"The Greatest Story Ever Told" is representative of the epic bible movie. Charlton Heston seems to show up in every one, in this as John the Baptist-looking more like a wrestling star. We are looking at movies that depict the crucifixion of Jesus throughout this Lenten Season, asking several questions along the way.
First, how do these movies stack up against the biblical witness? Deriving from that, how does Hollywood, and by extension the culture surrounding it, consider the Easter message? Finally, we hope to look at where our faith may have been unduly influenced by the culture, and reground it in Scripture.
The Epic is the Big Show. Much of Scripture is used, the quotes tend to be generally accurate, there is a sense of grandeur to it all. The American Southwest is bigger and more majestic in scale than the Holy Land, adding to the bigness of the entire plot.
Stacked against the biblical witness, "The Greatest Story Ever Told" does pretty well, all things considered. Not too much is created out of nothing, there is not excessive character development-turning Judas into something Scripture does not give a foundation for. John the Baptist was a little more tough guy, but it is Charlton Heston.
It was released in 1965, during what might be called the "epic" period of the church. I think we were past the Golden Age of the 1950's. I think the death of JFK ended that Golden Age. While the death of Martin Luther King Jr. was several years in the future, and Woodstock after that, the movie was released barely a week before the assassination of Malcolm X. The Civil Rights movement was in full swing, President Johnson began full scale bombing of North Vietnam, we were in a dangerous time.
"The Greatest Story Ever Told" was from the end of the Golden Age, in the midst of new struggles that hadn't yet plunged America into deep crisis. The story of Jesus was still powerful-if overblown-in the minds and hearts of the popular culture.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
What is a blessing?
What is a blessing?
Parents have the unenviable task of shaping the lives of their children. It is a fine line to walk between equipping them with the tools they need to live effective, efficient, energetic, and rewarding lives and imposing on them our own unfulfilled needs, hopes, and dreams. We want them to be the best they can be. But they have to depend on us to get there.
God has the unenviable task of shaping the lives of His children. Thus far, only his oldest boy, a fine young man named Jesus, has met the challenge. The difference between God and earthly parents is that the will of God, what we might understand as hopes and dreams of the Christian faith, are what we need to live effective, efficient, energetic, and rewarding lives.
Without Jesus, left to our own devices, we are hellbound for destruction, carrying the weight of just punishment for our sins. Thank you Lord that we are with Jesus. Grace, love, mercy, forgiveness, these are the blessings we receive to shape our lives more fully into the life God wants us to lead.
That life is to glorify God. Salvation did not come as a nice thing to do for us humans, it came as a means for us to live out that work we have, glorifying the Almighty. I remember a theological discussion talking about how we are hard wired for that glory. We will worship, it is in our spiritual (and maybe physical DNA). If not God, then something else.
Which leads to my concern with Prosperity Theology. A business analyist at the beginning of our depression (not great thankfully) spoke of 'consumer confidence' as being the key indicator of economic health. Put another way, that is faith in the economic system-not faith in God or Christ, but in the economic system, the free market system, capitalism. And in this system, our worship is not measured by the sounds of our voices lifted in praise to God, but in the acquisition of the currency of the free market system, money.
The richest nation in the world has a terrible problem with money. It has replaced God as the means to our survival. Much Christian religious practice has re-developed itself around the almighty dollar, needing it, promoting it, seeking it, all in God's name of course, to provide a veneer of divine respectability.
Maybe poverty is a real blessing for us, stripping away that which replaces God and forcing us to acknowledge our dependance in real terms, not just the comfortable venacular of a Sunday worship service. Maybe pain and misery are blessings to us, make us identify with those for whom pain and misery is the lot of life. To be homeless is to understand their plight?
Unlike cigarettes or alcohol, our dependance on money cannot be cut off cold turkey. Such is the problem with food addictions, you have to eat. But maybe God is blessing us with hard times to remind us that He is in control. Maybe God is blessing us who have with those who have not so that we can exit the self-centered world of our own delight, and truly reach out as a sister or brother in the world.
What is a blessing? Who gets to name it?
Parents have the unenviable task of shaping the lives of their children. It is a fine line to walk between equipping them with the tools they need to live effective, efficient, energetic, and rewarding lives and imposing on them our own unfulfilled needs, hopes, and dreams. We want them to be the best they can be. But they have to depend on us to get there.
God has the unenviable task of shaping the lives of His children. Thus far, only his oldest boy, a fine young man named Jesus, has met the challenge. The difference between God and earthly parents is that the will of God, what we might understand as hopes and dreams of the Christian faith, are what we need to live effective, efficient, energetic, and rewarding lives.
