Every year we would usually get the same thing from each person.  Our Aunt Cynthia would get us a game.  Uncle Jack would give us $20.   Grandmother would get us a shirt and money.  Every year was memorable, but one year stands out.  One year, Darin received one present more than I did. I noticed that Darin had this cool toy that I didn’t have and I was curious where mine was. So I went over to the tree and looked thinking, “There has to be one more under there for me.”  Well, there wasn’t.  Even though I had about fifteen toys in front of me to play with, I wasn’t in the mood.  I had been left out.  Well, my aunt eventually realized what she did and took me to Wal-mart to pick out something. I wasn’t happy with my  gift.

God’s gift to us

Do you even feel like God shorted you?  Do you even look into the mirror and then look at others more talented than you and wonder, “God, did you make a mistake with me?”

Baseball and I

I don’t know if you know this or not, but I was supposed to be a pro baseball player.  Before I reached middle school I had already promised to by my mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and friends all a new house.  Why? Because I was going to be in the MLB making millions.  I had the drive.  I had the desire.  The only problem was I didn’t have the ability or the size.  Some people do, but I didn’t.

God gave us all gifts

God gave us all gifts.  We are all gifted in some way whether you believe it or not.  Ephesians 4:11 says that he gifted some as apostles, some prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers.  This is just a small list.  Read Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12 and see other gifts listed like wisdom, faith, healing, etc.  God gives us all a gift, but some gifts we don’t have.

God doesn’t give us these gifts to please us as if he is Santa Claus.  God gives us these gifts for the building up of the church and for equipping the saints.  You might act like I did and say, “I didn’t get the gift I want!”  God will respond, “the gift that I gave you wasn’t for you.”  It was for the church.

However, eventually, you will have a passion for your gift.  Whenever I first felt some type of calling into ministry, I didn’t like it at all. Sometimes I still wonder, “What on earth am I doing?”  However, maybe the best news of all is that God gives you a passion for it.  If I had to choose between pro baseball and pastoral ministry, I would choose pastoral ministry everytime.

Diversity in the church

God created a very diverse church.  Our church is full of many different people.  Now imagine if everyone was the same.  Imagine if everyone wanted to be a singer.  Church service would never end! God called us and gave us specific tasks.

We are to walk by maintaining unity, celebrating diversity, and by continuing in the process of spiritual maturity.

 

 

By continuing in the process of spiritual maturity

Ephesians 4:14,15 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ…”

Dallas Willard

Dallas Willard, a Christian philosophy professor once said, “the greatest need you and I have-the greatest need of collective humanity-is renovation of our heart.  Indeed, the only hope of humanity lies in the fact that, as our spiritual dimension has been formed, so it also can be transformed.”

Other religions agree

I don’t think there’s any disagreement on that fact that we need to change.  We may disagree with people of other faith traditions, but we all hold one things in common: we need to change.

Christ, our measuring stick

As Christians, our measuring stick is pretty high.  It is Christ. 

The church

I have spoken with people who have said to me, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church.  Why do I need church?”  That’s a fair question.  The truth is, you can watch church on tv 24/7. Why do you need to go?  Above all, we go to be a part of a colony of believers.  We go to grow.  How else are we to grow?  We grow by being with other believers who set examples for us.

Walking Ellie

If you drive by the parsonage, you may see something that you have never seen:  People walking a cat.  You see, Ellie has never been an outside cat, so we can’t let her walk around outside by herself.  Like Ellie needs a guide, we need a guide, for walking, the church.

Ordination

One day, I’ll go before my bishop for ordination.  He will ask me a series of questions in which I am to respond, “I will.”  Then he will ask two very difficult questions.  He will ask:

“Are you going on to perfection?” and “Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?”

Of course, I won’t even be perfect in this life, but the call is to strive to be.  That’ the calling for all who profess Christ as Lord.

We are to walk, maintaining unity, celebrating diversity, and continuing in the process of spiritual maturity.

Conclusion

Baby Steps

Paul challenges us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.  However, it takes time to get it just right.  It can be scary, walking for the first time.  Just like a baby learns to walk, we will fall.  But just know that we are called to be a part of a grace filled community.  We are surrounded by people who are here for us, helping us as we learn to stay on our feet.  We just have to be willing to get up when we fall. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen

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Sermon: 7-26-09

July 26, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermons · Tagged , ,

Title: When God Moves In
Text: Ephesians 3:14-21
Topic: Making room for God when he moves in.

