Sunday
08/04/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Put to death, whatever in you is
earthly”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 107:1-9, 43
New Testament
Scripture: Colossians 3:1-11
Gospel Lesson: Luke
12:13-21
Dear friends,
brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome once again on this the Eighth Sunday
after Pentecost. Eight Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved on the day of
Pentecost, in Jerusalem nearly two-thousand years ago. On that day the
Christian Church was born, and we are who are here today are part of this great
faith, this legacy, and this tradition.
The founder of the Methodist Movement, Rev. John Wesley had
phrase about becoming like God, becoming like Jesus. This phrase is, that we
are going or “Moving on to perfection”. The scriptures tell us that
forgiveness, transformation, and eternal life are free gifts from God, through
Jesus Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit. If we repent of our sins and
our wrong doings to God, and if we ask Christ to be the Lord of our lives, we
have then received the free, the awesome, and the tremendous gift of eternal
life with Christ in heaven.
For many people, millions and millions of people in fact,
the spiritual transformation through Christ has been powerful. I have seen
grown men fall to the floor in accepting the realization that Christ came to
earth to love, heal, forgive, and to die for them. I have seen grown men and
women break down into tears, in accepting the incredible grace of God offered
only through Jesus Christ.
The gift of forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life is
offered to us 24-hours a day, and 7-days a week. The power of a transformation
in Christ is something that can and does change us forever. While it is the
beginning of our walks with Christ, and while it isn’t the end of our journey,
we are called to continue to walk with Christ daily.
I remember when I was 13-years old in a youth group, and we
watched a video about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In that video, as I was
watching it, something stirred in my heart and in my soul. I felt great warmth
and love fill me, and I accepted what Christ had done for me. I repented of my
sins, asked God for forgiveness, accepted Christ, and I felt free as a bird.
Since that time, my life has been perfect, I have never had
a bad day, never been angry, never made a mistake, and have always, I mean
always, been the perfect husband. If you believe all of that, I have some swamp
land that I want to sell you! Sure it’s a swamp, but boy it has potential!
What is my point? Well let me give you an example. Has anyone
here ever got a new bike for your birthday or for Christmas? You were so
excited to have this bike, and you were going to ride that bike until the
wheels feel off.
Imagine though, if when you received this amazing gift, you
didn’t know how to ride a bike. Anyone here remember learning how to ride a
bike? Remember the training wheels, and times you feel? Remember that first
time you “soloed” without some holding onto your bike seat, and you simultaneous
were thrilled and terrified?
Accepting the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ,
is like getting an amazing gift of a bike. If we received a new bike, we are
thrilled, we are excited, but it doesn’t mean that every moment on that bike
will be great. In fact, we are going to skin our knees, do some stupid jumps
that involve left over two by fours and milk crates, and incorrectly think we
are Evel Knievel.
Do I believe that newness of life, hope, salvation, grace, and
love beyond our wildest comprehension is ours, if we repent of sins, ask Christ
into our hearts, and call upon the Holy Spirit to fill us? I do, and not just because
the Bible tells us this, because it happened to me. It has happened to
millions. Some of us call these moments a “Mountain Top Experience”. Just like
Moses on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten-Commandments though, we must come down
from the mountain.
I also believe that in addition to our initial conversion,
that like the shedding layers of an onion that we continue to have
mini-conversions in Christ throughout our life.
Is it a hallmark and part of the tradition of the Methodist
Movement to believe in personal conversion in Christ, through the power of the
Holy Spirit? Yes, it happened to me, and it has happened to millions the world
over. Since I was thirteen and I first accepted Christ, I have had many
mini-conversions, where I grew closer and closer to Christ.
Accepting the free gift of Jesus Christ, the new bike, is
the gift, the gift that is offered to everyone. Imagine though, that on your
birthday, on that Christmas morning, when that bike was under your Christmas
tree, there was a catch. What was the catch? The bike is free, it is indeed a
free gift, but you must never take it outside of the house. You see you have
accepted the free gift, but you are to do nothing with it. In fact, your
parents tell you to not tell anyone about this free gift that you have received.
It can stay in the house, you can admire it, love it, but never ever will
anyone know about it.
