RWJ/Pottersville UMC 08/26/12 Sermon - "The Lion of Judah"

Sunday 08/26/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “The Lion of Judah”   

Scripture Lesson: 1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43

Gospel Lesson: John 6:56-69                

 

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week and I am happy to be worshipping with you here this morning!

          This morning I want to talk to you about another title that Jesus was given. This title was and is the “Lion of Judah,” which was written by John of Patmos in his “Revelation” of judgment day. We refer to this vision or dream of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the “Revelation of John of Patmos”. We don’t know if this final book of the New Testament the “Book of Revelation,” was written by the same John as the Gospel of John, as many bible scholars think this John of Patmos might have been a different John. In the Book of Revelation though, it says specifically in chapter 5:5, “And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” This scripture of course as I said, speaks of the second coming of our Lord, or as some would call it, judgment day. Of the many titles for Jesus, I have always been very fond of the title of the “Lion of Judah.” This title is quite significant, as well as the inclusion of the word “Judah” in the title.

          Many of us know that historically that Israel had and has twelve different tribes that made up the Kingdom of Israel, such as the tribe of Simeon, the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Dan, the tribe of Asher, the tribe of Judah, and the others. Certain tribes were known for certain things, such as being a sea faring people, were known for certain trades, were known for the climate and geographical regions of their tribe, were known for the spiritual gifts and graces of their tribes, and etc. Since Jesus was born a Jew then, he was part of one of these twelve tribes of Israel. In fact, he was part of the tribe of Judah. Judah was the southernmost tribe in the Kingdom of Israel. Within Judah or Judea, was also the city of Bethlehem. Jesus as we know was not born of the priestly class, or the wealthy class, but instead was a poor carpenter.

          What Jesus looked like as far as his appearance has also been a source of fascination for many, but the reality is we don’t really know what Jesus looked like. Sure we can speculate on his appearance, as the prevailing image is Jesus with long hair and large beard. Because of the Jewish cultural traditions at the time, Jesus would assuredly have had a beard and probably a large head of hair. When viewing people from this area of the world today, many of them have a dark complexion, brown eyes, and dark hair. Further, most people at the time of Jesus were probably not nearly as tall as they are now. So, was Jesus then a dark skinned short man? I guess for me, and you might in your mind think differently, that it doesn’t really matter what Jesus looked like. To me it doesn’t matter if he was six-foot six, or five feet tall! It doesn’t matter is he had blonde hair and blue eyes, or if he portrayed just as we think of him in our minds right in this very instant. To me what is important is that Jesus is the savior of all of humankind! That Jesus Christ was the person that God fused Himself with to spread His gospel, and die for the sins of a broken world. To me what is important is that Jesus died for us, when it seemed all was lost!

          We do still wonder don’t we, what Jesus looked like. I wonder when we get to heaven if we will be shocked that the image of Jesus that we had in our minds didn’t quite match up with the actual Jesus! Maybe he will look way different than we think he will!

          In continuing to unpack this title though of “the Lion of Judah” this morning of who Jesus was and is, other than just being the Messiah and being fully God and fully human on earth, what of this title? Biblically, what does scripture mean when it says “the Lion of Judah?” To really get the fullness of this scripture and this title, we must look to the prophecies of the Old Testament. You see in the Old Testament, God revealed himself too many Men. He revealed himself to Abraham, to Noah, to Jacob, to Isaac, to Moses, and etc. Yet every time God made a covenant with these men it was always conditional, except for Abraham and David. By this I mean that God promised his rich blessings, as long as his people followed and obeyed him. Every single person that God called in the Old Testament fell short of God’s expectations. In fact, when Moses went up Mount Sinai in Egypt to receive the 10-commandments from God, he put his brother Aaron in charge of the Israelites. Well when Moses came down the people were worshipping golden calves, partying, and living in very sinful ways! I can image Moses thought, “Are you serious I was only gone for five-minutes Aaron!” I think it would have been the equivalency of leaving John Belushi in charge!           Maybe you have had an experience like that with your children or a pet, where you say “I only left them alone for a minute!” As a result of God’s people being disloyal and sinful, Moses was forced to lead the twelve tribes of Israelites around the desert for forty years, depending on daily manna from heaven. The group also got quail once and a while, but this was not a fun 40-years of life. You see this covenant with Moses was conditional, and the conditions were all or nothing.

          While the Old Testament is full of prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Amos, who were calling the people God back to sanctity and holiness, we could just never stop sinning and offending God. Of all the Old Testament covenants that failed before King David, God promised Abraham that his line and his people would get the Holy Land one day. You know the “Land of Milk and Honey?” When David entered the picture, God did something even more significant with him. While God promised Abraham that one day his people would get the Holy Land and that Abraham would be the father of many nations. David would even greater blessing than Abraham though. In fact, God did not tell David I am going to make you a great King, only if your 100% loyal. Instead God told David that he would “Make him a great name,” and that his “house would rule forever.” Now I’m no expert, but generally when I hear the term “forever” I tend to think that is a pretty long time! This “Davidic Covenant” as it is known is an unconditional covenant that God chose to make with David.

          Since God chose to make an infinite contract or covenant with David, God told David that one day someone from your line is going to come that will be the savior of the world! Someone from the house of David will as scripture says “save us from this sinful generation.” You see God’s first official covenant was with Adam in the Garden of Eden, and that covenant failed. God then covenanted again and again with others in the Old Testament. While God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations and his people would get the Holy Land one day, God cemented a covenant with King David that his line would rule forever. Further that the Messiah would come from his tribe, the tribe of Judah! Not only this brothers and sisters, but that this Messiah, whom among many other names and titles, would be called “Emmanuel” or “God is with us,” and would be born in Bethlehem! You see the prophecy said that the Messiah or Emmanuel had to be born in Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy!

          If you have you bible with you today, would you look in the very beginning of the Gospel of Mathew with me for a moment? This is the only Gospel of the four Gospels that starts by explaining the lineage of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, or Emmanuel. This lineage as you will see, traces King David back to Abraham, who was promised the Holy Land and to be father of many nations. This lineage then traces King David, to whom God said one will come of his lineage that will be the Messiah. This lineage of Jesus is established through his father Joseph. We don’t know fully if Jesus’ mother Mary was related to King David and some scholars say yes, and some say no. We also believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, fulfilling yet one more of the Old Testament prophecies. Given this, Joseph was made his father earthly father, and therefore Jesus was validly added to the lineage of David. When glancing at this list in Mathew though, you probably think two things. One, wow this is a lot of names! Two, that if Mathew wrote this in his Gospel, that it must be a true account of Jesus Christ’s lineage!

          If you would now turn in your bibles brothers and sisters to the Gospel of Luke 3:23-28. You will notice yet another lineage attempting to establish Jesus Christ as a descendent of King David. Given these two accounts of lineage, given that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he was called Emmanuel, that he rode in on a donkey, and etc, and etc. it all proves unequivocally that Jesus was and is the Messiah! If you have ever have chance on the internet type in “The ways that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Prophecies,” and you will find many more that Jesus Christ fulfilled. You see Jesus Christ over turned the Old Covenant, because as scripture says “He makes all things new.”

          According to our Gospels then, Jesus through his father and maybe his mother, was the direct descendent of King David! This is once again significant, because God told King David, in our scripture reading in the Old Testament this morning that his line would be forever! In the Gospel reading today, Jesus was saying I am the Messiah, the way to everlasting life! When the ancient Old Testament prophets spoke of one to come then, they were speaking of Jesus Christ! While they might not have known the name of the savior, they knew he was coming as scripture says, to “save us from this sinful generation.”