Introduction

Halfway point of Ephesians

We are now at the halfway point of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The first part of the letter, he shared with the Ephesians what God has done for them. He talked about how God had chosen them, how Christ had redeemed them, and how the Spirit has sealed them. Then we talked about how, through the cross, we are united as one. This is what God has done for them and us. Beginning at chapter four throughout the rest of the letter Paul then talks about how we are to respond to God. Next week we will begin taking a look at how we are to respond to God.
However, halfway through the letter, Paul stops and offers up a prayer for the believers. The prayer is our text for this morning. I believe that it’s very appropriate to stop after God has revealed something to us and pray. We are so eager to respond to God sometimes. God has spoken to us, now we want to get up and get busy. No time to stop and pray Paul. We got work to do. However, I believe that Paul has made a point to us with his prayer. After God speaks, we should stop, listen, and reflect.

Trading spouses

Sometimes Jade and I watch this show called “Trading Spouses”. It’s about families who, being extreme opposites from each other, trade spouses for about a month. One family sends their wife to someone else’s home while they take in the other spouse from the other home. It’s very interesting to watch and see how they respond. At first, they usually start off nice to one another and are excited about the change. Then, over time, they clash. They soon realize how different things have to be with the new parent in the house. They are forced to accommodate the new spouse and change things. Once he or she moves in, everything changes.

Paul’s prayer: When God moves in…

Paul’s prayer is pretty much telling the Ephesians this: When God moves in, your life will change. Just like everything changes when a new spouse moves in on “Trading Spouses”, so it is when God moves in. Paul takes a few moments in his letter to pray and reveal what happens when God moves in. Paul puts the focus not on what we do, (that will come later) but who we are becoming. When you allow God to be Lord of your life, this is what happens. When God moves in, this is what to expect.

One thing that happens when God moves in is that we will be strengthened with power in our inner self.

We will be strengthened with power in our inner self.

In Ephesians 3:16 Paul “prays that according to the riches of his glory, may God grant that you may be strengthened in your inner self with power through his Spirit,”

Our fascination with appearance

We have a fascination with appearance. We really want to look good on the outside, even if it means neglecting the inside to do it. At the beach you see countless people in the trying to improve their appearance by getting a tan without thinking about the effects of sun on their skin. We want pretty smiles so we brush our teeth. Studies show that 94% of people brush their teeth daily. However, only 28% of people floss say they floss regularly and dentists would say a lower amount. We want a pretty smile, but all that really matter is how it looks on the outside. We get caught up with our appearance.

Even the church

Even the church is guilty of being more concerned with outward appearance rather than inward change. When folks become Christians we automatically put new expectations on them. We give them a list of things that they can and cannot do and if they break the rules they aren’t genuinely Christian.

Jesus and the religious leaders

Once when talking with the religious leaders, he compared them to a cup. He said that they were like a cup that was clean on the outside, but dirty on the inside.

Our goal: Spiritual transformation

Our goal above all should be an inner transformation. If we worry about being formed inwardly, we will naturally bear good fruit on the outside. To immediately force rules on new believers is to miss the point entirely of what life in the church is all about.

Knock-out roses

If you walk onto the deck at the parsonage, you will see four small plastic bowls with dirt and what looks to be little sticks in the bowl. My dad used to own a nursery and knows quite a bit about gardening. He tried to get me to help him with his nursery while I was in high school, but after realized that I had a brown thumb, thought that I would probably do better elsewhere. Well, when he helped us move up here we went and visited Duke University because they wanted to see the school. I showed them the divinity school, the football field, and Cameron Indoor Stadium. When we were leaving Cameron, I noticed that they had some knock-out roses planted in the front. So I though to myself, “It would be really neat to root some knock-out roses from Cameron”. My dad agreed. So, while looking over our shoulders to make sure no one was looking, my dad took a clipping from the knock-out bush. I’m currently in the process of trying to root them. Whenever I put them in the soil, they had a nice bud on them. However, my dad told me to remove the buds and leaves because they will absorb all the life for the roots. In other words he said, “Don’t worry about what it looks like now. Just concentrate on the roots.”