Without Jesus, left to our own devices, we are hellbound for destruction, carrying the weight of just punishment for our sins. Thank you Lord that we are with Jesus. Grace, love, mercy, forgiveness, these are the blessings we receive to shape our lives more fully into the life God wants us to lead.
That life is to glorify God. Salvation did not come as a nice thing to do for us humans, it came as a means for us to live out that work we have, glorifying the Almighty. I remember a theological discussion talking about how we are hard wired for that glory. We will worship, it is in our spiritual (and maybe physical DNA). If not God, then something else.
Which leads to my concern with Prosperity Theology. A business analyist at the beginning of our depression (not great thankfully) spoke of 'consumer confidence' as being the key indicator of economic health. Put another way, that is faith in the economic system-not faith in God or Christ, but in the economic system, the free market system, capitalism. And in this system, our worship is not measured by the sounds of our voices lifted in praise to God, but in the acquisition of the currency of the free market system, money.
The richest nation in the world has a terrible problem with money. It has replaced God as the means to our survival. Much Christian religious practice has re-developed itself around the almighty dollar, needing it, promoting it, seeking it, all in God's name of course, to provide a veneer of divine respectability.
Maybe poverty is a real blessing for us, stripping away that which replaces God and forcing us to acknowledge our dependance in real terms, not just the comfortable venacular of a Sunday worship service. Maybe pain and misery are blessings to us, make us identify with those for whom pain and misery is the lot of life. To be homeless is to understand their plight?
Unlike cigarettes or alcohol, our dependance on money cannot be cut off cold turkey. Such is the problem with food addictions, you have to eat. But maybe God is blessing us with hard times to remind us that He is in control. Maybe God is blessing us who have with those who have not so that we can exit the self-centered world of our own delight, and truly reach out as a sister or brother in the world.
What is a blessing? Who gets to name it?
Monday, February 22, 2010
Give to get Given To?
Stewardship as a part of discipleship, it makes sense. Coming to church, reading Scripture, personal time of devotion, giving to the church, part of the Christian experience. But I get uncomfortable with the proclamation of tithing. Tithing is Scriptural, it is where I believe stewardship should aim, but . . . and this but is significant.
But, a number of discussions of tithing present with preaching that if we give and give generously to the church, we will in turn be blessed by God. There is a very fine line there. Yes, I believe that the Lord cares for His people. Yes, I believe that the Lord will help tithers 'figure out' their budgets. But to promise blessings in return for giving? The implication for me is financial blessings. That walks very close to, if not over the line of 'prosperity theology'.
Prosperity theology, as I understand it, is a promise that if you love and obey God, your divine reward will be financial prosperity, will be material satisfaction. The two go hand in hand to 'measure our faith'.
I am listening to church growth and leadership resources, looking for ways and means to grow church. These resources have come to the line of promising God's blessings for giving . . . and then what? When does an assurance of God's blessing become a promise of prosperity in return for faith? When do we depend on the Lord to help us support our church and when does it become a form of works righteousness? We work for God so God blesses us?
I struggle with that one.
But, a number of discussions of tithing present with preaching that if we give and give generously to the church, we will in turn be blessed by God. There is a very fine line there. Yes, I believe that the Lord cares for His people. Yes, I believe that the Lord will help tithers 'figure out' their budgets. But to promise blessings in return for giving? The implication for me is financial blessings. That walks very close to, if not over the line of 'prosperity theology'.
Prosperity theology, as I understand it, is a promise that if you love and obey God, your divine reward will be financial prosperity, will be material satisfaction. The two go hand in hand to 'measure our faith'.
I am listening to church growth and leadership resources, looking for ways and means to grow church. These resources have come to the line of promising God's blessings for giving . . . and then what? When does an assurance of God's blessing become a promise of prosperity in return for faith? When do we depend on the Lord to help us support our church and when does it become a form of works righteousness? We work for God so God blesses us?
I struggle with that one.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Do You Have A Testimony?
Sermon: October 18, 2009 John 9: 1-17
Consider a personal testimony as evangelism. It sounds simple enough. You find yourself in circumstances where someone wants to hear your story, wants to hear our story of what Jesus means to us. This is something that is best written down, so we have it. Some churches integrate the giving of personal testimony into the worship service. The idea is that in front of your own congregation, you will have love and support, that you know these people and will touch their lives through the Spirit.
That sounds scary as anything I can think of. I know, I am the preacher, and I love to preach. To delve into God’s word, to understand what is being said, to try and bring it to life, that is such a tremendous honor that I carry. But my testimony, my personal story of Jesus Christ, I don’t know . . .