          This is also why at the Last Supper when Jesus raised his glass and said “this is the blood of the New Covenant,” as he was saying “I am the fulfillment of the prophecy.” Jesus’ covenant with us brothers and sisters is not conditional. It is unconditional! This means that it cannot be broken, it cannot be destroyed, and Satan cannot stop the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ! Our salvation is forever and ever!

          By accepting the salvation of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, we are accepting salvation in eternity! We must live for Christ then, preach the Gospel, and become more like Christ! We must be imitators of Christ, and we must surrender to Him daily, and in be in communion with Him constantly! You see this is a miraculous thing! If we mess up we will not be banished to the desert for 40-years, because our fulfilled covenant with Jesus through God’s covenant with King David means we have salvation eternal if we accept and follow Him, and live out His Gospel! You see the road of our salvation has been paved by the blood of the Lamb! By the blood of Jesus Christ and by His stripes we are healed! Three nails and one hammer set all of mankind free! We are living through the battle brothers and sisters, but the War is long over. In fact, the war ended on a hill called Golgotha in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago! Jesus defeated sin, conquered death, fulfilled the prophecy of King David, and he is coming back in Glory one day to bring us home! Further, Jesus brothers and sister is a Lion! We don’t worship a weak wimpy savior. We worship the savior who over turned the tables in the temple when people were selling offerings to God at massively inflated prices. Jesus said, as scripture says, “You have turned my Father’s house into a den of thieves.” We worship a mighty savior! A mighty Lion! A mighty Lion of Judah! The one who resisted sin, resisted Satan, overcame every temptation, and conquered death. Jesus Christ is a Lion!

          I want to close today with a story. This is one of my favorite stories in the bible, the story of the “Prodigal Son.” Most of us know the story of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15:11-32. We know the man was wealthy, we know that he had two sons. We know one stayed home and was loyal, while the other was wayward. We know the wayward son spent everything his father gave him, was down to eating pig food, and was homeless. We may think of people in our own family, our own children, our own friends, who are wayward. That maybe we think, they can’t ever come home to the father. That they are gone forever, and that are spiritually homeless and starving. That the dark night of their souls has lasted so long, that wonder if they will ever see the light of hope again. The light that only Jesus Christ can offer. Maybe you have or have had a wayward child. Maybe you had one or more of these children come home. We know in the Gospel story that rich man ran like the wind to greet his wayward son. To his wayward lost son. We know that he said “you were lost, but now you are found.” We know he put a robe on his son, sandals on his feet, a ring on his finger, and had his finest fattest calf butchered for this wayward son. Sometimes when I read this Gospel story is brings tears to my eyes. I think of the great love a father has for his son and his children. I think of coming home when all is a lost.

          Some of you might remember the student I spoke to you about not too long ago that I called “Jim.” I’m pleased to tell you that Jim said not only does he now believe in God, but that he prays every night before he goes to bed. Jim asked me if we could get together for coffee one day, and talk about God. You see this student is really wayward. But be of cheer brothers and sisters, He has overcome the world, and He will welcome always welcome you and lead you home! No matter what we or anyone else has done, if we but ask forgiveness and return to the father, then he run to us, with a robe, a ring, sandals, and prepare the banquet for us. For our savior is fulfillment of the prophecy of old, and he will pursue you. He will surprise you. Also, he will love you, unconditionally. Some here might feel that their father’s didn’t full love them fully, but Jesus will never fail you in this way. He always runs and greets us, as if we were a king. Then again, all of here are royalty, because we stand inherit the greatest Kingdom of all time. The Kingdom of Heaven!

          If you are here today, and you don’t know him, I ask in this moment that you break through the stone around your heart, and join the ranks with some 2.2 billion of us Christians world-wide, and profess that you are follower of Jesus Christ. Amen and halleluiah!

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 08/19/12 Sermon - "Conditional faith in unconditional grace"

Sunday 08/19/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “Conditional faith in unconditional grace”   

Scripture Lesson: Ephesians 5:15-20

Gospel Lesson: John 6:51-58       

 

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week, and I am happy to be worshipping with you here this morning.

          This morning I want to talk to you about struggle. We all struggle. For some of us, we struggle every day. Our struggles might be physical, they might be emotional, they might be financial, they might be a struggle in a relationship, a struggle at work, and etc. For some of us here today, we even struggle with our Christian faith. Has anyone here ever struggled with their Christian faith? Nobody here has right? Has anyone ever questioned aspects of what our faith and our church teaches? Has anyone ever struggled to understand one or more aspects of our faith? I am sure that we have all struggled with our faith, whether now or at some other time. The reasons we do or have struggled with our faith are various. Maybe something bad happened to us, or maybe something bad happened to someone we know or a member of our family. This may have caused us to doubt our loving God, and wonder why this thing or that thing happened. We may have gone through a time in our life when we felt like God was distant or where we questioned whether God was there at all. Perhaps we had a time in our life, when we decided that we wanted to go at it alone without God, thinking we could do it better than God. Maybe our lives are going good, but we are just struggling with a certain belief that our church teaches, maybe we are struggling with a theological belief in Christianity, or maybe there is some other area of our faith that we are grappling with. Whatever the reasons that many of us have and are struggling with our faith, the reality is that we all struggle with our faith. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians Paul said to the church in Philippi in chapter 2:12 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” When viewing this scripture it is obvious that struggling with our faith is part of the boat ride to glory. You see I think the Christian Church is like a large boat, and we are all in that boat. While we are all in this boat, we might be at difference places in the boat. Some of us in the boat might feel strong in our faith, some in the boat might be feeling broken in faith, and some might be lukewarm in their faith. Some might be in the boat, but they do not feel that they belong on the boat, or that they fit in the boat. We sometimes forget that every human God has made at His potter’s wheel is a child of almighty God, and therefore has a place in the boat! What do we do on this boat then? How do we all get stronger in our faith, if we feel broken, or we are struggling?

          In my life, I have been on the mountain top, I have been in the valley, I have walked through spiritual droughts, I have felt disconnected from God, and there were times I doubted many things about Christianity. I have had many of nights when I was younger where I lost sleep over “working out my faith through fear and trembling.” You see it seems that some in the Christian faith “just get it” as it were, but this has not been my experience. I identify sometimes in the bible with the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was a mighty man of God, but never felt he was getting the faith just right. Never felt that he was fully trusting God, and never felt he was where he should be before the Lord.

          Believe me as a Christian and as a pastor I have times of faith struggles to, I have also had times where I have questioned aspects of our faith, or some of our beliefs. I did not think I did this to be disrespectful to God, but more because I needed to really figure out my own faith. I am generally not the type of person who tends to just believe all things just like that, as I tend to need to understand it more to believe. The reality of faith though, is that it is not a tangible or touchable and seeable thing, it is our spiritual and emotional connection to almighty God. In growing that spiritual and emotional connection though, we sometimes struggle with various parts of our faith. Today, I do not feel that I have as many such faith struggles, but I suppose for me the last two years of my seminary education and spiritual formation, cemented in my mind what I believe. I feel at this point in my life I know what I believe, and I believe what I know, but there are still aspects of the faith I struggle with sometimes. I suppose I always start with the basic question of how to do we achieve salvation in heaven? What are the basic entry requirements to glory? We must start with our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. Arriving at this point for some of us can be filled with as the bible says “trials and tribulations.” As a result, we are all in the boat of Christian faith, and some of us are in different points of the boat. Examples of things in someone’s faith that a Christian might struggle with is just who Jesus was, Jesus’ miracles, and some of the stories of the Bible. Some of us might ask, “did that really happen that way?” Or you might say, “I don’t know if I believe that the way I am told to?” I think these sorts of questions and inquires are healthy, and I think these discussion amongst other believers are good to help us grow in our faith. We should not believe just because we are told to, just because it’s nice to be here on Sunday morning, but because almighty God has proved Himself to us! You see we should believe not just because we have figured out a faith struggle in our heads, but more so, because Jesus Christ has changed us in our hearts! Our faith should be a product of the proof and the Holy Spirit that God has shined on us. Without experiencing God and the Holy Spirit, I would argue your faith might just be at the mental level. But you see faith while it is a matter of the mind, has always been much more a matter of the heart!