Let God transform you

God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. God isn’t looking for people who always say the right things and who looks the part of being a Christian. God is simply for looking someone willing to be inwardly transformed. Once you accept Christ, you begin a process of being formed into a part of the church, being the body of Christ.
Remember, God is transforming you according to the riches of His glory. Let God transform you on the inside. Don’t cheat yourself. Let God clean you up.

Appetizers

Whenever I go to a restaurant my eyes are usually a lot bigger than my stomach. I’ll order something but by the time it gets to me I am already full on appetizers, bread, and salad.
In the same way, we can become consumed and full of ourselves when God is trying to offer us His riches.
God wants to transform your inner self according to His riches. He has high expectations for us. But remember, he does the transforming. We just need to cling to him like a grape clings to a vine.

<em>Paul prays that the Ephesians may be inwardly strengthened. He also prayed that Christ may dwell in their hearts.

May Christ dwell in your hearts.

Ephesians 3:17 says “and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, being rooted and grounded in love”.

Family moving in

If you are like me, you probably have one or two family members that you don’t necessarily enjoy being around. It’s ok though, because you only see them a few times a year and if more than that, it’s for small amounts of time. However, imagine if that person was for some reason forced to move in with you! Imagine the difference. You could tolerate them seeing them on occasion, but it’s a different story if they move in with you. Then, everything changes!

Inviting Christ to dwell

Once you accept Christ into your life, you are inviting him to dwell. You are inviting him to take up residence in your life. Many times we want Christ to visit with us to provide for us and to try to make us better people. But when it gets a bit difficult, that’s when we want to send Jesus to a hotel and give us some space. However, to be a follower of Christ is to have Him to not only enter your life, but to dwell.
Obviously at first, it will be difficult. Christ invites us into a completely different way of life. To think that someone can handle this change easily is to misunderstand how radical of a life Jesus has called us to. To say yes to Christ is to say no to a lot of other things.

Jazmine and lattice

My stepmom used to have lattice on the front porch. One year she decided to put some jazmine-like vine on the lattice. It didn’t take long for that plant to overpower all of the other plants. She eventually had to remove the vines.
When Christ dwells in our hearts, He will eventually take over. It takes time, but like the vine, His ways will eventually overpower our ways. Soon, we will begin thinking like Christ and living the way that Christ lives.
When God moves in, we will be strengthened with power in our inner self, Christ will dwell in our hearts, and we will have power to comprehend and know the love of Christ.

May you have power to comprehend and know Christ’s love.

Ephesians 3:18,19 says ” you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpassed knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

The love of Christ

The love of Christ is so amazing that we aren’t able to comprehend it without Christ’s help. The challenge of the Christian isn’t getting Christ to love us. As a matter of fact, he’s always loved us. Romans 5:8 says that “Christ demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The problem isn’t getting Christ to love us. The issue is understanding his love.
Learning to see with your heart
This love isn’t something that we can figure out. I believe that’s why so many don’t receive the love of Christ. They can’t figure it out. This love goes beyond reason. It takes revelation from God to receive it and know it.

Open the eyes of our heart

Whenever I first became a Christian, the song “Open the Eyes of My Heart” was very popular in the church. The more I think about that song, the more I understand how theologically sound it is. We need God to open the eyes of our heart so that we can see Him and His love.
When we experience Christ, the goal is to see with our hearts and not as much with our minds. To receive the love of Christ is illogical. Pretty much everything that the church stands for in the world is illogical. It takes eyes beyond our minds to receive it, believe it, and live it.

Conclusion

When God moves in, we will be strengthened with power in our inner self, Christ will dwell in our hearts, and we will have power to comprehend and know the love of Christ.

Knock-out roses before
If you were to look at the knock-out roses on my front porch, you wouldn’t see much. All that you would see is a small stick in some dirt. But, despite its appearance, it is still a knock-out rose.
You may look at yourself and say, “I’m not worthy to be a part of the family of God. Compared to all of these beautiful blooms in the lives of others, I look like a worthless stick.” Know this, you are no less a part of the family of God as anyone else. You will one day bloom, as long as you are in the master’s hand. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Sermon: 7-19-09

July 20, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermons · Tagged , ,

Title: United in Christ

Text: Ephesians 2:11-22

Topic: Christ breaks down barriers so that we can be united.

