Free Will or Predestination

Sermon given at Grace UMC 10/25/15

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Psalm 139:13  For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. ¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. ¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  ¹⁸ I try to count them-- they are more than the sand; I come to the end-- I am still with you.

Free will – what is it

This morning I want to deal with one of the subjects of our faith. A subject that is both profound and confounding to us as we struggle to understand God and our relationship. When I come to you and speak on subjects of doctrine such as the doctrine of free will, I speak to you from the perspective of Wesleyan theology. In other words, we are Methodist. Some years ago a movie about Marshall university taught us their rallying cry, WE ARE, MARSHALL. I wonder if we shouldn’t mimic that each Sunday by proclaiming, WE ARE, METHODISTS. But the subject this week is the doctrine of free will. What is it, what are the consequences of it, why did God do it and there is a sense of urgency that we need to be mindful of. Mind you, some do not believe in free will. But as Methodists, we do.

What is free will? In the simplest of terms, it means the right to choose. The right to choose whether or not we are going to be Methodists, Baptists, Mormons, Buddhists, Scientologists or something else. The right to choose whether or not we are going to be good people or bad! The right to choose whether or not we are going to reach out to others unselfishly or take advantage of their situation for self gain! You see, what it really boils down to is simply what we choose to do and what we choose to believe. As human beings we believe that we have the right to choose. Every two years here in America we choose elected officials and we hope that they will do what we want them to do. However, unfortunately for us, we never hold them accountable by reminding them of that fact every time the run for reelection as we choose to forget their track record. But free choice means more than voting and elections.

Free choice means that we can decide what we believe, who we believe in and how we will act in the world around us. We can decide that we will become tolerant of our world where immorality runs rampant. A place where success means crawling over each other in order that we achieve the kind of material success we feel is justified for ourselves. Or we can practice good Christian attitudes and behaviors. That is not to say that we won’t stumble. All of us stumble at one time or another.

The real question is this. When we stumble, do we pick ourselves back up, ask for forgiveness and then decide to change our behaviors to be the kind of people God wants us to be? And if we truly have free will, then the answer is always that we have that choice to be this kind of person or that kind of person.            

Free will – what is the difference

Some religious movements do not believe in free will. In fact, some of you may be sitting here today believing in the voice of John Calvin who submits that we are all predestined by God, some will go to heaven, some will not, but that your end has been determined since the day that you were born. For you, if you are here, you believe that God is sovereign and God alone decides whether or not you get into heaven. Now that may sound like sound theology. That God alone decides and because God decides, that the determination for your eternity has already happened. But that goes against the concept of grace and free will. If we have already been determined what our after physical lives will be, why bother to live at all. But especially why bother to choose Jesus say over Buddha or Allah or yourselves. That becomes the ultimate question. Do you believe that we have choice about our eternal home? Certainly we all believe that God is the judge of our hearts and our choice and God is certainly watching our actions, words and deeds to determine the trueness of our hearts. But WE ARE METHODISTS.

And Methodists believe in divine grace that God has given to us which then allows us to choose whether we accept God’s offer or not. God does not send anyone to Hell. We send our selves. The question becomes, what will you choose.

Free will – what are the consequences

When we have free will, then we will also have consequences of that free will. As long as humans can do whatever they want to do, then we will have those who are hurt and those who hurt. So often people will ask the question, “why”, when they face some great tragedy or crisis. And the answer must always be simply because the world is. Several years ago there was a movie called Forest Gump. During the movie he began to run, and run and run. Along the way people began to follow him thinking he had all the answers. One day he encountered a young man who was designing a bumper sticker of great insight. When he asked Forest what the answer to life was, Forest simply said, it happens, or something like that. You probably remember the bumper sticker that took the world by storm. As silly as the bumper sticker was, it truly did give the right answer. When we seek to understand the reason for things, sometimes the only answer is because, “IT HAPPENS”. So often I hear people argue that God wanted someone in heaven or God has a plan or God needed that person. My faith and theology is profound enough to say that God does not need us at all, much less in heaven. That is not to suggest that God does not want us in heaven, but God does not need us there.

