Being Blessed

 

Text: Matthew 6:25-33

Focus: faith

Function: To remind us of God’s faithfulness

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²For it is the unbelievers who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Good morning!

Today’s lesson is taken from the Sermon on the Mount. In these days where selfishness and greed are promoted as virtues, the Sermon on the Mount gets accused of being woke.

I am aware of a colleague who was preaching this passage and was called out by the ministerial relations committee to quit being so political when he was merely teaching what Jesus commands us preachers and teachers to proclaim and instruct the disciples.

So again, I want to remind people of my effort to preach and teach Jesus’ lessons and lifestyle for us to live. It isn’t the way of worldly kingdoms, but we belong to the Kingdom of God. We rest in God and believe in God to provide for us.

I hope today to remind us of God’s faithfulness since we are about to open the Holy Days season with our Thanksgiving feasts.

That first Thanksgiving celebration after the Pilgrims survived devastating losses the previous winter was a true act of faith and worship. Instead of bitter regret and sorrow, they took the time to acknowledge that God is the one who provides for them.

And, they did it in community. They were the illegal aliens and the indigenous peoples gave to them a welcome that we still celebrate as an indication that in this world, because of God, good triumphs over evil.

We celebrate that unity and charity during our worship services and Thanksgiving remembrances, and yet our politics keep us from continuing that same work of love and charity toward the legitimate asylum seekers on our border. We do have a problem on the border, and Christ gives us a clear mandate for solving it.

I pray that Christ’s message of love and charity will prevail over the worldly politics of selfishness and greed.

This passage is about how God will provide for us.

The promises made to us are clear. There is an implicit understanding that humanity is set above the rest of creation. As the Scriptures say, we are the apple of God’’s eye. God delights in all of Creation because God created every single thing and it is all divine in that sense. But Jesus says look at the birds, look at the flowers, although these things are divinely created, you are worth more than them. And God cares for them. God cares for us. God provides for us.

The condition of the promise is to seek first God’s kingdom and secondly, seek God’s justice.

Your translation probably reads righteousness. Righteousness means doing the right thing, not merely saying the right thing.

Do the right thing in faith and God will provide.

I wrestled with that previous sentence in adding the words “in faith.” It is important to realize that this is a day by day trust in God to provide. Jesus is calling the disciples away from the fear of lack into faith in God’s provision.

And In the teaching Jesus gives us a short admonition so that we can focus on living by faith. Trice he tells us to stop worrying.

Perhaps worry is natural. Perhaps it can become a form of missing God’s best for us.

Living by faith in God’s provision for us is an important spiritual discipline. The promise in the passage is that when we are living a life that loves others as much as ourselves, God promises to provide our basic needs.

I was pondering the big questions this week as I was driving around and I was reminded of something a Mennonite Seminary Professor said to me once. He said: There are really three categories of sin in the Bible. 1, Idolatry. 2, Lack of concern for the poor. And 3, lack of faith in God’s provision.

According to Jesus, idolatry isn’t over, however it isn’t man made icons we bow down to but money. If we are worried about having enough, are we trusting money or God?

I confess, saying that feels like I am shaming someone, mainly myself, and God is not the author of shame.

So, I say, there is a gentle admonition in the passage to live by faith, to rest in God.

And finally that third category of sin: “The lack of concern for the poor” reminds us that to live by faith is to live to do justice, to seek first God’s way instead of the worldly way of greed and selfishness. We give up living in extravagance in order have enough to share because we realize that God has blessed us to be a blessing to others.

Before he tells us not to worry, he reminds us that God also knows we need basic necessities.

Knowing that we need these things and planning ahead is not wrong. He is just reminding us that God is sovereign and we live by faith in God.

I was reminded of this scripture when God led me to quit my job and go to Bible College and Seminary. I was driving my boss’s stake truck with a big metal rack covering extending over the cab and desperately wrestling with God about this when the metal protruding from above my cab struck and killed a sparrow. And it got my attention and God reminded me that I was of much more value than the sparrow and that God had me in their hand. I felt this peace come over me and I was reminded of a sentence that my preacher father said to me often: “You can do what you want to do as long as you do what you ought to do.”

With tears, I surrendered to going to Bible College.

