Practicing the Presence

Text: Ephesians 5:15-18, TLB

Focus: The Spirit

Function: practical ways to keep in the presence of God.

^15-16So be careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wise: make the most of every opportunity you have for doing good. ¹⁷Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to. ¹⁸Don’t drink too much wine, for many evils lie along that path; be filled instead with the Holy Spirit and controlled by him.

Good morning!

Historically, the Church of the Brethren have been teetotalers since right before the prohibition.

In a similar vein, growing up in an evangelical wing of the Mennonite Church, we heard the same thing. Drinking alcohol is worldly and no good for you and you can be sure that you won’t sin by drunkenness if you never drink.

And of course, being a bible based church, we heard this perspective from this passage of scripture that tells us not to be drunk with wine.

Now,for full disclosure’s sake, I am not opposed to having a social drink. While I was learning to cope with my depression, I was an alcoholic. And through the process of healing and restoration, the salvation that God promises to bring us, I spent 11 years as well without drinking alcohol.

One can’t use alcohol to treat depression. There is a song on my playlist that I love and it has great meaning to me. It is “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” by Jimmy Swighart. As I was in deep prayer and meditation while listening to this song, I kept crying out to God for a healing from the trauma that I experienced as a child and through a series of difficult events and suffering, with the help of a good therapist, a patient wife, and much time spent in prayerful meditation, I found the promised healing that Jesus says he will give us.

Remember, I have been focusing on Abundant life. Jesus is our Savior. He saves us. Not simply to keep us out of hell, but is the one who restores us to God and each other. God’s restoration, God’s salvation, Jesus’ salvation is holistic. I believe that in time and through the helpful spiritual direction of things like our gathering together here we experience that abundant life.

Tee-totaling had a good affect on me in one way. I grew up with the knowledge that we were not like other people because we abstained from alcohol and that proved that we were Christians. It was religious and that was comforting to know that I was set apart for God.

But, I have mockingly said it this way, we grew up with the adage “we don’t smoke and we don’t chew and we don’t go with girls that do.”

It was a holiness code that we followed that indeed made us feel like we were special and it was a part of our faith.

I love the people that I know that are still in that holiness tradition and I understand, as it says in Romans 14:6b-9, that some of us abstain as a way of sacrificing for the Lord, and the Lord is pleased with that, and others imbibe because they know they are free in Christ and the Lord approves of their liberty as well.

So according to scripture, Holiness is great and is commanded. But what is holiness? I believe it is being filled with the Spirit and carrying out the mission and calling that Christ has given us.

I believe that holiness is practicing the presence of Christ in our lives. And that is accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit who is present in us. Especially those of us who trust in Jesus for our restoration to God, others and ourselves.

So why am I only focusing on one half of one verse in our entire text today.

I believe that it is a disservice to preach holiness as merely defined by the things that we do not do.

That is a negative approach to the power and strength of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Remember, God is a verb. God is the action in our lives that empowers us to be like Christ and show that love to others.

So let us look again at the salient verse about not being drunk with wine. It has the command in the negative of something that we are not to do, but the emphasis in the passage is on being filled with the Spirit of Christ.

When we are filled with the Spirit of Christ, we are focused on the mission and purpose that Christ has for us. We are given meaning to our suffering and successes by the power of the Spirit.

So, holiness, then, in my estimation is not defined by the things we don’t do, but the things we actually do.

I once preached a flop of a sermon calling it the do-do principle of our faith. It isn’t based on what we don’t do, but on what we do, do.

I was hoping to drive home that idea that merely abstaining from the things that people take to excess sometimes in order to prevent excess leaves us far short of being holy people.

I believe it leaves us trapped in a sin avoidance mindset instead of a Joyfully enable Spirit led lifestyle.

If all we do is abstain, we are then trying to accomplish the work that God has for us in our own strength. Well, actually we are not focused on the work we are called to do, but we spend our lives worried about whether or not we are sinning.

I am reading the book of Job in my morning devotions right now. And one of the things that strikes me is that if Job had a fault, it was his fear of sinning. The text says that he offered sacrifices all the times just in case his kids sinned. And then disaster did strike and he says that the thing he always feared came upon him.

It would be ironically sad if he was so prosperous and yet so afraid of losing his wealth that he didn’t enjoy it.

Here is the thing. Job was a righteous man. And when he was questioned by his friends, he was able to recount his generosity and how he was the one who sustained the poor people in his neighborhood.

He was loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself and he was caring for them and letting the Spirit of God lead him.

He was doing the second part of our salient verse. He was being filled with the Spirit of God and letting God lead him in his life.

In our text, he does tell us to be careful about the way we act. God wants us to remember that the time given to us is a time for us to prosper and be blessed and a blessing to others as we continue the work of Jesus together in our lives and community.

And I am convinced that as he is talking, he is speaking of the Spirit lead life. In the next few verses, he speaks of how we maintain a connection to the Spirit by our fellowship and mutual encouragement.

He tells us to look for opportunities to do good.

