Text: Romans
16:25-27
Focus: Joy
Function: To
help us praise the Lord.
Form: Story
Telling
Intro:
I had an acquaintance
once in the Ministry who did nothing but prison ministry. He was in
the employ of Chuck Colson ministries.
And he was in preaching
class with me. Now, in preaching class, we all learned the basics,
and then we had to experiment on each other.
And, let us call him:
“Brother John,” well brother John did his practice sermon as if
he were in a prison. And what he decided to do was to re-frame the
story of the Good Samaritan.
Instead of a Priest, a
Levite and the Good Samaritan, he used a preacher, a worship leader
and a gang member. The robbers were members of a gang that
represented one race, the victim represented a second race and the
hero represented a gang member from another race who, because he knew
Jesus, helped out his mortal enemy.
It was a memorable
sermon. Very Good. I can almost repeat it. He used all the language,
of the time, that one might hear on the mean streets or in the
prison. I remember the line, the robbers pulled out their heaters,
that used to be slang for gun and drilled the Krypt (the rival gang
member) full of holes.
I suppose that he did a
great job connecting with his imaginary audience. And that is
important, when we were at the last Kairos Weekend, I remember one of
the guys at our table saying this, after one of our team members, who
had been locked up previously for some sort of violent crime say: “I
figured that you were all just a bunch of Sunday School boys coming
here to set us straight. But I appreciate that you brought in people
who could relate to prison life.”
Anyway, my friend got
an “A” on his trial sermon, but there was one thing that really
bothered me and the professor.
Every time “Brother
John” wanted to stop, catch his breath, collect his thoughts, or
segue into another aspect of the sermon, he interjected one of two
phrases. They were “glory to God” or “Praise the Lord.”
Now, one might think
that there is nothing wrong with that, but the funny thing was in the
placement.
For example, he said:
“and the guys jumped him and filled him full of holes, glory to
God.” And then something like, “and the guy laid bleeding to
death on the ground, praise the Lord.” “The preacher had nothing
to do with the victim, so he crossed to the other side of the road,
glory to God...”
He kept saying “praise
the Lord” and “Glory to God” whenever something terrible
happened.
Inappropriate.
Yesterday we were
locked out of a car, it was freezing cold and we were trying to get a
piece of metal on the lock button by wedging the door open a little
with a crowbar and running a coat-hanger in it.
I remember muttering
under my breath, To God, “Lord, we could use a little help here.”
All of a sudden my son
looks inside the car and notices that the passenger door was
unlocked. We had tried it earlier, and maybe, once when that metal
hit the power lock something did happen.
But my son was quick to
say, appropriately: “Praise the Lord.”
Praise the Lord!
In this letter to the
Romans, Brother Paul has just laid out what salvation means, he has
laid out the mystery of Jesus death and resurrection, he has
addressed the question as to whether or not the Jewish people are
still God's own people, he has explained how we, the gentiles fit
into this mystery. He speaks of sin, atonement, forgiveness,
reconciliation with God, living by faith, the power of the Holy
Spirit to help us pray, both with our minds and with the Spiritual
gift of tongues, if one is so blessed.
A lot is in the book of
Romans.
I can image that at the
end of the book, Paul is just sitting back and saying to Himself: So
what?
And it isn't a mocking
“so what?”
No, he realizes that
what God has done is an incredible miracle.
He repeats how the Old
Testament prophets could not really understand the mystery of knowing
God and the way God has redeemed us and brought us back into His own
family.
And he gives the
appropriate response. Praise the Lord.
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!
It wasn't like my
friend who may have been using the name of the Lord in a vain way.
No!
He has something to
rejoice in.
Jesus' coming is a
cause for great joy!
Although these
mysteries are clear in Brother Paul's mind. Although scholars pour
over his writings and still try to delve into the incredible nature
of what he teaches. Although our salvation is spelled out in a
beautiful way in the book he has just written. Although he
understands the mysteries well enough to write it out clearly for us.
He is still amazed at
the wonder of what it meant for all of humanity that Jesus Christ was
born!
And his response is
simple and wonderful: Praise the Lord!
Listen, brothers and
sisters, as Christians, Joy is an important part of our lives.
Sometimes circumstances
can get in the way. So, I was reflecting on it this week.