Introduction

Stephen Hawkings

Stephen Hawkings occupies one the most famous and prestigious chairs of education in Great Britain. Some consider him one of the greatest thinkers of our time. He is considered the modern day Albert Einstein. However, as brilliant as he is, he isn’t even able to tie his shoes, brush his teeth, or comb his hair. Mr. Hawking’s body has been crippled by an affliction known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This disease has basically caused his nerves to disconnect from each other, causing messages not to be able to get to his body from his brain. There is nothing wrong with his brain. He is still as brilliant as he once was. What’s striking about this is that there is nothing wrong with his head. It’s his body that’s dysfunctional.
The church has Lou Gehrig’s disease
We are the body, Christ is the head. However, sometimes the body of Christ has a case similar to Lou Gehrig’s disease. Sometimes we can’t receive from the head (which is Christ) because we as the body are disconnected from each other.
What affects the mission of the church more than anything isn’t the world. It isn’t because we no longer have prayer in schools. It isn’t because stores are opened on Sundays. It isn’t even because of our new president. What affects our mission more than anything is disunity in the body of Christ.

No peace and unity

The text this morning shows Paul discussing this very issue. He is dealing with two groups of people whom God has made into one. God’s goal for the Jews and Gentiles is unity. Let’s see what we can discover about unity in this passage.

By human hands, we are divided.

Read vv. 11,12
We are tribal

In middle school it didn’t take me long to figure out that the most evil entity in the world is the teenage girl. It’s amazing how quickly they get mad at each other, how they take sides, and how both sides all of the sudden hate each other. We are tribal, territorial people. They quickly forget why they are even mad. They just know that they have to take a side. You can’t stay in the middle!
This is one of the reasons why gangs are so popular today. They recruit people, give them something to defend, and then they feel like they have a purpose. We are tribal people.
By nature, we are a tribal people. We have this desire to be a part of a group, something bigger than ourselves, and we are considered brave and heroic if we are willing to do anything to defend it.

Duke/Carolina

I love it up here in North Carolina. There is no better place to see this territorial/tribal attitude than in a place where you have Duke, Carolina, and State fans.

Politics

I always find it so humorous to watch political debates on television. If a Rebublican believes something, no matter what it is, it’s almost guaranteed that the Democrat will believe it the other way and vice versa. The issue at hand isn’t what’s important, defending the party is.

The Church divided

Even in the church we have a tendency to divide. It has been said that the most segregated hour of the week in from 11 to 12 on Sunday mornings. Years after segregation has ceased, the church seems to still be behind. We also divide on theological and political views. I have heard fellow brothers and sisters in Christ called non-Christians because they held a differing viewpoint on a certain theological or political issue. There are countless books written by Christian authors with no other purpose than to cause harm to other members of the body of Christ with a different viewpoint.
Even in the church we separate into separate groups. This is why it seems that the church has a case of Lou Gehrig’s disease! We are so disconnected.
It seems that we have a natural way of dividing ourselves from others. By our hands, we are divided. However, hear the good news! In Christ, we are united!

In Christ, we are united.

Read 13-16
Because of Christ’s death on the cross, he has brought all people together. There are no more divisions. We are one body of people.

Richard Hays

One of the primary reasons that Jesus died on the cross was to create “one” body. Richard Hays, NT professor at Duke, says that it’s the primary reason. We who were far off (that’s us Gentiles) have now been brought near by the blood of Christ. The Gentiles now have access to God because of Christ’s sacrifice.

Both groups need reconciliation

However, we Gentiles weren’t the only group that needed reconciliation. v. 16 says that he might “reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross.”
God’s goal was to make a new people entirely. We aren’t included with the Jews. We are an entirely new people. This is one of the basics of the Christian faith. When we decide to follow Christ, at our baptism, we join a new people. The first words that we say in the baptism covenant is “Brothers and sisters in Christ: Through the Sacrament of Baptism we are initiated into Christ’s holy Church.
Now, we are called to be faithful to this new community that we live in. While I love my country, my allegiance is to Christ’s church. Sometimes we will be faced with circumstances where our church citizenship and our national citizenship collide and disagree. When this happens, we are called to submit to the lordship of Christ and be faithful to his church.

