The Divine Crash

Today we continued our sermon series on Titus. This one was the easiest of the series but still a difficult sermon to preach. Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment!

Oh goodie! another sermon with a warning. This is once again not a good or comfortable text to use. If it were up to me I probably wouldn’t preach this, it will probably offend you and it will probably make some of you a little uncomfortable. I promise I am going to do my best to keep strictly to the text.  we are going to pray and jump in.

Prayer:

 Read Titus 1:10-16

Titus is one of Paul’s pastors, he was appointed to serve on the island of Crete and so he has been dropped in and Paul is trying to give Titus some advice as he does ministry.

See, all ministry is done in context. As a pastor, or a leader, or a Christian trying to lead others in the workplace. There is always a context and there are various ways to deal with them.

 

Titus’ Context looks like this:

1. Fake Christians: They say they are believers but they are teaching doctrine that is false. They were teaching new christians that the only way to be truly saved was to follow all the Jewish traditions as well. That in order to be saved they must follow the 613 Old Testament Commands, make the appropriate sacrifices, and know all the intricacies of theology.  Today we might say that these people were teaching that to be saved you must have a working understanding of dispensation atonement, chair 3 committees, and be able to recite the pre-amble of the United Methodist Book of Discipline. Or we might just say that they treat anyone who had different political opinions differently and look down on those without as much money or who don’t give as much.

- Paul says these people should be silenced. They should not be allowed to speak or be in charge of anything. One translation says they must be “muzzled”

- Paul doesn’t say kick them out but essentially give them a short leash and don’t put them in charge.

2. The Cretans: These are the people of Crete who don’t know anything about proper behavior, they are liars, lazy, gluttons, wild beasts. They will stab you in the back and steal your wallet because they are bored. The Cretans were known throughout the Greek empire as people who were simply horrible people. To be associated with them was to be a social pariah. These are people who have no idea who Jesus is or why any of the this Jesus stuff matters in day-to-day life.

- Paul says Correct them so they may have a healthy faith.

- In other words, teach them anyway.

- Teach them the true Gospel so that they may know eternity.

- Don’t be surprised if they hurt you, Don’t be upset if they don’t get it. Just be faithful to the calling you have as a follower of Jesus.

3. The Unclean: These are people who claim to know God. They have a great head knowledge, but their actions do not follow suit.  Again we come back to the actions of people being very important in the life of a believer.

- These people are detestable because they claim a head knowledge to know God but their actions do not fit what they say they believe

- These people are disobedient they know what God expects from them and they flat-out refuse to do it. It is one thing to be like the Cretans and not know and not do but these people know and refuse to do.

- These people are disqualified from doing anything. In other words, in the life of the church they are completely useless. They might as well not even attend church, of course we won’t kick them out but they do not add anything of value to the life of the church.

- Paul says these people are completely disqualified from serving God.

This is the context Titus finds himself in. This is the box in which Titus has been put in and is expected to ministry.

Every leaders finds themselves surrounded by these same people. Every leader finds themselves in this context and in this box at some point.

And every leader finds themselves on one of these sides at some point in ministry.

So what do we do? As leaders, chair people, nursery workers, sunday school teachers, how do we deal with these people?

Well the fakes get silence, the Cretans get taught, and the unclean get disqualified.

I think, if we are honest, there are times we all have a little of each one of these inside of us. Where we all act like the unclean, or the Cretan, or the Fake Christian.  I know there are certainly times where I have fallen into these categories.

So what do we do with those feelings of inadequacy. We know we shouldn’t be a fake christian but it is so much easier to follow religion than it is to follow Jesus. We know we shouldn’t stab people in the back but sometimes we just have to get our way no matter the consequences.

So what do we do? Our scripture gives very good tips for leaders in the church on how to handle these kinds of people, but what if we are those kinds of people?

Well, let me say this: If you are a Christian, you are called to be a leader. You have leadership responsibilities. Those tips for leaders are for everyone who calls themselves a Christian.

Which means:

- If you are being a fake christian, stop talking. Just shut your mouth and be muzzled. The word Paul uses in the Greek gives this idea of not just shutting your mouth but putting your hand over your mouth and not letting a sound come out.

- If you find yourself, intentionally or unintentionally, hurting other people stop it. Ask forgiveness and start learning the correct way to treat people.

- If you find yourself as the unclean and you are refusing to do what you know God requires of you. Start doing it. Stop making excuses, start putting your head knowledge into practice.

That’s the thing, if you are a Christian you are a leader. Christians are called to lead other people and we are all called to lead ourselves.

It is very easy for Christians to lead from one of these sides and pretend that is the best side and the only way to lead.

The problem is it is impotent leadership. You know, the kind of leadership that doesn’t produce anything beneficial and is essentially shooting blanks because nothing is every going to happen.

True leadership comes from what is behind me. The cross.  Jesus is where true leadership is found. Jesus say if you want to lead, get down and serve. Jesus says the least will be the best and that if we truly want to be a leader then we must deny ourselves pick up our cross and follow Jesus.

