The Almost Christian

Sermon given at Grace UMC 1/31/16

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Scripture

^NRS  Acts 26:22 To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place:  ²³ that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles."  ²⁴ While he was making this defense, Festus exclaimed, "You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!"  ²⁵ But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth.  ²⁶ Indeed the king knows about these things, and to him I speak freely; for I am certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner.  ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe."  ²⁸ Agrippa said to Paul, "Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?"  ²⁹ Paul replied, "Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today might become such as I am-- except for these chains."

John Wesley gave this sermon on July 25, 1741to a crowd at Oxford. John has graduated from Oxford and had taken his trip as a missionary across to Georgia where he failed in that endeavor. During his return he encountered the Moravians and that encounter changed him, his ministry and his understanding of the Holy Spirit. His new view of experience with the Holy Spirit was at odds with some of those in Oxford at the time. The reports are that John was not concerned with the potential hostility in the crowd as he gave his message. This message was widely published.

In the scripture today Paul is taken before King Agrippa. King Agrippa was a relative of Herod the Great and was ruler of all of the lands then considered Israel. Paul was brought before him in chains and asked to repent of his Christian belief. Not only did Paul not repent, rather, he tried unsuccessfully to convert King Agrippa and all of his court. Festus was the governor of Judah, a successor to Pilate. So we set the stage for this interesting sermon of whether or not we should convert to Christianity and what exactly does it mean to be a Christian.

I know that all of us know people who are good people, maybe even great people. Folks that would give the shirt off their back to assist someone if they were in need of help. But do good deeds win us a place in heaven or more importantly, do good deeds define us as Christians? John Wesley in this sermon compares almost with altogether. There are many almost Christians in the world, apparently in Wesley’s day as well as ours. So what defines an almost Christian? John Wesley put it this way, “I did go thus far for many years, as many of this place can testify; using diligence to eschew all evil, and to have a conscience void of offence; redeeming the time; buying up every opportunity of doing all good to all men; constantly and carefully using all the public and all the private means of grace; endeavouring after a steady seriousness of behaviour, at all times, and in all places; and, God is my record, before whom I stand, doing all this in sincerity; having a real design to serve God; a hearty desire to do his will in all things; to please him who had called me to "fight the good fight," and to "lay hold of eternal life." Yet my own conscience beareth me witness in the Holy Ghost, that all this time I was but almost a Christian.”[i]

What he is saying is that an almost Christian obeys the Golden Rule, does not steal, does not oppress the poor, or does not act unjustly in their behavior toward others. That they have truth in what they say and they are people of justice. Almost Christians love one another and reach out to assist one another wherever they can. They don’t take God’s name in vain and abstain from drunkenness and other forms of vice. And an almost Christian desires to do good wherever they can. They frequent the house of God on Sunday morning and take part in the covenants of God, approaching the Table of God without careless disregard for what it stands for. In other words, most of us fall within this category. We strive to be good people in the world and I know that you are here this morning because of your desire to be right with God. James in his writings reminds us though that faith without works is dead. So what are works but the fruit of our faith? If there is no fruit then there must be no faith. But the opposite is true if there are good works without faith. We see the good works and think, look at them, almost a Christian.

So what is there that is different that makes a person altogether a Disciple of Christ, a child of God and a Christian? Wesley points out that the first is the love for God. Not just any kind of love, but the deep convicting intimate love one has for a spouse or for a child. The love for God is the kind of love that permeates everything within us. We love God with all heart, soul, mind and strength. With that kind of love we desire nothing less than to devote our lives to that relationship. Nothing is more sacred, nothing more important. We spend our lives focused on being the child of God that God intended from creation and from our birth. For God came into the world and was crucified for us because of this love.

Second that we learn to love our neighbor as Christ first loved us. Jesus gave of Himself fully and completely to teach us, show us by example and then to atone for sin for us on the cross of Golgotha. This kind of love is exemplified when we love our neighbors, we do not envy, we are not rash or make hasty judgements and we focus on being servants to those who need the love of Christ in a human and real way. Paul nailed this kind of love in his letter to the church of Corinth when he said this kind of love covers all things, believes all things, hopes all thigs and endures all things.