This was God trying to get in touch with me, first through a bird, second, through a vivid memory and then, miraculously when I got home a confirmation from God happened. Kathy and I had a boarder living with us who was soon to marry a friend of ours. Apparently she was a mystic and heard from God. And she confronts me in the living room and says, “I don’t know what this means, but I’m supposed to tell you that you can do what you want to do as long as you do what you ought to do.”

I was blown away. And stubborn and fearful as I am, God was greater and lead us to a new venture as we prepared for ministry.

So, this morning, let us remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness.

Encouraging One Another

 

Text: Hebrews 10:19-25

Focus: Perseverance

Function: To remind us of our calling to good works.

¹⁹Therefore, my brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Good morning!

We are going to focus on verses 24-25 this morning. But before we get there, look at the introduction to these verses. The author summarizes the deep theology that the book of Hebrews gives about the atonement and the sacrifice of the Christ and he reminds us of the privilege we have as those who trust Christ. We have direct access to God.

In the Church of the Brethren, we call the the priesthood of all believers. And verses 24-25 tell us something about how to apply the idea that we are also priests in the family of God.

And I just have to mention something neat about our recent baptism. Verse 23 mentions the two different forms of baptism, sprinkled clean and washed. Both are valid. I think it is kind of cool.

Now on to the meat of the message, how we as Priests of God are called to do good works.

I wonder at times if verse 24 describes of the emphasis of my ministry. The verse says: “Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.”

I go back and forth in my ministry and calling between being a pastor and being a prophet. There is a difference. The term pastor comes from the root word we use for a field, a pasture, where we keep the domesticated animals. And the idea behind it is we are shepherding a flock.

The beginning of Psalm 23 struck me during my meditation yesterday morning. I never really paid attention to it. But it is a pastoral scene as well. The Lord is the Shepherd. And it is close and personal: My Shepherd. He goes on to describe all the benefits we have from having such a loving, caring and thorough shepherd.

I was reminded of that while reading in Ezekiel about the tyrant shepherds of Israel who only served to gratify their own desires.

And David shows the love and care that God has for us in Psalm 23. It is comforting to have a pastor who places the concerns of the flock over their own.

That is what a good shepherd does. And although I am only human and very weak, sometimes by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit I find God reaching out to people through me to give them the love and care they need for the moment.

Christ still shepherds people through us, the church.

I served for a while as a police chaplain. And my main job was to do death notifications of people who were either murdered, committed suicide or died in an automobile accident.

It sounds horrific, but every single time, regardless of the spiritual condition of the people I was ministering to, I saw God move in deep and loving ways to comfort the grieving.

I think my greatest proof, to me, of the reality of God is the way I always find God to be faithful during a funeral or a time of suffering. God is near the suffering.

Jesus suffered on the cross and knows what pain is like and I find in his love I am beginning to find that peace he promises because he shepherds us to love.

So, because of the Spirit of God inside of us, we also get to shepherd and comfort people in times of pain and sorrow.

That is the pastor part of us.

The prophet part of us wants to focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing spur people to love and good works.

A prophet speaks to the culture and either blesses or exposes the spiritual condition.

Jeremiah was a prophet who felt like God’s words inside of him were a burning fire and he couldn’t help but vent them to the public. It was the move, or unction of God’s Spirit inside of him.

Sometimes, and I hope, I believe you have felt it, we also are called to speak out against evil and injustice when we see it happening.

One of the thoughts that comes to my mind in the presence of evil and injustice is that our silence is a form of consent.

The problem I find is trying to remember that along with my words is the hope that God’s Spirit is also working and leading. What I mean is that God loves the people we are addressing and God wants the best for them as well. And God is faithful to lead them. God doesn’t want us condemning them even though we are called to provoke. Provoke is a powerful word. It means to stimulate. And for us who believe in God’s love for the other, it sometimes involves gentle, loving confrontation.

The prophet has to remember to reflect the love and power of God to do the transformation.

Let me go back and read verses 23-25: ²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

So, 1): God is faithful, rest in God. Don’t fear. 2): provoke each other, we talked about that and that leaves us with 3): do it together.

This verse is the New Testament command to go to church on a regular basis.

And there is a purpose for your gathering together, to encourage each other. When we encourage each other, we stimulate and provoke each other.