A Spirit led life is also a selfless life. I recognizes that God is present in us to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others. Out of our bellies shall flow rivers of living water that bring life to the pain in the world around us when we act in faith through the power of the Spirit.

Life to the Fullest

Text: John 6:35, 41-51

Focus: Abundant life

Function: to help people see that the kingdom of heaven is here already.

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

⁴¹Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Good Morning! This is one of the most provocative sermons that Jesus preaches.

Up until this time, like for example when the miracle for Synagogue Ruler’s daughter and the woman who touched Jesus’ garment happened, the text says that there was an huge crowd pressing around him.

But by the time Jesus is arrested, the crowd has diminished greatly. And the text says it was because Jesus says later in this sermon that he flesh is true food and his blood is true drink and we must eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus in order to have abundant life. The crowd did not understand and could not abide the thought of cannibalism.

I don’t know how I would react if I heard firsthand such a message. Most of the crowd left, Jesus looks at those who remain and asks them if they are leaving also and Peter replies that Jesus has the words of abundant life and he is going to stick it out with Jesus even though he doesn’t understand.

I believe that this statement, My flesh is true food and my blood true drink is the reason why our Orthodox and Roman Catholic siblings in the faith believe that miraculously, every time we eat the bread and cup, it transforms inside of us into real flesh and blood.

Sadly we have argued dearly over whether or not Jesus was literal or symbolic.

And I am going to bless my other brothers and sisters and pray for the day when we can share the bread and cup together. I believe it will be a sign from God that true reconciliation happens in the Church.

If not here on earth, then we will in heaven, with Jesus. What hope we have!

This teaching from Jesus does illustrate the importance of the practice of Communion together. We do it to remember Jesus giving his life for us.

The irony for me is the faith involved. Jesus gave his life, but we have to take it.

I used to always preach this from the perspective that since we willingly consume him, we also willingly participated in his murder.

In the movie the Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s only role is to wield the hammer that drove in the nails. And he said he did it to remind himself that he was guilty of Jesus’ death.

I see that theology. But it is filled with shame.

Yes, Jesus gave his life in a terrible way as he was tortured on the cross.

But he did it out of love and an example to us that we can love our enemies, even to the point of sacrifice, because we believe in the resurrection and our reward in heaven.

The scripture said the he learned obedience through the things he suffered. His death was only temporary!

We must consume him. We must use him for our benefit. We must accept a gift that we cannot repay.

That is sort of un-American. We are taught to be self sufficient and not depend on anyone else, to make enough for ourselves and have enough left over to share, according to scripture. But Jesus is giving himself freely and we participate in that gift by taking it for ourselves.

Communion is a way of receiving Jesus. I have seen different people become born again and filled with the Spirit just by embracing the thought of Jesus while taking the bread and cup together.

It is a spiritual practice that we make in order help us embrace the reality of our faith in a symbolic way.

And our text reads that anyone who eats the flesh of Jesus will have eternal life.

I titled the sermon: “Life to the fullest.”

That is exactly what Aorami the Greek word often translated as Eternal life actually means.

It is literally, a life without any boundaries.

Jesus is talking about our freedom in Christ to experience the abundant life that the Kingdom of God has come to bring to humanity.

It is an abundant life because it is a God kind of life.

When we translate it merely “eternal life” then we focus on the life after we stop breathing and not the promise of abundant life here and now. It is like we believe the Kingdom is sill coming and Jesus said it was here and now.

We are the Kingdom and the change that God wants to bring to the world.

This abundant life is filled with the Spirit and is full of the kind loving nature of our God. It fills us with joy and gives to us a sense of purpose when we are being led by the Spirit of God.

When I took those 10 dozen cookies to Kairos a few weeks ago, I sat at a table with a very troubled young man. He was disappointed and discouraged because he was told that he could have anything he wanted if he asked in faith believing and then he didn’t get it.

We spent the day talking about forgiveness and he implied that he had murder in his heart.

The room was crowded and we were short of volunteers, so I was the only volunteer at the table, with 3 other residents. The young man started spouting some white supremacist stuff and the saint of a black man, sitting at the table with me immediately bowed his head and took to praying for this guy.

His great disappointment was not his fault. Someone else told him that God would do whatever he wanted. It doesn’t work that way. We must pray according to the will of God. It was like he was sold Christianity as a commodity to get his needs met instead of relationship with God that is designed to change the environment we live in.

I mention this because abundant life does not mean a life without suffering or trials.

Most of us in this room suffer in different ways, some physically, some emotionally, some spiritually, some relationally and other reasons for suffering happen, and Jesus promise to us is that he suffered with us and has overcome the suffering of this world.

He suffers with us and when we suffer, we suffer with Christ. I don’t understand that mystery.

But it really helps to know that we are not alone and have been give abundant life through Christ

I realize that to have abundant life, I must practice it. It is a live lived by faith, meeting God every morning in prayer and study and walking with God through the day.