When we have this kind of faith we do more than believe in Christ, we endeavor to personify Christ in the world. We learn to walk the walk of Christ as we share the love of God with others. When we have this kind of faith, it is more than just believing, it is abiding in the image of Christ on the cross that we may share in the resurrection of the tomb. Repentance is the key. It does not mean we walk this walk perfect without sin, rather, it means that when we sin we ask God to forgive us and redeem us, transform us that we might not sin again. We work at being servants of the world not because we desire praise and appreciation but because we have been blessed with the love of God. It is about following the three rules that John Wesley aspired to live in his life. To do good in all things, to do no harm and practice the life of a Christian, reading the Bible daily, praying constantly and participating and attending to the services of the Church.

We come today in the presence of the Holy Spirit given a choice between being a good person who is almost a Christian and being the follower of Christ we are called to be. Is the love of God filling your heart to the point that it is the central focus of your life? Do you desire to be part of the creation of God as God intended it? We all struggle with trying to be the image of Christ in the world. We all struggle with sin and its debilitating consequences. But we all have hope in the image of Christ on the cross and the empty tomb that follows.

Wesley said it this way, “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who now standeth in the midst of us, knoweth, that if any man die without this faith and this love, good it were for him that he had never been born. Awake, then, thou that sleepest, and call upon thy God: call in the day when he may be found. Let him not rest, till he make his "goodness to pass before thee;" till he proclaim unto thee the name of the Lord, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin." Let no man persuade thee, by vain words, to rest short of this prize of thy high calling. But cry unto him day and night, who, "while we were without strength, died for the ungodly," until thou knowest in whom thou hast believed, and canst say, "My Lord, and my God!" Remember, "always to pray, and not to faint," till thou also canst lift up thy hand unto heaven, and declare to him that liveth for ever and ever, "Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee…May we all thus experience what it is to be, not almost only; but altogether Christians; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus; knowing we have peace with God through Jesus Christ; rejoicing in hope of the glory of God; and having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us!”[ii]

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[i] Outler, Albert and Heitzenrater, Richard, John Wesley’s Sermons, 1991, Abingdon Press, Nashville, page 65

[ii] Ibid, page 67-68

By Faith Alone

Sermon given at Grace UMC 1/24/16

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us  ⁵ even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--  ⁹ not the result of works, so that no one may boast.  ¹⁰ For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Recently a radio station ran one of their games where you had to guess the answer to the question that they were asking. It was: What is more powerful than a tornado, higher than the tallest mountain, gentler than tissue paper, invisible like the wind, and as real as you or I? For several weeks this question was asked of adults who listened to the station without an answer. On the third week, the announcer went into an elementary school to do a show and tell and he thought well why not. So he asked these 5 and 6 years olds the question and they got it within a minute. What is the answer to this question?

John Wesley begins his sermon entitled “Salvation by Faith”, given at Oxford upon his return from Georgia on June 11, 1738. It contains the change of heart he experienced after failing as a missionary in Georgia to win one single soul to Christ among the American Indians he worked with. On his return trip he experienced a Moravian group in the midst of a storm that changed how he viewed his faith, culminating in his Aldersgate experience in May of 1738. He begins with these words, “All the blessings which God hath bestowed upon man are of his mere grace, bounty, or favour; his free, undeserved favour; favour altogether undeserved; man having no claim to the least of his mercies. It was free grace that "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him a living soul," and stamped on that soul the image of God, and "put all things under his feet." The same free grace continues to us, at this day, life, and breath, and all things. For there is nothing we are, or have, or do, which can deserve the least thing at God's hand. "All our works, Thou, O God, hast wrought in us." These, therefore, are so many more instances of free mercy: and whatever righteousness may be found in man, this is also the gift of God.”[i]

