Trust God

Text: Isaiah 45:1-7

Focus: Faith

Function: To help people trust God no matter what.

Form: GOK

Intro:

I used to love the political season. But not any more. It is just way to acrimonios for me.

I observe the freak out nature of American public discourse. It is fear rhetoric designed to get us motivated, and almost always, the base desire behind it is motivated to buy products.

That is not the Kingdom of God.

We are called to pray for those in authority.

Different pundits tell us that certain things must happen in order for God to bless the land.

They all say that certain sins have to be stopped and that we are on a slippery slope to perdition if we stay on our current course.

And of course, the question is "which course?"

Is it the secularization of our society?

Is it warfare and violence by governments, including our own?

Is it the profane way Hollywood portrays sexuality?

Is it the pluralization of our culture toward other religions?

Is the problem as simple as a breakdown in the American family, a nanny state mentality and again, Hollywood?

We hear preachers and pundits cry out: "All this son proves that we are becoming a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah" but what sins make this happen?

Is the problem much more complex than the sins of others?

We cannot forget the Prophet Ezekiel and read the words from Ezekiel 16: ⁴⁹“This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. "

As Romans 1 says: God gave them over. But in their case, it was not for idolatry, but for the pride of rampant materialism, the worshiped personal gain and neglected the plight of the poor and the needy.

They turned to violence.

There are three root sins in the OT. 1). Refusal to trust God. 2). Idolatry. 3). Lack of concern for the poor.

Rarely do we hear preachers decry the idolatry of materialism and consumerism that drives our culture.

And yet, the prophet Ezekiel tells us that if we want to lay the blame of sin against anything, then it must be the materialism that keeps us focused on ourselves instead of living a life for the good of others.

It is almost as if the fleshing out of "the American dream" has become a source of curse for us.

And across the airways we are reminded to be afraid of something. Most often it has to do with God's judgment.

The message heard is that the sin, generally the reference is to the sins of others, will destroy us all.

I am here this morning to remind us to Trust God.

But as brother Jim questioned in last week's study hour, what sin? Which sins?

We know that we are under this command from Christ Himself: Do not judge lest you be judged yourselves. For with the standard you are judged, God will judge you.

He illustrates the command to not judge with the parable of the log in our eye that tells us not to worry, really ever, about the sins of others, but to keep our own conscience clean before God.

So what sins is it?

Is it consumerism, or moral decay?

And, without getting into politics, we need to say that both sides are right, and both sides can be wrong.

The moment we start blaming others, the actions of others, we have missed the point of grace.

What does that have to do with today's bible lesson?

Well, enter the prophets.

Enter faith.

Enter the covenant God makes with us.

Enter the promises and power of God.

Look at the promise. Verse 2: I will smash the door of bronze and break open the iron bars.

I love that verse.

Because it isn't up to us.

We live by faith, not by sight.

God is in control.

And this is an amazing prophecy.

It is so amazing that many think parts of this prophecy were written after the fact.

The writing of the book occurred 70 years before Cyrus was ever king. The book was written long before his birth and the rise of the Persian Dynasty. All the people of God were concerned about were the Chaldeans.

So, if this wasn't added after the fact, and I don't believe it was, then it is a miracle.

In Chapter 44, Cyrus is also referred to as God's Shepherd.

God appoints a Shepherd to take care of us.

God takes care of us.

Trust God.

And the story of Cyrus' coming to power is also amazing.

You know the phrase “read the writing on the wall” comes from the story of the writing on the wall in the book of Daniel.

Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, Belshazzar was now the king. Now these kings lasted a few years before someone came along and killed them and took over.

That night of the writing on the wall, Cyrus takes over the kingdom.

In Isaiah's time, it was not imagined that a Persian would rule.

And we see the prophecy.

God has anointed Cyrus to rule.

And there is something important for us to learn in the story of the writing on the wall.

When Nebuchadnezzar became proud, Daniel told him that God sets Kings and rulers in place.

When his grandson became proud, the prophet again reminds him, God sets rulers in place.

Both times the phrase is the same: "The most High God is the ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over them whom He wishes."

Trust God.

So let me tell you about the faith of a few good men I met in Haiti.

I served on the board to a mission that worked out of Montrois, Haiti. I was there during the trade embargo. I glanced over at the headline of the Miami Herald when the place was taking off from Miami airport. The headline read: "The state department urges US citizens to refrain from travel to Haiti."

Well, the plane was in the air and there was no turning back.

We made it out a week and a half later on the second to last plane to leave for the United States and I was glad to be on home soil.

