Homer Avenue UMC - 5th Sunday of Easter - 04/29/18 - Sermon - “love one another"

Sunday 04/29/18 Homer Avenue UMC

Sermon Title: “Love one another”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 22:25-31

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: John 15:1-8

          My dear friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome once again on this our 5^th Sunday of this the Season of Easter. Five Sundays after Christ gloriously rose from the dead, giving us hope, giving us life, giving us light, and giving us love. Through Christ, his life, his teachings, his cross, and his resurrection, we are offered eternal life and a relationship with him.

          So often in church and other “churchy” places though, we hear about the love of God, of the love of His son Jesus Christ, and of the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, sometimes this “love” that so many people seem talk about doesn’t always seem to be a present reality for us. Has anyone here for example, ever visited a church that was unloving? You went in, no one said hello to you, and people were generally cold and unfriendly. Or maybe you knew some people who said that they were Christians, but they didn’t seem to love or treat you like they were Christians.

          The problem with this, is not only is it mean, not only will likely result in churches shrinking and closing, result in discouragement, hurt, and anger, but above all of this, it is against what the Word of God says.

          Jesus Christ said in the gospel of Mark 12:30-31:

^“you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

(Mk. 12:30-31, NRSV).

          This morning in our reading from the Epistle or letter of 1 John, the Apostle John tells us this 1 John 4:7-12:

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 Jn. 4:7-12, NRSV).

          As you might have guessed by this point, I want to talk about love this morning, as my sermon title is called, “love one another”. This sermon title is taken right of our reading from 1 John 4:7. In the gospel of Mark scripture that I just read, and in this portion of this morning’s reading from 1 John that I just read, it is clear that we are called love all people, no matter what.

With this said, I bet that everyone here can say that you love your children, your grand-children, and for some of you, your great-grandchildren. You might also say that you love your siblings, your cousins, and so on and so forth.

          Even so, I have had people that have told me things like, “Pastor I love my brothers and sisters, but we don’t get along, and as a result, we don’t ever speak to each other”. Then I think, but that isn’t loving. If I were to tell the person this, they might say to me, “Even though I love my brothers and sisters, when we are together all we do is fight. Due to this, I believe that the best way I can love them is to not see them or speak to them”. The Bible tells us that we are supposed to be reconciled with each other, but we know that this means both sides have to agree to that idea of reconciliation.

          Do we have to agree then with everything that someone else does or believes in order to love them? No. I am sure for example, that every decision that your children have ever made, have been ones that you always agreed with! I have heard parents says things to their kids like, “I still love you, but I think that the decision that you are about make is a mistake”.

          My brothers and sisters, we are indeed called to love, but God still has expectations on how we are supposed to live and act. If I visited someone in jail, as I have before in doing prison ministry, I love the people I spend time with and minister to. I don’t love the crimes that they committed, but I do love them. We are called to love everyone, and care for everyone, but this does mean that we have to agree with everyone on everything.

Once again, the Apostle John writes in 1 John 4:10:

“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10, NRSV).

          To know God, to know Jesus, is to know love, yet Jesus still needed to come and die for us. So we should love, but not everything we do is ok. You love your kids, but you might not love every decision that they make. This is a really hard balance I think, but as the gospels says, Jesus came in “grace and truth”. Jesus came with love, but He also has expectations about how we are to live and treat each other. If someone loves everyone for example, but is stealing cars let’s say, then the stealing of the cars is wrong. Sometimes when we love someone, we have to be willing to tell them that they are wrong.

          The reading this morning from 1 John 4 once again ends like this:

“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There 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. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also (1 Jn. 4:16b-21, NRSV).

          In this reading from 1 John we really hear in great detail about how God loves us, and that if we know God, how we are supposed to love each other. We are not supposed to hate each other, but rather are to love each other.

          Once again though, the last two versus of our 1 John reading say:

“Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also”

(1 Jn. 4:16b-21, NRSV).

          The reality is, is that we are all fallen, all broken, and are all sinners. We are called to love one another, even if we don’t agree with one another. We are called to love others, even if we don’t like them, or even if we are the ones making the mistakes.

          As our Bishop Rev. Mark Webb said in a sermon at our Annual Conference a few years ago of himself, “You don’t have to like me, but you do have to love me”.