What then does it mean to be saved, to have as a foundation of our lives the knowledge that we are eternal beings and God has given us a great gift of eternal life? We have lived under the fear of death and dying. It is a part of my life as a Pastor and friend that I have to see members of your families, both close and extended, friends of the church and community and sometimes even one of you face this part of our physical existence. Without salvation, what is there to live for and where can there be hope? For if we are all sinners as Paul points out, what hope can we have of redemption? John Wesley makes the point that belief is only part of faith and we need to tread carefully through the mine field that we have been taught. For all people inherently believe there is something greater than this. That there is some being of great power that created the world we live in. But is that enough, to simply believe that Jesus existed and that He went to the cross as atonement for you and me? Even the devil believes that Jesus is the Son of God and that God not only exists, but controls the universe we live in. Did not the Apostles believe and yet Jesus said to even them, if they would only have the faith of a tiny mustard seed they could move mountains? What then is faith? John Wesley puts it this way, “This then is the salvation which is through faith, even in the present world: a salvation from sin, and the consequences of sin, both often expressed in the word justification; which, taken in the largest sense, implies a deliverance from guilt and punishment, by the atonement of Christ actually applied to the soul of the sinner now believing on him, and a deliverance from the power of sin, through Christ formed in his heart. So that he who is thus justified, or saved by faith, is indeed born again. He is born again of the Spirit unto a new life, which "is hid with Christ in God." And as a new-born babe he gladly receives the adolon, "sincere milk of the word, and grows thereby;" going on in the might of the Lord his God, from faith to faith, from grace to grace, until at length, he come unto "a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."[ii]

Faith is not only the belief in Jesus, God and the atonement on the cross, but in the change of heart that occurs when that belief becomes faith. It becomes faith when we realize that God has given us an unearned gift that we cannot repay. It must acknowledge the death of Jesus on the cross, the atonement for sin at that moment, the resurrection of the body and death no longer having its hold on humanity before belief becomes faith. It is that deep understanding that Jesus' death on the cross is that sacrifice that was required to redeem you and me. It is not a future event but it is here in this moment a here and now opportunity to share in eternity with God. We attain it when we allow our hearts and minds to transform. We are saved or born anew against the backdrop of our inherent desire to be God, to be in control, and to be willfully disobedient. We realize that there is no limit, no restriction and whether we are Jew or Gentile, the gift is offered to each of us equally. We are reminded that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God through the cross and the empty tomb. Wesley believed that we could attain a place where do not habitually sin through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But some object that it is not faith alone. That to preach it is to preach against holiness and good works. Now like you I know many people who do great things for the people around them. But those works do not alone give them a ticket into salvation. Paul reminds us that it is not works but faith while James admonishes us that faith without works is an empty faith. Does this then encourage one to sin? Wesley asks that very question as he preaches that God’s gift is the defining gift to the world. Indeed it may he says. There are some even today who would have us believe that Jesus died for all so all are free, whether they walk in the ways of God or not. Others would have us believe that once we mouth those words asking Jesus in and receive the living water that nothing else in life matters from that moment on. Wesley’s response to that is, “But their blood is upon their own head. The goodness of God ought to lead them to repentance; and so it will those who are sincere of heart. When they know there is yet forgiveness with him, they will cry aloud that he would blot out their sins also, through faith which is in Jesus. And if they earnestly cry, and faint not, if they seek him in all the means he hath appointed; if they refuse to be comforted till he come; "he will come, and will not tarry." And he can do much work in a short time.”[iii]

Isn’t it a marvel how plants and flowers automatically direct themselves towards the sun. I remember as a young pilot in North Dakota how we would fly east and the ground beneath us was a mixture of yellows, browns and natural colors. But when we turned west, the ground beneath us became a vivid yellow as we traveled over miles of sunflowers. Isn’t it remarkable that all of nature, as we know it, the non-reasoning species which include all plants and animals except man, instinctively have faith and recognize their purpose?

What are we supposed to do in the face of adversity, oppression and often our own humanity but to have faith in the God who redeems and sustains us? We have faith in our belief in the resurrection. We cannot see it, we were not witnesses to it and many argue that it did not happen and yet we believe because of faith. Faith is the sustaining power that gets us through times of trouble. So why is it that we struggle with faith? Why can’t we accept that there is a God, that God is real and that God’s grace is real? What would it take to convince you that your whole existence depends on faith? I can remember that once when I was a college student in a Math class the question was asked, “Why is 1+1=2?”  Do you know? The answer is because it is. We must take certain things on faith and believe that they are what we say they are in order for the world not to be one of chaos. Faith in God is exactly like that?

Oh, by the way, did you get the answer at the beginning of the sermon? Why of course, it is God. God is more powerful than a tornado, gentler than a tissue, invisible like the wind and as real as you or I. It is this last part that we adults sometimes begin to question as we get older and should I say sarcastically, wiser.