The blind man in John 9 is cited as the example of giving one’s testimony. His story is simple and miraculous. The disciples see the blind man on the side of the road and they gossip about him. Did he sin? Did his parents sin? A handicap is a punishment in the eyes of the people of Jesus’ day. It’s a karma thing, what goes around comes around, doesn’t it?
Jesus’ answer is that no one sinned, but that man was blind so God’s power could be revealed, to show Jesus yet again as the light of the world. So with a nasty concoction of dirt and saliva, and a wash in the pool of Siloam, the man regained his sight. The consequences are immediate.
“Isn’t that the beggar, the blind guy? You know, down on the corner, always after the loose change?” Some didn’t believe it. Who do you call in a matter like this? The miraculous? You call your religious leader. They called the Pharisees, who immediately get hung up on the fact that this occurred on the Sabbath. They never seem to get that miracles should be a natural occurrence on the Lord’s Day. They question him, even call his parents to establish his identity, trying to get their minds around what has happened.
The healed man gives us the testimony. First, in verse 15, he is asked how he came by his sight. He says, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, now I see.” Then, asked to evaluate his healer, he says, “He is a prophet.”
What is a prophet? A prophet is one who carries the word of God.
The man’s entire testimony translates into sixteen words. It is in two parts, what Jesus did for him, and what he thinks of Jesus for doing it for him. And that is exactly how we can form our own testimony about Jesus Christ. What life changing event has occurred in our life because of Jesus? What does that say about Jesus to you? Another way to consider it is this, what event makes me take my faith seriously? What moved you to truly accept the grace of Christ? Can we articulate that event? That is what our testimony is supposed to entail.
Of course, that presupposes a couple of things. It presupposes that we, like the man formerly blind, have had a personal, life changing encounter with Jesus. For too many people, Jesus is something, at best, to aspire to, and at worst, is someone of importance we like to be around, you know, just in case.
But what is that personal encounter? What does that life changing event feel like? That is as individual as we are. For the blind man now healed, it was one moment. It could be a lightening flash, when something wonderful happened and life was never the same again. It could be a string of incremental changes, ending in something wonderful. When that story resonates in the life of another person, we have shared our testimony with them. At that moment, pray Jesus to take over and change a life.
What makes the center of real testimony is the personal encounter. Something, somewhere, someone, sometime, God came in loud and clear. You may not have realized it until after the fact, but right then and there, Jesus took hold. All that abstract stuff about the death and resurrection, the grace and forgiveness, the justification and salvation, that stuff came home to live in your heart with the Spirit.
If you haven’t had that moment, pray for it sisters and brothers. This could be the moment, the moment to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, not as the guy we talk about in church every week, but the man and the power and the miracle that caused a blind man to see and loves you like his own.
But if you have had that moment, that personal encounter, here is the challenge to you. How will you use it in God’s service, trusting that what God has done for you may be the spark for God’s work in someone else? And if you have had that moment, has it ever fallen out of memory? The things of life quickly raise the tide over the things of faith. Walk out of here and there are a dozen other things ready to take your time and energy.
Maybe the day of your conversion to the Christian faith is your moment of testimony. Maybe when the faith of your families, the faith you grew up in here at church, took root in your heart. Maybe it was the day when a miracle happened. Maybe recording that event somewhere, on a piece of paper tucked into your bible, maybe on the inside front page of the bible.
We have our story of us and Jesus Christ. We have our testimony. Will we dare to pray for the chance to share that testimony? Will we prepare to share it? Will we accept the fact that Jesus will give us opportunity to share it? Will we share it, will we evangelize when we are given the chance?
Let us pray. . .
Consider a personal testimony as evangelism. It sounds simple enough. You find yourself in circumstances where someone wants to hear your story, wants to hear our story of what Jesus means to us. This is something that is best written down, so we have it. Some churches integrate the giving of personal testimony into the worship service. The idea is that in front of your own congregation, you will have love and support, that you know these people and will touch their lives through the Spirit.
That sounds scary as anything I can think of. I know, I am the preacher, and I love to preach. To delve into God’s word, to understand what is being said, to try and bring it to life, that is such a tremendous honor that I carry. But my testimony, my personal story of Jesus Christ, I don’t know . . .
The blind man in John 9 is cited as the example of giving one’s testimony. His story is simple and miraculous. The disciples see the blind man on the side of the road and they gossip about him. Did he sin? Did his parents sin? A handicap is a punishment in the eyes of the people of Jesus’ day. It’s a karma thing, what goes around comes around, doesn’t it?