          A great part of our Christian faith then, is that we are supposed to love everyone with the love of Jesus Christ. For by doing so, they may then come to know Jesus Christ to.

          We are called to love. If someone is a Mets fans for example, it doesn’t mean that you have to be a Mets fan, it just means that you have to love them. It probably also means that since there a Mets fan, that you should pray for them to.

          I really like the concept of “tough love”. I have heard people tell parents before to show their kids “tough love”. I have heard that sometimes saying “no,” or allowing your kids to struggle some is “tough love”. Do we believe that love can be “tough love”?

          I had a friend in college, when Melissa and I went to Potsdam College. This guy stole stuff everywhere. He went to the school bookstore and store clothes, pens, and you name it. One time a group of us went to Pizza Hut for my birthday, and I kid you not, this guy stole, a full set of utensils, the plate from the table, a menu, and then the plastic cover from the cash register. He had somehow stuffed all of this into his clothes, and then showed us all of this when he got in the car. Do I still love him? Of course. Did I agree with what he did? No. Is he still crazy? Yes, but I still love him.

          It is true that to know God is to know love, but it is also true that to follow God, to follow Jesus, is to do what we have been commanded to do. Why won’t I steel like my friend in college did, because we have a commandment from God that tells us not steal. The funny thing with this story, by the way, is that my friend in college had the money to buy the things that he stole, he just thought that it was funny to steal them.

          Anyone who walks through the doors of this church then, will be deeply loved and appreciated by me, but it is also part of my sacred duty to tell them how God wants us to live and act. Love needs to have rules, and love needs to have boundaries. If not, you could just tell your kids or grandkids “do anything you want, because we are to love each other”. Yet you don’t them that. You teach them what is ok, and what isn’t ok. Maybe you have said to your kids, “this is what I think that you should do, and if you don’t do it I think that you are wrong, but I will still love you anyway”. Part of love is being honest.

          To mention our gospel of John reading from this morning briefly, we have another “I am” statement from Jesus Christ. Last Sunday, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd,” and in this gospel reading, Jesus says:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower” (Jn. 15:1, NRSV).

Jesus then says in John 15:2-5 of God:

^“ He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing”

(Jn. 15:2-5, NRSV).

          God is the plant, and Jesus is the vine that connects us to the plant that is God. To know God, to know Jesus, is to know love. Yet apart from Jesus, who is the vine, we cannot bear fruit. Our love for others is something that we should have, but we should also seek to live in the ways that Jesus told us how to live. For what is love without truth?

          I pray that we may be patient with one another, love another, even if we do not always agree with one another. As one of my Bible Commentaries says:

“Not everyone around us will deserve our love, yet we must extend love to all. We were equally unlovable when God first lives us” (Africa Bible Commentary).

Know that you are all loved, and prayed for. Amen.

Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - 4th Sunday of Easter - 04/22/18 - Sermon - “I am the good shepherd"

Sunday 04/22/18 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “I am the good shepherd”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 23

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 John 3:16-24

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: John 10:11-18

          Welcome once again on this the 4^th Sunday of Easter. Four Sundays after Jesus rises to new life, and through Him, we are offered new life.

          In the Christian New Testament, as many of us know, we have four gospels. These of course are the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In these gospels we have the story of Jesus Christ, what He said, what He did, the claims that He made, the healings, the love, and the power of God. To put it another way, the words of Jesus Christ are the words that are contained in the gospels. There are other scriptures that quote Jesus, but the gospels are where we get the on the ground reality of who, what, how, were, and when, Jesus was and is.

          If one reads the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the text says some pretty amazing stuff. We hear the story of Christ, His life, and everything that He did and claimed. The challenge for us as Christians though, is to ask what do these gospels and all scripture mean? Are the gospels reliable? Do we believe that in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that Jesus said and did the things that have been recorded of Him? I do. If we read the gospels with precision and integrity then, we find some very specific teachings and ideas.

          For example, this morning in our gospel of John reading, Jesus Christ says,

“I am the good shepherd” (Jn. 10:11a, NRSV).

          What did Jesus mean, when He said this? Further, do we believe that Jesus did in fact say this? I know that I believe that He did.

          In the gospel of John, we have in fact seven statements of what are referred to as the “I am” statements, made by Jesus Christ. It is interesting that when Moses asks God His name in Exodus 3:14, via the burning bush, that God replies by saying:

“I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14, NRSV).