Diversity makes unity difficult

However, let’s not be fooled: Unity among diverse people is difficult. The church is very much a diverse body and we should celebrate that . All around the world this morning different nations, tribes, and languages are meeting to worship the same Lord as us. However, because of our diversity, whether, ethically, theologically, or politically, unity in the church can be hard to achieve.

John Wesley on unity

In light of this, John Wesley said “In things essential, unity; In things inessential, liberty; In all things, charity.” In other words, even though we disagree on certain issues, we should be united on the essential things.

World Council of Churches

The UMC is a member of the World Council of Churches. This is an ecumenical council with the goal of different denominations united to reach the world with the gospel. In order to be a member, one thing is required: Confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord and savior. This is an essential. Obviously, when uniting diverse groups, you are going to have disagreements. This is ok. The church will never agree on everything. What’s IS important is that we are united on the essentials, and that is that salvation is through Jesus Christ.

Seminary visit

I recently visited a seminary as I was trying to decide where to do my theological education. This seminary was very popular and had a great academic program. They had several lectures put together and all of them in some way or another talked about diversity, unity, and social work. They talked about how we must celebrate diversity and be united to bring peace to the world. Of course, I agree with this 100%. But what I found odd was that during this entire visit, the name of Jesus was rarely, if ever, mentioned. They were all about doing the work of ministry, but they seemed to be doing it without Christ.

above all, In Christ

Sometimes, when trying to be diverse, we surrender what’s important and have an everything is accepted attitude.
We are united only in Christ and only because of Christ. We have peace only in Christ because He is our peace. The church isn’t called to spend a lot of time discussing and debating peace. Christ himself is our peace and if we are in Christ, we are united as one body and grafted into a new family.

United, we are a dwelling place for God.

The ark of the covenant
In the Old Testament, God’s presence dwelled with the people of Israel in the ark of the covenant. God’s dwelling place was with the Israelites. You can probably remember the story of David dancing in the streets when the ark of the covenant returned to them. They were indeed a special people because God’s presence was with them.
VV.21,22 says that “In Christ the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. “

My Dad and coffee

God’s new dwelling place
God once dwelled in the ark of the covenant. Now his dwelling place is with the united body of Christ.
When we are united, we are free to be the church. Why? Because God is with us. When we are united, the world sees a strange, peculiar people.
Unity as the church’s mission
This unity is primary also for the church’s mission. So many times we try to make a different by our social actions. We try to help the poor, widowed, and hurting. In our efforts to get people to church, we make up nice flyers to pass out, have fun events for people to attend, and seek to make our worship services “guest friendly”.
Of course, these are certainly extensions of the church and a great way to be a witness for Jesus Christ. However, we serve the world best by showing it something that it is not, and that is a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.

Conclusion

The prayer of Jesus
Before his death, Jesus prayed for the church. This was his prayer:
“The glory which you have given Me I have given them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” John 17:22,23
It has been said that this is Jesus’ only prayer that has yet to be answered.
As the church, we have a mission and that mission is to make disciples of Christ. Let’s hear the prayer of Jesus that the world will know that Jesus was sent by God when we, the church, are perfected in unity. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Sermons

July 17, 2009 · Filed under Rehoboth UMC, Sermons · Tagged

I plan to post my sermons on my blog for your reading. Some may be decent, but the majority will probably need work. Please feel free to comment and offer suggestions.

This is my first sermon at Rehoboth UMC.

Title: A Strange Way to Save the World
Text: Luke 1:39-56
Point: God works in strange ways to bring us salvation.