Wesley concludes this sermon with these words. I felt they summed it up better than I ever could so listen to his words from 1738. “For this reason the adversary so rages whenever "salvation by faith" is declared to the world: for this reason did he stir up earth and hell, to destroy those who first preached it. And for the same reason, knowing that faith alone could overturn the foundations of his kingdom, did he call forth all his forces, and employ all his arts of lies and calumny, to affright Martin Luther from reviving it. Nor can we wonder threat; for, as that man of God observes, "How would it enrage a proud, strong man armed, to be stopped and set at nought by a little child coming against him with a reed in his hand!" especially when he knew that little child would surely overthrow him, and tread him under foot. Even so, Lord Jesus! Thus hath Thy strength been ever "made perfect in weakness!" Go forth then, thou little child that believest in him, and his "right hand shall teach thee terrible things!" Though thou art helpless and weak as an infant of days, the strong man shall not be able to stand before thee. Thou shalt prevail over him, and subdue him, and overthrow him and trample him under thy feet. Thou shalt march on, under the great Captain of thy salvation, "conquering and to conquer," until all thine enemies are destroyed, and "death is swallowed up in victory.”[iv]

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[i] Outler and Heitzenrater, John Wesley’s Sermons, 1991, Abingdon Press, page 40

[ii] Ibid, page 44

[iii] Ibid, page 45

[iv] Ibid, page 47

The Image of God

Sermon given at Grace UMC 1/17/16

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Scripture

^NRS  Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." ²⁷ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." ²⁹ God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. ³¹ God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

You may have heard the story ....about a little girl in Sunday school ....who was drawing a picture.... using all of her crayons. Her teacher asked her ... what she was drawing. "I'm drawing a picture of God," the little girl responded. "But nobody knows what God looks like," her teacher said. To which the little girl replied, "They will when I'm finished." (Pause)

John Wesley began his preaching career in an effort to bring the Word of God to the people. The Image of God is one of his first sermons given at St. Mary’s, the church in Oxford on November 15, 1730. He begins this sermon with these words chosen in order but not totally inclusive. “But to this it has constantly been opposed: if man was made in the image of God, whence flow those numberless imperfections that stain and dishonor his nature? Why is his body exposed to sickness and pain, and at last to a total dissolution? Why is his soul still more disgraced and deformed by ignorance and error, by unruly passions, and what is worse than all, as it contains them all, by vice?...I am ashamed to say there are those of our age and nation who greedily close with this old objection, and eagerly maintain that they were not made in the image of the living God, but of the beasts that perish; who heartily contend that is was not divine but the brutal likeness in which they were created…The substance of his account in this: God created man upright; in the image of God he created him; but man found out to himself many inventions. Abusing the liberty wherewith he was endowed, he rebelled against his Creator, and willfully changed the image of the incorruptible God into sin, misery, and corruption. Yet his merciful, though rejected, Creator would not forsake even the depraved work of his own hands, but provided for him, and offered to him a means of being ‘renewed after the image of him that created him’.”[i]

John Wesley would want us to know that the scripture clearly tells us that we are created in the image of God. From the beginning we did not evolve from Apes, from goo to man, as some would like to report, but we were created in the very image of God. No as to that image and what it means there is has been great discussion and argument over the years. So today I want to share the essence of Wesley’s understanding and my own as we explore the image of God.

There can be no question greater for the people of humanity as to how and why we were created and why we are here. We were created by God to be the essence of God’s eternal love so that the world would understand God’s essential nature. God created us to be in relationship with God and with each other, not in the current reality of that relationship but in a harmonious relationship. As evidence of this, we know that deep within our very natures in a desire to be in relationship. We are not born, none of us, with a desire to live alone. That may come later after years of interaction burn those created bonds and we desire to live alone on desert islands for the remainder of our lives. But we are not created that way. We are endued with the power to distinguish right from wrong, an inherent sense of being good versus being evil. We are given a will equally perfect that is both blessing and curse. I often say that we are born with that inherent nature to want to be God while understanding that we are not God. So God formed us in the image of God, the image of love that we might love God and love one another in perfection and harmony. God gave us the ability to choose, the inalienable right to make decisions as small as what will I drink today and as monumental as what will I believe.