Jesus’ answer is that no one sinned, but that man was blind so God’s power could be revealed, to show Jesus yet again as the light of the world. So with a nasty concoction of dirt and saliva, and a wash in the pool of Siloam, the man regained his sight. The consequences are immediate.
“Isn’t that the beggar, the blind guy? You know, down on the corner, always after the loose change?” Some didn’t believe it. Who do you call in a matter like this? The miraculous? You call your religious leader. They called the Pharisees, who immediately get hung up on the fact that this occurred on the Sabbath. They never seem to get that miracles should be a natural occurrence on the Lord’s Day. They question him, even call his parents to establish his identity, trying to get their minds around what has happened.
The healed man gives us the testimony. First, in verse 15, he is asked how he came by his sight. He says, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, now I see.” Then, asked to evaluate his healer, he says, “He is a prophet.”
What is a prophet? A prophet is one who carries the word of God.
The man’s entire testimony translates into sixteen words. It is in two parts, what Jesus did for him, and what he thinks of Jesus for doing it for him. And that is exactly how we can form our own testimony about Jesus Christ. What life changing event has occurred in our life because of Jesus? What does that say about Jesus to you? Another way to consider it is this, what event makes me take my faith seriously? What moved you to truly accept the grace of Christ? Can we articulate that event? That is what our testimony is supposed to entail.
Of course, that presupposes a couple of things. It presupposes that we, like the man formerly blind, have had a personal, life changing encounter with Jesus. For too many people, Jesus is something, at best, to aspire to, and at worst, is someone of importance we like to be around, you know, just in case.
But what is that personal encounter? What does that life changing event feel like? That is as individual as we are. For the blind man now healed, it was one moment. It could be a lightening flash, when something wonderful happened and life was never the same again. It could be a string of incremental changes, ending in something wonderful. When that story resonates in the life of another person, we have shared our testimony with them. At that moment, pray Jesus to take over and change a life.
What makes the center of real testimony is the personal encounter. Something, somewhere, someone, sometime, God came in loud and clear. You may not have realized it until after the fact, but right then and there, Jesus took hold. All that abstract stuff about the death and resurrection, the grace and forgiveness, the justification and salvation, that stuff came home to live in your heart with the Spirit.
If you haven’t had that moment, pray for it sisters and brothers. This could be the moment, the moment to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, not as the guy we talk about in church every week, but the man and the power and the miracle that caused a blind man to see and loves you like his own.
But if you have had that moment, that personal encounter, here is the challenge to you. How will you use it in God’s service, trusting that what God has done for you may be the spark for God’s work in someone else? And if you have had that moment, has it ever fallen out of memory? The things of life quickly raise the tide over the things of faith. Walk out of here and there are a dozen other things ready to take your time and energy.
Maybe the day of your conversion to the Christian faith is your moment of testimony. Maybe when the faith of your families, the faith you grew up in here at church, took root in your heart. Maybe it was the day when a miracle happened. Maybe recording that event somewhere, on a piece of paper tucked into your bible, maybe on the inside front page of the bible.
We have our story of us and Jesus Christ. We have our testimony. Will we dare to pray for the chance to share that testimony? Will we prepare to share it? Will we accept the fact that Jesus will give us opportunity to share it? Will we share it, will we evangelize when we are given the chance?
Let us pray. . .
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sermon, Sept. 13, 2009
Sermon: September 13, 2009 Luke 24: 36-53
We gather here today to worship the living God. We come with humble hearts to God’s Holy Word, seeking understanding, seeking guidance, seeking a word of comfort in our lives. For the last six weeks, we considered what disconnects us from our God. Now, consider what connects us.
These are the closing verses to the Gospel of Luke. Jesus appears bodily to his disciples, proving he is not a ghost by letting them touch his physical body, by eating some broiled fish. He was there for a reason, the final pep talk. For three years, the disciples were in the school of Jesus, living with him, watching him, listening to him, healing and preaching on his behalf, preparing for this day. On this day he gives them the gift that will carry them on in their ministry.
“Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures . . .”
The whole bible was laid out for them, the bible they had, what we call the Old Testament. They’d lived it with Jesus, but now there was something special, something new, the application of God’s Spirit so that it all came together for them. All of it came together in the person and the ministry of Jesus, reflected in Holy Scripture, and they got it.
The purpose of this knowledge was to drive the disciples, the followers, to become apostles, servants. Their charge was to proclaim that the Messiah suffered, died, and rose on the third day, that event fulfilling the promise that they proclaim the repentance and forgiveness of sins, in Jesus name. This proclamation was to go to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. They would carry out that proclamation with the gift that the Father promised for them, the gift they were to wait in Jerusalem for. That gift, we find out in the book of Acts, is the Holy Spirit.