Jesus screams out father forgive the fakes, the Cretans, and the unclean. They don’t know what they are doing.

Maybe you are here today and you are a fake, you are unclean, you are a Cretan.  You can always come to real leadership.

So then, may you lead others, and may you lead yourself and when you find yourself in one of these categories, may you stop digging and start leading the way God has called us all to lead.

Close in Prayer

 

Sermon Audio

 

As some of you know I take requests on what to preach on, whether topics, series, or books of the Bible and one request was to look at Titus, So today we start a four week series on Titus. We will cover one section each week, for at least 4 weeks, possibly more this is moving at a lightning pace. We will barely scratch the surface of this amazing book.

I am warning you now that this is not going to be easy. I am going to do my best to preach straight from the text and that will make many of you upset and uncomfortable.

You need to know I love you, I care about you, and everything I a, about to say is only because I believe god can use it to make us and the whole church better.

Honestly, this text makes me uncomfortable.

That as your pastor there are parts of this book that point out my flaws and sins and I don’t like it, I really struggle with parts of Titus.

This book was written by Paul to a man named Titus to help Titus develop good leaders in the church he was the pastor of.

Now, let’s define a leader: The dictionary defines this as someone who leads, specifically other people. So I am a leader, choir director is a leader, the worship team are leaders, committee chairs are leaders. But as for Methodists when a new member joins the entire congregation promises to nurture (lead) them in their christian faith.  AND you promise to nurture (lead) each other.

So we can say that every single person who is a member of the United Methodist Church is a leader.

So then, every member in this church is a leader.

But then, in our scripture, as Christians we are called to teach and lead others in the Christian faith.  So if you are a Christian, by definition, you are a leader.

If you are a leader in this church, this book will make you squirm. If you teach Sunday School, serve on a committee, play music, use the sound board, read the Bible, or stand up here and preach this book will make you very nervous.

There will be moments where you are furious with me, with the text, and with the shortcomings it points out in our own lives. I want you to know that I am right here with you. I am struggling with some of this just as much as you are.

My humanness is laid bare just as much as yours will be. That is the beauty of our scripture, that it is unashamed to point out our flaws and at the same time the greatness and majesty of God.  Our scripture is so beautiful and amazing because it will put out exactly where our own lives fall short and where God’s grace will pick us up, dust us off and remind us that we are loved in spite of our shortcomings.

So, you have been warned. I am going to do my best at this text, and if it makes you squirm, I make no apologies, I only ask that you remember the glory, majesty, and grace of god.

So let’s pray and jump into Titus.

Prayer:

Titus 1:1-9

First some things to understand about Titus the book and person.

• This book was written by Paul between 63 and 65 A.D.
• Paul addressed this letter to another pastor, Titus.
• The purpose of this letter is to help Titus how to teach new-christians basic beliefs and actions, how to pick leaders, and how to deal with false-teachings.

About the Section

1. This letter starts with a greeting, all of Paul’s letters have some sort of greeting.
2. Verse 5 states that the church needs organization
   1. In order for a church to function and stand on its own two feet it needs to be organized.
      1. Throughout the New Testament there is evidence of the early church needing organization. In Acts they were setting up an organized way to feed the widows. In Timothy they are appointing people in charge of different groups. The disciples even had specific jobs, Judas was in charge of the money.
   2. Paul called them Elders and Deacons. In the United Methodist Church we might call them committee chairs, committee members, Sunday School teachers, cell group leaders, kitchen coordinators, secretaries, treasurers, or any job that needs done in this church.
   3. If you do a job in this church no matter what it is, you are a leader and part of the organization of this church.
   4. In Paul’s day if you were good at manual labor and building things and fixing things you would be put on trustees.  If you were good at numbers and money you would be on the finance team. If you were good at talking to others about Jesus you would be on the outreach team. If you were good at visiting those who were sick or in prison you would be on the care team.
   5. It was understood that everyone should be doing everything.
      1.  Just because you aren’t on the outreach team doesn’t mean you can skip talking about Jesus to others. But there were some who were very good at those jobs who put an emphasis on it and were in charge of getting them done.
   6. Once those people were put in charge of specific functions those people would pick from among themselves a person to be in charge of them.
      1. Today we would call those people the committee chairs. They were responsible for everything that happened within their group.
   7. These qualifications are for leaders.
3. In verses 6-9 Paul spells out requirements for these leaders and says they must do certain things.
   1. The question becomes, if anyone does not meet these qualifications can they be a leader within the church? Should they resign? Should they be fired?