Wesley suggests that in order to have the liberty of free will we must also be set about for the trial of that free will. He believed that the essence of this story is the trial that there is something forbidden and the free will to choose obedience or disobedience in that trial. So Adam comes into this place of choice and chooses unwisely. Like a parent who established rules and consequences of infraction of those rules, the discipline comes from our choosing the wrong course of action. It is that action of Adam that has condemned us all. Wesley believed that not only did it bring sin into the world but that the eating of the fruit of the tree brought illness and disease into the body. It is an interesting concept and thought that Wesley brings in his sermon, that the consequence of eating of the Tree was death, and death has come through the consequence of consuming the fruit of the very tree we are told to leave alone. The eating of the fruit has had the consequence of producing the corrupted physical and spiritual nature of humanity throughout the ages.

I think it is also interesting to realize that Wesley was arguing against the Darwinist viewpoint that was gaining favor in his day, that we are a part of the evolutionary chain that began with creation in a moment, evolved through cells into substance and substance into walking human beings. Wesley on the other hand argues that we have the story of creation as an upright physical human being, similar to other species on the planet but not of the same substance; rather we are created in the image of God as God intended. Some things don’t change over the course of three hundred years and this argument continues.

From the liberty of choice we became then the slave to vice. Addiction in its many forms claims all of us. We may find ourselves addicted to substances that are not good for the body like drugs or consumption of sugar, my own addiction. Or we may find that we are addicted to materialism in its worst example, spending beyond our means. But none the less, we find ourselves enslaved to those human addictions that hold us prisoner to the vices of our lives. Instead of love and perfection we now are slaves to selfishness, greed, envy, lust and the list goes on and on.

It is here that Wesley takes a turn and reminds us that we can recover from being in the corrupted image of God and work towards becoming part of the incorruptible image of God. Paul reminds us that in Adam we all died to sin and in Christ Jesus we all live. In that very image of creation is the spark that can turn us back toward the Garden of Eden, back toward the reason we were first created and back toward perfection and paradise. We have been given a second chance by the very Creator that brought us into this world. That through the gift of Jesus we have been claimed again by the Creator to be the image of God that was intended from the beginning of creation itself. That through the gift of Jesus we can become the people of God. We do that Wesley admonishes by being humble. When we reflect on who we are and what we have allowed ourselves to become through the essence of free will, then we can begin to work towards a different reality of life. I often share that true discipleship comes first from self-reflection and knowing who we are. It is then that we can begin to replace ego with humility. Humility towards our fellow human beings that we interact with every day where we replace a sense of superiority and judgement with understanding and compassion. Humility in understanding that we are truly not in control, God is, and we need to be obedient to God. We replace that sense of self with a sense for others. Wesley would go from Oxford outward into a world where he believed that mission, compassion, mercy and grace are the cornerstones of this relationship that we are created for.

We have been created in the image of God, an image of relationship and an image of love. God’s love is unwavering and never fails us. Even when Adam faced the consequences of disobedience which is death, God provided a path back to the Garden through Jesus.

When I was younger I had a number of people that I idolized. Among them were people some of you have heard of and some will not know. Folks like Chuck Yeager who broke the sound barrier, John Wayne, and President Kennedy. I find myself even today using their image as an image to work towards. Now we know that in every human idol, except Jesus, there is the corruptible nature. But truth is that we all have in our minds an image of who we want to be. The choice is yours. Is that image in your mind the image of creation, who God intended us to be, or who the world wants us to conform to be? The choice is yours. Which will you choose?

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[i] Outler and Heitzenrater, John Wesley’s Sermons, 1991, Abingdon Press, page 14

Baptism Our Religious Heritage

Sermon given at Grace UMC 

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Matthew 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. ¹⁶ And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Good morning and welcome to Baptism Sunday. It is the Sunday when we celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the Christian year. We do this to remember that Jesus went down to the Jordan where John the Baptizer was in order to be baptized. So why did he go? And what does baptism mean? These are the questions that we will try to uncover this morning. No other subject in Christian history has caused more discussion and disagreement than baptism. So often we hear that we are different than other denominations and that those differences are deep and impossible to allow us to come together. Some of them relate to the Sabbath and some relate to the color of the carpet or dimming of lights, but only one differentiates us more than any other. It is the subject of Baptism. Have I been baptized if I have been sprinkled or do I need to be poured over or dunked or do I even need baptism at all.