          I think God wishes we just “got it” as the statement goes, but the bible is full of men and women who struggled with there faith. The important thing I think is that we keep the faith. We remember in the Old Testament that Jacob wrestled with God, and wanted God to bless Him. Sometimes brothers and sisters we wrestle with God, and believe me that God is up to the task! We are all at different points in this boat of faith, and some of us are struggling right now with our own faith. We must keep each other in prayer daily, we must preach, teach, and encourage one another, as we all grow and struggle in our faiths. I think of the apostle Peter who denied Jesus 3-times when Jesus was standing trial before the high priests. Three times someone said, “Hey that man Peter is a follower of Jesus!” Peter replied, “I do not know Him!” He said, “I have never met Him!”

          Many of us don’t realize this, but at Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, all of his apostles scattered and did not even show up. Present though, was Jesus’ mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Jesus’ “beloved disciple,” that may have been John the son of Zebedee. The Gospel of John discusses only that one of Jesus’ “beloved disciples was present at the crucifixion.” So we don’t know exactly who this was, but we know that the apostles were not there. In fact, according to Matthew 26:56, “all the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested, and most of them probably stayed away from the crucifixion out of fear of their own arrest.” So this “beloved disciple” was there but it was not one of the remaining 11 disciples, as Judas Iscariot had betrayed Jesus at the Last Supper. So let’s think about this for a minute, these were the hand picked apostles that Jesus chose to follow him. These were the men that followed Jesus Christ, saw his power, witnessed his miracles, and knew Him! Yet they weren’t even present when our Lord and savior was crucified! The women were there though. Mary Magdalene and Jesus’ mother Mary was present, along with the “beloved disciple” listed in the Gospel of John.

          These women that followed Jesus then, at least in this context were the most loyal followers weren’t they? I mean where were the big tough apostles when Jesus was being crucified? They scattered. You see they struggled with there faiths, and they were the ones who actually were with Christ and saw his miracles. The very saints or apostles we praise today were doubters then weren’t they. They were not present at the crucifixion. They as I will give in a sermon next month, argued over whom of them was the greatest. They doubted on the lake when the storm came. They thought Jesus would let them die on that lake. You see our original disciples, these saints, sometimes had conditional faith.

          Sometimes they either didn’t believe or doubted. For me it is a comfort to know these truths of the original apostles. After all if they were with Christ and saw what He did and heard what He said, and they struggled with their faith, it makes me feel more human when I struggle with my own faith struggles. You see all Christians struggle with their faiths. Even the original Apostles! Faith is a journey, Christ is our savior, and we must get closer to him through “fear and trembling!”

          We are living in some tough economic times, many folks have turned from God, because maybe they have lost their jobs, maybe they have lost their homes, or something else. Maybe there pastor is not what they think that there church should have, maybe they have suffered a traumatic loss, or something else. You see we then have conditional faith. The love of God and mercy of God is abundant, yet sometimes we believe conditionally. We tell God we will follow you “as long as this and that happens!” We will follow “if!” We dictate to God what our faith requirements will be. We then blame God when things go wrong. We seldom look to ourselves, we seldom look to the evils of this world, and we seldom realize that much of some our misfortunes are not caused by God but the devil and each other. You see God has become the target of blame these days, and perhaps He always was. Many of believe in God with the statement “as long as God does...,” “fill in the blank,” I will believe! Let me tell you something, I have had some bad pastors in my short life, I have had misfortunes, but if a pastor, or a job, or a house can shatter my faith, then I ask you what is my faith built upon? Is my faith built upon the rock or on the sand?

          God never promised us an easy path to glory. Tradition holds that Saint Peter was crucified upside down in Rome, as he did not want the honor of being crucified in the same way as our Lord and savior Jesus Christ! If you look all the apostles, tradition holds that most of them met bitter ends, and died in great pain. They didn’t abandon their faith, at that point. They might have at the crucifixion, but at the day of Pentecost, they became convinced! Through other experiences they developed unconditional faith in unconditional grace! They realized and accepted that God was and is faithful, and that there faiths were not dependent on who the pastor was, the state of the economy, or their personal wealth, because to them God was faithful! The Apostle Paul in scripture had “a thorn in his side” his whole life, and when he asked the Lord to remove it, the Lord just said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” We all doubt, we all suffer, but God is eternal, is steadfast, and always comes through. As I heard an older African-American preacher say once, “God don’t forge no signatures, and His checks don’t bounce!”

          When looking at today’s scripture reading from Ephesians, the apostle Paul is encouraging the church at Ephesus to understand His will.  Paul encourages us to stay focused on the Lord and give Him the glory always. In the Gospel of John reading this morning, Jesus continues to talk about how he is “the bread of life.” This scripture dovetails on my sermon from last week, and in this scripture Jesus is telling his listeners to have faith in Him, to understand Him, to believe in Him, and to follow Him. We all fall short of the glory of God brothers and sisters, but we should always keep the faith. In fact, I heard someone once say “tell God all of your problems, go to bed, and let Him deal with them. After all He’s going to be up all night anyway!” I strive for that kind of faith!

          I want to close this morning with a bible story that I think really ties this message together. I want to talk to you about the Apostle Thomas. You know the apostle where we get the phrase “doubting Thomas” from? This is what it says about the “doubting Thomas” story in the Gospel of John chapter 20:24-29, “²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus^[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” ²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” ²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

          You know I think we have all felt like the Apostle Thomas at times. What will take for us to really believe though? To really have this unconditional faith in Jesus Christ? Must our Lord and savior present Himself to us with his wounds? Do we need that kind of proof? We likely won’t get that physical proof from Jesus Christ, unless he comes back to bring us to home, but as He said to Thomas, “Stop doubting and believe!” Brothers and sisters we must continue to figure out our own faiths through “fear and trembling,” but may we always believe!

          If you are here and you do not know Him this morning, and you feel that twinge on your heart, I ask you in this moment to confess to our Lord. Tell Him that you are a sinner that you need his forgiveness, that you want to live with Him forever in glory, and you will! For our God is that good, that he loves all of His precious children, and desires to be in glory with everyone! Be blessed brothers and sisters! God bless and Amen!

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 08/12/12 Sermon - "I am the Bread of Life"

Sunday 08/12/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “I am the Bread of Life” 
  

Scripture Lesson: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Gospel Lesson: John 6:35, 41-51        

 

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week, and I am happy to be worshipping with you here this morning.

          This morning, I want to talk you about one of the ways in which Christ explained to his Apostles and to all whom he taught, ministered to, and healed, just who he was. Certainly Jesus Christ told many in the four gospels of the Bible various titles and various things about just who he was and is. Jesus for example, said many times in the gospels, “I am the son of Man.” Jesus also said to the Samaritan woman at the well after asking her to get him a drink of water, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” In the gospel reading from the Gospel of John this morning, Jesus wanted to minister, heal, and teach all people, not just the Jews. Further, in this same gospel reading, the crowd debated just as people still do in the present day, of just who this Jesus was and is. In the reading from Ephesians this morning, the Apostle Paul called for the church in Ephesus and all of us to be Christ like, and to live for Christ. Given this, we need to really understand then just who Jesus Christ was and is!

