Sunday
03/14/21 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “New
Hope on Earth is Coming!”
("The Journey to New Hope and New Life"- Series: Part 4 of 7)
Old Testament Scripture: Numbers 21:4-9
New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10
Gospel Lesson: John 3:14-21
I remember a number of years ago,
hearing a really good quote told to me from a pastor that I never met. This
pastor’s quote was this, “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are useless here
on earth”. Once again, “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are useless here on
earth”
Well, what does this mean? Does this
mean that we should not think about heaven, or eternal life with Jesus ever?
No, I do not think that this pastor meant that at all. I think what the pastor
meant, is that through Jesus Christ and the blood that he shed on the cross, we
are offered eternal life. If we repent of our sins and turn to Christ, we are
offered this free gift of eternal life. I think of a hymn in our United
Methodist Hymnal called, “When We All Get to Heaven” (UMC Hymnal, 701). In this
hymn we hear of the great glories of heaven. Sometimes some of us have heard or
have even been told that this life on earth will be hard, but then comes
heaven. I want to challenge this a little bit this morning. For we have work to
do here on this earth, lest we become too heavenly minded.
This morning, we are continuing on in
our sermon series called “The Journey to New Hope and New Life,” and our fourth
installment this morning is called, “New Hope on Earth is Coming!” This morning,
I will talk about what we can do in the here and the now to make the world
better, and next week I will focus more on eternity in heaven with Jesus
Christ. So, this week, living our faith in Christ on earth, and next week being
with Christ for eternity. This is why I gave us all the quote, “Don’t be so
heavenly minded that you are useless here on earth”.
So far in this season of Lent, and in
this sermon series, I talked about the ways in which we have all suffered and
have all been affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Last week though, I said that
we need to “Change and Re-Group”! Is COVID-19 over yet? No. Do we
see the light at the end of the tunnel? Yes! This should cause us to “Change
and Re-group,” to re-enter life and the world, or to start planning to do so.
In getting back to the message
for this morning called, “New Hope on Earth is Coming,” I want us to think
about our lives here on earth. Historically, as Methodists we preach faith and
live faith. Remember the quote I gave you at the beginning of this sermon that was,
“Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are useless here
on earth”. Should we preach Christ crucified and his life saving blood?
Absolutely. Yet, what if the person we are sharing the gospel with is hungry,
or naked, or cold? Should we not try to address their earthly needs to? Or
should we just preach salvation, but then not live the way Jesus clearly taught
us to live? Historically, Methodists do both.
Sure, we can talk about loving our neighbors, and
teach correctly that salvation is a free gift from God, through Jesus Christ,
but what do we do while we are still here on earth still matters. Recorded
human history goes back about 6,000 years. During all of this time, kings,
queens, civilizations, and empires, have risen and have fallen. Countless wars
have been fought, and human sin and carnage has been always present. Given
this, I can certainly understand why someone would “be so heavenly minded that
you are useless here on earth”. If we live in a fallen and a sinful world, that
is broken, then why even try to fix it? Maybe we should just hide away and wait
for eternity with Christ? Except, this is not what we are told in scripture. We
are told to love, care for, and serve each other. Jesus washed his disciple’s
feet, and he then told them and us to love each other?
After 6,000 years of recorded human history, the
world is still fallen and still broken. So, what do we do about it? Can we as
humans perfect this world? We certainly have had many that have tried. Through
the centuries of human history, we have tried various forms of government,
economic systems, and types of civilizations. We could easily argue that some
are better than others, and yet they all rise, and they all fall. If humanity
had the capacity to make a perfect world, then why have we yet to make a
perfect world?
I was told by a friend of mine that in the month of
February of this year that seven people died in Sidney from drug overdoses.
Seven people. That is hard for me to believe, as we are not a major city. Since
so many Christians often have sometimes been called “Do Gooders” as we are
always just trying to make the world better, should we just be heavenly minded only?
My answer is this quote from the great reformer
Martin Luther,
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree” (https://www.forbes.com/quotes).
An
even better quote, in my opinion, is this quote from the founder of the
Methodist Movement, John Wesley:
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can” (https://www.brainyquote.com).
We
must continue the mission of the church, and New Hope must come to Earth before
we go to heaven or Christ returns, because the world is broken and suffering.
Will we fix everything? No. God can use us though to not only preach salvation
in Christ, but then live it. If we are going to build a strong church, and a
strong community, we must not only prepare people for eternity, but we must
also care for them here on earth.
In
our scripture reading for this morning, we are given a scripture from the Book
of Numbers, and in this scripture, Moses puts a serpent of bronze on a pole. If
the Israelite people had been bitten by a poisonous serpent, or afflicted with
sin and brokenness, they only needed to gaze upon that pole with the serpent
and they would be saved and would live (Num. 21:4-9, NRSV).
Our
gospel of John reading then references our scripture from the Book of Numbers
saying:
“4 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn. 3:14-15, NRSV).
In the first two versus of our gospel
reading once again, we have the comparison of Moses’ serpent in the wilderness to
Jesus Christ. Yet, this eternal hope is here and now, and in eternity to come.
You see if we are new creations in Christ, he is with us here, and we are with
him for eternity when we leave this earth, or if Jesus returns. All who believe
in Jesus Christ will one day be with him in eternity, but as long are we are
here on earth, we can be part of this new hope on earth.
As the gospel continues on saying”
“16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God” (Jn. 3:16-21, NRSV).
So, the mission of the Christ, the
Messiah, Jesus, was indeed to save our souls and rebuild our path to God. Yet,
while Jesus was earth, he told us how to live and how to treat each other.
In our reading for this morning from Ephesian 2:1-10, again
we hear this same dichotomy of life on earth and in heaven. The scripture says
once again in Ephesians 1:4-6:
“4 But
God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were
dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you
have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Eph. 1:4-6,
NRSV).
So, Jesus saves us if we turn to him,
and one day we will be with him in glory. Yet, this is once again how our
reading from Ephesians ends in 2:10:
“10 For
we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Eph. 2:10, NRSV).
Works do not save us, faith does. In
addition to preaching faith, how do we live our faith in the here and the now?
Jesus came to bring “New Hope and New Life,” not just in heaven, but in the here
and the now. Will we make this earth perfect? No, not until Jesus returns, but
we can still do so much.
We can feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
and we can work to end problems and suffering. We can help those who are addicted
and who are struggling. All of this is Christ working through us. When people
see our lives, and how we live, they will see Christ in us. This my friends, as
the great old reverend said many years ago, this is why we should not be “so heavenly minded that we are useless here on
earth”.
If I preach faith, and if some
comes to Christ, I also have a concern for there well-being. I am concerned if
they are hungry, or cold, or naked. A robust Christian life and faith is one
that unites preaching faith and living faith. As we continue to walk this road with
Christ to the cross on Good Friday, may we be living our faith, as we are preaching
our faith.
So, this week follow God’s
leading in your life to call, to send, to help, and to do whatever God has
called you to do, so that “New Hope” will “Come to Earth”. This “New Hope,” is
the hope of Jesus Christ that lives in you. Amen.
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