Living in a Choatic World

Sermon given at Grace UMC 11/15/15

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Jeremiah 29:4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷ But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

There is no question that our world today is borderline chaotic with great upheavals in the world around us. Without question many are worried about financial futures, about their jobs and about their families and lives as the world constantly changes around us. But what exactly are we supposed to do about it. Maybe the answer lies in this passage from Jeremiah that was given to the exiles in Babylonia. Imagine with me their world for a moment. Far away from home, fear would have been a constant companion as they worried about their future. What were they to do? They had no Temple? They were in a strange land and their future very unstable and unsecure. God speaks to them through the prophet Jeremiah and gives them and ultimately us a guideline for living within the chaos of the modern world.

First and most important God tells us to live our lives. Continue to do the things that are important to a community, build houses, plant gardens, marry and raise children. Have sons and daughters and have them marry and have sons and daughters. Seek the welfare of the city and pray for its success. Today in our political correct climate we are struggling with so many issues. Some believe it Starbucks should be excommunicated because they dare to have a plain red cup for the holiday season. I read the other day if you are feeling persecuted because of it maybe you need to seek the real Jesus. I want so much for each of us to learn how to be good disciples, students of Jesus Christ and to then go into the world imitating Jesus, making disciples and teaching what He taught us to others. We always seem just a little short to reach the concept of radical hopistality. It means simply that if the world buys 1 ply toilet paper, we put in two ply. Or if we have a request to do something special or different we strive to do so even if it puts us a little out.

If I said to you today that we live in a chaotic world, I doubt that there would be much argument. It is true that as we view the world around us, it is becoming more complex each day, more violent, more unstable and challenging. The world continues to become more like our adversary, the devil, than the world that God created in Eden and hoped for humankind. Jesus was sent to the world for two reasons. The first was to do that which only God could do. Save us from our selves, our sinful natures and our desire to be disobedient children. But his sacrifice on the cross comes with a price for each of us as well. What God did for us must be mimicked by what we do for God. John Wesley would say that the redemption on the cross is simply the first step that provides the grace by which we are saved. That when we accept that grace, we have taken the first step and we are justified in our faith in the Son, Christ Jesus. But it doesn’t end there as many believe. We aren’t just forgiven and then allowed to continue to be disobedient children as we enter into heaven. If we punish our children for disobedience and then they do the same thing again, do we say that our first punishment was sufficient? So we must become a new creation as Paul tells us. You know there is a discrepancy between Paul and James. Because the message of Paul is easier, the Christian church has followed his words throughout the generations. But even Paul tells us that we must live the life Christ gave us through his sacrifice, being obedient to God. James goes further. James the brother of Jesus argues that what Jesus wants us to know is that we must live our lives in service to one another, loving one another. That the message of Jesus on either side of the cross, is not focused on redemption, but love. The cross is redemption. The life of Jesus, pre and post resurrection is love. The world is not going to get any easier. The world is not going to suddenly become peaceful and loving. There’s nothing in peace and love for the individual intent on having what you have or what you might have. So we must become a new people, a different people, and a transformed people. I believe there are five things we must be in order to live in this chaotic world.

Be Salty

I guess I have to be careful here saying that we must be salty. Some of you may know the saying about sailors. Jesus says that we must be the salt of the earth. In his day just as in ours, salt was used both as a preservative and as a season. Jesus is telling us that our job is to be the seasoning for the world. We are to be its flavor. Without us there would be no pepper, no sage, no paprika, and no flavor. And it is our job to preserve that which God has provided through Jesus. Galatians tells us that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity and faithfulness. It all starts with love. Jesus told us that we are to love God with all our heart and love one another. 1 John 4 tells us that we are to love one another since God loved us so much and that we love because he first loved us. You see, God set the example by sending us Jesus. God has constantly loved us throughout the story. If you don’t believe me, open it up and read it.

Compassion is another way to say that we have patience, kindness and generosity. Paul shares these words for us in Philippians 1. ^NRS Philippians 1: ⁸ For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰ to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹ having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Jesus shared his vision of this love in the story of the Good Samaritan. Here comes a man who has the personality of the true Christian. He finds someone down on their luck, beaten and robbed and near death. So many of us today would simply pass him by, ignoring him because we either or too busy and don’t want to get involved. But if we listen to the beatitudes, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. That means we cannot ignore. We must act. And so he shares his compassionate heart by first caring for this person he does not even know. He treats his wounds. In his day, blood was considered tainted, in our day we worry about disease. Is the story any different? Doesn’t sound like it? Then this man, who is never identified, shows extravagant generosity. His first showed it through his reaching out, now he shows it by taking him to the inn for healing. And then he offers the equivalent of a month’s wages to take care of him. If that were not enough, he offers to return and pay whatever it cost above and beyond that which he has already paid. I have often been asked, what do you want us to do, because we are not sure. My reply would be to be the neighbor, the Good Samaritan and give all that is needed of yourselves and your wealth.