Introduction

Extension cord

Not long ago, a friend of mine was getting married. She, Jade, and the rest of the bridal party were going to the dress shop to try on dresses and somehow I got persuaded to go. So it was me,, and a bunch of women trying on dresses. We also had another friend getting married and I discovered that we needed to get her a wedding gift for her upcoming bridal shower. We were running out of time and it was likely that we wouldn’t get a chance to stop and get the gift. So I had an opportunity. I saw a chance of escape. So I volunteered myself: “Jade, I’ll be glad to go to Walmart to get the gift.” Some of the other girls were asking Jade: “Do you trust him to buy a wedding gift? I wouldn’t trust my husband.” But Jade had faith in me so I escaped from the bridal shop and was on my way to Walmart. There, I printed out the registry and began looking down the list at my options. We were late at getting the gift so most of the good gifts were already purchased. So, knowing that I didn’t have much time, I tried to make a quick decision. And there it was on the list. The price was decent. It was close by and nobody had bought it yet. It was very practical and something that the newlyweds would certainly use. So I had made my decision. I was going to get them a nice, bright yellow, extension cord. After all, they registered for it so apparently they wanted it. So I got back to the girls at the bridal shop and proudly showed what I bought for the shower. How did they respond? They all pretty much laughed in my face. I was shocked! “What’s wrong?” All of them were laughing hysterically and Jade looked a bit disappointed. Apparently I had failed. “You don’t get an extension cord for a bridal shower!”

The strange man and woman relationship

Life is full of strange things. But probably the strangest thing is God asking a man and woman, two completely opposite creatures, to try to live with each other. I believe that family is important and is what sustains life, but you have to admit, it is quite ironic that at the core of a family is the relationship between man and woman.

God, strangely at work in human history

God does things in strange ways.
Looking throughout Christian history, God has fulfilled his purposes in ways that seem strange to us. God used the prostitute Rahab to help the Israelites escape. God uses the young boy David and his slingshot to fight Goliath, the mighty Giant. God spoke through a donkey. Over and over again we see God at work in strange ways.

Strange salvation

Our salvation also came in a strange way. The people of Israel were desperately in need of salvation. They were under Roman rule and were waiting on the Messiah that was promised to them. However, when the messiah came, many didn’t believe that Jesus was him. Why? Because Jesus wasn’t what they expected. They expected a great military leader. They expected a great warrior who would liberate them from Roman bondage. However, Jesus didn’t come as a militant leader. Actually, he taught his followers to be peaceful and turn the other cheek. He didn’t come to liberate Israel from the powers of Rome. Actually, he taught them to submit to the governmental leadership over them. Jesus was the messiah, sent by God. But he wasn’t what the people expected. His teaching was a bit, strange.

Today’s scripture: God’s character revealed

The text this morning is another example of God working in strange ways. God sends John the Baptist and Jesus to the world; but he sends them through unlikely people. God sees a people in desperate need, but he sends help in an unconventional way. Whenever we see God at work in the scripture, especially in the Gospels, it tells us a lot about his character. Let’s see what this text tells us about God and how we are to respond to him.

God sometimes acts at a strange time.

Elizabeth: “Why so late, Lord?”
Here we have two women at different stages of life. Elizabeth is an older woman who has felt disgraced all throughout life because she couldn’t have children. Now, at the end of her life, God allows her to have a child. It’s obvious from the scripture that she is grateful, but I’m sure that she has wondered, “Why so late, Lord?” “Why have you allowed me to feel like a disgrace my entire life?”

Mary: “Why now, Lord?”

Now imagine what Mary is feeling. The angel Gabriel comes to the virgin Mary and tells her, “ You are going to have a child!” Like Mary, I would certainly question the timing of the pregnancy. Couldn’t you wait just a little longer until I’m married before this happens? Don’t you understand how this will effect my reputation? I could be stoned for this!

Awkward timing

Why did God choose such an awkward timing for these pregnancies? Why does God not always do things at a convenient time for us? I’m sure that you can think about times in your life when God didn’t show up when you thought he would. You prayed and prayed for God to speak but all that you heard was silence. Why does God choose to be loud when we want him to be quiet and silent when we want him to speak?

Teaches us to rely on God

One reason is because God is teaching us to rely on him instead of ourselves. Relying on God is at the core of our Christian faith. Whenever we say to God that he is Lord, we are telling him that we rely on him to lead our lives. He is now in control and we are not. But some of us find that part difficult. It’s not easy to let someone else lead your life. After all, we have been in control all of this time.

Decision about seminary

To be honest, I began to question the timing of God over the last year. Jade and I were living in a good community close to our hometown. We both had secure jobs in a bad economy. Then, I felt a call to move to go to seminary. With the economy the way it is, I had to ask God, “Are you sure that this is the right timing?” It might be hard for Jade to find a job. Financial aid at school isn’t as good this year as in previous years because the economy has affected the endowment. “God, are you sure that you don’t want to rethink this?” But I still felt the call to go. And so far throughout this process God has provided.
God acts a strange time because God sees what we can’t. The timing may not be strange at all, but it seems strange to us. We just need to learn to trust God.