          So for Jesus to make statements that are aligning with the statement that God made to Moses, is very interesting to me. The seven “I am” statements in the gospel of John are:

(http://journeyingtotherealme.blogspot.com/2017/06/john-15-seriesverse-1.html).

          I read you these seven “I am” statements, to give you an idea of what I am talking about this morning. According to the gospel of John, Jesus made seven “I am” statements. While these seven “I am” statements can make for a great sermon series, I wanted to just focus on the “I am” statement that we have this morning from John 10:11-18. In this reading, Jesus once again says,

“I am the good shepherd” (Jn. 10:11a, NRSV).

          Well, when I began to do research on this statement and the concept of a “Shepherd” and a “Good Shepherd,” I found some information that I didn’t expect at all. For example, I Googled “The Good Shepherd,” and the first thing that came up was a movie called “The Good Shepherd,” with Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, and Angelina Jolie. Well then I thought, “Wait a second, I thought that Jesus was the good shepherd!” Then I thought, “Why would a movie be named “The Good Shepherd?” Were the makers of the movie trying to trick us into going to the movies?”

          Well, it turns out that character that actor Matt Damon played in this movie, was a man who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency or the CIA for years. His character was dedicated to his country, and was willing to die to defend it.

          This is interesting to me, because our gospel of John reading once again begins with Jesus saying:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11-13, NRSV).

          A shepherd who leads sheep or some other animal is charged with protecting and caring for the sheep, or whatever the animal is. Pastors are often called shepherds, as we are charged with taking care of the spiritual wellbeing of the people of the church and the communities that we serve.

          Jesus finishes our gospel of John the reading this morning by saying:

^“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father” (Jn. 10:14-18, NRSV)

          As Jesus is speaking to a group a Pharisees when He says this, He is saying that the real shepherds walk through the gate of the sheep, and the sheep hear, see, and recognize there shepherd. Wolves and thieves break in, climb over the wall, and do not sound like the shepherd.

          This is certainly powerful imagery, but again if Jesus said this “I am” statement, as I believe that He did, there are powerful claims in this statement. To me, in this scripture, Jesus is saying that He is the Lord of all persons, or sheep. For again, Jesus says this morning,

“So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again” (Jn 10:16b-17, NRSV).

Jesus is saying that He is our leader, our shepherd, and that we must follow him and listen for his voice. Even further, he says he will lay his life down for us the sheep, and then take it back up. Jesus says in John 15:13:

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn. 15:13, NRSV).

Jesus tells us to follow Him, to allow ourselves to be shepherded by Him, and that he will not deceive us. He will even die to save us.

Some of us might have attended our Active Shooter Training that we had the Freeville UMC this passed Tuesday night. In this training, a teacher that came said that she would lay her life down to protect her students, and then I said I would do the same to protect the people of the church. If a pastor is a shepherd, and if we take it seriously, then we are modeling, and living exactly what Jesus taught this morning when He said:

“I am the good shepherd” (Jn. 10:11a, NRSV).

          Jesus could have made the seven statements in the gospel of John without using the words “I am,” but I think the reality of his divinity, of Him being the fullness of God and man, came through in the making of these statements.

          Jesus then can be portrayed like a shepherd that leads us, loves us, and cares for us. Jesus tells us that He seeks out the lost sheep, and that he as our shepherd that will lead us to the ways of love, hope, peace, and eternal life.

          This is very similar to reading that we have for this morning from Psalm 23 that says:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake” (Ps. 23:1-3).

Psalm 23 is speaking of God the Father, yet this morning in the gospel of John, Jesus Christ, God’s son, God in the flesh, is using very similar language.

Since pastors and priests are called shepherds sometimes, we are called to teach, live, and do exactly what Jesus says this morning. This reality extends to all of us though. You are all shepherds. You might shepherd your children, your pets, your family, people that work for you, your students if you’re a teacher, or others. How many of you have people in your life, by a show of hands that you would lay your life to defend and protect? Well, then you are a “Good Shepherd”.

            This reality rings true in our reading from this morning from 1 John that says:

^“We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?”

(1 Jn. 3:16-17, NRSV).

          Shepherds are willing to sacrifice, willing to defend, and willing to lay their lives down for those they love.