Every 15 miles or so, on the national highway, going and coming from the mission compound, standing exposed on the back of a small truck with wooden slates, a "stake body" truck, we faced either an AK47 or a M16 rifle. The leaders of the mission new the proper bribe to pay, but the civil unrest was reaching extreme proportions.

The people wanted the elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, back in power. He raised the minimum wage from 3 dollars a day to 4 and it caused a revolt by the powers that be.

I know it is a 25% jump in pay, but wages make up so little of the expense of the ruling class in Haiti that hardly affected their bottom lines.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. And the income inequality there is astounding. Downtown Port-Au-Prince has a Rolls Royce dealership. And those people were keeping the population at starvation wages.

I fight for justice. And seeing this appalled me.

But I befriended an Haitian pastor there. The guns, AK47's, a Russian Assault rifle, and the M16's, the American counterpart, were being supplied by either side in the World's geo-political conflicts. The people were whipped into frenzy by one side or the other. Generally, the side that bought their influence with either guns or food.

It was a geo-political conflict being played out in this poor island nation and the people were suffering.

I watched little babies starve to death.

Our mission compound was broken into one night and our guard was murdered for the US aid rice and beans in our warehouse.

And this pastor, obviously he did not have the luxury of having "no comment" as to which side he should choose gave me a profound answer.

It was based on this scripture.

God, he said, breaks down the iron bars and the brass gates.

We do not look to anyone but God for His help.

God can work with any leader.

Our hope is in God.

Wow.

I wrestle so much with my own understanding of politics.

If I were to listen to the pundits, from either side, I would lose my peace. I would lose my confidence in God.

The Glory of Grace

Text: Matthew 22:1-14

Focus: Grace

Function: To give people a sense of assurance of salvation.

Form: GOK

Intro: Like many of you, I come from a fairly religious family. My dad was a preacher all of his life. My eldest brother was a preacher, two of my nieces, two of my nephews are preachers. And, we cover a variety of churches from Brethren, to Methodist, to Nazarene to Orthodox.

My niece, married to an orthodox priest, posed this question on Facebook this week: "what is the prophecy about the red heifer?"

I remember hearing something about it in the 60's.

In Numbers 19:1-10, we read that the dedication of the temple must take place with the sacrifice of a red cow. And in the 60's, when I was young and listening a lot to different people's interpretation of how end times prophecy would unfold some people's interpretation of end times prophecies was that a new temple will be built in Jerusalem That was necessary to fulfill the prophecy that the Antichrist will descrate the temple. No temple, no Antichrist, was the logic.

And this one person was telling us how much closer this was to be fulfilled by talking about the red heifer.

He said that there are no red heifers anymore. I don't know if that is true. But he pointed to a scientific article about breeding a red heifer. If they succeeded, then the temple could be built, then dedicated and finally, it could be desecrated and the Lord will return.

I refuse to get caught up in the debates about the end times.

But it got me to thinking about this morning's text.

Especially the last verse: "Many are called, but few are chosen."

Or, the man who attended the wedding feast who was not dressed properly.

These two verses were part of my own spiritual journey. They were a significant part. And end time prophecy filled part of this.

I remember Annual Conference in Pittsburgh and we had a good ol' fashioned Hymn sing with the blood atonement songs.

I like: "Are you washed in the blood of the lamb." It moves me.

But there is this line in there, partly from today's text: "when the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white?"

The questions: "Who is chosen? Whose robes are the right kind of robes? Who is properly dressed for the wedding feast?" foster doubt. They can also foster fear.

When I read these questions, a sort of insecurity comes back to me. And I hate to admit it, but fear was part of my spiritual birth.

It happened to my dad as well. And this story of his illustrates it well:

In 1943, my dad had a religious experience. He came home from school and the people who were supposed to be home were inexplicably gone. In panic, he called his grandmother, a godly woman, and was relieved when she answered the phone because he knew that if the rapture happened, she would be the first to go.

So he was thrilled when she answered the phone and she questioned him. He told her his fear and then she said: "Eddie, what sin is in your life that you are not sure you are going?"

Mine is similar. Although I trusted in Christ in 1961, In 1967, right after the 7 days war in Israel, my two older brothers came home from youth group fired up about the end times. They came to my twin brother and me convinced that we were not ready.

I saw their panic and I doubted. I didn't want to miss it, so I too, had a religious experience that night.

Now, the first thing I do before I preach any text is pray about it and make the decision based on the answer to this question: "What is the focus of the passage?"

And overwhelmingly, to me, this is a passage about grace.