So brothers and sisters, here we are. We’re back in the big room again, back at the normal time again. We’ve launched our Sunday School program, teaching our young ones about our faith. We will break bread after worship with our Presbyterian Women as they begin a new year of programming, mission, and support of the Gospel message. It is a new year, new possibilities lie before us. Are we ready for the challenge?
From our passage in Luke today, we have a message to carry forward our call to evangelize the world.
Repent, seek forgiveness from sins in the name of Jesus Christ. As Amos put it last week, turn away from the evil in life and embrace what is good. The divine power we can promise in that message comes from Jesus, from the Messiah. Proclaim that he suffered and died and was raised again from the dead. John the Baptist preached the first part of this message, Repent! But now the power of Jesus is infused into the message. He was the Messiah, he died for our sins, he was raised to new life to give us new life. The message of repentance is bound to the divine gift.
What does repent mean? It means to give it up. Whatever sin exists in your life you are called on to give it up. You drink? A glass of wine is relaxing. You drink too much? Repent, give it up. Paul says a little wine is good for the stomach. Proverbs says, “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.” God give us wisdom to see where we are relative to those texts. You think ill of somebody? Somebody who really annoys you? Repent! The command of Jesus is to love our neighbor. The examples are endless.
What we then practice is what we can preach. What is the destructive behavior you see in the life of someone you are about? I am not talking about bashing them over the head like some doomsday prophet, proclaiming “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand?” But how about just being there? Not abandoning them? Being a friend in thick and thin.
The power of repentance is in its divine support. The death and resurrection of Jesus are intimately connected to the call to repentance. How do we know that repentance is for real? Because we have the guarantee of God’s power behind it, the power over life and death itself. Where do we learn about this message? From Holy Scripture. Jesus gave them the message to speak, after opening their minds to understand that this message is across the Old Testament. What he opened for them has been recorded, at least in part, for us in the New Testament.
Let’s come back to it. Who in your life could use a word of hope? Who has a life of sin that needs to be turned around? Who do you know that could use a little piece of what you have in Jesus Christ? Who needs a Lord and Savior because, when they tried to run their own lives, they messed it up completely?
I am assuming of course that we all have seized upon that gift of Jesus for ourselves, that we repent of our own sins, that we have given ourselves to Jesus as Lord and Savior, recognizing that he died and rose for us. We have promises of faith in Christ laid down in Scripture. Have you accepted them? If somebody here hasn’t, well, you have come to the right place. I would be glad to speak to you and pray with you after our service this morning.
Why is this so all fired important? Why am I pounding on the repentance message today? Because we are here to worship the living God. And to worship God requires that we have repented of our sins. Why am I pounding on the repentance message today? Because it is a new program year. Because big and powerful things are going to happen this year.
Next Sunday evening, the Portuguese fellowship we have planned for begins worshipping here in the evenings. In two weeks, we are playing host to the members of the Muslim Center of Middlesex County, Muslims who have trusted us enough to come and share worship with us. Pray hearts may be opened. We are going to drag out that musty, scary word ‘evangelism’. We are going to be the people that Jesus wants us to be and the church Christ leads us to be. Let all God’s people say together: Amen. Let us pray.
We gather here today to worship the living God. We come with humble hearts to God’s Holy Word, seeking understanding, seeking guidance, seeking a word of comfort in our lives. For the last six weeks, we considered what disconnects us from our God. Now, consider what connects us.
These are the closing verses to the Gospel of Luke. Jesus appears bodily to his disciples, proving he is not a ghost by letting them touch his physical body, by eating some broiled fish. He was there for a reason, the final pep talk. For three years, the disciples were in the school of Jesus, living with him, watching him, listening to him, healing and preaching on his behalf, preparing for this day. On this day he gives them the gift that will carry them on in their ministry.
“Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures . . .”
The whole bible was laid out for them, the bible they had, what we call the Old Testament. They’d lived it with Jesus, but now there was something special, something new, the application of God’s Spirit so that it all came together for them. All of it came together in the person and the ministry of Jesus, reflected in Holy Scripture, and they got it.
The purpose of this knowledge was to drive the disciples, the followers, to become apostles, servants. Their charge was to proclaim that the Messiah suffered, died, and rose on the third day, that event fulfilling the promise that they proclaim the repentance and forgiveness of sins, in Jesus name. This proclamation was to go to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. They would carry out that proclamation with the gift that the Father promised for them, the gift they were to wait in Jerusalem for. That gift, we find out in the book of Acts, is the Holy Spirit.