Be illuminating

Jesus tells us that a light cannot be hidden and we know that is true. Day is day and night is night and even the densest fog cannot hide that. Saturday morning I woke up and looked outside and it was foggy. But as the sun came up I could tell that it was day, even though I could not see the sun. Likewise, when we practice what we preach, the world can tell. Francis Asbury used to say, spread the gospel with our actions, words and deeds, and sometimes use words. When we act like Christians, when we love like Christians, when we reach out to others like Christians, the darkness of the world cannot hide our light. When our honesty, integrity, compassion, and love are who we are and not simply what we say, the world sees Christ in us. Be illuminating in your faith walk.

Be together

I have shared the story of the two life long friends who are out camping and fishing. As he has always done, the one friend begins to pack up on Saturday night so that he can return to be at church on Sunday. The other friend says to him, why do you go? Look at the stars in the sky, smell the clean air. God is here with us. The man says nothing, simply takes a stick and moves one the coals out of the fire. The flame in it goes out and it cools. Then he pushes it back into the fire and it quickly regains its fire. When we miss a Sunday morning a little fire extinguishes in us. The world is like a Fire Extinguisher. Have you ever used one to cool down a beverage? It works really quickly, doesn’t it? Have you ever thought about how quickly the lessons that we learn on Sunday morning are forgotten as we journey in a world that does not believe in or abide by the values we do? That is why Jesus asked us to remain in fellowship with one another. That is why he sent disciples out two by two. To strengthen each other, support each other and hold each other accountable. It is why we come on Sunday morning. It is why we need to share our lives with each other. Life without partners is a scary place.

Be obedient

Jesus said to us, he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He is the embodiment of what God’s love is all about. First he teaches us the right way to live and shows us by example. Then he gives his life for us so that we might truly know of that love. Then he shares his spirit with us to sustain us in our lives. Paul tells us in Romans 6: “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸ and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” Who would you be a slave to? Would it be the world that would use you up for its benefit, or the God who would love you into eternity?

Be prepared

Finally we must be prepared. The scout motto is Be Prepared. It is their motto for a reason. And they study, learn, and through repetition perfect their skills so that when the unthinkable happens, they don’t stand around not knowing, they simply do. Lives have been saved because of this motto. I want you hear these words from Mark 13: ²⁹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ³² "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. ³⁵ Therefore, keep awake-- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶ or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."

My friends the hour is drawing near. Lives are in jeopardy, maybe even our own.

Be Salty!

Be Illuminating!

Be Together!
Be Obedient!

And Be Prepared!

What box is your life in

Sermon given at Grace UMC 11/1/15

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  1 John 3:13 Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. ¹⁵ All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. ¹⁶ We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us-- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. ¹⁷ How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? ¹⁸ Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. ¹⁹ And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him ²⁰ whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; ²² and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. ²⁴ All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

Have you ever moved from one place to another and as you began the move you questioned all the stuff that you own? Or maybe you began to try to stuff the possessions of your life on all the boxes that you acquired for just that purpose. I recently made such a move several years ago where I focused on downsizing from the lifestyle I was accustomed too, to a lifestyle that is to be simpler when finally complete. This required me to go through every box, every closet and every place where stuff was kept, placing it in three piles, keep, store and sell. All of this sorting and looking through stuff got me to thinking about life.

What is important in saving, what do we see when we reflect through our stuff and what do we ultimately throw away. It occurred to me that in each box, there is the potential for many things, depending on the size of the box, the stuff inside the box and what the stuff brings to our minds. It raises the question, what box is your life in?

Our scripture this morning tells us that if we do not have Jesus abiding in us, then we are doomed to die. If we allow God’s love to fill up our empty shell, our own empty box, then we find that we are bold to witness to the mercy and love of God. But if we allow our boxes to be filled with the stuff of life that has no love in it, then we are doomed to death. Jesus commanded us to love one another and nothing except loving God first is more important than that. Jesus gave His life for us that we might understand that sacrificial kind of love. We are asked by God to do the same for our friends, neighbors and fellow human beings. What box is your life in?

In life, there are the items that are bigger than boxes, furniture for example that they just do not make a box big enough to hold. As I contemplate the meaning of these bigger items, here we find the things that make our lives, our lives. Our furniture becomes us.

We live on it as we spend our lives eating dinners at the kitchen table, sitting on the chairs and sofas watching TV and sleeping on our beds. Our bedroom furniture becomes so ingrained in us and our lives, that when we change a drawer where we keep our clothes, it completely changes our daily routines. It kind of makes you wonder what our real lives reflect not only in our furniture, but in the lives that we present to other people. If someone were to come into your home, what person would they view in the type and placement of furniture in your home? If someone were to spend time with you, what would they say about the way you communicate or present yourself to them? Are you the Victorian reserved person, the modern open person or the country friendly person? What box is your life in?