So what is baptism? As United Methodists, we believe that baptism is a sacrament. In other words, God is the principle player at work in the baptism. That means that as human beings, we simply show up and let God do what God is going to do. Through God’s grace we are incorporated into the Body of Christ through baptism. We are initiated into the Christian church universal and we are commissioned into ministry. And in baptism, the taint of original sin is washed clean from us. Whether that person receives this initiation at a young age or at the age of maturity, it is the gift of God and the work of the Holy Spirit rather than a means of human choice. It is a communal act whereby we the Body of Christ agree to covenant with that individual for life. In the Methodist church we do not baptize individuals individually. We baptize in the community where we covenant together for life. Through the act of baptism we see prevenient grace in action and an exodus from the bondage of original sin. John Wesley wrote that baptism is the act of God who cleanses us of original sin through his divine grace. That our human condition is such that we cannot ourselves be cleansed through our own initiative and it was necessary for God to sacrifice for us in order that we can be cleansed. It is the incorporation into the body of Christ through his church, the universal Christian church in the world. That makes all the baptized of the world our sisters and brothers. In order to receive the blessing of God and enter into heaven, one needs to proclaim their belief in Jesus and begin the transformation process we call Justifying and Sanctifying Grace. This is not the same as baptism. More on that later!

Baptism comes to us from a rich heritage in the Hebrew faith. Baptism comes from the Greek “to cleanse” and is derived from the Hebrew cleansing liturgies that have existed since Moses. When one sins, one must be cleansed of that sin. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament writings, the cleansing or purification process included water or oil. Levites were anointed with oil after having been cleansed with water before entering into the holy of holies. Hebrew's from the time of Moses have cleansed themselves with water to cleanse the taint of sin from them after sacrificing to God. From the earliest days of our knowledge, we have been required by God to sacrifice for our sins and then be cleansed. In the old Testament times we find this reference to anointing in Exodus, the 29^th chapter from the NRSV: “²⁸ These things shall be a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his sons from the Israelites, for this is an offering; and it shall be an offering by the Israelites from their sacrifice of offerings of well-being, their offering to the LORD.  ²⁹ The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed on to his sons after him; they shall be anointed in them and ordained in them.” We know that when God chose to set aside those whom would serve the people in God’s name, they were anointed. And it might surprise you to know that we are all called to serve. Anointing typically would have been by the sharing of liturgy that included a covenant relationship and the placing, pouring or sprinkling of oil and/ or water over that person. This anointing symbolized as an outward sign of the inward act of the Holy Spirit on this person.

As time continued in the history of the Hebrew people, anointing of all of the chosen people in one form or another took place. Often this would have occurred at the circumcision ceremony for young men and at or about the same time for young women, within the first few years of their birth. And then at the age of maturity they would come to the temple for Bar Mitzvah, or the coming of age, when children are considered to be adults and the covenant relationship with God truly begins. As part of the cleansing rituals before entering into a temple Hebrew people would come and wash themselves. Often this would be in pools located just outside the temple in which they would wash themselves, sometimes immersing themselves in order to be cleansed and purified.

When it comes to baptism, there are two questions that are asked more than any other. “Do I need to be baptized?” And the other is, “I was baptized when I was an infant and so do I need to be immersed to be saved?” The first question is interesting. The answer really depends on where you are in your spiritual journey. Have you given your life to Christ, professing your faith in him as Lord and Savior? If the answer is yes I have, then the answer to the baptism question is that you probably do not need to be baptized. But with a caveat! Even Jesus was baptized as an obedience of faith. Did he need to be baptized? Probably not in the sense that he had committed no sin but some scholars would suggest that being born human meant that he too was born with the taint of original sin. And in that he could be tempted just as we are. In fact we believe Jesus to be fully human, experiencing the sorrows and joys we do, but also the temptations that we experience. John the Baptizer comes onto the scene and most scholars would point to Mark’s belief that he is the “voice in the wilderness” that comes to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. Early drawings of John the Baptist show him standing in the waters of the Jordan River, baptizing those who had come to receive forgiveness as they repented of their sins. Into this picture comes Jesus. Many will ask why Jesus would need to be baptized. The answer may lie in our understanding of obedience more than necessity. That we believe Jesus to be pure of sin goes without saying. So Jesus, out of a sense of obedience to the will of God, comes to be baptized. And in that sets the example for you and me to be baptized. Do you need to be baptized if you have Jesus in your heart, have committed your life to him and are being transformed by the Holy Spirit? Probably not, but to follow Jesus lead is not a bad way to go. 