Once understand the point, again I pray and I decide on a particular function for the sermon. Hopefully, that keeps me focused.

So, today, the function is to give people an assurance of grace.

But I make two promises to you about every sermon I attempt to preach here:

1). I will never willingly, or knowingly, preach a sermon to you that will frighten you into God's family and 2). Never will I intend to manipulate anyone through shame."

When someone asks me if I believe in the devil, my answer is this: "I believe in his power to shame people."

Satan is the accuser of the Brethren.

He is the one who places doubt in our minds that maybe somehow something is lacking in us. Something that is a sort of feeling of angst, an "ought to" that we are missing that keeps us from God's love.

The Bible says: God is love. There is and should be a period right there!

The Bible also says that nothing can separate us from God's love.

That same chapter says that there is NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE IN CHRIST JESUS. Again, there is and should always be a period there.

So, instead of manipulating you with fear about whether or not your robes are the proper shade of white, whether or not you are chosen let me assure that this is a parable about grace. It is.

Look. This passage is about God's unconditional invitation to anyone who would come into His family.

Fear and shame is not the way God calls us to Himself.

My dad was a great man. In a denomination that preached hell fire and brimstone, by daddy always preached the great love of God. And it was clear that he loved God. His faith was attractional. His joy was his strength.

When I was a young man, I rejected Christianity and dabbled in the occult.

I did some bad things.

I wanted to a Savior, but I didn't want a Lord.

The idea of giving myself, giving my life, over to God didn't set well with me. I wanted my life on my terms. But, I could not deny the reality of my dad's faith.

Dad was a good man. No matter how far from the fold I strayed, I could never ever deny God's love because of my dad's love for me.

When I came back to Christ, I felt sorry for the way I had rejected dad.

So, for two years, every time the family got together, I kept breaking into tears and begging his forgiveness.

Finally, dad got upset and questioned if I believed that he loved me. Why didn't I accept his forgiveness and love? Why did I keep dragging my own shame up?

Well, I was attending a church that kept dragging up my shame as well. My pastor kept telling us that maybe we too suffered from the dilemma that we were at the wedding feast and we were not dressed appropriately.

And that IS NOT the point of this parable.

The point of the story is the amazing example of inclusion to those who ended up at the feast.

Those who were invited to come were to self involved to be bothered.

They didn't understand what they were missing.

So, the master calls anyone, everyone, no matter who they are to come to the table.

Is it about the Jews?

No, it is about the self-righteous and proud. Or those who cannot be bothered with the community of love that God's kingdom gives.

That is the story. The ones who thought they should be "in" were not. God's family is bigger than those hearing the parable could imagine.

The passage is about joining God's family through grace.

The emphasis is on who is invited.

And the point is everyone. Especially, those who did not gauge themselves to be worthy, or important enough.

It is a wide and open door to salvation.

So what addendum to the story about the wedding garments?

Well, it symbolizes that inclusion is by grace and no other way. No other way.

We do not earn salvation by birth, class, race, gender or any other means. Salvation is God's free gift.

Although we do not know exactly what is meant by garments that are not suitable for the occasion, we can only surmise that it means we understand the importance or the significance of the event.

I performed a wedding two weeks ago in West Virginia.

We had a blast.

I got to wear my tuxedo, Kathy has a matching color gown. We dressed up and put on the Ritz in honor of the occasion.

So, again, what is meant: Many are called but few are chosen?

Dressing like that was a way to honor the occasion. It was out of respect.

Respect the gift, that is the point.

One commentator says this: "This pithy saying (...few are chosen) serves as a warning.... ...Most translations treat it literally, but in its original Aramaic it takes a slightly different meaning.

The phase is an Aramaic idiom that needs help in translation.

"Everyone is invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb, but not everyone gets a seat at the table - not everyone gets to be one of God's new people. There is one way in: Through God's grace and mercy."

I want to keep this in context. Since the metaphor of the feast is the open invitation rejected by those who thought they were "in."

Then the open invitation is accepted by those that no one would have guessed were coming.

And the man not dressed properly didn't honor the glory of the invitation.

He treated it lightly.

The emphasis in the context is the openness of invitation, the unconditional nature of God's grace.

And those who reject love, or grace are not in.

But the important thing for us to remember is that the Kingdom of God is also known as the Family of God.

Yes, I didn't feel like I wanted a Lord to direct my life. But I understand something much greater now. The Lord of life is also the perfect loving parent, just like my dad was.

