A Heavenly Perspective

 

Text: Mark 8:31-38

Focus: sacrifice

Function: to help people see that loving others is a sacrifice

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Here is another one of those passages that holds in contrast the concept between Jesus coming to give us life more abundantly and what it means for us to live a sacrificial life for Jesus.

Is it a contradiction in terms to say that we live sacrificially so that we can have an abundant life?

It seems that way. But it is a concept that is spiritually discerned. Living an abundant and sacrificial life.

I hope today to help people see that loving others is a reward in itself and it takes a degree, sometimes a large degree, of personal sacrifice to fulfill this command.

The context of my point comes from Jesus himself telling them, preparing them, for the fact that he is going to die and raise again on their behalf.

Jesus is speaking to them of his own sacrificial love for us, for humanity.

And the story tells us that Peter didn’t understand and actually rebuked Jesus for saying this.

I think Peter wasn’t really listening to Jesus. If Jesus had merely said that he was going to die for them, then that would not have been in alignment with the prophecies that they were holding on to about a Messiah who was coming to deliver them.

But Jesus didn’t stop at predicting his death, but he added the prediction of his resurrection.

I picture the story kind of like this: Jesus calls his 12 disciples close to him and almost in a whisper tells them about a tremendous miracle that is about to take place. I picture him bringing them into his confidence and expecting the reaction of wonder and amazement from them, instead Peter rebukes him for his speech.

Now that is really odd to me. Peter has seen miracle after miracle performed by Jesus and when Jesus speaks of another miracle about to happen, I wonder why he is surprised at the possibility.

It is like Jesus is telling them “look, something powerful is about to happen and I want you to be ready for it.” But Peter cannot envision the possibility. Even though Peter has already seen Jesus raise someone from the dead, he is oblivious to what Jesus is trying to tell him.

So I get the feeling that what is missing from the story, slightly alluded to in the fact that Peter didn’t question Jesus but rebuked him for speaking of his own death, is the point that Peter is trying to make to him that Jesus has the chance right then and now to revive the ancient glorious Jewish Kingdom that they remembered from the days of David and Solomon.

Peter is looking for human power and Jesus tells him that is a solution that come straight from Satan himself.

And Jesus answers by telling him that just as he is going to die in faith that God will raise him, he wants us to be able to live with that same kind of faith.

The resurrection is certainly implied here, but I see Jesus referring to the way that he was willing to forfeit his own life instead of take out his own retribution.

He died in faith of the resurrection where God will indeed fairly judge and reward distinguish the sheep from the goats, the people who do justice and those who don’t.

And God proved it by raising him from the dead.

Jesus lived without the fear of death because he trusted in God.

And that is how I take the command for us to take up our crosses and follow Christ.

Live without fear because God is in control. Even in the midst of suffering, we are present with the Christ in our lives and we are not alone.

Jesus promised to never leave us or forsake us.

Jesus is living without the fear of death because of his confidence in the resurrection.

Way back in the Sermon on the Mount, at the beginning of his earthly ministry, Jesus tells us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven instead of being greedy here on earth.

And that takes sacrifice. But Jesus gives us another perspective on that problem of sacrifice for the kingdom of God when he asks the question in our text this morning: “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose their soul.”

Jesus implies here that God will judge unkindly those who hoard their wealth. He doesn’t qualify it with how to give it away, but John gives us an idea of sacrificial living for others when he says If we have the resources to help the desperate, and we refuse, we are not showing love. And John says that we lay down our lives for others because Jesus laid down his life for us. 1 John 3:16

As I mentioned, I hope this sermon helps us realize that loving others sometimes means we have to sacrifice.

As a prime example, it is hard at times to forgive when we have been hurt. But to restore a relationship, we may have to sacrifice our pride, not our dignity, but our pride and forgive. That isn’t easy when the person we are forgiving is not aware or does not care that their actions are hurting us. So, one of our sacrifices can the pride that keeps us from forgiving.