          Some of these ways and titles that Jesus used to those whom he taught, ministered to, and healed must have been odd or even confusing. I mean after all, did the Samaritan woman really believe that Jesus could quench her earthly thirst permanently, or did she understand what Jesus really meant about eternal life? I think until Jesus explained himself, she probably just thought, either “this man is crazy,” or “I want some of this water that will permanently quench my thirst!” Either way, not only was there confusion and possible misunderstanding of just what Jesus meant for the Samaritan woman, but many of us who read the Bible today can sometimes feel the same way about some of Jesus Christ’s titles and the things He said. So whether Jesus said He is the “Son of Man,” that He is the “Light of the World,” or that “Whoever believes in Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life,” Jesus was telling his people then and now just who he was and still is today.

          So with the many statements that Jesus Christ made about himself, I want to talk to you about just one of those statements today. Further, I have briefly so far just touched on some of the statements, titles, and the ways that Jesus explained who he was. There are quite a bit more as you can read in the gospels, the Apostle Paul’s letters in the New Testament, and various other books of the Bible. The specific statement I want to talk about this morning though, is when Jesus said “I am the Bread of Life.” The first thing of great interest I think you might notice when you see this statement in scripture, is that Christ starts this statement with the two words “I Am.” This is the statement that you might remember that God told Moses, when he appeared to Moses as a Burning Bush. Moses practically demanded the name of the Lord in the Burning Bush, and the Lord simply responded “I Am.” You see when the Lord appeared to Moses, He was not going to be governed or ruled by a mere man such as Moses. In fact, he didn’t even have to give Moses his name at all, and He just said, “I Am!” I think God was just saying to Moses, that “I Am, and “I Am all that is and ever was!” Who was Moses to demand the name of Almighty God?

          When Christ came to earth, he gave us much more than His voice he gave Moses in the burning bush. For Christ gave us many parables or stories, like the parable of the “Mustard Seed,” or the parable of “The Sower,” and the many names and titles of just who He was and is still today. Jesus’ parables or stories for example though, have to be interpreted to really be understood. After all, have you ever seen anyone try to evangelize to win souls over to Jesus Christ by throwing grass seeds on the ground, like the parable of “The sower?” Of course not, God was talking about people and their hearts being changed, not actual seeds! You see though, traditional Christian theology argues that Jesus Christ was God, and that God is also Jesus Christ. That God literally came to earth, took on flesh in the form of a man Named Jesus of Nazareth, and became Jesus Christ. This made Jesus according to the traditional Christian teachings, fully God and fully human. After all, the Gospel of John starts with this verse: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So therefore, if everything Jesus said was from God and was divine, it means that these truths always were and always will be, and that Jesus and almighty God are one in the same! In the modern day some diminish who Jesus was and is, sometimes reducing him to a mere human, or even a lesser God, but traditionally we believe that Jesus was the living God here on earth.

          When looking at today’s sermon statement or title and other titles, statements, and parables that Jesus said and gave himself, it is important to understand that the many things Jesus said, He said because there was great cultural relevance to his words. Without a doubt everything Jesus Christ said is still 100% true and still solid today, but much of what he said was said using the cultural ideals and norms of Jerusalem. An example of this, that I have given you in a few worship services, is when Jesus lifted the cup of wine at the Last Supper, and said “This is the blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins.” This gesture as I have said was an ancient Jewish marriage ritual of when a young Jewish man wanted to marry a young Jewish woman. Now if she accepted the marriage proposal she drank from the cup, and therefore the man and the woman would be united forever. Jesus new the apostles would know just what this meant by this gesture of the wine cup at the last supper. Today though, most men propose with a ring not a glass of wine! I have yet to see a man get down on one knee and pull out a bottle of liquor and propose marriage! The point of all of this, is that what Jesus said and meant at the last supper is still 100% true and accurate, but we don’t always know what Jesus meant because our culture today is different than that of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. As a result, we have to read and study the scriptures to unlock the fullness of Christ’s Gospel message to us.

          About a month to a month and a half ago, I took my wife out to dinner at the Olive Garden in Glens Falls. We were kicking around where to go to dinner to celebrate me becoming the new pastor of this church and the RWJ UMC. We finally settled on the Olive Garden. We did this for two reasons: one I had a gift card for Olive Garden that my seminary gave me for working a conference for them one day, and two Melissa told me that you get unlimited bread sticks at the Olive Garden! I don’t know if telling me you get unlimited anything at a restaurant is a good thing! I think I have gone into a couple of Chinese Buffets and when the owner saw me he started sweating! Unlimited bread sticks! My wife can probably tell you, I took the Olive Garden to task on this one!

          Interesting that Jesus said the statement, “I am the Bread of Life.” You see I had already known what Jesus Christ meant by this statement, but it was reaffirmed for me at this restaurant date with my wife. Not because I ate barely any of my dinner, due to eating so many bread sticks, but because Jesus had a message for Melissa and I, I think.

          For Jesus said, just like many sit down restaurants that you all have been to here this morning, that if you want the good stuff, if you want the main course, if you want the desert after the dinner, then you must first go through the bread! You see Jesus said that if you want to get to the Father who is the main course of your meal, than you cannot do so unless you go through Him! Jesus is the gateway to heaven! Jesus is the way to the Father! The Father is the main course, yet we start with the bread of Jesus Christ at His heavenly table! In Jesus Christ’s day, most people in Jerusalem ate bread as a staple food. The meals eaten, just like Christ’s last supper meal would often start with blessing and eating bread. You see when Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life,” I have to think most listeners at the time he said it knew exactly what he was claiming to be! He was saying I am the Alpha and the Omega, I am the chosen one, I am the Messiah, I am second Adam, where the first Adam God created in the Garden of Eden failed, and I am the savior of the world! If you want salvation in glory though, if you want to get to the Father, you must first go through the Son! You see Jesus is the gateway to paradise, and He is the only vehicle that exists to get us there. Without the “Bread of Life,” we have no hope of enjoying the banquet feast and God’s heavenly table, and we will not enjoy the greatness of eternity! For Jesus Christ, was and is the “Bread of Life!”

          Other ways to interpret this scripture was when Jesus spoke to some followers out of last week’s church scripture reading from the Gospel of John, and accused some of those of following him just because Jesus feed them at the feeding of the 5,000. The followers told Jesus how Moses feed the Jews manna (or bread) from heaven when they wandered in the wilderness for 40-years. Jesus then said, “This bread came not from Moses, but from God.” When Jesus said then “I am the Bread of Life,” it can be seen as step even further then just getting to heaven. Not only is Jesus Christ saying He is the gate keeper to glory, the gate keeper to the Father, the way of peace and mercy, I believe Jesus was saying you cannot live fully daily without Him! The Jews in the wilderness could not live without the manna from heaven that God gave them daily, and Jesus was saying I think that you cannot live daily without Him. For without Him, brothers and sisters we are already dead. And without Jesus Christ daily we do not get fed the spiritual manna from heaven that He freely gives us.