We now come to the large boxes where we place the larger items of our lives, like lamps and bedding, towels and linens. In these boxes are the things that support our lives. For some of us, this is where we would find how we wish to accent our world, various shapes and sizes, color combinations that coordinate the room and whether we prefer pillows that are soft or hard. Have you ever considered for a moment how something as simple as curtains can speak worlds about who we are as people. Typically in these larger boxes we will also find our clothing. What do these things say about you? Are you the type of person who stays with conservative colors because your life stays within conservative means? Or do you like the vivid colors of life and we would see that you live life to the fullest, wide open? What box is your life in?

Or maybe your box is the one that holds books. The box is a little thicker to withstand the weight of books in the box. But more importantly, one can determine often who you are by what you read. So what things do you read? Are you the action driven stories, science fiction or romance? Would you rather take time to read a mystery or study an autobiography of someone famous? Or are the books you read the kind that you would be ashamed for us to see? In this box lies the heart of who you are and who you want to be. Many people lose themselves in stories of intrigue or romance, an escape from their real lives. Can we find your life in the books you read? In these boxes are the stories that maybe shaped us when we were young and found a life path for us to follow. Or maybe we find within these books the stories of our ancestors. Or yet maybe we would look in and see the biblical stories laid out in a row in the boxes from your life. I love science fiction because often in these stories we see the battle between good and evil played out in the pages of the book. The bible is also a great source of inspiration, education and fascinating facts. I have a question for you, if God were coming to help you move, would you allow him to see inside your boxes of books? Which box is your life in?

Now we come to the smallest and yet most fascinating of boxes. The smallest boxes moved are often the ones that hold our insides. Up to this point we spent our focus on the external things of our lives, but now we come to the internal things. Here I am clearly talking about the box that contains our memories. They may be in the form of Knick knacks collected along the journey of life or they may be pictures. Or they may be the stuff we collect as we journey through life from our kids or loved ones. Have you ever opened a box only to find something you had forgotten or had assumed was lost, only to have the memories of events flood your mind? Maybe it was shoe from your child’s infant days, a blanket from your baby’s first days, love letters from your spouse of significant person in your life. Or maybe it would be a yearbook as you look back on your life. In these boxes lie the memories of our lives. We could easily argue that in these boxes; lay the artifacts of our lives. In all the other boxes, everything that we found clearly identified who we are in out appearance, how others see us or identify us. Those things define maybe our personality or how we interact with others. But in these boxes, my friends, in these boxes we find our hearts. Is there any among you who cannot say that they have memories locked in a box somewhere. Here we relive our joys, our sorrows, our past loves, our moments of happiness and sadness. We may even find evidence of lost opportunities in these boxes. What box is your life in?

I remember a story of a young man who finds himself in the presence of Jesus in a room with file cards. Each card documents a specific event in his life, good and bad. As they pull out each card, the young man relives the events where he shared happiness, love, anger and fear. When I think of these boxes, this is what I think about. Within these boxes are our special moments that we cherish forever. For me, it was an opportunity to relive childhood dreams, the loss of a mother, and the birth of a child. But it also makes me realize that we often focus on what we have rather than what is important. If we only had one box to pack, what size would it be and what would it contain? Would the box contain our relationships, especially our relationship with God? Which box is your life in?

I continually ask this question of you because as we continue to journey through our lives, we collect things. We begin the process of building a life through our stuff and for most of us, stuff matters. And it is through this stuff that others get to know who we are as well. But it is the special boxes that hold our hearts. Here we get to relive our memories, remind ourselves where we came from and the important people and events in our past. In first Samuel we find how God looks at us. ^NRS 1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." God doesn’t care about the big boxes in our lives. He could care less about the color coordinated bedroom curtains and bed clothing. What he cares about are the people who live in the bed in the coordinated room.

Have you ever met someone who appeared to have it all together only to find out that either they were as confused as you and I or were simply a phony person who hid it better than most? God knows what is in our hearts and it here that you and I need to live. The books we have are a reflection of who is important in our hearts. The memories we share need to be those that include God and people who love God. Which box is your life in?

Moving allows us to reflect on our lives, on our treasures and on who we are. On that last day when we move to an eternal plane from the physical one we now live in, it will be the boxes of life that will open before God. There we will be judged, as Paul says in Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, we will be judged. Which box is your life in? The one that will allow you to stand before God with a smile on your face knowing that you will spend eternity with him, or the saddest look known to mankind? Which box is your life in?  

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?