Free will is nothing more than God giving us the ability to make our own choice. Because of our free will, we get to choose who we model our lives after. If we truly want to be Christians, we will model our lives after Christ. We can choose to behave like Christ or we can choose to behave like some of our more modern models. But the simple fact is that as human beings, we are allowed to become the type of person we want to be. No-one decides that for us, no-one determines or forces us. September 11^th happened because of free will. Not God punishing a sinful nation as some have suggested. What we believe about evil is that evil is played out in the human existence. We see evil in how humans treat other humans in oppressive and hurtful ways. Free will allows for bigotry and hate, for racism and oppression and for classes that define rich and poor.

Free will – why did God do it

In every pastoral message there is supposed to be good news. That is what they teach us at seminary. Bring the good news, build to the good news, and announce the good news to all the world. The bigger question of free will is why did God do it? Have you ever wondered why God would create the world and create human beings in God’s image and then allow them to choose whether or not they want to be in relationship with the creator? I want to present an idea this morning. The reason is because God loves us! Oh, well, preacher, we have heard that and we know that God loves us. But what does that have to do with free will? Have you ever heard the expression, if you love something set it free, if it truly is love, it will return to you? That expression comes from the concept of free will. God loves us so much that God is willing to take the chance at our refusal of that love. God loves us so much that God would create the world, create Eden and then place humans in the middle of paradise. But in that creation, God would allow Adam and Eve to rebel against that love. And they did! And we still do! Just as children rebel against their parents, humans rebel against the rules of God.

And yet God still loves us. My friends, free will is the ultimate love relationship a creator can provide. Not a creation where we are puppets on a string, but free thinking people who have the right to choose between good and evil, death and life, heaven and hell. And in that kind of creation, we experience the perfect love, agape love. You see even when we stumble, even when we are disobedient and even when choose world over God, materialism over service or hatred over love, God still reaches out to us in love. God’s grace is still there even when we choose not to be. A sense of urgency and a sense of time

But here is the deal. God gave us prophecy in order that we might know God’s plan. And about one quarter of the bible is prophetic. From the beginning of time, God had a plan. God’s plan was that God would create a being that could either choose or not choose a relationship with God. God wanted romance, not slavery. But we are running out of time. Many of modern day theologians believe that you and I might well be the final generation that sees the coming of Christ. But we have to choose Christ in order to be with Christ when he comes. And we are running out of time. We cannot know the hour or the day when our lives are ended. It may come naturally in your sleep tonight that you pass from this life into the next. It may come as a tragic event like 9/11. Or it may be that we see Christ coming in the clouds. But however it comes, we need to be prepared for it. That means that we need to choose. Chose Christ over the world! Chose God over Satan!

I heard a story the other day that describes us pretty well. It seems a man wanted to go on a diet, but he loved donuts. Not just any donut, but those fresh baked Krispy Kreme donuts. My personal favorite is the crème filled ones. But he needed to lose weight. And so he gave up his precious donuts. And he lost weight and was looking real good. One day one of his working partners saw him in the car eating a donut. He walked up to him and asked, what gives. The man said, "I made a pact with God." “I said to God that if you have determined that it is alright for me to have a donut, when I drive by the donut shop, the first parking spot will be empty. And it was after I drove around the block the eighth time.”

Today may be the most important day of your life. You must choose. Many of you are already Christians but your lives would hardly convict you if it were a crime to be a Christian. Choose to rededicate your lives this morning, right here, right now. And if your life is still a question mark about Christ, I would love to talk with you and share God’s love with you. Today is election day! What will you choose? 

A Mountaintop Milestone

Sermon given at Grace UMC 10/18/15

This was a special Sunday worship as we celebrated the 100th birthday of Rose Mott

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Deuteronomy 32:1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth. ² May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth. ³ For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! ⁴ The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he;…⁷ Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. ⁸ When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;