          I want to close this morning with a story that is often overlooked in the four gospels in our Bible. Of the four gospel accounts, I have only read of this description in two of the four gospels, and I would encourage you to open the book of life or Bible this week and read exactly what I am talking about. What I am talking about is the burial clothes that Christ was wrapped in when Joseph of Arimathea (a rich man and follower of Christ) got Jesus’ body from Pontius Pilot and had Jesus buried in a tomb he owned. In the gospels of Mark and Mathew the burial clothes are not mentioned as only the empty tomb and the angel were mentioned. In the twenty-forth chapter of Gospel of Luke it says that the apostle Peter saw Jesus’ burial clothes in the empty tomb, but in the Gospel of John chapter 20 it says even more. It talks about a napkin like head covering that was put on Jesus’ head, and a fine linen cloth that was put on the rest of his body. In fact, here is what this text from the Gospel of John actually says, from the Gospel of John Chapter 20:4-8. “⁴ They were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and was the first to arrive at the tomb. ⁵ Bending down to take a look, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in. ⁶ Following him, Simon Peter entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. ⁷ He also saw the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t with the other clothes but was folded up in its own place. ^8” 

          You might be saying, “Pastor it is good that the rich man Joseph of Arimathea gave Jesus a kings burial in the stone tomb he owned, with fine linens, and a napkin or head covering to cover his head, but other than respect for the messiah what significance does this have?”

          Here is the significance, in the Gospel of John is says the linen covering Jesus’ body was in a pile separated from the head covering or napkin, but that the napkin like cloth that covered his head was neatly folded on the stone were he was laid. So what significance is this? I would say huge! Here is why, when a wealthy Jewish man during Jesus Christ’s time sat down to have a meal, his servants would prepare the master’s table. The servants would step just outside of the dining room, as to be available if the master needed something. Every Jewish person at this time knew this “napkin ritual.” You see if the master was finished eating his meal he would wad up the napkin up and throw it on the table. When the servant noticed that the master had left, the servant would know that the master was finished eating by this wadded up napkin. The servant would then proceed to clear the master’s table, and eat of the master’s leftovers. If the master though stood up at the table, and needed to go to the bathroom or do something else, but planned on returning to the table, he did something very different. The master would wipe his hands, his mouth, and his beard, and then very carefully fold the napkin and put it on his table. When the servant saw this, this meant one thing and one thing only, don’t clear the master’s table! He wouldn’t clear the master’s table, because the master was coming back! You see when Christ rose in the Gospel of John the napkin like cloth that covered his head was not wadded up brothers and sisters it was neatly folded on that stone slab in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea! Jesus I think left it this way to tell the people of that time and us, “The master is coming back!” You see Jesus has risen, but if we read the gospels carefully we can find clues such as this to reinforce His message and our faith!

          Let us realize this morning brothers and sisters, that he is the “Bread of Life,” that he did fold the napkin, and that our Lord and savior is coming back one day in glory! May we all long to feast at His heavenly banquet! Amen!

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 08/05/12 Sermon - "The burden of the three wealths of a Christian"

Sunday 08/05/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “The burden of the three wealths of a Christian”   

Scripture Lesson: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a

Gospel Lesson: John 6:24-35        

 

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week, and I am happy to be worshipping with you here this morning.

          This morning, I want to talk to you about an area that can be tough to talk about for some Christians. Yet for all of us Christians we sometimes struggle with this three sided area, and sometimes feel that we are not doing enough for God in these three areas. These three areas are what I call the “three wealths of a Christian.” Perhaps now or at other points in our lives we have been burdened by all or some of these three wealths. You might be thinking right now, “will this sermon result in me getting wealthy?” Well if so, you might also now be saying, “I better pay close attention to the pastor this morning!” Well this sermon is not one of those infomercials on television on how to get rich quick! I am not selling a slicer and dicer, or a juicer, but rather, I am talking about our individual wealths as Christians. You might say then, “Well pastor why is your sermon titled “The burden of the three wealths of a Christian?”

          Well, probably the best place for me to start is to explain what I mean when I say “the three wealths of a Christian.” What I mean by this, is one our individual time, two our God given gifts and talents, and three our total resources. This first wealth of our individual time is the time that we have given to us by God every day. Anybody here ever wasted time? I know I have wasted time! In fact, if the Summer Olympics had an event for this when I was teenager, I just might be a gold medalist today! Our second wealth is that of the gifts and talents that the Lord has given us. We can choose when and where we wish to use these gifts and talents. We could also unfortunately choose to not use these gifts and talents at all. Our third wealth of our resources isn’t just money, it is any wealth we have, property, cars, a house, and etc.

          The burden for the Christian though, is when we seek to really and truly serve and follow God, is how do we best use our three Christian wealths? I am sure I am not the only one who has had this struggle, of how much time should I devote to God and His Church? “How much time I should devote to my family, the community, myself, charities, and so on,” you may ask? I am sure I am not the only one who has asked the question of “How much should I use my gifts and talents for God and His Church?” “How much should I use my gifts and talents for my family, the community, myself, charities, and so on,” you may ask? I am sure I am not the only one who has asked the question of “how much should I give monetarily to God and His church?” “Can I open up my home for church functions? “Can I use my wealth of resources this way?” “Can I temporarily house a missionary with my wealth of housing resources, if the missionary needs it?” “Can I use my wealth of an automobile to take someone to church?” “Do I sponsor one of those compassion international children that I see on the television screen, or do I give St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital?” “Do I give to the Red Cross, or do I give to the Salvation Army?” I am sure all of us have had, and continue as Christians to experience the burden of the three Christian wealths.

          So just how much should we use our three Christian wealths? Are we not using them enough? Can I give more to God and His church, or more to other charitable causes? I have often heard these questions from congregation members in meetings in the various churches I have attended. Further, we all know that scripture says that “God loves a cheerful giver,” but this doesn’t always have to mean money. I would urge you to give whatever you give, because it has been decided between you and almighty God! For the one we serve is God, and the only one whom we are truly eternally accountable to is God!

          Last Sunday I visited an older shut-in woman, and about 15-minutes before I was about to leave, she said “Oh wait pastor, I want to write a check for the church.” She said, “Do I give this to you?” I got so nervous and uncomfortable when she said this! I never considered for a single minute that any people I visited would ask me to take a check for the church. It literally never crossed my mind! My wife Melissa told me later, “Well Paul they are members of the church!” This warranted the typical husband response of “yes dear.” So being uncomfortable with this situation, I asked the woman’s son-in-law who was present to put the check in a sealed envelope. I said to the woman I am just going to put this check in the collection plate, as I wanted no part of the check. You see her giving, was between her and almighty God, not me! If you choose to give then, it should be because God has compelled you to do so, and I would argue for no other reason. In addition, to my time, gifts and talents, and resources that I give to God and His church, my wife and I also support missionaries in two different countries, we sponsor a Compassion International Child, and support a college campus minister. Am I telling you things for accolades and praises? No of course not, I tell you these things because my wife and I feel the Lord has called us to give and serve Him in these ways. You see Melissa and I don’t have to do what we do, but we do so because we feel the nudge of almighty God to do so.

          After all, what could we possibly give to God that which He doesn’t already have? Does God honestly need our time, our gifts and talents, and our resources? Of course He doesn’t! You know I wonder sometimes, if this earthly life is just a big test? I wonder sometimes if God just wants to see what we will do with what he has given us. I mean if eternity is forever, than this life must be just a blip on the radar screen, shouldn’t it? What we do on this earth though, I believe, has eternal consequences. As our scripture reading in 2 Samuel talked about this morning, even the mighty King David misused his time, his gifts and talents, and his resources. When King David had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah killed to posses and marry her, the Lord said to David but “I gave you your master’s house?” You see David, wasn’t content with what he had, and he needed more, even though God didn’t call him to that. Jesus in the gospel reading this morning spoke to some of the folks that he feed in His feeding of 5,000. Jesus said to them, as they came back to see him after eating the fish and bread “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” Why do we give of our time, gifts and talents, and resources? Do we expect God to just fill our bellies, and nothing more?