          So I believe this morning that Jesus is telling us that He is the full embodiment of God, the great “I am,” that is going to die for us, be raised to new life, and they He will live in us if we let him. We are then to go forth into the world telling people about this great shepherd named Jesus Christ, and then with the power of the Holy Spirit we are called to transform the world. When we love each other, shepherd each other, we are drawing closer to Christ, and better living out exactly what Jesus was saying this morning, when He said:

“I am the good shepherd” (Jn. 10:11a, NRSV).

          There’s short story called the “Star Fish” that I think explains ever further. This story goes like this:

“A man was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up. Left on the sand by the receding tide the starfish were certain to die as the sun dried them out. The man also saw a boy picking up starfish and flinging them back into the sea. Planning to teach the boy a little lesson in common sense, the man walked up to the boy and said, “I have been watching what you are doing, son. You have a good heart, and I know you mean well, but do you realize how many beaches there are around here and how many starfish are dying on every beach every day? Surely such an industrious and kind hearted boy such as yourself could find something better to do with your time. Do you really think that what you are doing is going to make a difference?” The boy looked up at the man, and then he looked down at a starfish by his feet. He picked up the starfish, and as he gently tossed it back into the ocean, he said, “It makes a difference to that one.” (http://storiesforpreaching.com/category/sermonillustrations/servanthood/)

          My friends, my brothers and sisters, Jesus is the good shepherd, and we are His sheep, or as the story just said, his starfish. May we shepherd and love each other, the way that Jesus has and continues to do for us. Amen.

Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Native American Ministries Sunday/3rd Sunday of Easter - 04/15/18 - Sermon - “So what happened exactly?"

Sunday 04/15/18 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “So what happened exactly?”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 4

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 John 3:1-7

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:36b-48

          Welcome again my sisters and brothers, on this our Native American Ministries Sunday, this the Third Sunday of Easter, this the Sunday that we are hosting again Romanian Missionary Ramona Petrella Cummings, and maybe a couple of other things, as well!

          Since this is Native American Ministries Sunday, today is a special giving opportunity in the life of the United Methodist Church, where we can support Native American seminarians, pastors, and Native American outreach. Feel free to pray, and to give to this special giving Sunday, as God calls you to do so. Feel free to also do the same for Ramona’s ministry.

          As our church bulletin says this morning however, I am going to give a very brief message. In part, I am doing this to give you a small message, as I was on vacation last Sunday, but also to hopefully help support Ramona and her work. Anyone that is working to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and anyone who is working to build God’s kingdom, is generally someone that I support.

          The question though, is why do we as Christian do what we do? Why do we serve, love, heal, and forgive? You see, all of us are called as Christians to serve God and share the gospel of Jesus Christ in various ways, but some of us are called to go where there is great suffering. For millions and millions of Christians, we generally believe that Christ overcame sin and death on the cross, that he was resurrected, that he is alive well, and that he will return one day in glory. For so many of us, this is our motivation and our transformation that causes us as Christians to do what we do.

Knowing the risen Christ, believing in His gospel, and living it out, can result in God putting us in places and situations that we never imagined. Many of us also know that the Christian Church is worldwide, and that we are the biggest faith in the world. Due to this, it shouldn’t be a shock to us to know that we have many millions of Christians serving, loving, working, and caring in places where God’s people need the most love, help, and kindness.

This leads me to this morning’s gospel reading from the gospel of Luke, and my sermon title of “So what happened exactly?” In this reading, Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, appeared to his disciples. Specifically, the gospel reading says:

“Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence”. (Lk. 24:36b-43, NRSV).

          For me, and for millions and millions of Christians, not only do I believe that Jesus was God in the flesh on earth, that he loved, healed, and forgave, and died for our sins, I also believe that he rose again. I also believe that he appeared for 40-days to his disciples and many, and then ascended to heaven. Jesus therefore, is alive and well, and will return one day in glory.

          Serving Christ, preaching and following the gospel of Christ takes on a powerful new meaning then when we believe that the savior we follow is truly alive and well. This belief fuels us to change the world, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, and sometimes to go far and wide to show people the great love of Jesus Christ. When Christ is alive in us, we begin to see the world differently, and the gospel calls us to change the world into what Jesus called us to change it into.