So brothers and sisters, here we are. We’re back in the big room again, back at the normal time again. We’ve launched our Sunday School program, teaching our young ones about our faith. We will break bread after worship with our Presbyterian Women as they begin a new year of programming, mission, and support of the Gospel message. It is a new year, new possibilities lie before us. Are we ready for the challenge?
From our passage in Luke today, we have a message to carry forward our call to evangelize the world.
Repent, seek forgiveness from sins in the name of Jesus Christ. As Amos put it last week, turn away from the evil in life and embrace what is good. The divine power we can promise in that message comes from Jesus, from the Messiah. Proclaim that he suffered and died and was raised again from the dead. John the Baptist preached the first part of this message, Repent! But now the power of Jesus is infused into the message. He was the Messiah, he died for our sins, he was raised to new life to give us new life. The message of repentance is bound to the divine gift.
What does repent mean? It means to give it up. Whatever sin exists in your life you are called on to give it up. You drink? A glass of wine is relaxing. You drink too much? Repent, give it up. Paul says a little wine is good for the stomach. Proverbs says, “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.” God give us wisdom to see where we are relative to those texts. You think ill of somebody? Somebody who really annoys you? Repent! The command of Jesus is to love our neighbor. The examples are endless.
What we then practice is what we can preach. What is the destructive behavior you see in the life of someone you are about? I am not talking about bashing them over the head like some doomsday prophet, proclaiming “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand?” But how about just being there? Not abandoning them? Being a friend in thick and thin.
The power of repentance is in its divine support. The death and resurrection of Jesus are intimately connected to the call to repentance. How do we know that repentance is for real? Because we have the guarantee of God’s power behind it, the power over life and death itself. Where do we learn about this message? From Holy Scripture. Jesus gave them the message to speak, after opening their minds to understand that this message is across the Old Testament. What he opened for them has been recorded, at least in part, for us in the New Testament.
Let’s come back to it. Who in your life could use a word of hope? Who has a life of sin that needs to be turned around? Who do you know that could use a little piece of what you have in Jesus Christ? Who needs a Lord and Savior because, when they tried to run their own lives, they messed it up completely?
I am assuming of course that we all have seized upon that gift of Jesus for ourselves, that we repent of our own sins, that we have given ourselves to Jesus as Lord and Savior, recognizing that he died and rose for us. We have promises of faith in Christ laid down in Scripture. Have you accepted them? If somebody here hasn’t, well, you have come to the right place. I would be glad to speak to you and pray with you after our service this morning.
Why is this so all fired important? Why am I pounding on the repentance message today? Because we are here to worship the living God. And to worship God requires that we have repented of our sins. Why am I pounding on the repentance message today? Because it is a new program year. Because big and powerful things are going to happen this year.
Next Sunday evening, the Portuguese fellowship we have planned for begins worshipping here in the evenings. In two weeks, we are playing host to the members of the Muslim Center of Middlesex County, Muslims who have trusted us enough to come and share worship with us. Pray hearts may be opened. We are going to drag out that musty, scary word ‘evangelism’. We are going to be the people that Jesus wants us to be and the church Christ leads us to be. Let all God’s people say together: Amen. Let us pray.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Sermon, July 19, 2009
Luke 21:1-4
The Widow’s Offering
21He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’
It’s about going all in, like in Texas Hold ‘Em poker. Other people may have more than you, but you are going all in, staying alive in the final showdown. It makes for great televised poker, when the celebrities and the famous, who can afford to lose large amounts, are playing for charity or for the glory of the game. But the all in the Scripture is talking about is more. Imagine going ‘all in’ with the grocery money for the week, or the mortgage money for the month, or the year, putting up everything you have on one bet.
The woman Jesus singles out is going all in. There are others who have contributed much more than she has to the temple treasury, but she’s gone all in, putting everything into the collection plate. And Jesus praises her faith, “out of her poverty she has put in all she has to live on.”
The worldly wisdom about this story is that the woman was stupid. Two pennies were not going to change the balance of the temple budget and they would have allowed her to eat, to continue to live. Yes, she made a grand gesture in giving all to the temple, but you can’t eat gestures. Worldly wisdom would condemn Jesus. He was there to save the world, he should have gone over to that woman and told her to take the money back. God would have understood. God would have preferred she eat.
But no, she was praised highly for going ‘all in’ on the Lord’s work. And we should not think to condemn her for going all in, but learn from her.
She placed everything she had into the Lord’s hands, depending on the Lord to support her. Everything else in her life took a back seat to that most basic relationship. Maybe she had family to support, we don’t know. Maybe she had debts to pay, we don’t know. Maybe she was a homeless person, we just don’t know. All we know is that she went ‘all in’.