          In a real sense then, do everything you do for His glory, and His name! Always start and end with almighty God! We ultimately are responsible to God and to God alone! I am reminded of the parable of Lazarus, who was a poor man covered in sores. Lazarus according to scripture was no criminal, but was just poor and destitute. He would sit outside the gates of the house of a rich man. In this parable, the rich man never helped Lazarus, never gave him a thing. I don’t think God wanted the rich man to give Lazarus all he had, and become destitute himself, but rather to give to the poor man, as God had given to him. You see Lazarus and the rich man died, and according to the scripture, Lazarus and Abraham went down to hell to see the rich man. The rich man was burning in agony and he asked Lazarus “to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue.” Abraham told the rich man that during Lazarus’ whole life he was suffering and was in pain, yet you allowed him to suffer when you could have helped him, and now Abraham said now “you are in great pain.”

          In closing this morning brothers and sisters, I want to tell you a quick made up story about giving generously. A little girl in a church I was doing pulpit supply for approached her father at home after church, and brought him by the hand into her room. She then uncorked the bottom of her piggy bank and dumped out all of the coins and money. She said, “Daddy, I want to give all of this money to Pastor Paul.” The dad looking shocked, touched, and perplexed, said to his daughter, “Are you sure?” She said, “Yes daddy, I’m sure.” Well wouldn’t you know it the next time I filled in at that church, the little girl approached me after the service with a small little bucket of coins and money. “She said, here Pastor Paul, this money is for you.” Well as you can imagine my heart melted. I said to the little girl, “Honey you should save that for you,” and she replied “No Pastor Paul, this money is for you.” I said, “Honey surely there is charity, a needy family, or someone else who needs this money much more than I?” She just replied “No Pastor Paul, this money is for you.” I said, “Well maybe we can donate it to the food pantry?” She then said, “No Pastor Paul, this money is for you!” I finally said to the little girl, “Well ok, but why do you want me to have this money so bad?” She said well “Pastor Paul that’s simple. My daddy told me that you are the poorest that pastor that this church has ever had.”

          You see that made up little girl was giving out of misunderstanding from her father, but we shouldn’t we all aspire to give like that? This week, I challenge you to pray and seek the direction of almighty God, as He and He along guides your giving of you time, your gifts and talents, and your resources! Amen.  

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 07/29/12 Sermon - "Encountering the Holy Spirit"

Sunday 07/29/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “Encountering the Holy Spirit”   

Scripture Lesson: Ephesians 3:14-21          

Gospel Lesson: John 6: 1-21      

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week, and as always it’s a great pleasure to be in worship with you today!

          This morning, I am finishing my five week series on how I think our local United Methodist Churches and our larger denominational United Methodist Church can get back to its historical Wesleyan roots to re-vitalize and breed revival in our church. In my first week of this series, I talked about how a church is much stronger with a pastor who is committed to the people, follows the Bible, and is dedicated to the Lord. In my second week of this series, I talked about how our church should look to the saints of the past to study and learn from their faith. By learning from the believers and saints who went before us, our own faiths are informed and strengthened as we serve and grow the kingdom of God. In the third part of this series, I talked about the Latin term “Corpus Christi,” which means the Body of Christ. While a strong pastor and looking to our past is vital, the Methodist Church has always been the strongest when the body of Christ loves, is united, and is committed to serving God and growing His kingdom. Last week, I talked about the forth part of my five part series, which was on the mission of the Christian Church. Our mission as a church is to reach people in the name of Jesus Christ, and to make disciples of Jesus Christ. In doing so, these disciples are changed from the inside out and are made new creations, as scripture tells us. As Christians then, “we are in the business of changing lives.”

          Today in this final part of this series, I am going to talk about the “hinge pin” that keeps this whole thing we call the church and Christianity together. This is the thing that moves us, this is the thing that inspires us, and this is the thing that drives us. The thing that changes hearts, the thing that changes minds, the thing that proves to people without a shadow of doubt that Christ is real, is alive, and is amongst us right now! This thing I speak of brothers and sisters is the Holy Spirit. For without the Holy Spirit the Christian Church is dead wood, and has no life. Only with the Holy Spirit can we fully be connected to God, and can we fully be the Christians and the church that the Lord has called us to be! It is also important to note that in addition to this sermon and the others I have preached in this series, I wanted to point out briefly other vital things that are necessary to grow and revitalize our church. These other things are daily prayer, daily devotion to reading the Word of God, fellowshipping with the Corpus Christi, or the Body of Christ, telling others about the Lord, and taking daily time to be with the Lord. All of these things are also vital to growing the church and very necessary.

          The Holy Spirit though, as I said is the hinge pin of this whole operation of the Christian faith. It’s the turbine engine on the Navy battleship, it’s the jet engine in the F-17, it’s the strength in a weightlifter, it’s the wind on a hot day, and it’s the water in the desert! The Holy Spirit guides us and informs us. But just what is the Holy Spirit? I mean it is sort of an odd thing if you think about it. When Jesus was baptized as scripture says, he “was filled with the Holy Spirit,” and at that point from age 30-33 Jesus went around proclaiming the good news of His gospel. We believe that Jesus Christ was God who came to earth and took on flesh, and was therefore, both fully God and fully human. As the Apostle Paul talked about in the scripture reading from Ephesians this morning, the “riches” of God’s glory come “through the spirit.” In loving and following Christ then, having the Holy Spirit gives us the fullness of God. In the reading from the Gospel of John today, Jesus took bread gave thanks and feed the Five-Thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish. I can imagine that the spirit was flowing powerfully when this miracle occurred! Also in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus walked on water, and I can imagine that the Holy Spirit was flowing at this miracle as well. I mean after all, I can only walk on water in cold of the winter! This is because the water is frozen!

          Here is how I would describe the Holy Spirit to you this morning. It is like an invisible bolt of lightning that comes in different amounts of power. It can hit you like a ton a bricks, it can be milder, and it can anywhere in between. But when you have experienced the Holy Spirit you know! Looking at our Holy Trinity in the typical format of an equal three sided triangle, we see that one side is the Holy Spirit. Yet in many churches today I do not hear the Holy Spirit preached. Sure I hear about Jesus and God, but not the Holy Spirit. You see as Christians we believe that God has revealed Himself to us in three forms, or if you want to think about like this, in three different costumes. All three costumes look and feel distinctly different, but all are truly the Lord on the inside. Much like water can be liquid, can be frozen solid, or can be stream, it’s all water. This is like the Holy Trinity, of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

          Given this, how can we experience the fullness of God without encountering the Holy Spirit? If you have never felt that warm tingly feeling, that feeling that gives you goose bumps, that feeling of tremendous love and peace, maybe you have never received the Holy Spirit. These examples, are the ways of course I have encountered the Holy Spirit, but yours maybe quite different than mine. This I know though, when you encounter the Holy Spirit, you know! As my Grandpa Winkelman told me once, “maybe it was just gas Paul!” I said, “No grandpa, I think I know the difference.” It’s that feeling of intense warmth, love, and power surging through you! Who here amongst us today has experience the Holy Spirit like that?

          If you have never had an experience such as this, then it could be possible you have never encountered the Holy Spirit. If this true you might have accepted Christ in your mind, but without the spirit you might have never experience the touch and the power of God in your heart.