And the invitation is not an invitation to escape the wrath of final judgment, it is not an invitation to fear the wrath of a Omnipotent, and sometimes mis-described as an arbitrary bully, no. The invitation is a seat at the table in the family of God with people that we would not have expected to be there.

And that means it is big enough for sinners just like me.

It's God's Vineyard

Text: Matthew 21:33-46

Focus: Pastoral ministry.

Function:  To help establish trust between me and Hope Church.

Form:  Storytelling

Intro: 

A few things:

There is this Mennonite farmer/preacher in Australia who runs this blog called pumpkin cottage ministries. His name is Bryan Findlayson. When I need a springboard for an idea, he helps me.

There are two things about him that I really appreciate. 1). He writes from an Anabaptist perspective and 2). He follows the lectionary.

I am committed to following the lectionary for the most part. It matches the bulletins, it covers the entire bible in its nine year cycle, it keeps me from preaching my favorite proof texts and it unites us with the global church. Almost always, I will preach the gospel text because I am still absolutely in love with Jesus and I believe that the entire bible needs to be interpreted in light of Jesus' teachings. When I follow the lectionary, it stretches me to think beyond my own personal favorites. It keeps me in    God's word and it give me, and us, a balance to our scriptural learning.

So here we are, this first Sunday that I am here.

And God assigns me this text that speaks to all this judgement.

It doesn't seem like a positive way to start out.

And, I get my first dilemna.

I have faith. I have lot of faith. I have literally seen the lame walk and the blind recieve their sight during prayer ministry.

Jesus is the same today and forever. I believe that. My desire is to preach, "with God, all things are possible." They are.

Our church, Hope, is in a time of transition. Still. With a permanent pastor, we can see the end of upheavel. But, there is the whole transition to new pastoral style, gifts, abilties, and passion.

And I will stop for a minute and expound on passion. Passion drives us. I have two great passions in my life, that is, besides my love for Kathy, my wife.

They are, in no particular order: 1). Jesus and His sacrifice for humanity, His three days of atoning for the sins of humanity  and 2). working for justice, His three years of teaching us how to live and love one another.

And all of that comes to a head in fruition through His bride, the Church. God loves us and believes in us. No matter what, God will not abandon the church.

So, I desperately need a positive message on this first Sunday with the privilege of being your pastor.

And again, I am faced with this passage.

So, I go back to that muse, the Anabaptist farmer preacher from Australia. And indeed he springboards an idea for me.  He speaks to a problem in the modern church. He says: "Shepherds are no longer faithful and are shepherding according to expected outcomes instead of giving the profit to the Lord."

I like that phrase "preaching the expected outcomes instead of giving... ...to the Lord."

I suppose it is appropriate for us to consider somewhat what the Bible says about false preachers and how that informs my own ministry.

I assume that you understand the illustration here. Jesus is actually referring to a prophecy from Isaiah, recorded in the fifth chapter that also decries the selfish nature of the Spiritual leadership with which the Jewish people are burdened.

God gave them spiritual leadership who were entrusted with bringing spiritual profit to the Lord. But instead, they were serving themselves.

Throughout the history of the OT, the prophets were abused, stoned, ignored, imprisoned, marginalized and killed.

Jesus then refers to Himself, God's own Son, the heir to it all and predicts His own death.

What a shame!

The prophets oftentimes spoke against the leaders because leaders were abusing the system.

But one of the end time warning is to beware of false preachers who tickle the ear and tell people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.

In many ways, that is exactly how we as a Church started in the first place here in the Church of the Brethren.

Alexander Mack spoke against the abuses of organized religion and there have been many martyr's for the faith in our movement because of it.

But that isn't something to be proud of.

Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

That muse of mine reminds me as well that spiritual leadership can work either for their own benefit instead of the Lord's benefit. Or, they can work to maintain the status quo.

So how does Jesus' complaint relate to today.

Remember this, when Jesus, the 12 disciples and John the Baptist went around preaching the good news, the gospel, they didn't say this: "ask Jesus into  your heart and you will go to heaven when you die." Or, they didn't preach: "all you have to do to be saved is ask Jesus into your heart and you will go to heaven when you die. It is just that simple."

And don't get me wrong. I did that and when I did,  Jesus came into my heart. I felt Him. I am not dismissing the reality of a real live and genuine experience of transformation when a person trusts in Jesus. Not at all.

But when they preached the good news, the gospel, Jesus, the twelve and John the Baptist preached it this way: "Turn around! The kingdom of heaven is here, right now!"

The emphasis is this difference. It isn't merely a promise of heaven in the future. But God's kingdom, His kingdom of peace and justice is here and now.