1. Be without fault: 
   1. This doesn’t mean perfect. This means honest, trustworthy, responsible, they listen, They don’t steal, lie, cheat, purposely hurt people. They are not passive aggressive, they do what they say they will do and they are not snake oil salesman. If you give them a secret they won’t spread it around. You can trust them with your money, your family, and your life. They are good people with a good heart and can be trusted.
2. Faithful to their spouse: This does not say never divorced, it does not say a man only. It uses the word “aner” which literally means an adult who is married. This tells us that a leader in the church should be faithful to who they are married to.
   1. In other words, single or not. No sleeping around. No affairs, physical or otherwise.
   2. According to this scripture, if you are having an affair you cannot be a leader in the church.
3. Faithful children who cannot be accused of indulgence or rebelliousness
   1. Clearly Paul never had children. Ever seen a child in the checkout aisle having a tantrum? Is this saying their parents can’t be leaders? If so, no parent is ever allowed to lead. But I don’t think this is saying that. One commentator says that this means if you have a child in your house that is living like the prodigal son, wasting their lives on garbage, then you cannot be a leader. I think that is what Paul is getting at. If your child is living in your house like the prodigal son, in Luke 15, then you should not be a leader in the church. This does not say if your child is the prodigal son outside of the home as an adult you can’t be a leader, this is talking about those kids in your house who are spoiled rotten brats who do nothing except spend your money on garbage and are wasting their lives because you didn’t teach them how to be responsible adults. We want our children to be productive members of society and not wasting their lives on garbage. They only become productive if we teach them what that means and looks like and if we can’t teach our kids then how can we lead a church?
4. Not a wreck.
   1. If you are have an addiction, stubborn, irritable, a bully or greedy you cannot be a leader in the church.
   2. I think I just disqualified 99% of people in every church in America.
   3. I am okay with that. Too many people claim leadership in churches all over the country that are only in it to push their own agenda forward. They will vote down everything they don’t like because they want to bully people into submission.
   4. Some of the leaders in this congregation are more concerned with making sure they are right and nothing changes than they are with leading the people of God. And that is unacceptable. If you are going to fight tooth and nail against anything you don’t like simply because you don’t like it then you are stubborn and should not be a leader in the church.
5. Be hospitable, love good and be reasonable, ethical, godly, and self-controlled. 
   1. The opposite of all the stuff from before.
   2. These are what makes someone a leader.
   3. No matter how stupid the argument is in church council a good leader won’t fly off the handle.
   4. No matter how hard the right answer is, a leader gives the right answer, not the popular answer.
   5. To be a leader in the church is to love what is good and beautiful and right, and holy
   6. Being a leader is someone who loves what is good, opens their home to others, sees both sides of the argument, controls their tongue and their thoughts thoughts. does the right thing, reads their Bible, prays, gives their time, talents, and treasures to the church.
6. Know the message of God.
   1. If you do not read your bible you should not be a leader in church.
   2. If you do not know how to correct against people who are spreading a bad theology then you are not a leader in the church.
   3. You don’t need to know the deepest theological debates of supra-lapsarianism or the different between semi-pelliagian and arminianism but you should know the difference between John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16.

 

1. Look at the thread of these qualifications.
   1. A leaders integrity is primary. If you are a slimeball you cannot lead the church.
   2. A leaders family is more important than the church. If you cannot lead your family you cannot lead the church. Christianity begins in the home.
   3. A leader must have a constant and growing relationship with God.
      1. I should be able to ask every single committee chair, sunday school teacher, cell group leader, sound tech, musician, what their daily scripture reading was today and get an answer without hesitation.
      2. You should be able to ask me at any moment what my daily devotional was and I should be able to give you an answer.
2. Many of us, myself included have fallen short on these issues. When we have 2 hours meetings squabbling over scotch tape we fall short on this.
   1. When we spend years tabling discussion we fall short on this.
   2. Every time our budget falls short and we can’t pay our mission share we fall short on our call as leaders.
   3. when we don’t invite people to church
   4. when we vote no on an issue simply because we don’t like the person who raised the issue we fall short on this.
   5. When we only bring negativity and hatred to committee meetings and we destroy what is good and necessary simply because we don’t like one person we fail at the calling of leaders that we have.
   6. When we volunteer for a position and then we get mad at the pastor and decide not to do the job we said we would do we fall short of our call as a leader in the church.
   7. When we fall short on our call as a leader, no matter the reason, we do not hurt the person we are going after, we do not get even with the conference, we only hurt our church. We only disobey scripture and hinder the work of the kingdom of God. We will have to answer for it when we are face to face with the savior of the universe.

1. So what do we do with all of this?
   1. I think some of the leaders in the church will never live up to this. I know it is hard but some of our leaders aren’t even trying. For the good of Harrisville UMC and the kingdom of God, they need to resign. If they can be honest about no one will blame them. Every sees they aren’t doing their job and if they resign it will be the most honest thing they have done since volunteering to be a leader.

 

1. Those of you who are leaders and have completely rejected everything I have just said as nonsense or pushing my own agenda either need to show me scripture where I am wrong or they need to resign because they do not understand the messages of God.