Also, we can sacrifice financially by giving to the poor. I am aware that there are a lot of people out there who will take advantage of us who are generous and we have to be careful, but I recognize this, the gift given in the name of the Lord is credited to our eternal reward.

Regardless of how it is used, it is given to God. We cannot out give God. And, we remember that those who give to the poor are lending to God and God will repay, If not in this life, then in the life to come.

I want us to be prepared as well as we can for our homes in heaven. But I also want us to enjoy the love and passion that the Spirit gives us while we are still living here on the planet.

So, when Jesus tells us not to think with the Satanic logic that denies the power of God to restore and looks for personal revenge and tells us to lay down our lives instead of taking revenge, he is giving us indeed a path to a spiritual life where we walk with God by the Spirit and then, with the power of the Spirit are able to present God’s redeeming love to the circumstances we face.

He is telling us to live by faith and love without condition. Loving unconditionally may not bring us the world’s goods, but it will profit for eternity.

Refreshment

 

Text: Psalms 25:1-10

Focus: Restoration

Function: To help us see restoration as God’s plan for us.

¹To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
²O my God, in you I trust;
    do not let me be put to shame;
    do not let my enemies exult over me.
³Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
    let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

⁴Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
⁵Lead me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all day long.

⁶Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,
    for they have been from of old.
⁷Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
    according to your steadfast love remember me,
    for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

⁸Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹He leads the humble in what is right
    and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
    for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

Good morning.

The first two verses of this Psalm have been an active part of my prayer life since I first heard it in a song in the 70’s.

Those first two verses “unto Thee O, Lord… to ...let not my enemies exalt over me…” from the King James are a refuge to me in times of distress.

But it is sort of funny how I apply the next verse because David asks God to get even with his enemies.

David, in this prayer Psalm is asking God for protection from people who are mistreating him. After all, he is the King, and anybody in leadership knows that part of the job is facing criticism. So, he will face personal confrontation from time to time. And for people in political power, it can be deadly force that he has to counter. So he asks God to protect him from enemies.

But I don’t pray verse 3, because of the New Testament. Jesus said, treat people the way you want to be treated and love everyone, even your enemies. So, because God loves them, it is hard for me to pray that God gets even with them on my account.

After all, I could be the one in the wrong. Or, we could both be right from our own perspectives and experiences.

And beyond that, who am I that I think I am so special that God would get even with someone on my behalf?

In the Old Testament, we have a paradigm of retribution for sins and wickedness. In the New Testament, we have a God who sends the Holy Spirit into people to give them a conscience and keep them from evil.

People who walk with God and live by faith are the ones who trust in God’s vengeance and not their own.

I see David, in this prayer, seemingly praying to the God of retribution all the while praising the same God for God’s mercy.

It really is quite a contrast from one set of verses to the next.

Jesus told us when talking about forgiveness that if we can’t forgive, we will not be forgiven.

And I think that David alludes to the reason why in this Psalm.

After his prayer for divine protection, he prays a prayer that I call, a prayer of intimacy.

And in that prayer, we catch a glimpse of what he believes the Spirit of God is showing him about what the Spirit of God does inside of a person when they try to walk with God.

Here, the prayer of intimacy starts out with humility.

I believe that when he says “Make be to know your ways, O Lord…” he is admitting that he does not understand all that he needs to know and that he is submitting himself to the leading of the Spirit in his life so that he can walk with God in a way that pleases God.

So, first he says help me with a problem and then he says something like, “help me to know better what you want from me.”

I find a clue in prayer here. He is coming to God to listen and not to tell God what to do anymore. I say “anymore: because he just got done asking the God who he worships as the Mighty smiter to smite someone down.

But, in order to do that, he first must come to God and request mercy.

I wonder if he has a change of heart here.

He speaks to God about how God has been more merciful to him that he believes he deserves.