Today we have arrived at a mountaintop experience. I suspect that many of you are like me and realize that this might well be a singular event in your lives as you help Rose celebrate her 100^th birthday. I thought it might be fun to spend a minute exploring the world Rose was born into in 1915. The third battle the Isonzo began today 100 years ago between the armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary. Ty Cobb was batting 369 and had 96 stolen bases, Babe Ruth had hit the first of his 714 home runs and the Boston Red Sox won the World Series two weeks ago 100 years ago. Woodrow Wilson was the president and stamps cost $.02 and the 1 millionth Ford rolled off the assembly line. But for us, the most important thing today is that Rose Mott was born in Mount Airy, Maryland. The world has changed quite a bit since that moment 100 years in the past. People move between places more and more quickly, money exchanges hands around the globe as if there were no boundaries and we stand at the pinnacle of new technologies that will propel us into the next 100 years. In Rose’s days we have fought two world wars, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War. We have sent young people to the Middle East for several conflicts and some are still there. We have sent people into space, landed a man on the moon and sent satellites to the far reaches of the solar system. We have survived Y2K, Watergate and now will certainly survive the Clinton-Trump escapades. We have found cures for most of our childhood illnesses and learned much about the human body. All in the last 100 years.   

Our scripture this morning is about remembering. Remembering who God is and how God works in the world around us. Deuteronomy is one to the first five books of the Bible and is part of the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch refers to the first five books of the Bible. For the most part, both Jewish and Christian tradition credit Moses with primary authorship of the Pentateuch. These five books form the theological foundation of the Bible. The word Pentateuch means "five vessels," "five containers," or "five-volume book." In Hebrew the Pentateuch is Torah, meaning "the law" or "instruction." Another name for the Pentateuch is "the five books of Moses." The books of the Pentateuch introduce Bible readers to God's divine purposes and plans, and explain how sin entered the world. In the Pentateuch we also see God's response to sin, his relationship with mankind, and we gain insight into the character and nature of God.

God sends preachers to get us to remember. He sends events to get us to remember. He sends people into our lives to get us to pause, remember, and consider. People like Rose who reminds us constantly that the world will go on and we have to acclimate to it. God sends trials, pain, heartbreak, and difficulty in our lives many times for the sole purpose of pressing us to pause, remember, and consider. Rose reminds us in the articles in the paper that life is full of adversity and struggle. You can flow with it or fight it, but if you want to live to be 100, flowing works so much better.

Once upon a time there was a little mouse. The little mouse lived in great fear all the time. This fear dictated the mouse’s life. He was afraid of his own shadow. He feared what might happen to him. The mouse could not learn that fear was doubt. The little mouse’s fear made mountains out of molehills. Because of his fear he was very suspicious and weary of life. The little mouse wished he could be a cat, and then he would not have to be afraid. One lucky day the mouse met a powerful magician. The mouse was amazed to watch the magician work. The mouse went up to the magician in great fear and asked. Please, Mr. Magician, I am so afraid, if I were a cat I would not have to fear. Could you please make me into a CAT? The magician said sure, Abra-ca-dab-bra --- and the little fearful mouse turned into a cat. The mouse, now turned cat, was so afraid that in great fear he hid in the corner. The new cat saw a dog and the dog caused great fear. Later, the cat saw the magician again and said, I am so afraid, could you please turn me into a dog. I will be OK if I could just be a dog. So the magician said, Abra-ca-dab-bra, you are now a dog. The new dog was so proud. As the new dog ran through the woods, he heard a lion roar and in a great panic, fear caused the new dog to run. The dog was shaking in fear; he knew if he could just be a lion everything would be different. The dog kept looking for the magician to add his new request, for he knew if he could become a lion he would have no fear. Finally the dog found the magician. The dog barked to the magician, please, please can you make me a lion? If I were a lion everything would be fine. The magician said, Abra-ca-dab-bra, I turn you back into a mouse. You have a mouse’s heart. I could change you into anything, but you have a mouse’s heart and all you will ever be is a mouse. You must learn to be satisfied. You didn’t like being a mouse. You didn’t like being a cat. You didn’t like being a dog. You will not like being a lion. You are a mouse at heart.
Abra-ca-dab-bra, be what your heart is. And the dog turned back into a mouse. What is really interesting about all this are two important truths. One, that we are born with the heart of a mouse or a cat or a dog and when we focus on growing that strength, life is so much better. And second, even the mouse can bring fear into the hearts of elephants and people, so being the small mouse doesn’t necessarily mean you are without power.