God sometimes uses strange people to do his will.

Playing the bench

I grew up playing a lot of sports, especially baseball and my dad was always my coach. I love my dad, but I remember getting mad at him at least once every game. The reason that I would get mad at him was because regardless of the score, he would play everybody. He would tell us, “If you show up for practice, try your best, listen to what I tell you, and have a good attitude, you will play. It doesn’t matter if you are the best or not. What matters is your attitude.” We could be beating the best team by 1 run with two innings left and my dad would pull out a lot of the starters and let everyone play. It’s almost like he would look for reasons to take the starters out. If a player got an attitude, my dad would pull them out and put in a reserve. So you can imagine why I would get so mad with him. However, despite my dad’s unusual approach, we would still play about as well.

Qualifications for God to use you: Humble and obedient

Looking at this text, I think that God uses a similar approach to using people as my dad. I don’t think he is looking the most talented people. He is only looking for the humble and obedient.

The Bearer of salvation

If I were to pick a way to bring salvation into the world, I most definitely wouldn’t pick Mary. Mary was a poor girl from the small town of Nazareth. She also was a teenager and we know that teenagers can’t do anything, right? So, why did God use her? Of course, there is no way for us to know all the reasons, but we can probably see a few reasons why from the text. V.38 shows that she is obedient to God’s word, despite probably being a little scared. God used her simply because she said yes.

Demonstrates God’s power

Another reason that God uses strange people is because it demonstrates his power instead of our own.

McGuyver

Growing up, I used to watch a show called McGuyver. McGuyver was this very smart guy who always found himself locked up somewhere. What made the show so cool was, no matter where he was, McGuyver would find a way to escape. He would use whatever he had to help him escape. He could be locked up with nothing but a candle, peppermint, and a trashcan and he would figure out how to escape using those items.

Why men never use instructions

Do you wonder why men never use instructions? It’s because it shows how smart we are that we can find our way with limited resources (even though most of the time we usually end up lost)
Whenever God uses the unexpected and the simple, it demonstrates God’s power instead of our own. If God brought Jesus into the world using military force instead of the womb of a poor teenager, it would be man’s doings instead of God’s.

God’s faithfulness leads us to joy and praise.

The gift of gratitude
I recently heard a pastor sharing a devotion. He asked us the question: “If you could give your child any gift, what would it be?” Love? Forgiveness? Joy? After we pondered the question he shared his response, “If I could give my child any gift, it would be the gift of gratitude.”
God fulfills his promises. We might break promises, but God doesn’t. As we have discussed already, God may fulfill them in ways that we least expect, but he does fulfill them.

Conclusion

View of parade

There was a man who hated parades. He is claustrophobic and whenever he is on the ground he gets very frightened. He doesn’t like how chaotic everything is. People going in every direction. There seems to be no order whatsoever. So the man hadn’t been to a parade in many years. One day one of his friends invited to come to a parade and sit in a booth above the parade with him. He was reluctant, but decided to go. As he watched the parade from above, he realized that the parade wasn’t so bad. He was actually really enjoying himself. He noticed that what he thought was chaos was actually order. He just couldn’t tell from the ground.

Ground view

God’s activity usually appears strange to us, but that’s only because we are seeing it from the ground. We don’t have the view of the entire parade like God. We only see chaos. All that we can do is continue marching and believe that God is leading us in the right direction.

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We’re moving!

June 2, 2009 · Filed under Duke, Rehoboth UMC · Tagged , ,

On June 23rd, Me, Jade, and the cats will be moving to our new home. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m about to begin seminary at Duke. While I’m going to Duke I’ll be serving a church in Henderson. The church is Rehoboth UMC (above). Duke has a program where certain students serve as pastors of small rural churches while attending school.

We have already visited the congregation and are really looking forward to serving there. I’ve had several conversations with their current pastor, Tony, via email. He has been very helpful in giving me valuable information about the church.

Obviously, we are sad about leaving the current church where I’m serving at in Cordele. We’ve had some great experiences here and will definitely miss the people.

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