 

1. Other leaders do not read their Bible, they barely show up for meetings, they don’t give, they don’t even attend the church and still try to claim leadership but with a little prodding and a little help and instruction we can strengthen our current leaders who understand the importance of being a good leader.
   1. If this is you, keep striving, keep working at it. No one said being a leader was easy. You can do it and you will be a better leader because of it. Know that you aren’t alone, no one gets it perfect all the time. There are many people who see the qualifications to be leaders and are desperately working for them. Our cell groups are here for you, our leadership development classes are here for you. It isn’t too late to join our current class at 6pm tonight.

 

1. Our new leaders need to know that these things are what are expected of them. It will be expected that our leaders attend church, give to the church, are ethical, flexible, hospitable, not addicted to anything, read their Bible, and pray.
2. When someone asks me what kind of leader I want on my committees and what kind of person i listen to or give an ear to. I look for people who embody what Titus says. Maybe not perfectly but I can see they are striving for it. I reject leaders who are clearly not even attempting any of these things.  When someone asks me who it is I listen to when they have an idea it is the people who it is obvious they are trying to do all the things mentioned in our scripture today. They may not be perfect at it but they are trying.

 

It is very easy to walk away from this and think that no one can be a leader, that no one has any business working the nursery, serving on a committee, or teaching at VBS. It becomes very easy to look at this and say; “I’ll never be good enough” None of today’s scripture asks for bible scholars with perfect children and spouses. But it is asking that those who are leaders are striving towards these ideals and working on these issues. We all still lose our temper occasionally. We all get stubborn about church issues we are passionate about but are these once in a while slip ups or is this your normal routine? If they are a regular occurrence and you aren’t willing to change them then you are not to be a leader. I mean if you are not even going to attempt to be the leader we see in scripture, don’t even volunteer. Don’t waste the church’s time. Just be honest and don’t be passive aggressive about it. Just don’t do it. It only waste’s the church’s time and your time. Just don’t do it.

However, if you are willing to work on them, strive to be better, and willing to do whatever it takes to live up to these ideals that are set forth in scripture then by all means you are a better leader than most and I want you to be a leader in this church. I need you to be a leader in this church. We need more leaders in this church who are striving to be flexible, loving, and ethical.

I don’t know what you imagine this church to be in 50 years, or 25 years, or even in 5 years but can you just imagine this church would look like if all of our leaders were fully committed to the gospel, if they were daily bible readers, If every single member of our church council were daily bible readers this church would change the world. Can you imagine what this church would be like in 5 years if every single person put their own agendas aside worked for the common mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world? If every single leader was a little more flexible? A little more godly? A little less irritable? This place would look radically different.

I know this text is hard. I know it has the power to make everyone feel guilty about all the ways they fall short of these leadership qualification but look at what this text can do? It can mold us into exactly the kind of church God has called us to be. It can show us what we need to celebrate and how we should be leading in our homes and in our church? I know it’s hard but it has the power to mold us into the very image of God in this world.  And I think that is worth more than the pain it shows us in our shortcomings.

Close in prayer. 

With this sermon we finish out our awakening series. I got this series for free from http://open.lifechurch.tv/ the sermon is mine, but the scripture, theme, graphics, etc… all came from that website. This was the first time I used this site for sermon series and I think I liked it. I may use them again.

There is so much imagery and color and symbolism, and questions. So many questions.  On the surface this just seems weird. elders, thrones, lightning, thunder, rainbows, emeralds, carnelians, so much weirdness.

For now, just let those things be weird. Let them strangeness of heaven sink in. This is heaven, this is a place none of us have ever been and so there are things we are reading about that we have never experienced and seem strange and foreign and just let it be strange and foreign.

So let’s pray and then break this down and see what it has to say for us today.

 

Prayer:

To look at what is happening in sort of linear frame.

1. The author, John, sees a door to heaven, and it was open.
2. John hears a voice that sounds like a trumpet that invites him in to heaven.
   1. The voice is probably Jesus
3. John is in a trance and goes to heaven.
4. John is in heaven and sees a throne surrounded by a rainbow
5. Circling the main throne are 24 more thrones with 24 people on them
6. The 24 people are called elders and are dressed in white with gold crowns on their heads
7. There is lightning, voices, and thunder from the main throne
8. In front of the main throne are 7 torches and a sea of glass
9. 4 living creatures in front of that
10. The living creatures start singing and then the 24 elders throw their crowns to the main throne and fall facedown to worship God.

Here is a picture of what this probably looks like

This is church service in heaven. This is people worshipping God in heaven. When they gather together for church this is what is happening.

If that is a church worship service in heaven it begs the question “what should worship on earth look like?”

Should we physically mirror what is going on? That would mean we need 4 genetically mutated animals that fly, covered with eyes, and have the heads of lion, ox, eagle, and human. Where do we keep those things? I’m not cleaning their stalls. I also need 7 torches lined up right here. I need 24 of you to sit in a circle. The rest are uninvited and can go home. I need a giant throne with a rainbow around it? This doesn’t sound like it will fit in this room so I guess we need to build a bigger building?