The second question has divided denominations. It focuses more on an understanding of baptism than on the method even though it is the method of baptism that is at issue. When we look back at the cleansing rituals of the early Hebrew people, they were done a variety of ways, including self-immersion prior to entering into the Temple. But we also know from historical evidence that a shell was used to pour water over the heads of those being Baptized (see By the Water and the Spirit by Gayle Felton). Felton tells us, “Sprinkling expresses both the imagery of cleansing (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and of setting apart for service of God (Exodus 29:21)”[i] We also see evidence in Acts that baptism was for the whole family. Our understanding of infant baptism comes from this scriptural reference and infant baptism was practiced in early Christian circles. In Baptism remember that we believe that God is at work. And because baptism is an act of God, not an act of humans, the method and the age are not relevant to the practice. In fact, it was not until the 1600’s with the Anabaptist that the method of baptism became a dividing issue. So whether you were baptized as an infant, a young adult or an adult and whether you were baptized by immersion, sprinkling or pouring, God did not make a mistake in your baptism and it does not need to be redone a certain way. The second part of the question relates to salvation. Baptism does not provide our salvation. Our profession of faith, whether at the time of baptism or at the time of confirmation in the Methodist church, proclaims for the world that we have accepted Jesus in our life. It is that moment that we accept the gift that God is offering to us and it is only through that grace that we inherit the gift of eternal life. But it is not a single event in our lifetime, but the event begins a lifetime of faith. As United Methodist people we believe at that moment we are justified and we continue to transform through the power of the Holy Spirit towards perfection.

Today we have the opportunity to remember our baptism. What God has done does not need to be redone. Baptism is God’s grace, an outward sign of an inward spiritual change. And so today you may come forward and dip your hands in the water, place water on your forehead of simply remember that God’s grace has prevailed in your life. I asked earlier if you knew that you only had a short time till you stood before Jesus if that would change how you are leading your life. Today is a day of new beginnings, new commitments and renewal of your life.

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[i] Felton, Gayle, 2006, By Water and the Spirit, page 20

Must I go another way

Sermon given at Grace UMC 1/3/16

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Matthew 2:1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ² asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." ³ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ⁶ 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" ⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸ Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." ⁹ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹ On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Today we celebrate Epiphany, the moment when we get it or the arrival of the Magi. I like Epiphany as the moment in which we get it, sort of like a V8 moment. We thought we knew exactly what the answer was and suddenly we are faced with a new reality, a new understanding and it changes everything. I believe that is the reason we have this story. It has meanings that are right in front of us and then innuendo so that we can understand the complete story. The Magi are the people who spend their lives looking into the heavens for a sign. Imagine if you will that you have been born into the family of Magi and you spend your entire life learning about the celestial movements, what they are, what we call certain stars that connect together and what they mean. Since the time of Daniel, we believe that the Magi have been looking for a certain connection; a certain alignment if you will that proclaims an event that the people of Israel have been looking for since the beginning of the world. Generations have come and gone looking into the heavens, sharing the messages of the stars with those around them and yet they have not seen this one sign that Daniel has them looking for. Maybe as much as four to seven hundred years have passed since the time of Daniel and they still search the heavens for the sign. And then like a V8 moment, there it is. What would you do? I suspect you would wake everyone in the house to let them know. The excitement would be overwhelming. After all this time the prophecy is true and the sign is in the heavens. What do we do next? Where do we go? How do we get there?

Maybe you have had you whole life mapped out for you and suddenly everything is changed and now you are faced with a new and different reality. Has that happened to you? Most of us at one time or another thought we were going to be something else, do something else, be somewhere our whole lives and suddenly it all changes. The dream evaporates because we find we cannot do what we wanted to do or something gets in the way. The job suddenly evaporates and we face unemployment, job searching and moving to a new location. All of these things have epiphany moments, that moment when we realize that what we thought is no longer and now we face new realities and opportunities.

The Magi brings gifts to Christ and year after year we rehash what they are and their significance. But this year I want to focus on verse 12. ^NRS  Matthew 2:12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. They have a dream. Now mind you, to get the Magi, all of them to agree to go a different way I suspect that more than one of them had a dream. So they leave Bethlehem and go home a different way than they had come. What did they follow? How did they know where to go or how to get home? Remember that they are people who study the sky so they likely could use celestial tracking to get home. But they had to go a different way. And all because of an encounter with the living God! That is what I want to focus on this morning.