I am not going to talk this morning about going financially ‘all in’. That is a stewardship sermon, and that time is passed. I am talking about something more personal. I am talking about our willingness as a congregation to go ‘all in’ on our faith in Jesus Christ. I am talking about risking our personal comfort zones, risking our personal images, risking our personal preferences to go ‘all in’ with Jesus Christ.
It is a deliberate church growth strategy, and one that is guaranteed to work, because we can expect nothing less when we go ‘all in’.
It involves two steps.
The first is to change our faith patterns, is to change how we relate to our Lord Jesus Christ. It involves going from talking about our Lord Jesus Christ, answering ‘what’ questions, filling in information about Jesus, to answering ‘why’ questions, to sharing why Jesus is so fundamentally important to us. It is being able to say, “I love Jesus because . . .” or “My Lord has done this for me, and through me . . .”.
Then we must move to the second step. Taking those personal moments of testimony, those personal journeys we have in the Lord, and sharing them with our neighbors. It is going door to door, learning about our neighbors, desiring to pray for them, listening to their stories with love and faith in our hearts, and responding to them as loving sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ.
That’s going ‘all in’. It involves getting our relationship with Jesus straight in our own lives. We know what the bible says that relationship is supposed to be. Each Sunday, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, forgiveness is proclaimed, a new life and a new way of living is proclaimed for us to seize upon, and this Sunday is no different. But to go ‘all in’ with Jesus, we need to be straight with ourselves as to who we really think he is and where we really place him in our lives.
Only when we have embraced the love of Jesus and made it real in our lives can we dare to attempt to sow the seeds to make it real in lives of others.
So how do we get to that point? Two simple steps to start: By going ‘all in’ with prayer. By praying with the faith that it really changes the world. Get a journal, record your prayers, record the results, dare to get bigger in your requests from the almighty, get in groups to share collective prayers. Go ‘all in’ on Scripture. We issue a daily reading lectionary. Use it, or find your own method. Read and study and journal about what you find in the bible. If you have questions, ask someone, like me. And I can go on and on with a dozen other disciplines that are designed to bring us closer to our God.
But notice something from our Scripture passage today. It’s not about giving from our abundance. It is not about waiting for God to take care of all our other problems so that we can have time to do God’s work. That’s fine, but it isn’t all in. We are holding back, in case it doesn’t work out. We have some of our own treasures stored up down here, just in case there aren’t so many in heaven.
How uncomfortable does this sound? I have to be able to articulate why I love Jesus and how that love has changed my life. I need to talk about my feelings. Jesus loved me so much that he died a horrible death on my account. What does that really mean to me, in my gut, on that innermost level? He rose again and has lifted me from my sin filled life, full of the muck and refuse of the evils that we live, to forgiveness and healing and new life. How do I take that out of simple intellectual assent and dare to cry in joy over a miserable life replaced with one of glory?
And, God in heaven, how am I going to talk about those things to people I know, people in my neighborhood? Well, brothers and sisters, I am not sure how I am going to do that either, but I say we must do it together. We are God’s church, we are Jesus’ congregation.
Are we ready to go ‘all in’? Let us pray.
The Widow’s Offering
21He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’
It’s about going all in, like in Texas Hold ‘Em poker. Other people may have more than you, but you are going all in, staying alive in the final showdown. It makes for great televised poker, when the celebrities and the famous, who can afford to lose large amounts, are playing for charity or for the glory of the game. But the all in the Scripture is talking about is more. Imagine going ‘all in’ with the grocery money for the week, or the mortgage money for the month, or the year, putting up everything you have on one bet.
The woman Jesus singles out is going all in. There are others who have contributed much more than she has to the temple treasury, but she’s gone all in, putting everything into the collection plate. And Jesus praises her faith, “out of her poverty she has put in all she has to live on.”
The worldly wisdom about this story is that the woman was stupid. Two pennies were not going to change the balance of the temple budget and they would have allowed her to eat, to continue to live. Yes, she made a grand gesture in giving all to the temple, but you can’t eat gestures. Worldly wisdom would condemn Jesus. He was there to save the world, he should have gone over to that woman and told her to take the money back. God would have understood. God would have preferred she eat.
But no, she was praised highly for going ‘all in’ on the Lord’s work. And we should not think to condemn her for going all in, but learn from her.
She placed everything she had into the Lord’s hands, depending on the Lord to support her. Everything else in her life took a back seat to that most basic relationship. Maybe she had family to support, we don’t know. Maybe she had debts to pay, we don’t know. Maybe she was a homeless person, we just don’t know. All we know is that she went ‘all in’.