Listen, I am not dismissing the reality of people's conversion experiences. They happen in many ways across a broad spectrum of circumstances and people. God is in the business of restoring broken people to wholeness by giving them the work of the Holy Spirit that assures their heart of God's love for them.

But the old addage that it is all about getting to heaven when we die completely ignores the blessing and calling that God has for the church today.

And maybe that is how it fits today. Maybe that is how spiritual leaders are not giving back the profit from God' word that is due God.

So, again, I go back to that muse and I ask myself this question:

"In what ways do we not pay the Lord the spiritual due expected from us, God's vineyard?"

By misusing the trust, abusing the trust, and changing the nature of the gospel.

I know believers who get great benefit from some of the mega-churches. But at other times I cringe when I hear of clergy making salaries in the hundred to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I wonder if the message of living a sacrifical life for the welfare of others is taught.

But, it isn't mine to judge. Perhaps they are reaching an audience that I will never connect with.

As brother Paul said, good intentions or bad, God can use it and what matters most is that Jesus is preached. (Phillipians 1:18)

A preacher asks himself or herself if that attitude is just sour grapes, or self-justification. We know that the heart can decieve us fairly easily.

But then, I look at the strength of community that we have right here and I know that this is what God has called me/us to.

So let me tell you a true story about my neighbor across the street. He has been on what I call "the slow conversion of -let us call him- Fred."

He found out that I was a preacher soon after I moved into the neighborhood. And his first few conversations with me were about whether or not God would hate him for his marijuana habit.

I understood that he wondered if following Christ would be too hard for him. He was really asking about God's love for him in spite of what he had heard about God.

I assured him of God's love for him and told him that as he experienced a relationship with God, some changes -from God- may come into his life and that even though I am a preacher whose office at times is to speak for God, it was God's job, not mine, to act as a conscience for others.

Fred and I have danced back and forth for years in conversation about spirituality.

Most often, he would report to me about his health and then the things that he was learning and experiencing in his emerging relationship with God.

It is great being a pastor and part of that process!

Constantly, it felt like he was reporting to me. I guess he was gauging my reaction to see if I would love and accept him.

And then, all of a sudden, his questions got very specific. What did I think of welfare? What did I think of gays and lesbians? Is the antichrist coming from Russia, Iran or Iraq?

I learned that he had begun to attend a mega-church.

He has a lot of back pain, so his self-medicating with substances hasn't really stopped. I am not going to judge if that is an excuse or reality. It isn't my place and frankly, I don't really care about the issue.

My answers have always been supportive of his spiritual journey. He heard no argument from me. What was happening to him was a deeper relationship with God. For that, I am happy.

I did tell him that God loves everyone. I did tell him that I understood the argument that welfare was supposed to be done by the church and not the government, and that the church did it well before Constantine, and then it got relegated to the State Church and things haven't been the same since.

That sort of seemed to go over his head.

But all of a sudden he stopped talking to me.

We were side by side pumping gas a block from my house. He told me that his Social Security disability finally came through. I praised the Lord with him. And then, out of the blue, he told me how upset he was with the encroachment of socialism in our government.

I bit my tongue and forced a smile.

When he pressed the issue for my response I merely said that we live in a social democracy where we have elected representatives who have made these laws, and one of them is the Disability he is now recieving. That didn't help.

And then he decried the fact that the government was going to take away all of our guns.

And again, I bit my tongue and smiled.

Jesus loves everyone, both right and left. God is far above politics and it is not my place to judge. Sometimes, the only real answer is to keep silence.

How does this relate, you wonder?

The Kingdom of God is here and now. It is about loving the other. I had to remind myself that God is indeed working out His perfect will in that man's life.

When the gospel message is reduced to pray this prayer so that when you die you will go to heaven, a prayer that I believe works well. But when it is reduced to that, then the implied message is that God does not care about what people do in the interim.

I love "Fred." God loves "Fred." "Fred" is on a journey that God is superintending. And although God used me at the beginning of the process. I am not there now.

I sort of grieve for "Fred" now. The faith, the hope of God's unconditional love has now somehow been traded for a sort of club that has a certain group of people who are in, and a certain group of people who are out. And that is the opposite of what he was first seeking.

And I wonder if the Lord is getting his due. Or, of somehow the news of the Kingdom of heaven calling people to love others unconditionally.

That was the message that drew "Fred" to God. And now, it is something else.

The message of love is radical. It forbids the marginalization of the other and it always, always embraces the power of the good news to change people.