          Last weekend, my wife was at camp Aldersgate here in the Adirondack Park. I know that some of you have heard of this United Methodist Camp, and maybe some of you have even been there. Camp Aldersgate is a great summer camp, just like our Skye farm, and it is doing great work for the Lord! I was interested one day though, on just how Camp Aldersgate got its name. I mean Aldersgate I thought, was this camp named after someone like John Aldersgate, who made a generous donation to the United Methodist Church? I couldn’t find any record of that. Surely then I thought, it must have been named after a famous bishop like Bishop Coke or Bishop Asbury, who are where we get our names for the Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, and the popular Christian bookstore Cokesbury. Many of you have probably heard of or shopped at Cokesbury, which is literally the combination of Bishop Thomas Coke’s last name, and Bishop Francis Asbury’s last name. You know what though? I didn’t find a famous Methodist Bishop named Bishop Aldersgate. I wondered then, where did Camp Aldersgate get its name?

           Well this name of many Methodist Churches and many other Methodist institutions was taken from an experience that John Wesley had on “Aldersgate Street” in London, England. In fact, John Wesley being an ordained clergy person in the Anglican Church, or the Church of England, was the not the most successful clergy person early on in his ministry. In fact, he returned to England in 1738 after a mission trip to Georgia that needless to say did not go well at all. Wesley now 34 years old had returned to London a largely broken man, feeling that he was not successful in ministry. I am sure that we can all relate to such setbacks and feelings that we have failed before we have succeeded.

          As the story goes, as it is also written in John Wesley’s journals, Wesley attended a prayer and worship service one night in London in 1738. As Wesley wrote, he went to this meeting reluctantly, but decided to go to this meeting of “Moravian” Christians. This prayer and worship meeting changed his life. The great humor of this is that these Moravians were reading the great reformer Martin Luther’s preface to the epistle to the Romans. So the Moravians were reading the founder of the Lutheran Church Martin Luther’s instruction to the book of Romans. Not really anything exciting I would think the introduction to Romans that Martin Luther wrote from his own perspective. As Wesley wrote in his journal though, as he heard the words read by Martin Luther from his preface to Romans, he “felt his heart strangely warmed.” He felt something different, and new, and warm, and powerful, and exciting! For our church founder John Wesley for the first time in his life encountered the Holy Spirit! The spirit of the living God that filled him, changed him, and reinvigorated him!

          From that point on John Wesley was a dynamo for Jesus Christ, and became responsible for the founding of the entire Methodist Movement. When you think about how big the United Methodist Church is and was you can imagine the thousands or even millions of lives that John Wesley touched in the name of Jesus Christ! He couldn’t do have this though without first encountering the Holy Spirit!

          In my home church of Moravia, NY, the congregation loves this John Wesley story, partly because the town in called Moravia, but largely because it shows the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Moravia/Locke United Methodist Church we have a retired Pentecostal Pastor in the congregation named Reverend Wayne Hampton. He always reminds me of the power of the Holy Spirit, and in fact the Pentecostal movement was completely founded around the Apostles experience at Pentecost of receiving the Holy Spirit. Many churches in America right now are shrinking, but many Pentecostal churches are growing, and I think it’s because of the Holy Spirit! I always joke with Reverend Hampton who is originally from “Massoura,” which I think means Missouri. I corrected him and said, “You mean Missouri,” and he responded, “No it’s Massoura.” I said ok them Reverend Hampton! I would often tell Reverend Hampton in joking, “You see here in the United Methodist Church we look at the Holy Trinity triangle and three equal sides of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in the Pentecostal Church, you have two little stubby sided of your triangle called the Father and the Son, then a massive triangle side for the Holy Spirit.” I then said, “Here in the United Methodist Church, we try to have equal sides of the Trinitarian triangle.” Reverend Hampton just said, “Well I can’t argue with that!” I wonder in some churches today if they even have a triangle at all, or if they just have two sides. Without the Holy Spirit we are lost, and we cannot fully experience the life changing power of God!

          I want close with a story, a story that in fact happened to me this past Thursday. This story involved one of my students, who we will call Jim. Jim is 16-years old student, who is on probation, is court ordered to attended AA or Alcohol Anonymous, struggles with drug use, is at risk to be sent to drug rehab or something else, and is highly sexually promiscuous. For some reason though, Jim always wants to tutor with me. In fact, this is a private tutoring situation, where his mother is paying me to help Jim pass one of his high school Regents exams next month, and Jim only wants to tutor with me. Jim always busts on me for being a Christian, tells me I have no fun, and tells me that being a Christian is boring. He is not disrespectful when he does this, but it is clear that he is not a fan of Christianity. Jim is also an avowed atheist. On Thursday this past week, Jim actually also tried to, no joke, convince me to do drugs with him. The first thing I said to Jim was, “Don’t you have an AA meeting a few hours after this tutoring session!” He said, “Oh yeah I do!” Jim explained to me that if I went out into the woods with him and used marijuana and various hallucinogenic drugs that I would experience the world in exciting new ways. Jim then told me that he believed I would likely draw closer to God, because in my potentially stoned state that I would experience the faith like never before. He said, “Well you have never really been high and soaring like I have, so how could really fully experience God?”

          I said to Jim, “Oh no I have experienced in my own way something bigger than any drug can offer.” I said, “Jim I have been to the mountain top, I have experienced the spirit of God, and that spiritual high in Jesus Christ that is more powerful than any drug I could ever do!” I told Jim, “I have seen men fall to the ground and tremor who have received the spirit of God, and I have seen people in states of heart and mind that far exceed anything you could ever buy from some pusher on the street!” I said, “So don’t get it crossed up Jim; I have been high on the Spirit of God! I have seen God in new ways, because Jim I have and continue to encounter the Holy Spirit!”

          To me the Holy Spirit is an amazing thing to encounter! I wouldn’t say I am addicted to it, but I do not need a drug made by human hands, when what my heart and soul needs is the spiritual remedy from the Holy Spirit that lifts my soul to the mountain top. God created us, so how can something we created ever compete with God. And I say to you today, if you have never received the Holy Spirit, if you have called upon the spirit of God, if you have never raised your hands I high in worship, you need to ask yourself, have I received the Holy Spirit? If you have not called upon the Lord today, lower the barriers of your heart, and be filled with the spiritual fire that is the Holy Spirit! Reach out to the Lord, and I hope and pray that you all have your own “Aldersgate experience.” Praise God and Amen!

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 07/22/12 Sermon - “We are in the Business of Changing Lives”

Sunday 07/22/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “We are in the Business of Changing Lives”   

Scripture Lesson: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a

Gospel Lesson: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week and as always it’s a great pleasure to be in worship with you today!

          This morning, I am continuing my five week series on how I think our local United Methodist Churches and our larger denominational United Methodist Church can get back to its historical Wesleyan roots to re-vitalize our church. In my first week of this series, I talked about the need for a pastor of a church to have great love and compassion for the needs of their congregation. How a pastor should be concerned with the well being and health of his or her congregation, while at the same time being devoted to God and preaching the gospel. In my second week of this series, I talked about the need to look at the Christian democracy of the dead. By viewing the believers that went before us, we can retain our authentic Christian faith, and at the same time reaffirm our own present day faiths. Last week, in the third part of this five week series, I talked about the Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ. Specifically, I talked about how the people of God and our church communities need to be a loving and a cohesive family. When we are truly the Corpus Christi we feel loved by the congregation, the congregation feels loved by us, and people who come into contact with us or this church, feel loved as well.      

          This week, I will be talking about the forth part of my five part series. While in the first three weeks of this series I have talked about the significance and the role of the pastor, the importance of looking to our past believers and heritage, and the role and significance of the congregation, this week I will be talking about what the mission of our and all churches should be. This mission, as the sermon title is called, is that “We are in the business of changing lives.” It has been a common question for people for a long time, to say “So what do you do for a living Bill,” or “What business are you in Joe?” While we all have jobs, or had jobs, we could say for example, “I was in the car business,” “I was in the farming business,” “I was in the banking business,” “I was in the food business,” and etc.” The question I have for this morning though, is was the business or job that you are or were in your sole driving motivation in life? If you sell or sold cars, was your only motivation in life to be in the business of selling more cars? Was that your highest life priority?