My brother is really
sick. He is fighting stage 4 cancer and on top of that, he fell and
broke his leg in 3 places and his ankle in 1. He laid on the ice for
45 minutes and had extensive surgery on Thursday to remove necrotic
tissue.
I wondered, what does
he have to rejoice in? He is going to spend Christmas in a nursing
home and he is only 60.
On top of that, he lost
his job in 2008, his extended benefits have run out, the business
venture he tried didn't pan out and now all he has to go on is his
disability.
People could sit back
and say there is another person who may be able to say, along with
the Great sufferer, Job; “Oh woe is me!”
Yet joy is a common
place in the heart and life of a believer.
One could ask, just
what does a person who is suffering have to be thankful for? Just
what do they have to rejoice in?
Well, brother Paul who
wrote these words was no stranger to hardship either.
On 3 occasions they
attempted to kill him by stoning him, and somehow he survived.
He spent a day and a
night swimming in the ocean until he was rescued.
He was persecuted,
placed in chains, arrested, and beaten for his faith on many
occasions.
And still, he stops to
write these words.
He says: “Praise the
Lord!”
He says: “What God
has done for us by sending Jesus Christ to this earth is worth
everything!”
He remembers to keep
his focus, even when he is suffering.
I remember preaching in
Haiti during the food embargo in the early 90's. While I was there,
the mission compound was broken in to and the guard was murdered by
black marketeers who stole the food that we were freely distributing
to the poor. They stole it so that they could take advantage of the
poor and sell them what we intended to give them for free.
And during that time,
we went to a village that was particularly hard hit.
The people, like so
many of the world's poor had to walk 3 miles each way to obtain water
that was suitable for drinking.
They were desperate.
Their children were starving to death.
And at the same time,
all of a sudden, after 30+ years of preaching Jesus, over half the
village turned away from Voodoo to trust in Jesus.
Although they were
desperate, and we were doing all we could to relieve their
desperation, as well as preach the good news to them. Although they
seemed to be people who had nothing to be thankful for.
We started out the
worship service with a song, song in Creole.
And the joy of the Lord
fell on to that place.
The translator gave me
the words, it went something like this: “When I die, I am going to
live again!”
And there was genuine
joy in that little church building.
I suppose some may say
that it was merely some sort of psychological frenzy brought on by
hope, a sense of mutual suffering and a religious experience.
But look again at the
text, it says: “God is able to strengthen you according to the Good
news (the word is gospel) about Jesus.”
Joy is one of those
fruits of the Holy Spirit given to all believers that takes them
through even the most desperate of times.
And I think about the
transformation that was taking place in that community in Haiti.
While I was preaching,
the Voodoo witch doctors had set up stations around the Church and
they were attempting some sort of curse against us.
But the inside of that
building was just like it was in the book of Acts, Chapter 2 when the
Holy Spirit broke out in the midst of the Church and the people were
filled with joy and power.
Voodoo has the power to
keep people in bondage due to fear. Some of it is real, some of it is
imaginary.
But the fear grips the
heart.
And Paul tells us that
there is something completely different in Jesus. There is freedom.
It is good news!
It is not the bad news
of fear and bondage that had been keeping those people depressed for
generations.
But, as the text says,
It is the good news that changes the lives of people, brings them
into obedience to Jesus.
We watched that village
change.
People started hoping
again. People started trying again. And in the effort, some success
was made. People in the midst of desperate situations experienced
real joy, something to be happy about.
Good news was breaking
out among them. Through the connections of the mission board, a
Mennonite Missionary team agreed to bring their well drilling rig to
the village to give them drinking water. Through the good news of
Jesus, they were given living water that bore them up during their
suffering.
This was life or death
to them.
So. I go back to my
brother. One could say “well, at least his children are not
starving to death, he should be happy he has health care and 3 square
meals a day.”
But that isn't the joy
that God is talking about here.
It is the joy the
Haitians experienced when they sang that song: “When I die, I will
live again.”
Jesus came to set us
free. Jesus came to bring us Good News. Jesus came to bring us back
into the family of God.
For them, it was
freedom from the fear of their voodoo witch doctors.
It was also freedom
from the hard toil of walking 3 miles one way to get water.
And more than anything,
it was the freedom, the good news, that we can be brought back into
the family of God.
And that, is why my own
brother has to be thankful for.
His name is written
down in the book of Life. He has been restored to the family of God
by faith in Jesus.