So what great wisdom can we learn if we are willing to listen to those who are older than we are and have seen much of the world change? The scripture this morning raises the question, why aren’t we spending more time asking our elders about the world, about life and about the answers to so of the simplest but unanswered questions. They have figured something out or they would not have survived all this time. Rose will tell us to go with the flow. Face adversity head on and trust God in the midst of it. She has shared that great piece of insight with us this week in the two articles in the Post and Eastern Shore News. The scripture this morning says the same thing for us to hear.  “⁷ Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you.” There is great wisdom in spending time listening to the stories of our elders. Especially when they are willing to share the adversities of their lives and teach us valuable lessons in how to deal with the stuff when the stuff comes. And it will come.

I have some words of advice from those who reached that special milestone of 100 years:

• “Don’t look at the calendar. Just keep celebrating every day.”
• “Invest in quality pieces; they never go out of style.”
• “Even if you feel hatred, keep it to yourself. Don’t hurt other people for any reason.”
• “Don’t ever give up on love.”
• “Nobody else controls you.”
• “Make time to cry.”
• “Don’t be a cheapskate.”
• “Find your passion and live it.”
• “Learn to adapt.”
• “Take time to mourn what you’ve lost.”
• “Get a great education. That is something that no one can take away from you.”
• “I think [people] have to be curious. They have to be interested in life outside their little aches and pains. They have to be excited about seeing new things, meeting new people, watching a new play—just passionate about life.”
• “Don’t die too early.”

I want to leave you with a word of advice this morning. One, that God is the God of creation, the God of yesterday and today and tomorrow. That the message of God’s love has not changed since the creation of the world and will still be the same message tomorrow, the next day and the next. That you who believe have been given a special gift of eternal life to be used for the good of the world, to share insight and inspiration for the rest of us, just as Rose Mott has done over and over again. We are never alone and God’s love can penetrate even the most difficult adversity or obstacle to bring joy.

Rose loves music and she and I often talk about what it takes to get by in this life. So I want to leave you this morning with the words of a song from the Sound of Music. It reminds us that we cannot give up and we must continue on our journey, no matter what. But along the way we are to give all the love we can give.

Lyrics from the Sound of Music

Climb every mountain,
Search high and low,
Follow every byway,
Every path you know.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
'Till you find your dream.

A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life
For as long as you live.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
'Till you find your dream.

Passover 10/4/15

Sermon given at Grace UMC 10/4/15

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^NRS Exodus 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:  ² This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.  ³ Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.  ⁴ If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.  ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.  ⁶ You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.  ⁷ They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.  ⁸ They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.  ¹⁰ You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.  ¹¹ This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the LORD.  ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.  ¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.  ¹⁴ This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.  

This passage is one of the most important and significant events in the history of the world. A people in slavery pray for deliverance, a deliverer comes from God and they are delivered. That is the basis of the story that threads its way throughout the history of humanity. We see it played out on the picture screen, good versus evil with God holding the pendulum as it moves from one side to the other. And yet do we really appreciate and understand the significance for us? I attended my last year of seminary an African American seminary and it was there that I was stretched in unbelievable ways. For you see, we as Americans, all races and cultures have dreamed or lived the exodus story. Enslaved by ideals, state religions or just plain slavery, only the American Indian’s among us have failed to realize an exodus story. Why did the people pray for deliverance? Because ingrained in each of us is the desire to be free, to live our lives unburdened by the oppressive world around us and yet we also become the oppressors in the world when we gain our freedom and then subject others to subordinate roles. This story is important and significant if we are to understand the fullness of God’s love for us and the extent that God will go in order that we might enjoy the freedom we so often desire and cherish. So my questions today are what did the people pray for and did God deliver as he promised?

Here is where we need to make a connection that God wants us to make. Jesus is the continuation of a long story, a story that began with Adam, continued through Noah and Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David to this moment in time. What occurred in Egypt is the foretaste of life that we receive through the cross at Golgotha. When we take communion which we will do next week, we forget that connection all too often. That what God did for the Hebrew people in Egypt God does for the whole world at Golgotha. What God began in Egypt is fulfilled by Jesus on the cross. So why is it significant that they had to eat the whole lamb? Accepting Jesus is not a part time or partial thing. We accept Jesus completely or not at all. There is no fence sitting allowed. God loves us so much that God sent us Jesus as the sacrificial lamb, His blood flowing down the cross to set us free from death. God’s love given to us in a service that allows us both to remember and then participate in the eating of and blood of the lamb.