Friends, our faith in Christ is similar in this way to receiving
the free gift of a new bike. What good is an amazing and a free gift, if we
never do anything with it? Imagine at the end of this service if were going to
give you a new cherry red Corvette, with leather seats. Would anyone here be
interest in this gift? It’s yours, but with a catch. You must keep in your
garage, or a place of storage, always. You can visit it, sit in it, but you can
never drive it, or tell anyone about it. What good is an amazing and free gift,
if we do nothing with it?
Further, what happens if you got a little to Evel Knievel
on your bike or in your corvette? Assuming for a minute, your take this free
gift out the world, would every day with this free gift be perfect? Would your
bike or your corvette never need repair? Would you never get into an accident,
or fall, or crash?
The gift is free, but just because the gift is free, it
doesn’t mean that every minute of every day with this free gift will be
perfect. Friends, I believe that Jesus Christ and his gospel are the hope of
the world, and is the most transformative thing that has ever crossed the
horizon of this world. Yet, after I came to Christ, like you, I still struggled
and suffered sometimes. I still have moments of frustrations, moments of weakness,
where I might do something foolish like becoming a Yankees fan. Sometimes like
the rest of you, I worry about things that I shouldn’t worry about, I stress
over things that I shouldn’t, and struggle with temptations.
Friends, hear me, the gift of new life in Jesus Christ is a
free gift, but we still live in a broken, sinful, and a hurting world.
Salvation, or new life in Christ is free for the taking, but becoming like
Christ, well that is a process that is lifelong. Salvation is a free gift
through the blood and the cross of Christ, but Sanctification, becoming like
Jesus, this is a process that we go through our whole lives long.
I remember when I was in my early twenties, I was extremely
sensitive, and I would worry about the littlest things. Sometimes I would lose
sleep thinking I had done something wrong, or I just couldn’t let things go. At
a ripe old 37-years old now, am I perfect at this now, no, but I am much better
than I used to be. I believe that I am holier than I was 10-15 years ago, but
with God’s grace, through prayer, love, the reading of scripture, service, and
following Christ, I pray that I might continue to become more and more holy.
Less of me, and more of Him.
The scripture refers to this as a refiner’s fire, where the
silversmith continues to burn away our sins and our impurities little by little
over time, as to perfect us. So is eternal life in Christ a free gift? Yes. Is
becoming like Christ something that happens to us instantly? Well maybe for Billy
Graham, but for me it’s a lifelong process. I know Christ, he is my savior, my
Lord, but I am still human, still susceptible to sin, but am continuing to be
made purer, holier, and more righteous through Christ.
The founder of the Methodist Movement, Rev. John Wesley, as
said a few minutes ago, famously said that we are going or “Moving on to
perfection”. Christ is a free gift, but we must pursue him every day. Some days
will be great, some will be awful, but he is with us. He is moving in us, purifying
us, and sanctifying us.
All of this, brings us to our amazing scripture for this
morning, from the Apostle Paul’s letter to Colossians. In this scripture
reading for this morning, once again, the Apostle Paul is telling us what do
after we have received salvation in Jesus Christ. We have repented our sins to
God, and we accepted the love of Christ into our hearts. So how then do we
become like Christ? Well let’s look again at what the scripture says. It says
once again first speaking of our salvation in Christ:
“So if you have been raised with
Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on
earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When
Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in
glory” (Col. 3:1-4, NRSV).
How many of us here love Jesus? How
many of us still sin though? How many of us sin less than we used to? You see, the
Apostle Paul is not talking about the free gift of salvation, new life, and eternity
if Jesus Christ, he is talking about what we do with that free gift. Do we keep
the bike in the house and tell no one? Do we keep the cherry red Corvette in
the garage and tell no one? Is our faith nothing more than a “Fire Insurance”
policy in our safes at home that guarantees that we will see heaven and not
fire?
Friends, conversion and accepting
Christ as our Lord and savior matters, but what we do from that to our last day
on earth matters to! How we live, and what we do matters! Salvation, eternity is
free, but Christ wants us to live for him every day. As we do this, we are
becoming sanctified, or as John Wesley said, “Moving on to perfection”.