I am not talking about trying to be very holy or off set from the environment. But having the positive attitude that God is going to make a difference in our environment through us.

It gives us a purpose and helps us to live life to the fullest.

Why We Gather

 

Text: Ephesians 4:1-16

Focus: The Church

Function: to see why we gather

4:¹I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: ⁴there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

⁷But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore it is said,

“When he ascended on high, he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.”

⁹(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) ¹¹He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. ¹⁴We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming; ¹⁵but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

Good morning!

I saved my God moment for the beginning of the sermon to tell you that God did a great job reminding me of the text and the importance of the text throughout the week. I generally choose my text early Monday morning so that it can stew until Saturday when I write the sermon. And I believe the Holy Spirit leads me in a theme for that passage. For today, it is the importance of the Church and why we meet because we are a literal body and the whole body suffers when a part is missing or hurting. We gather to encourage and equip each other.

And God reminded me through showing me the diversity of thought in this world, and the different perspectives of spirit led individuals actually means that we are one body connected by the Holy Spirit.

And it was amusing to me now God did it. There is a tiny Lutheran Church in Miamisburg at the corner of Gephart Church Rd and Maue and the sign is the pastor’s completely different take on this same lectionary passage.

The Church sign reads: “We Checked. You are part of God’s family.”

The first time this week that I passed the sign Uber driving I just thought it was clever.

But then, I realized that the pastor of this Church sees the phrase from our text about how God is the indeed the Father of All and chooses to emphasize the importance of breaking down the barriers between the races to prove that we indeed are known by our love for each other.

Now, I didn’t change the train of thought, but I realized it was God showing me that although there is indeed one Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, and yet many denominations, it is because God honors diversity.

So, as I pondered the lectionary choices for today, what stikes me from this passage is the incredible gift the church, or the gathered body of believers, is for each and every one of us.

I want us to look at the joy of our fellowship and understand better why we gather together.

And I believe the first aspect is for us to encourage one another to walk like people whose lives are changed by their relationship with God through the Holy Spirit which is poured out on us as we trust in Christ and his way of living.

He talks about that way of living as people who live in unity, love and fellowship with one another.

And, I believe, like a marriage, it doesn’t mean a lack of conflict at times between competing ideas, but it means that there is a commitment to finding a solution because there is a commitment to one another through the Spirit of God.

He calls it “walking worthy” of the calling. He identifies walking worthy with some words that are self explanatory: Gentleness, Humility, Patience, and finally, forbearance of one another.

Forbearance means we forgive each other for their imperfections and things that we might call sin.

We love and forgive each other and we make that a spiritual discipline.

It is contrary to our inherited sinful nature and it is one of the things the Spirit of Christ is working on in our lives.

He then tells us to make every effort to preserve the bond of unity. That means some personal sacrifice of our ego as we learn to love and forgive the other.

Or, as Paul says in Romans 12:8 As much as it is possible for you, live in peace with all men.

Because he first mentions forbearance before unity, he is indicating to us that this unity that we have does not mean an absence of all conflict, but a way through the power of the Spirit to work through it.

I believe more than anything it takes a willingness to forgive. Forgive even if we are sure they are in the wrong. God is the one who judges.

This is a different way of living our Christian lives than the system of retribution that we have falsely identified as a Christian way of life.

In the New Testament, contrasted with the Old Testament, we find the God of restoration and inclusion, and as Carol and I learned at Annual Conference, the God who is also the God of diversity. Yes, God is the God of Equity between all peoples when Paul said that we are called by God to be the agents of reconciliation between God and man and God and each others.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.”

So, what about all the denomination and sects of Christianity, most of which believe they got it just right?

I ask that because he says something that seems a little bit odd concerning the history of the Church. He says, there is one faith, one baptism and yet there are thousands of Christians denominations who all have their own individual practices and beliefs that sometimes vary widely from the other groups.

And, he says, they are all one in Christ.

That is hard for me to fathom.

Bu the passage calls us to walk worthy. Walking worthy, then, is walking in love toward the “other” in our lives.

Okay, so the Church encourages us walk in love toward others, a manner worthy of Christ, and it also does that through the power of its community and gathering.

And he tells us then, as I mentioned before, of how the Church is the gift of God to the community of believers.

He says the purpose of the Church is to equip us to be Christ’s representatives, Christ’s body, Christ himself, to the world.

We gather to be equipped.

And that is something, I believe, that happens mysteriously through the power of prayer and fellowship with one another.

And I see that the apostle is reflecting God’s desire that we become mature believers, not tossed about by all the different doctrines, but mature because we strive to love those who are different from us.

Doctrine can divide us. It is important to me, but it is personal and I believe that God’s Spirit is alive in all, especially those who trust Christ.

And that Spirit is love. Paul is calling us to unity even though there were already doctrinal differences that were massive in the early church, and we get most of the Epistles to sort them out for us.

But I am convinced that that mature faith he is talking about is the one that practices love over the pride of its own doctrine.

We gather, then to encourage each other and equip each other to love like Jesus loved.