We all need it. And in community, we do it together.

I started out with the mention of the priesthood of all believers. 1 Peter 2:9 speaks of it this way: ^9-10But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

Praise God we when we encourage each other, the Spirit comes alongside and bless them also.

Let us be a blessing to others.

A Tale of Two Rewards

Text: Mark 12:38-44

Focus: Sincere faith

Function: a contrast between Pretense and worship through giving.

³⁸As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces ³⁹and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! ⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

⁴¹He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. ⁴³Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Good morning everyone!

The focus of this morning’s message is on having a sincere or genuine faith.

I want to be cautious about how we apply this message. Jesus is teaching us by example how to discern for ourselves whether or not our actions are from a pure heart or selfish conceit.

And there are two cautions I want to mention:

Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t judge others.

Now in this passage, Jesus is indeed judging between two different people. He can do it since God is the ultimate, and fair, and merciful, judge.

He wants the disciples to understand the difference between pretense and sincere worship.

Again, don’t beat yourself up about whether or not your worship is sincere. You came here with a sincere heart. But more than that, it is the Holy Spirit who leads, empowers and draws us back to God. It is the Spirit’s job to keep us vital in the faith.

So, as we judge ourselves, we examine where our hearts are without beating ourselves up

After condemning the hypocrisy of insincere worshipers, he illustrates sincerity with an example of giving money.

Now, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells the disciples to give secretly, metaphorically he says, “Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

The idea is to not brag about it or make a show of our charity. One of my pastoral colleagues posted a meme on her Facebook wall as a practical application to this teaching. It said: “When you give to the poor, don’t bring a camera.”

The idea is that we keep our charity between us and God. I’ll tell you an uplifting story about this:

I pastored a church in Pennsylvania. And we had an undocumented family worshiping with us that we helped through the process of becoming citizens.

Sadly, but not unexpected, a very few people in the church resented giving aid to what they called illegals. As I talked with them, I found out that they were afraid of them. Fear is not from God. God has given us the victory to overcome our fears through the Spirit. I am convinced that it was divine providence that sent this family to us because God knew that we would take care of them.

The children had no choice in the move to the US from Columbia. And like all children, they needed to grow and to develop. So, I found out later from the family that when it came time for them to go to college and they couldn’t apply for any student aid because of their immigration status, a few members of the church quietly, without telling me, paid for 4 years of tuition for two children.

I still weep at the awesomeness of the charity given by men whose politics aligned with the side that calls still calls them illegal But because of the teachings of the Christ, they gave sacrificially and quietly. By the way in dealing with the border crisis, I have to remind myself that using Jesus’ term, “Neighbor” for those refugees instead of illegals changes my heart to line up with Jesus’ command to love the least of these.

It just goes to show that when we practice love for our neighbor, even if they are our enemy, or someone we have been taught to despise, our faith goes beyond the divisive politics of the kingdoms of humanity to enact Christian love fueled by the Holy Spirit inside of us.

Praise God our faith rises above the divisiveness of politics.

So, as Jesus contrasts the two groups of peoples for us to understand sincerity in our devotion to God, he points out the trusting faith of the woman who gave all that she had.

It is easy to give out of abundance because it doesn’t take a sacrifice. And I would never ask you to give until you lack. Giving should be done willingly. For the Lord loves a generous giver. I am convinced that the Holy Spirit will tug at you in just the right amount at the right time. Listen for the voice of God.

When we give to the poor, the scriptures say that we lend to the Lord and God will pay us back.

This woman demonstrates what it means to rest in the fact that we belong to God and that God promises to give to us our daily bread.

Rest, or trust in God’s provision is what this woman offered God. She was living by faith.

God will repay our love for others when we give it.

We are living by faith when we rest in the fact that God will provide for us when we are generous.

And while I hate going negative in my sermons, Jesus does give a description of what I think it means to take the name of the Lord in vain.

Jesus’ condemnation is that their acts of piety will not save them when their greed compels them to kick widows out of their homes. Sure, it was legal for them to foreclose and profit off the sale of her home, leaving them homeless, but it wasn’t moral.

Their religious acts will not save them if they do not love their neighbor as much as they love themselves. They would not foreclose on themselves or their own family, so they can’t foreclose on others.