So what are some of the ways that
the Apostle Paul tells us that we can do this? Well first, he just told us once
again to focus on Christ, and not the things of this world. The scripture says
that the things of this world will rust and be eaten by moths. All that is
eternal, is God, and as such, we should focus on him. In helping us along on
this process, the Apostle Paul tells us in this reading from Colossians once
again to:
“Put to
death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of
God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once
followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such
things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your
mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old
self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self,
which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In
that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in
all!” (Col. 3:5-11, NRSV)
Now let’s all be honest for a moment, when I re-read this
what I like to call a “Vice List,” how many of us can say, “Yeah I struggle
with one or two of those?” As brothers and sisters in Christ, as a church, we
follow Christ, and both individually and together, God moves in us and through
us, so that we may grow closer to Christ and one another. It’s not about saying
that we are perfect, it is about admitting that we are not perfect, so that God
can perfect us and sanctify us through Jesus Christ. This church is not a
museum of the perfect, rather it is a hospital for the spiritually sick. Some of
us are almost completely healed, some of us are sicker. We will continue to
improve, and hopefully one day, we will reach the goal of full spiritual health
and entire sanctification. Through God’s abundant grace.
So, the Apostle Paul is telling us not to buy into the lie
that the things on this earth can save us or can ultimately fulfill us. Why? Well
that bike that you got, is probably now rusty and laying in a junk yard. The
cherry red Corvette, a distant memory, but God, eternal, and ever present.
In our gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus tells us what
to focus on. We are following him, so what do we do then for the rest of our
earthly lives? Once again our gospel of Luke reading says of someone speaking
to Jesus:
“Someone in the crowd said to him,
“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he
said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he
said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for
one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them
a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to
himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he
said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and
there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul,
you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But
God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.
And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who
store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God” (Lk. 12:13-21, NRSV).
In this gospel
lesson, Jesus becomes a “Judge Judy” or sorts, and he is asked to decide who
gets a family’s inheritance. One brother is getting everything, and the other
brother tells Jesus to tell that brother to split it with him. Jesus dismisses
the request, and tells the man who does not inherit to guard against greed and
the desire for riches. The wealth isn’t the problem, it’s doing anything you
have to acquire the wealth. It’s the love of the wealth. Jesus does not
advocate wealth redistribution here, he says trust me, and if financial wealth
finds you, still be focused on me.
Jesus then tells
the “Parable of the Rich Fool”. In this parable, a rich man has immense wealth
and provision. So much so, that he tears down his barns, and builds larger
ones. He will then have infinite wealth, possessions, and everything he needs
for the rest of his life. He will trust in himself, and help no one. Once the
rich fool has everything set for the rest of his life, God visits him and says,
you are going to die tonight, and none of these things can save you. Jesus says
if we focus on money only, treasure only, and ourselves only, then how can we
follow him?
If we work
hard though, and if we accumulate wealth, while trusting God, well then what do
we do? We become extraordinarily generous! Do we still have a barn filled with
what we need? Sure, but we give generously. To become like Christ, we must
follow him. We will be given different earthly gifts, but these gifts cannot
consume us, as we must be focused on Christ. Our earthly gifts are not ours
then, we are just there caretakers.
As my sermon title
for this morning says, quoting our reading from Colossians “Put to death,
whatever in you is earthly”. Now who would be a good example for us of someone
who has done this well? Well I only knew him for a year, but the more I learn,
the more I believe that Ernie Bartz did his best to live like this. Sometimes
things were tight, and he trusted God, sometimes not as tight, and he trusted
God.
I hope, number
one, to live to 90-years old like Ernie Bartz did, but I also hope for a funeral
like his. A funeral were my family and friends will say I loved my family, I
served, I gave, I cared, I loved Jesus, I spread his gospel, and I was focused
on these things, and not on the things of this world.
Friends, in my
young life I have learned this, your health can be good one minute and terrible
the next. You can have great financial wealth and lose it, but God is eternal.
My prayer for you, and for me, is that we can continue to “Put to death,
whatever in” us “is earthly”. May we be in this world, but not of this world!
Amen.
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