Maybe it isn’t about physically mirroring this but maybe it is about the same ideas we should capture in church.

Maybe it is about spiritually mimicking these events on Sunday morning?

Look at what happens and how it applies to our morning worship time.

• People show up. Why do people show up? In verse 1 it is because a voice told them to show up. In chapter 1 we find that this voice speaking is Jesus.
  • People show up to church because they are invited. In Revelation it was Jesus.
  • Maybe you need to be that voice of Jesus that invites people to church where they can experience this mystery of God for themselves.
• John sees the throne of God and the essence of God.
  • On Sunday mornings to people see God? Are they left with the mystery and confusion that is God? Or have we entertained ourselves for an hour?
• There are 4 worship leaders in the church of heaven. These are weird creatures that led the singing. Throughout history these 4 animals are given all sorts of symbolism and meaning but at the core what they are doing is leading everyone in songs of praise to God.
  • These people are the choir director, organist, piano player, guitarist, vocalist, these are the people who are worshipping God by leading others in worship of God.
  • So the question to the worship team, organist, choir director, is when people look at you all up front, do they see someone passionately worshipping God, or do they see someone who is only there for a paycheck? Someone who is only in it for their own glory?
  • Worship Team, If it ever becomes about a paycheck, or a status symbol, or self-pride then you need to step down.
  • These people are not to be worshipped because they have some talent we will never have. They are not super christians or better than anyone else because they are up front. Instead they are simply humans being who are following God just like everyone else.
• Everybody falls down.
  • So, we aren’t pentecostal and we don’t always figuratively fall down on our face for worship. So what would it look like to fall facedown in worship? Would that be raising our hands? Singing louder?
  • I think falling facedown in worship on Sunday is about more than our physical posture but our mental posture. Have you stopped texting? Is your phone on silent? Are you following along with your notes or are you doodling cute puppy dogs on the bulletin? Are we too focused on the typo on the screen to notice the crucified God in our midst? Are we so concerned with the fact the musicians are out of key that we can’t see the risen Jesus beckoning us to a deeper relationship?
  • A church worship service is supposed to be done with excellence and to the best of our abilities. That means our leaders are awake, paying attention and doing the best we can to have a good quality service. However, your leaders are nothing more than frail humans trying to do the best we can. Sometimes the words are wrong, the key is off, the scripture gets a typo, I sneeze in the microphone. On any given Sunday so many things go wrong. We forget communion bread, the notes are bad, nursery workers don’t show up, I trip on my shoe laces, all sorts of things happen. What we are called to mimic from Revelation 4 is that we do not get lost in these things. We do not let these things become the defining moment of our worship this morning. Instead we look past them to the whole reason we are even here. To worship God. I know it is hard to look past these kinds of things. If it were easy it wouldn’t be one of the biggest ways we get distracted. But we must try, because if we give in to it then we are not worshipping God, we are simply being entertained.
  • One way to understand this idea is that God is the audience in church. You as the congregation are not the audience, me, the ushers, the offering ushers, the musicians, we are not the actors seeking to entertain you. ALL OF US are the actors seeking to bring glory to God.
  • I think that goes to this idea. We can either worship God or we can be entertained. We can either lift up our voices, thoughts, and actions to God or we can show up here to church and expect to be “fed” and made to feel good. One of the worst excuses I hear for people leaving a church is “we weren’t being fed” it’s not the church’s job to feed you. It is the church’s job to worship God. It’s your job to feed yourself.
  • When we approach church as “I need to feel good, refreshed, comforted, etc..” we lose sight of what church is supposed to be. If we follow Revelation 4 we see church is about worshipping God, not making humans feel good. When we come to church to feel good we put ourselves on the throne of God and we pretend that we are the ones being worshipped.
  • You may leave church feel good, refreshed, comforted, etc… and that is wonderful. but that is not the goal of church.
  • A Church service, the sermon included, is not good or bad based on how well someone did or how good you feel when you leave. A worship service is good or bad based on whether or not it gave God glory. You could hear the absolute worst sermon ever, but if it gave glory to God it is a good sermon.  You could listen to the absolute worst example of “special music” that was a disaster, you know, if I sang it. but if it gives glory to God then it is amazing and beautiful and absolutely pure worship!
  • The goal of church is for us to fall down and worship God and toss our crowns before him.
• Tossing our crowns is what happens next in the way church is supposed to be.
  • Think of a crown, they are signs of authority and power. They have to be earned and given by other people. Most people don’t walk around wearing crowns in this day and age but we do have them.
  • What are your crowns? Where are the places you have authority? Are you a boss, manager at work? What about in your home, are you the disciplinarian, bill payer, bread-winner? What about your activities? Are you the captain of your ultimate frisbee team or the president of the historical society? What about at church? Are you a committee chair? service leader? Usher? It is here, in church, in the worship of God that you throw these crowns at the feet of God.
  • What happens when we thrown down our authority at the feet of God? Suddenly we are all equal. Suddenly no one is above anyone else. Suddenly your age, color, gender, financial status, or place on the social ladder matters anymore. We are all equal. We are all as great as the greatest saint among us and as disgusting and the most vile of sinners.
• • When we look at those sitting around us and say that they shouldn’t be here because they are dirty, poor, or we think to ourselves that we are better than them and more spiritual than them we have continued to hold on to our own crown and we are not truly worshipping God.
  • When we look at those around us, and think “That person is closer to God than me” or that person is “so much more spiritual” or “someday I hope I can read my bible as well as they do” we have taken off our crown but we have lifted that other person up so high that we put a crown on them and forget that they are in the same place we are, facedown with our crowns tossed at the feet of God.