          “So what happened exactly,” this morning? Well I believe that Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, physically presented his resurrected body to his disciples, that he ate with them, and that he then told them again just who he was and is. This reality, this truth found only in Jesus Christ, is so powerful, that it has changed me, and it has changed millions upon millions of others through the world. Due to this, when we answer the call to serve Christ, sometimes that call might just take us to a place like Nicaragua, or to Romania. Be ready for God’s call! Amen.

Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Easter Sunday - 04/01/18 - Sermon - “Seeing is believing!" ("The Power of the Resurrection" Series: Part 5 of 5)

Easter Sunday 4/1/18 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Seeing is believing!”

(“The Power of the Resurrection” Series – Part 5 of 5)

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: John 20:1-18

          He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! My friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome once again on this our Easter Sunday. For on this day, death, evil, injustice, oppression, and sin have officially been conquered, as Jesus is alive.

For the past four weeks I have been talking about “The Power of the Resurrection” of Jesus Christ. Not only do I believe that Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection were real historical events, but I believe that they are also powerful events. Sometimes an event can occur that radically changes the world forever. Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection have and will continue to change the world forever. Millions and millions have been changed and will continue to be changed.

          The idea of the resurrection, is that holiness wins, that goodness wins, that love wins, that truth wins, that kindness wins, and that hope wins. I don’t know about you, but I need resurrection power. So we have the historical events, and then we have the psychological, emotional, and spiritual power that are connected to them. To put it another way, the power of faith and the power of belief can inspire us and move us to do amazing things in the world. We can be changed, and thus God can use us to change the world. My faith in the Risen Christ inspires me, motivates me, and causes to me to want make a difference for God in the world every day.

          In this sermon series that I am completing this morning on “The Power of the Resurrection” of Jesus Christ, I have discussed that Jesus personally “proclaimed his own resurrection” in all four of the Gospels. Basically, Jesus said in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that he would be betrayed, tried, killed, and resurrected. Due to this, I believe that we can trust the historical realities of these events, and there power.

          I discussed the conversion of the Apostle Paul, and how his faith in Christ transformed him, and the world. I discussed that how for hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, that his life, death, and resurrection were foretold in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. Last Sunday, I got more specific into some of the prophecies about the coming of Christ, his life, his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

          This morning I am finishing this sermon series with the sermon “Seeing in believing!”

          With all of this said, has anyone here ever seen something that seemed too good to be true? Or have you ever seen something that stopped you in your tracks and you had to do what I like to call a “double take”. I have seen television shows where people have claimed to see the Lockness Monster, Big Foot, the Sasquatch, or a UFO. Can we trust our eyes? Do we always see the reality of what we are looking at? Or are we imaging things sometimes?

          Can we trust what we see, or to put it another way, is “Seeing believing”? There have been a couple of times in this church for example, were myself and others have looked up and have seen something on the walls and or the sealing. It was dark colored, and sometimes we thought that it was a bat! We all love bats right? It usually wasn’t a bat though, it was just a black spot somewhere or something else.

          This brings me to our gospel of John reading for this morning. In this gospel reading we have one of the resurrection accounts. To give a little background to this gospel account, as many of us know, this pass Friday on Good Friday, Jesus was taken off the cross after he died. He was then placed in the tomb of a rich man, named Joseph of Arimathea. The tomb was sealed, guarded, and Jesus was dead. This morning though, the stone is rolled away, and the tomb is empty. Let’s look at this morning’s gospel reading once again. This is what it says:

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her”

(Jn. 20:1-18, NRSV).

          So what happened on this day, on that first Easter? Did Jesus Christ truly rise from the dead? Or did the disciples just imagine it? Did they make it up? Did they get rid of Jesus’ body and make it look like a resurrection? Based upon the gospels, multiple sightings of Jesus today, Easter Morning, and after, and host of other reasons, I believe that Jesus Christ truly rose from the dead. To put it more directly, I believe that on this day Jesus Christ physically got up, was alive, and walked out of the tomb, taking with him, his is body, his soul, and his divinity. This means that I believe that Jesus is alive and well!

          This is why the Christian Church for centuries has proclaimed on this day, that Christ Is Risen! Christ Is Risen Indeed! So either the risen Christ was seen, touched, and viewed, or he wasn’t. I believe that he was.