          Believe it or not even in the Christian seminary, I have met guys in there early twenties who clearly, whether they said it or not had clear what I like to call “bishop ambitions.” What are bishop ambitions you may ask? Bishop ambitions are when a young seminary student makes a plan to quickly climb the later from small churches, to bigger churches, to becoming a district superintendent, and then as you probably guessed it a bishop. I could see some of these really young fellows who seemed to have it all mapped out, they would tell me there plans to grow huge churches, and it was as if they plan to convert our whole state in a matter of hours!

          While serving God and serving the church is great, our focuses in our businesses should not be just money, climbing the latter and achieving titles. More than this, we should seek to change lives for Jesus Christ! We should not allow human ambitions to become our sole reality. For if you are or were a teacher, maybe you were a follower of Jesus Christ cleverly disguised as a teacher. Maybe you are or were a follower of Christ cleverly disguised as a nurse. As our scripture reading this morning from 2 Samuel points out, God told the soon to be King David, “I will make you a great name,” and God also said that he would raise David up and that his line would rule forever. Interesting to know that Jesus Christ is a direct descendent of King David born of the Tribe of Judah, just like King David, making the Old Testament prophecy of one who come in the line of King David to save us all true! In the Gospel of Mark reading this morning, Jesus saw a crowd and “he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus wanted to change their lives with his life saving message! He wanted that crowd to be new creations in him! Later on in the Gospel of Mark reading for this morning it talks about how Jesus healed many of all sorts of afflictions. Because Jesus Christ changes lives!

          You see brothers and sisters, we should strive to make a living, strive to work hard, and work to achieve, but not at the expense of Jesus Christ. Without the saving grace of Jesus Christ, where would be all be here today? Are we not lives who have been changed by the Lord? Are we not new creations from the inside out as scripture says?

          I have never heard of a man on his death bed saying, “you know Paul I wish I just put in a little more time at the office.” As the Reverend Billy Graham famously said once, “I never saw a U-Haul behind a hearse.” It is so easy in this modern day world to be caught in the splendor of money, success, and titles, but in this who do we glorify? Who do we serve? I had a friend once say in a message he gave, “If all of you were on trial here today for being a devout Christian, would there be enough evidence against you to convict you?” Or instead would the jury have strong reasonable doubt and decide you were innocent of being a Christian?

          In all of our lives, I think we have all at times taken our eyes of the Lord, and said “Wow. Look how great I am!” “Look at what I have accomplished!” “Look at how successful I am!” In these moments we often forget about God, but seem to really cling to God when things are awful don’t we? I heard a pastor say once, “There is no such thing as an atheist in a fox hole in war.” When we suffer we want God, but when we’re doing great we often think we are God! When I finally go onto to glory, and I stand before the Lord I don’t want the Lord to say, “Well Paul you worked a ton, made a ton of money, and then died.” I want the Lord to say, “Paul you have run the race, you have kept the faith, well done my good and faithful servant.” I want the Lord to say, “Paul you truly served my people, and you allowed me to use you to lead several people to me.” If you went on glory on this night, what would the Lord say to you do you think?

          For brothers and sister we are followers of the living Christ, and as a result our first business is always and should be always being “In the business of changing lives.” Make no mistake, we should not seek to merely fill pews here at church, we want people to stand up in church, and be able to confess “I am a life that was changed.” More valuable than any amount of money, is when people have told me “Paul, your faith changed my life, and helped lead me to the Lord.” As the song goes, “Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am so glad that you gave.” I can say truly brothers and sister that Jesus Christ has changed my life, and maybe Jesus Christ has changed your life to. And if you feel that tapping on your heart today, don’t ignore that. If you feel like you have a large yoke around your neck like a plow horse, you can drop that yoke today! If you feel like you carry heavy suitcases of burdens, if you feel like you have nothing to offer, Jesus says “leave your burdens at the foot of my cross!” Leave your burdens at the foot of the cross, as Jesus wants to take all of your burdens and give you peace, joy, and happiness! If you would but just tell Jesus you accept him as your Lord and savior!

          I long to see that person meet the Lord for the first time, and see the Lord tear off the chains that bind them! That they can say I am redeemed in the blood of the lamb! That I am a new creation in Jesus Christ! For brothers and sisters, we are in the business of changing lives. As we work hard, as we love our families, remember what the Lord has done for us, and let us say “I want others to have what I have.” This could be that co-worker, who doesn’t know Him, or that friend who is burdened, or that person who is suffering. Maybe the Lord is saying to you right now, will you tell that person about me? Will testify to that person what I have done in your life?

          While we all like to achieve, get ahead, and see our children succeed, being grounded in the Lord is the ultimate accomplishment, and is my central focus. In my short amount of time doing ministry, I have seen miraculous changes in people’s lives. I have seen addicts get clean, become clean shaved, and now are pillars in their churches! I have seen men who have come into Christian retreat weekends like the Walk to Emmaus ready to call it quits with there family. Ready to walk out the door! On that weekend some of these men got an anointing touch from the Lord and they went home with a whole new approach to their children and their family! I have seen and continue to see what the Lord has and continues to do! I wish someone a few days ago approached that young man in Aurora, Colorado before he shot all of those innocent people in that movie theater and said, “Don’t you know how much He loves you?” “The devil is leading you, let the Lord lead you.”

          As the song says brothers and sisters, “People need the Lord. At the end of open dreams, there is open door.” The Lord of life calls to you today. He says, “Feed my beloved sheep.” I hope and pray that over the course of my ministry here that I don’t just seek to grow a huge church, but that people who enter this house of the living God are changed people. That in this place they become something different! That they can say something happened here, and I will never be the same! For I have found Jesus, my chains are gone, and I am a life that has been changed! I then will say, welcome home brother! Welcome home sister!

          The only thing better then our own salvation, is helping someone else find the Lord. Seeing a broken person be rebuilt by Jesus is one of the best things that you will ever encounter in your life. Has anyone here ever discipled a friend or even a relative? Did they find the Lord? How did you feel about that? Can you put a monetary value on that? It’s sort of like those credit card commercials that end with “priceless” isn’t it?

          In looking to change lives for Jesus Christ, we don’t always know what is going to happen do we? My friend Jason from the Moravia/Locke United Methodist Church, where I live, recently came to the Lord. He called me this past week excited to have been baptized and to have joined the church this past Sunday, and is now in leadership at the church. He would never say it, but indirectly says to me all the time through his words and actions, “Paul thank you for giving to the Lord.” And who knows, Jason could be the next Billy Graham! When we say yes to the Lord, lives our changed, hearts are mended, and people are delivered from bondage.

          One of the most beloved Christian authors of the last century was C.S Lewis. I want to close this morning by reading a short passage from his writing “The Business of Heaven.” The title sounds sort of like today’s sermon title of “We are in the Business of changing lives” doesn’t it? This passage talks about how God can and will change your life, if you let him. This passage is specifically titled “Advent, December 1.” And it reads:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

          If we allow him brothers and sisters, God can change us into a mighty and a new creation! Further, He can then use us to help lead others to Him. When we do so, then they will be changed into new and mighty creations! For brothers and sisters, “We are in the Business of Changing Lives!” So next time someone asks you next what business you are in, tell them this, “I am in the business of changing lives, and business is good.” Praise God and may we serve him by leading people to his precious son Jesus Christ!