This is what worship in heaven looks like and we are called to make our worship services on earth look as close as possible to that.

We invite people

We experience the presence of God

We are led by people who are worshipping

We fall down and worship God

We give up our status and stop comparing ourselves to others and just worship.

Now, this idea cannot be done by one or two people. To ensure that our worship here looks like the worship in heaven takes each and every one of us to have an attitude of “I love what helps another,” It takes volunteers who greet people on their way in, it takes sound techs, and musicians, and it takes me about 80 hours of prep per sermon. It takes every single one of us to be committed to making sure this worship is as good as it can be. When one of us says “I don’t need to greet someone” or “I don’t need to give my offering today” or “I want this style of music” or “I hate it when that person sits next to me” We have made it that much harder to actually be the kind of worship service we see in Revelation 4. I can stand here and tell you we need to do worship the way it says in the Bible but if you don’t actually want to do it then it won’t happen, and that’s okay. We just need to admit that we are not a church, we are just a country club, and we might as well change our name to Harrisville United Methodist Country Club.

So then, I am not a country club activities director. I am a pastor and I want to pastor a Church, specifically I want to pastor Harrisville United Methodist Church and that means I need your help to make our worship services the best they can be and as much like the worship we see in heaven. I pray you join in this and help to invite people, that this place would be a place to experience the presence of God, that our leaders would be truly led by God, that we would all fall down in worship, and toss our prideful crowns to the feet of God.

Close in Prayer:

Micah 6:6-8

If we say we are a Christian then what should our lives look like? How can we look at someone and say that person is clearly a follower of Jesus. Of course it is never our place to judge others relationship. But the question applies to us, how can we know our belief in Jesus is real.

I don’t know about you but for me it can become very easy to turn being a Christian into this sort of idea where if we study our Bible and read a lot then we can know “enough” to get into heaven. As if there is some essay test at the pearly gates. Or sometimes we have turned being a Christian into this prescription, like go church, close your eyes when someone else prays, serve on committees, hate gays and always vote republican then somehow we have gotten the right points on our eternal scorecard and we are good to go.

The problem is there is no essay test, there is no eternal score card, and that is not what scripture says. Today’s scripture tells us that if we call ourselves a Christian there is a way we should be living our life and sometimes it is very different from what we are normally taught is proper behavior for Christians.

We were given free grace from God. Jesus died on the cross to save us. There is nothing we can ever do to earn God’s grace we simply accept it. Gaining eternity and getting a second chance at life is free and was bought through the cross but that kind of life change and acceptance should cause us to live our life differently than we did before.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says that the Holy Spirit lives in us. We are a temple of the Holy Spirit that was bought and paid for and that we no longer belong to ourselves. We belong to the God who bought us with his own blood.

So then, if we belong to God, shouldn’t there be a way we act that is in alignment with the way one who we belong to?

I mean, before we were a Christian we thought we belonged to ourselves we acted a way that showed we were our own person and that we could do whatever we wanted. We were masters of our own destiny and no one was going to tell us otherwise.

So, now, if we believe in Jesus and we know that we belong to God then shouldn’t the way we act be different from it was before?

If the way we act isn’t different then the question becomes do we really belong to God or are we lying to ourselves and those around us?

So how should we act? Maybe being a Christian is a lot more than just being a nice person to other Christians? How many times have we seen Christians be complete jerks to those who are not Christians and then act perfect to those around us who we know are Christians?

My mom was a waitress and she hated working on Sunday afternoons because Christians were the rudest people who left the biggest messes and the smallest tips. On more than one occasion she would get nothing more than a Bible-Tract as a tip. Now, how Christian is it when a person making 2.83 an hour and depending on your tips for a living gets nothing but a few pieces of paper that tell her about an eternal life that she already knows about?

How often are we nice to people who think and act like us and then horrible to people we think are not like us?

Maybe God has called us to a different way of living? Maybe the popular teaching is that being a Christian is nothing more than being nice to people? Maybe there is more to it than that.

That way of living is in our scripture today.

First, Micah 6:8 tells us exactly how God thinks we should act as Christians in the world today.