          Within this, the power of this is transformative. I can imagine for example, what the mood was like on Friday and Saturday for the disciples and the Marys. Imagine what it was like the moment they saw and truly believe that their Lord and master was alive? Imagine the hope that we can draw from the belief that not only is Jesus alive, but that he is alive in us. Further if he overcame evil, sin, and death, then what he can do through us? We can be the church, feed the poor, clothe the naked, and transform the world!

          As Christians we have been described by many as Easter people, or people of resurrection. As Christians we are people of faith and hope, and we believe that anything is possible with God. We believe that God can use us to do anything, because as the song says, “An empty grave is there to prove my savior lives!”

          Maybe you have come here this morning without hope, or maybe hope filled. Wherever you are at this morning, the reality is this: for nearly 2,000 years, people from all across this world have been draw to the hope and the power contained in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This day symbolizes therefore, that goodness has overcome, that love wins, that mercy wins, that truth wins, and that hope wins. If this is true, which I believe it is, then we are to believe that when it is all said and done that God will have the final word in our lives and in this world. This is hope that we can all tap into, hope that we can all seek, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, that we can all live into.

          So I believe that Jesus rose this day. I have a friend who is a retired United Methodist Church pastor, and he always used to say on Easter Sunday, “show me the bones of Jesus Christ, and I will be worshipping at the Jewish Synagogue next Saturday night”. He made this joke because no one has ever found the bones of Jesus Christ, because He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

          My sisters and brothers, we live in a hurting and a broken world, and Jesus Christ and his gospel, show us that a different way is possible. Jesus’ death and resurrection offers us forgiveness, hope, and the belief that we can do great things. This is why Easter is so important to Christians, and this why the gospel of Jesus Christ is the best and only hope for this world.

          I pray that on this Easter, and in this Season of Easter, that you will find a new movement of the Holy Spirit in your life. I pray that the power of Jesus and His resurrection will fill you anew. I pray that you will be empowered to live out our faith in the world in new and powerful ways. We are people of resurrection, faith, and hope. May you live this out on this day of resurrection and always! Happy Easter and Amen.

Homer Avenue UMC - Good Friday Service - 03/30/18 - Sermon - “God loves you this much!"

Good Friday 03/30/18 Homer Avenue UMC

Sermon Title: “God loves you this much!”

Old Testament Scripture: Isaiah 52:13-53:12

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Hebrews 10:16-25

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: John 18:1-19:42

          My dear friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome once again on this our Good Friday, of this our Holy Week. On this day, the savior of the world lays down his life, so that we may be forgiven and reconciled with almighty God.

          This Holy Week started this past Sunday on our Palm or Passion Sunday. On that day, Jesus entered triumphantly into Jerusalem to the shouts of Hosanna! Jesus then continued to love, heal, and forgive, and proclaim the Kingdom of God here on earth. Last night, Jesus shared his Last Supper with his disciples. During this Last Supper, Jesus gave us the sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, He gave us the gift of foot washing, and the “Maundy,” or “mandate,” or new commandment, to love each other. After celebrating all this with his friends, his disciple Judas Iscariot betrayed him. Peter would soon do the same. His friends would scatter.

          Jesus prayed all night in the Garden of Gethsemane, and in the early hours of this morning, Jesus was arrested. For Judas Iscariot had led those guards right to Jesus. From this point, the events of this day, Good Friday, have played out.

In our reading from the Prophet Isaiah for tonight, Isaiah writes many centuries earlier, multiple events that will happen this day, this Good Friday. Isaiah tells us what Christ will look like shortly before his death on the cross. Isaiah says:

“—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of mortals—“ (Isa. 53:4b, NSRV).

          Another way to put it, is that by this day’s end, Jesus will barely recognizable or not recognizable as person, due to the incredible suffering that he went through.

The prophet Isaiah writes of Jesus Christ that he will be:

“despised and rejected by others;
    a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;” (Isa. 52:3a, NRSV).

The prophet Isaiah then says of Christ further in tonight’s reading that:

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isa. 53:5, NRSV).

          Our reading from the prophet Isaiah for tonight ends with Isaiah saying this about Jesus:

“because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”

(Isa. 53:12b, NRSV).

          Jesus poured himself out and suffered for us. He bore the sin of many, for all of us. He prayed and interceded to those crucifying him. He loved everyone right to the very end.