Jesus says their condemnation is greater.

I hope I am not getting confusing. But the scriptures give over 1,100 references to the way we use our money and treat the poor.

But beyond that, Jesus shows how we can care for others in this lesson by praising the widow. Our confidence needs to be in God who gives us the ability to provide instead of ourselves. When we recognize that if God has blessed us, even by giving us the mental and physical strength to work hard, then God has given us the responsibility to be a blessing to others.

The reward for the greed is condemnation. The reward for the faithful is provision.

Refreshment

 

Text: Revelation 21:1-6

Focus: renewal

Function: to see how God continually renews us

21:¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
⁴he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”

⁵And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

Good morning! Today’s scripture lesson is taken from the text that would have been used if we had a worship service November 1, all Saints Day. I wasn’t raised in what is called a high church tradition. The only thing we celebrated was Halloween, and that was just for the fun of it. We didn’t place any religious significance to the celebration.

But All Saints Day is a day when we remember those who have gone on before us. Or as the Encyclopedia Britannica says, “Those who have obtained heaven.”

I love that concept. Instead of focusing on our loss of the loved one who is no longer with us and we will certainly miss, we focus on their gift, or their reward, in heaven.

All Saints Day is a day of faith in the fact that we believe in the resurrection of the dead. Hope!

I want to look at the passage with a little bit of Bible Study. It comes in two parts: A description of the setting and the voice from heaven.

The description is what I call the threshold of time. God promises to make a new heaven and a new earth. I believe this is symbolic. I believe the symbolism is identified in the fact that now the throne of God is no longer separated from humanity in the heavens, but is now right in the midst of humanity.

His vision of the future is God showing their self plainly in the presence of humankind. He says the original system of God’s interaction with humanity changes.

Revelations is a highly symbolic book and the end of the book warns us not to make up doctrine or theology based on it. Historically, scholars understand it to be a book written to help the Jewish people during the atrocities committed against them during the Roman Occupation. And symbolically, the prophetic message is that God will in the end judge wickedness and evil.

Do you remember how I have been explaining the the word translated in John 3:16 as eternal life is literally a life without boundaries?

This passage is clearly a description of heaven given to us so that we do not lose hope in this world while we are doing good for our redeemer.

But it goes much more than just the concept of getting to heaven for a reward when we die.

Which draws us to the second part of the passage: The Words spoken from heaven to the prophet.

The voice is God whom God names God’s self as “The Alpha and Omega.” The common alphabet used that day had Alpha as the first letter and Omega as the last letter. In our terms, it would be A-Z, a metaphor for the beginning and the end.

And God describes God’s mothering, or nurturing qualities to them as a benefit of the fact that God is now dwelling in their presence in heaven. Or, maybe to be precise, heaven comes down to earth.

It is referred to as the City of God. And symbolically, that city of God is also referred to as the Church.

The message is that God is going to continue to dwell with humanity through us, the church. God empowers all of us to be part of God’s healing for this world.

I don’t believe that God is speaking of this healing only for the future for us. But that God, through the Spirit of God, is present now healing and restoring us.

And I love the promises to us through this majestic voice that the prophet hears.

They are promises of healing and restoration. God will:

• Wipe away every tear

• End the separation of death

• Eliminate mourning and crying.

This is our picture of heaven, a place where we cease from struggle and rest in God.

But again, it isn’t just heaven, or the afterlife that God is talking about here for us.

The passage says that it is already done, already accomplished, already begun, already here.

At the end of the passage, he changes the description he uses for God from “the A-Z” to “The One sitting on the Throne.”

I believe he is emphasizing God’s power and authority. And he reinforces the words with the promise that they are trustworthy and true.

And he says two things. First: I am making all things new.

I have to remind myself of this, especially when I am facing a difficulty with my perspective, or the perspective of someone who is close to me but is different and is causing conflict. I have to remind myself to rest in God and look for the way that God is making this situation new. Even in conflict.

I try to hang on to that promise and have a positive perspective about outcomes because God is still making all things new. Praise God. God forgets and heals the mistakes of the past as God restores us. Praise God!

And then he ends with a common theme throughout the scriptures repeated by the prophets: “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of life.”

And to us, God promises to continually refresh us through their Spirit.