1. Do Justice. This isn’t justice like we normally think of justice. In terms of getting just desserts or retribution or right vs. wrong. Instead this is the Hebrew word Mishphat which means to do things that fix this world. These are common sense things like don’t steal, don’t lie. but also some bigger ones like helping widows, orphans, the imprisoned.  It is about helping those less fortunate than we are to be better at life.

2. Love Mercy. This is the Hebrew word Heced which gives us the idea that we give lots of second chances to all kinds of people, no matter what.  It means that because God has forgiven us we are to forgive others.

3. Walk Humbly with God. this is that day-to-day relationship with God. It is not putting God up on a shelf and only taking him down when needed. It is daily prayer, Bible reading, and conversation with God.

I just wonder if we as Christians are not doing this then can we really say we have been changed by Jesus?

I also wonder if we as a church are not doing these things can we really say we are a church and not just a country club for entertainment?

I get they are hard, I get we may not always want to. Sometimes I don’t want mercy.

Recently I saw that a person who used to bully me in high school  is wanted by police. I don’t want them to have mercy. I want them locked up and the key thrown away. They made my life miserable and I think their life should be just as miserable. It is hard for me to want them to have a second chance.

But I think if we are going to take this call of Christ seriously in our lives then there is a point where we have to make a decision.

Do we do what we want and live our lives by our own rules or by the rules of the God who purchased us with the blood of his own son, Jesus?

We cannot have life both ways, we have to choose, is it our way and living by our own rules or is it living by the rules of God?

In Matthew 25 Jesus puts forward an idea of a changed life. Starting in verse 14 Jesus tells a story of a man who gave money to 3 different people. Two of them realizing that, because of this gift, their life should be different acted differently because of what they were given. A third man, took his money and buried it in the ground. The first two realized that this incredible gift of money should make their lives different.

That different way of living made everything different for them. When the man comes back for his money they are rewarded with more money, and a promotion. The third man, who buried his money in the ground, didn’t change his way of life and it cost him everything, he was called lazy, evil, worthless, and then thrown into “darkness”

This free grace and free salvation we have been given requires that it change our lives. Our actions will determine if we truly believe in the grace and the way we will live our life will scream out our belief in grace for eternity.

I need a volunteer.

Look at this way, here is this rope. This rope is 100 feet long. My volunteer here is going to walk it out until it ends, imagine though that it goes on out the door, down the street, through slippery rock, across the continent, over the ocean, and wraps around the globe for eternity never-ending. Now, imagine this one little piece I have colored red is our lives right now. The life expectancy of someone born and raised in Pennsylvania is 78, so this red part is that 78 years we have on earth and the rest of it is where we spend eternity.

If we live by our own rules and own desires right now in this red part then the rest of this timeline is spent in the consequences of what some scriptures call “hell with gnashing of teeth.” Other scripture says in “utter darkness” either way scripture makes it very clear that this is an eternal separation from God, which I am not even sure we can fathom because right now God is active and close to us giving us oxygen in our lungs so I think it is significantly worse than anything we can fathom.

However, if we live, now, by these ideas that God put forth. To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God then the rest of eternity is spent with the God who purchased us with the blood of Jesus.

Now, don’t misunderstand. The ability to spend eternity with God is only through the death of Jesus on the cross and our acceptance of God’s free grace.  The question becomes, if you believe in that then your life should look different from it would if you don’t believe that.

So then, if your life doesn’t look different; the prayer you prayed as a teen becomes nothing more than an emotional response.

If your “faith” in Jesus is nothing more than head knowledge and good behavior when other Christians are around then we have to ask the logical question, is it really following God or is it putting on a front for social acceptance.

Nobody, including God, is expecting perfection. Nobody, except Jesus, can follow God perfectly all the time. There are times when we trip, stumble, fall, and down right mess it up.

But if in your core you can honestly say that the grace of Jesus has changed your life and you are living differently now than you would be without Jesus then we can know where our own eternity is. Each person’s journey is different, each person’s life is different and we should never decide another person’s eternity or how good they are at following God, but we can at the very least look at our own life and see how well we are doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.

So then, if you want an eternity with God or if you thought you had it but your actions match a different life then the fix for it is to ask Jesus to forgive you and begin doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. It may have been awhile since you have done that because you wanted to do things your own way. It is never to late to come back, you have never done too much, and you have never gone to far.

So then, may you find that on the other side of this life is the ability to be with God for eternity. May you awaken to a possibility that there is a better way to live this life now that has a better impact on your life later.

My audio hasn’t recorded for the last few weeks, I think I need a new recorder but here is my most current sermon on the awakening series. Enjoy the text and I hope to get my podcasts back up soon.

Psalm 130

Let’s start at the beginning. This is not a happy Psalm. This is not a Psalm to sing on good days, or days when everything is going right.