You know, every single time that I prepare for a Good Friday Service, I get choked up in thinking about what Christ has done for me, and for us all. As I was writing this, I kept thinking of a song by “Hill Song”. This song, written about Jesus is called, “What a Beautiful Name”. The Lyrics of this song are beautiful as they say:

“You were the Word at the beginning. One With God the Lord Most High. Your hidden glory in creation. Now revealed in You our Christ. What a beautiful Name it is. What a beautiful Name it is. The Name of Jesus Christ my King. What a beautiful Name it is. Nothing compares to this.
What a beautiful Name it is. The Name of Jesus. You didn't want heaven without us. So Jesus, You brought heaven down. My sin was great, Your love was greater What could separate us now”

(https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/hillsongworship/whatabeautifulname.html).

          As a handful of us here just read the story of Good Friday from the gospel of John, we all heard again the story of the arrest, trial, mocking, degradation, whipping, scourging, suffering, and brutal crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As the prophet Isaiah said he was barely if at all recognizable as a man.

          In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s epistle or letter to the Hebrews for tonight, he begins this reading by quoting a prophecy from the prophet Jeremiah. Paul writes:

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds”

 (Heb. 10:16, NRSV).

The Apostle Paul then writes a little more from the prophet Jeremiah, and then his own words says:

“he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let 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. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:17-25, NRSV).

          The Apostle Paul is telling us that Jesus, the Lamb of God, shed his blood and died for us, so that we could be forgiven. As the song says, “O How He Loves you and Me”.

          Some people have a really hard time with Good Friday though. They have a hard time with the betrayal against Jesus of Judas Iscariot, of Peter, Jesus’ arrest, the disrespect, the mockery, the chains, the trial, the whipping, the scourging, the thorns, the nails, and the cross. As I said in a recent sermon, some folks in recent years have begun to reject the crucifixion as too brutal, or even unnecessary. Some have rejected the idea that God the Father needed to send his Son to earth to brutally die for our sins in order to reconcile to us to Himself. Yet this was “God’s eternal plan in Jesus Christ,” and it happened because God planned it this way. Before time itself, this was the plan, because this is how God sought to reconcile the world to Himself.

          What Jesus went through today was indeed brutal. As I asked in that recent sermon though, how many of you would do the very same thing for your kids, or your grandkids, or a member of your family though?

          I am reminded of what the Apostle John wrote in his gospel in 3:16:

“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”

(Jn. 3:16, NRSV).

          Instead just seeing the events of this day as brutal, think about like this, our heavenly Father loves us so much, that He would stop at nothing, I mean nothing, to be reconciled to us. I heard a pastor say once that “if the nails didn’t hold Christ on the Cross, his love for us would have”. Jesus told us in all of the gospels that among everything else he came to do and say, that he was coming to die for us. This is why my sermon for tonight is called “God love you this much!”

          On this day, death dies, and sin is destroyed, as I believe that before time itself this was “God’s eternal plan in Jesus Christ”,

          I have a story for you that I have told a few times before that explains this day, this Good Friday, much better than I ever could. This story is taken from (https://www.crossroad.to/Victory/stories/TheSon.html), and is called

“Whoever Gets the Son, Gets Everything”. This is the story:

“A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Viet Nam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son. About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door.  A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life.  He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.”    

“The young man held out his package. "I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this." The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me.  It's a gift." The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.”

“The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son.”

“The auctioneer pounded his gavel. "We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?" There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted. "We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one." But the auctioneer persisted. "Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?" Another voice shouted angrily.  "We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh’s, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!" But still the auctioneer continued. "The son!  The son!  Who'll take the son?"

“Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room.  It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I'll give $10 for the painting." Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.  "We have $10, who will bid $20?" "Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters." "$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?" The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel.  "Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!" A man sitting on the second row shouted. "Now let's get on with the collection!"  

“The auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I'm sorry, the auction is over." "What about the paintings?" "I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who receives the son gets everything!"   

          Friends, while today might seem brutal to some, this is our open door to be saved and reconciled by the God of the Universe. As Rev. Billy Graham said:

“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.'
(Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/billy_graham_150661)

Jesus came and did this for me, for you, and for all people both past, present, and future, and all we have to do is to say yes to Jesus being the Lord of our lives. We do this, and we are forgiven, because the one who receives the son gets everything! Amen.