I am not going to talk this morning about going financially ‘all in’. That is a stewardship sermon, and that time is passed. I am talking about something more personal. I am talking about our willingness as a congregation to go ‘all in’ on our faith in Jesus Christ. I am talking about risking our personal comfort zones, risking our personal images, risking our personal preferences to go ‘all in’ with Jesus Christ.
It is a deliberate church growth strategy, and one that is guaranteed to work, because we can expect nothing less when we go ‘all in’.
It involves two steps.
The first is to change our faith patterns, is to change how we relate to our Lord Jesus Christ. It involves going from talking about our Lord Jesus Christ, answering ‘what’ questions, filling in information about Jesus, to answering ‘why’ questions, to sharing why Jesus is so fundamentally important to us. It is being able to say, “I love Jesus because . . .” or “My Lord has done this for me, and through me . . .”.
Then we must move to the second step. Taking those personal moments of testimony, those personal journeys we have in the Lord, and sharing them with our neighbors. It is going door to door, learning about our neighbors, desiring to pray for them, listening to their stories with love and faith in our hearts, and responding to them as loving sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ.
That’s going ‘all in’. It involves getting our relationship with Jesus straight in our own lives. We know what the bible says that relationship is supposed to be. Each Sunday, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, forgiveness is proclaimed, a new life and a new way of living is proclaimed for us to seize upon, and this Sunday is no different. But to go ‘all in’ with Jesus, we need to be straight with ourselves as to who we really think he is and where we really place him in our lives.
Only when we have embraced the love of Jesus and made it real in our lives can we dare to attempt to sow the seeds to make it real in lives of others.
So how do we get to that point? Two simple steps to start: By going ‘all in’ with prayer. By praying with the faith that it really changes the world. Get a journal, record your prayers, record the results, dare to get bigger in your requests from the almighty, get in groups to share collective prayers. Go ‘all in’ on Scripture. We issue a daily reading lectionary. Use it, or find your own method. Read and study and journal about what you find in the bible. If you have questions, ask someone, like me. And I can go on and on with a dozen other disciplines that are designed to bring us closer to our God.
But notice something from our Scripture passage today. It’s not about giving from our abundance. It is not about waiting for God to take care of all our other problems so that we can have time to do God’s work. That’s fine, but it isn’t all in. We are holding back, in case it doesn’t work out. We have some of our own treasures stored up down here, just in case there aren’t so many in heaven.
How uncomfortable does this sound? I have to be able to articulate why I love Jesus and how that love has changed my life. I need to talk about my feelings. Jesus loved me so much that he died a horrible death on my account. What does that really mean to me, in my gut, on that innermost level? He rose again and has lifted me from my sin filled life, full of the muck and refuse of the evils that we live, to forgiveness and healing and new life. How do I take that out of simple intellectual assent and dare to cry in joy over a miserable life replaced with one of glory?
And, God in heaven, how am I going to talk about those things to people I know, people in my neighborhood? Well, brothers and sisters, I am not sure how I am going to do that either, but I say we must do it together. We are God’s church, we are Jesus’ congregation.
Are we ready to go ‘all in’? Let us pray.
Falling Away
It happens to every Christian, falling away in some way or other. I don't mean necessarily from the whole church, but from some piece of our Christian life. It has been five months since I have posted, and that's because I've slipped away from the relevance of the faith on the web.
It doesn't mean faith hasn't been active, or that I haven't been active as a pastor in my church, far from it. But it means, for those months, the question of Why Bother has been fringing my blogging. Is anybody out there? If they are, do they care? Is this an exercise in personal aggrandizement (spelt right first time out!)?
That has been part of a deeper struggle, a deeper question of Why Bother in the faith itself. Important things are going on of which I am a part. The work of Jesus is going in new and interesting directions. But it was like it was outside of me. The question has been of Jesus and I, hand in hand, when it has felt like I've been back in the line, while Jesus was out in front.
But things are are back, and better, more fun. And there are a few places I can shamelessly plug this theological diatribe.
So here we go!
It doesn't mean faith hasn't been active, or that I haven't been active as a pastor in my church, far from it. But it means, for those months, the question of Why Bother has been fringing my blogging. Is anybody out there? If they are, do they care? Is this an exercise in personal aggrandizement (spelt right first time out!)?
That has been part of a deeper struggle, a deeper question of Why Bother in the faith itself. Important things are going on of which I am a part. The work of Jesus is going in new and interesting directions. But it was like it was outside of me. The question has been of Jesus and I, hand in hand, when it has felt like I've been back in the line, while Jesus was out in front.
But things are are back, and better, more fun. And there are a few places I can shamelessly plug this theological diatribe.
So here we go!
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