I enjoy Richard Rohr’s Daily meditation that I get every morning on my e-mail. He is out there somewhat and it causes me often to ponder what I know and believe and explore new thoughts and new understandings. Friday he focused on Love, in fact he has been focusing on love all week. I want to read you some of it.

“You cannot earn God. You cannot prove yourself worthy of God. Knowing God's presence is simply a matter of awareness, of enjoying the now, of deepening one's own presence. There are moments when it happens. Then life makes sense.”

“Jesus pushes seeing to the social edge. Can you see the image of Christ in the least of your brothers and sisters? He uses that as his only description of the final judgment (Matthew 25). Nothing about commandments, nothing about church attendance--simply a matter of our ability to see. Can we see Christ in the "nobodies" who can't play our game of success? In those who cannot reward us in return? When we can see the image of God where we are not accustomed to seeing the image of God, then we see with eyes not our own.”

“The Christian vision is that the world is a temple. If that is true, then our enemies are sacred, too. Who else created them but God? The ability to respect the outsider is probably the litmus test of true seeing. And it doesn't stop with human beings and enemies and the least of the brothers and sisters. It moves to frogs and pansies and weeds. Everything becomes enchanting with true sight. One God, one world, one truth, one suffering, and one love. All we can do is participate.”

“Spirituality is about seeing. It's about intimate relationship with things rather than achieving results or meeting requirements. Once you see fully, the rest follows. You don't need to push the river, because you are already in the river. God's life of love is being lived within you, and you must simply learn how to say yes to that life.”

I believe that when we encounter Jesus in our lives, we cannot help but be changed. Nicodemus meets with Jesus and that encounter changes him profoundly. What do you mean I have to be born from above with the power of the Holy Spirit within me to get to heaven? Is that even possible, to be “born again?” Who can forget the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus? What a profound encounter he has with the risen Jesus. Who are you that you would persecute those who follow me, Jesus asks him. I think in that moment Saul who now uses his Roman name Paul would say he was profoundly changed. Following Jesus’ crucifixion, his disciples were devastated. They had forsaken him in the Garden of Gethsemane to save their own lives. But after they met the resurrected Christ, they were radically changed. Suddenly, they were willing to give their lives to tell Jesus’ story to the world. Many were tortured and killed because they proclaimed Jesus was alive.

Skeptics and enemies were also transformed. Jesus’ younger brother, James, didn’t think Jesus was anybody special. But after his resurrected brother appeared to him, James not only believed Jesus was Lord but became the leader of the Jerusalem church and died a martyr in 62 AD.

Roman governor Plinius Secundus wrote in his letters that Christians were people who loved the truth at any cost. Although he was ordered to torture and execute them for refusing to curse Jesus, he was continually amazed and impressed with their firm commitments “not to do any wicked deeds, never to commit any fraud, theft, adultery, never to falsify their word, not to deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up.” For centuries, true Christians around the world have stood as shining examples of the standards of truth and love established by Jesus of Nazareth.

Similarly, the late C.S. Lewis, professor at Oxford University in England, was an agnostic who denied the deity of Christ for years. But he, too, in intellectual honesty, submitted to Jesus as his God and Savior after studying the overwhelming evidence for his deity. Over the years, he wrote many books to uphold the ideals of Christianity, including Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters.

When we meet Jesus we encounter the true experience of love that God want us to know. Jesus loved people not because they deserved it or somehow were worthy of the experience. Jesus loved people because as the divine human experience, God wanted the world to know that they are loved beyond measure. I am profoundly impacted by the fact that dog spelled backwards is God. A dog loves its master without hesitation. I even see that in our cat Morris towards Bonnie. God loves us in ways we cannot imagine. God calls us to love one another in the same way. When we do there is no hatred, no separation, no war, no genocide, no suicide, no deceptions, twisted perceptions, perverted truth, injustice, inequality, no prejudice, no homelessness, no... no...no..Just God! Just God! No racism, classicism, sexism, militarism...Just God! Just God! Jesus is calling you on a journey – it may not be the way you intended your life to go, but it is the way that Jesus wants your life to go.

And in a dream they were told to go another way.