And as I mentioned it is a prayer of intimacy, he begins to recount the mercy that God has given him and he is reminded, or reminding God that God is faithful in helping people figure out the path of righteousness that cares for the least of them as well as it does for themselves.

And as he reminds God of mercy, he is reminded himself of his own failures and he asks God, because of God’s steadfast love, to ignore or forgive his mistakes.

I wonder how well, or if at all, David understands the difference between retribution and restoration.

For himself, David is asking for restoration and for his enemies, he is asking for retribution.

Jesus completely changes that paradigm. Jesus says that if we want restoration for ourselves, then we must want and apply it equally to others as well.

As we have been forgiven, we forgive.

And in the humility that David expresses in this Psalm, in his ability to confess his own failures, I believe we get the path away from retribution to restoration.

And again, it is the intimacy part of this that I believe leads us to this path. David needs help. He asks God and then gets on his knees and waits and listens. During this prayer time, he begins to express the love he has for God because God is reminding him of how he has been forgiven even though he didn’t deserve it.

He rests in God’s mercy.

And Jesus says this is good, and the next step, is to eliminate verse 3, the asking for retribution and go back to asking God to restore him.

I believe that I have experienced this process in my own prayer. Being a leader, I have had some opposition, some of it was justified, most of it seemed petty and it has also brought me to my knees asking God for help.

But when it comes to asking God for revenge, just as it happened to David in this Psalm, God, by the Spirit, reminds me that I too am not perfect and that God has brought me this far in spite of me. Coming into the presence of God has always brought me to a place of confession and humility.

And then, it doesn’t leave us there.

I find that in prayer, as I surrender my anger, resentment, fear and bitterness and ask God to do for the person opposing me what God has done for me, love me, I find peace and release.

Sometimes the Spirit moves in the heart of the other person, sometimes, the heart is too hard.

But that is between them and God.

For me, the important thing is not to worry about the mote in my brother’s eye, but the log in my own.

And prayer, as this Psalm is, is often a process of surrender. And that surrender refreshes me as God heals and restores my own Spirit through the forgiveness expressed.

So, I believe that we pray, we forgive and we are refreshed.

Running With Christ

 

Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Focus: Endurance

Function: to encourage people not to give up.

²⁴Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. ²⁵Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. ²⁶So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, ²⁷but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

Good morning! Did you ever feel like giving up? Did you ever feel like why should I continue to care for others when they don’t seem to appreciate it? Or why should I give my hard earned money to help the poor that God has set before me when others get to hoard their wealth and get away with it?

This morning we are going to look at the question of endurance. Brother Paul explains to us some of his personal habits, or more importantly, his personal perspective on whether or not he indulges his own needs and desires in relationship to the calling that God has placed in his life.

And remember, the word Laity, referring to the members of the body of Christ who are not clergy literally means: “The called out ones.”

We are all called out of the values of this world into the values of God’s kingdom.

We may look at Paul’s ascetic lifestyle, the way he “buffeted his body” in order to, as the author of Hebrews, “obtain a better resurrection” as unique since he was an apostle, but before He was called, he administered the murder of the first Christian Martyr, Stephen.

We may think that he had more to make up for and a more severe calling than us, so God holds him to a higher standard than us and we don’t have to worry about it because we are saved by God’s grace.

And Indeed, if we are saved by God’s grace and that is not with respect to us earning it by our works as the theology I was raised with taught me, they why bother working hard for the kingdom of God if I am going to make it to heaven anyway?

That may seem ridiculous, but Jesus told a parable about it. He said that God sows seed on cultivated land, but some of it falls on the side of the road, or in rocky places, or among thorns and it does not grow effectively.

He explains the parable in Matthew 13 like this: ¹⁸“Hear, then, the parable of the sower. ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²³But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

I believe he told that story to inspire people to want to be fruitful in their Christian life.