Passover was not an end, but a beginning.  It meant that the Israelites were beginning a journey to the Promised Land.  It was in many ways the beginning of the nation of Israel.  It was for most of them the beginning of their relationship with God.  So it is with us.  The Lord’s Supper is not the end, but the beginning.  We acknowledge our sojourn in this world.  By it we are made one people, the people of God around the world.  By the sacrifice it represents we have fellowship with God. Passover was to be eaten in haste, dressed for a journey.  The Hebrew was to be ready to go out and follow the Lord wherever God might lead them, even though they were under a roof celebrating a feast.  They were to have their garments belted for a journey, their sandals on their feet.  Passover was to prepare them spiritually for the trip that would take them from their homes, into the wilderness and then into the land of promise.  So it is with us.  The Lord’s Supper should be taken as if preparation for spiritual combat -- for such it is.  We are not here to relax in angelic arms, but to tighten our belts, put on our combat boots and prepare for battle. God will be faithful and we who believe will take on immortality and spend eternity with God. But it requires sacrifice and choice. It requires obedience and struggle. Take, eat, this is my body! Take drink all of this for this is the new covenant between God and God’s people. We are on a journey that God is leading.

This is the story of God’s deliverance. Moses had asked pharaoh, pharaoh had said no, many times. God had brought trouble against pharaoh in the form of seven plagues but pharaoh was unmoved. That’s how it is with the oppressors of the world. No amount of trying and political wrangling will move them. Through oppression they are powerful and wealthy. Without the help of the oppressed they are just as you and I are, simply people. Why do we allow the rich and powerful to lead us along in chains and slavery? Because we, like the Hebrew people are more fearful of the future than the present. But pharaoh was unmoved so God had to resort to a difficult decision. One that would not only allow the children of Israel of be set free, but provide them wealth and food to sustain them for a time. So God decides that for the faithful, he will allow them freedom and life, for the faithless, death. And he tells them to kill the unblemished calf, the perfect lamb that is among their flocks. To take the blood of this lamb and place it on the door jambs of their homes as a sign of their faithfulness to God And that night, the angel of death comes and takes the life of the firstborn child of all of the unfaithful, passing over the doors marked with the sacrificed blood of the lamb.

Was death a necessity? It appears that only death could bring about the freedom of the chosen people of God. But is it also prophetic? Certainly I am going to suggest that that is the case. How do we understand this scripture? Is this story a history lesson or as a teaching moment for our own lives? We must focus our lives on the future and on our own freedom.

When William Gladstone was Prime Minister of Great Britain, he was approached one day by the son of a close friend. The young man sought counsel regarding his career plan. First he explained to Gladstone, I plan to complete my studies at Oxford. Splendid replied the prime minister, and then what next. Well, Sir, I plan to study law and become a prominent attorney. Excellent replied the prime minister, then what next. I plan to seek election to the parliament. Wonderful, replied Gladstone, then what next? I plan on doing well in the parliament and being elected to influential cabinet positions. A noble desire, and then what next. Well, sir, in time I would strive to attain the position of prime minister. Well said, but then what next. When I retire I plan on teaching until I die. Gladstone said to him, worthy paths you have decided but what next? The young man confused said why I just die, there is no next. Young man said Gladstone, you are a fool. Go home and think your life through from its end. Gladstone understands what we need so strongly to understand. Death comes to all of us in time.

We celebrate communion today with the whole world as we celebrate World Communion Sunday. Churches all across the globe are sharing in the meal of God on this day. We celebrate the means of Grace that this time together allows us to enjoy, a sacred time, a time of God working within us through this meal that God provides and time to be in relationship with Jesus who is present with us. We believe that the bread and juice are not the physical body of Christ but that Jesus is here with us as we share these elements. We believe that everyone is invited to be a part of this service. We believe that Passover is the foundation of this communion service as we celebrate the past, the present of the Upper Room and the future promise of Isaiah that we will feast on the mountain. Are we ready to travel, do we have our traveling clothes on and are we ready to go where the Lord sends us?