Some ignore the call, some get excited and quit early, some get distracted by the pleasures of this world (and that is what our text is about today) and others are fruitful and multiply.

And again, we could ask the question as to why if they are God’s Children anyway and God has already received them into the kingdom?

I suppose it has to do with a lack of knowledge of, or faith and confidence in, our reward in heaven,

Opposed to our reward in heaven is the question of forgiveness of others and what do we do with our earthly wealth?

When it comes to forgiveness of others, it is pretty straightforward. Why should we forgive? Because we won’t be forgiven if we don’t.

That can be very hard for us, especially if the person who harmed us is callous to the suffering they caused us. It triggers our anger and our defensiveness, but we forgive even those who refuse to repent, because we want to be forgiven.

It takes faith. It takes trust in the fact that there is indeed a resurrection from the dead and that God will ultimately judge the evil in this world and give to us rewards based on how we lived our lives here on earth.

Paul wants to see God’s Kingdom grow on earth, like Jesus did, but he also makes it clear that he is living for a heavenly reward.

And he knows that the sacrifices he makes here are an investment in his heavenly reward.

Look at Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 619-21: ¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where your treasure is, that is where you will be concerned about. If you are more concerned about worldly mammon, or wealth, which is idolatry, than the kingdom of God, then you miss it.

Contrary to our form of economics, Jesus was preaching a form of egalitarian sharing of resources and in order for that to happen, people who are hoarding their wealth must give it up.

To the Rich Young Ruler who was trying to earn his salvation, Jesus told him to give up all of his wealth and have treasure in heaven and the man refused because he was more interested in this life than in the life to come.

I have to admit. I am very interested in the quality and disposition of this life.

Not that it is more important than heaven, God knows that I lay up for myself treasure in heaven, but I realize that even in the parables that I quoted, Jesus and Paul are talking about the glory of what will happen when people living here on planet earth begin loving their neighbors as themselves to the point where they do not hoard they wealth when they see someone suffering.

Paul is not merely talking about his heavenly reward. I look forward to the reward of love and it is contagious from one person to another.

I saw a neat bumper sticker the other day. It said “Matthew 5:16” and it showed a light bulb. It reminded me that we have a mission in this place, not to curse the darkness, but to shine a light by our actions.

It isn’t just heaven where the reward is shared, but as we shine the light, others catch on and begin shining their lights as well and the darkness is overcome.

And the problem, Paul alludes to in this passage is that sometimes shining the light is not easy.

And when it become difficult, he presses on harder.

And I believe the reason is because he embraces the passion and mission of Jesus to change the hearts of humanity so that people give up their fighting and love each other.

He sees the reward in bringing heaven to earth, all the while working for his heavenly reward.

Perhaps he just lives by faith, resting in the prayer, Give us today our daily bread. It seems that because of his hope in his heavenly reward; he doesn’t fear for his daily provision.

Perhaps it is a good perspective to follow ourselves.

Pleasing God

Text: Psalms 147:1-11

Focus: Praise

Function: to help people feel comfortable trusting God.

¹Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
    for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
²The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
³He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
⁴He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
⁵Great is our Lord and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
⁶The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.
⁷Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
    make melody to our God on the lyre.
⁸He covers the heavens with clouds,
    prepares rain for the earth,
    makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹He gives to the animals their food
    and to the young ravens when they cry.
¹⁰His delight is not in the strength of the horse
    nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner,
¹¹but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Good morning.

This morning, we are looking somewhat at the idea of worship. But our text is going to lead us beyond the idea of singing praises to God into an understanding of what it means to fear God and to live by faith.

The Psalmist declares that we praise God because God has done in the past, does in the future and will do in the future. And that is to restore God’s people and bless them by taking care of them.

The Psalmist goes on to be amazed at the power and majesty and wonder of what God has done.

I was thinking about a class I had in seminary: “The Theology of Worship.” And the professor traced the ancient history of all kinds of religious worship and showed us how God’s own self brought about a general revival that brought people away from the idea of worshiping an inanimate object like a piece of wood or stone or metal into worshiping the reality that behind all those other so called god is the one true God who has created everything.

He traced the history of people acknowledging the Creator God and abandoning idols.

And as I see it, it isn’t just the Creator aspect of God, but the Father, or Parent aspect of God.

I don’t picture God as an angry, hard to reach, stern and over bearing ruler of a Father, but a kind, loving, nurturing and compassionate caring Father. The God who created us is also our Father and we are his children.

And this is the kind of Father who, like the father in the story of the Prodigal son, longs for the return of his son and rejoices in his restoration.

And there is a contrast in this passage about that idea of worshiping an object created by human hands or praising the Creator who cares for us.

Verse 10, his delight is not in the things that we humans consider to be valuable.

It is a move away from human concepts of what makes us powerful to a spiritual principle of what connects us with the Creator/Father, God.

It brings us to the salient verse in the passage, the last one.

God takes pleasure in those who fear him.

What does that mean? To fear God?

I have wrestled all my life with the concept of fearing God.

I have wrestled with a contradiction in theological descriptions of what fearing God means.

I was raised with a hell fire and brimestone fear of judgment. When I was 4, I first placed my trust in Christ. I became a believer because I understood that I was a sinner and that if I asked Jesus into my heart, he would forgive me. I didn’t know yet that I needed forgiveness, but I did understand that at 4 years of age. I wonder about that teaching now.

I was taught to be afraid of God’s judgment.

And therefore, “the fear of God” was the terror of hell. I saw God as a God of wrath at first.

And the passage does say that God will kick aside the wicked. There will be a judgment for evil.

I’m not bitter abut the way I learned to fear God there because in the same church, I was also taught that God is love. And that God loves us very much. And that God loves us so much that God took our punishment upon God’s own self so that God’s wrath would not fall on us.

So, I thank God for learning through that Church that God loves me very much, even though my understanding of God’s wrath was pretty naive and off theologically.

You can see how a young mind was stretched beyond its ability to comprehend these two opposing attributes of God. The God of Love and the God of wrath.

But then, there are two covenants, or Testaments in our scriptures, the Old and the New.

The Old Testament certainly describes to us the concept of the God of wrath.

And then the Christ comes on the scene and tells us that there is a new Kingdom here and now and it is spiritual and it also does not need human strength and wisdom, but depends on God.

And this last verse from our text gives us the inkling of what it actually means to fear God.

He says ¹¹but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

After the words fear him is a comma, not the word and.

So, it isn’t Fear and Hope, but he is describing fearing God, in the appositive, as hoping in God’s steadfast love.

Remember, humanity is learning to move away from the worship of human strength, values and goals to praising the God who is the parent of all of us and loves us like a caring parent will. And God, I believe, steadfastly does this perfectly.

Parents are responsible for training their children and teaching them values, They don’t hate or resent their children when they make mistakes, but instead work to help them do better the next time.

A loving parent is patient and kind and has the Child’s best interest at heart.

I make the distinction between parents into the category of Loving Parent in this passage. There are bad parents who treat their children like a nuisance and there is no such thing as a perfect parent except perhaps God.

The Psalmist emphasizes the steadfast nature of God’s love.

The verse speaks to my own heart about how I also can learn to rest in the steadfast love of God when trials and temptations come to me.

The New Testament bears this out specifically in 1 John 4:18: ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

Those who fear God are not those who are afraid of God’s wrath, but according to this text, are those who trust in the fact that God loves them.

The OT showed us how retribution does not work in changing the hearts of people.

God’s wrath, and the fear of God’s wrath didn’t seem to help the people of Israel love their neighbors as themselves.

But in the New Testament, Jesus comes and literally turns the tables on the whole system of injustice by proclaiming a form of justice that cares for the individual and restores instead of shames them.

And that is because we are all God’s children.