The other day we were grocery shopping at Giant Eagle and the one stock boy spilled a bag of popcorn kernels all over the floor, then we saw him in another part of the store where he dropped a can of Ragu and cut his hand on the glass and while cleaning it up he was explaining to the manager his bad day where he also dropped a case of soda on the floor and tripped over the power cord to a cash register knocking out power to the guy trying to ring up people’s groceries. This guy was having a bad day and this Psalm is for him.

This is a Psalm for sad people.

This is a Psalm for people who have hit rock bottom

This is a Psalm for people who have gone to the bottom of the bottle and found nothing.

This is a Psalm for People who regularly have a dark day that feel like those storm clouds are always overhead and their parades are always getting rained on.

This is a Psalm for people who feel lost and without passion in their lives.

This is a Psalm for people who just want God to do something!

This is a Psalm for people who call out to God and scream “What am I supposed to do now?”

This psalm is for parents who can’t get the house clean for more than five minutes before it looks like a hurricane went through.

This Psalm is for parents who can’t get the budget to include tee-ball, soccer, and food.

This Psalm is is for parents whose kids are a constant source of disappointment.

This Psalm is for the kids who are constantly reminded they are a constant source of disappointment.

This is a Psalm for people who know that it is impossible to keep track of all their mistakes.

This is a Psalm for people who ache in deepest part of their being.

But the author of this Psalm knows that the key to moving beyond the hurt, getting past the mistakes, and going forward in life is found only in God. And so they hope.

They hope like the night watchman waits for morning or kids on Christmas eve hope for  morning. Or a nervous bride waits the night before her wedding. Or a teenage boy about to call a girl for the first time.

It is that nervous, sweaty palms, stuttering, jittery, laughing, hiccups kind of nervousness that comes only from a hope that things might actually be able to be better than they are now but they will only be better if the other side responds!

I think the best way to understand this scripture is to understand the way a marriage proposal works.  When I proposed to Amanda I was so nervous, we were both volunteer youth leaders and she and the youth director had taken the youth on a mission trip to New York City and I couldn’t go because I had to work so I stayed back and I planned youth group for the night they got back.  I spent that whole week planning just what it would look like and that night I was so nervous, I was jittery, stuttering, and just a wreck. As youth group went on I became more nervous.

I wasn’t nervous because of what I was doing but because the consequences of that question would change everything. I remember as I hit one knee in front of all our youth group kids my hands were shaking and in that split second the whole world faded away as I waited for her answer.

It is those moments between the way things used to be and the new way where there is that intense feeling that everything is about to change. Sometimes they are split seconds and sometimes they are nights or days just waiting.

It is that moment between when your child is born and you hear that first cry. When everything is about to change, one way or another you know everything is about to change, and you don’t know how but you are sort of this hyper-vigilant what’s about to happen and how is it going to change us.

Now imagine if you will that it isn’t just you but it is a whole group, nation, tribe. It is everyone around you who is also hoping that God will show up and redeem us from our sins.

Those feelings you have waiting for redemption to come, for change to happen, and new life to begin. They suddenly aren’t just your feelings they are the feelings of you and everyone around you.  That is what this Psalm is screaming out.

I just watched this movie Argo about the Iranian Hostage situation in 1979-1980 and imagine a group of people huddled together wondering, waiting, and hoping that rescue will come. I imagine that feeling is close to what we get in Psalm 130.

Now, imagine that feeling and the waiting and the expectation and then nothing…. nothing happens. You are praying for healing, resurrection, reconciliation, and you are just waiting for God to answer.

That hyper-vigilance waiting for that change and then nothing..

Verse 8 ends and we don’t get a resolution. There is no confirmation that God showed up. That God rescued and redeemed them. There is no happy ending. Only an entire nation waiting for God to show up and then it fades to black, movie over, good night.

I mean this is a Christian story of hope, shouldn’t there be a happy ending where everyone gets married, the kids are happy, the football team wins, and the coach gets a new pick-up truck and everything works out for good?

Instead, we are left with this divine silence where we are hoping for God, screaming out for God to rescue us from the bottom and expecting God to save a whole nation and there is nothing coming back from the other side.

The side with the power to save us appears to be withholding.  It appears as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel and we will be stuck in the depths of our despair for an eternity.

So what do we do with this divine silence? That time where we feel like no answer is coming, where we have bet the farm on God and God hasn’t shown up yet.

How are we supposed to live in a time like this?

I think if we are honest with ourselves. Some of us are living in a time like this right now. Where we are waiting for God to just show up and do something because we have arrived at the end of ourselves.  We have extended ourselves on behalf of God waiting for God to do something and nothing is happening and it is really frustrating.

St. John of the Cross calls this time the “Dark Night of the Soul” A time when God just seems so distant. Where it feels as if we are waiting on God to just show up and do something and God isn’t.

I think of an event in Jesus’ life in John 11 where a friend of Jesus named Lazarus was sick and dying and his sisters, Mary and Martha, went to get help from Jesus and Jesus didn’t show up. Imagine their feelings, they know Jesus can heal him in verse 21 Martha yells at Jesus and says “If you had been here he wouldn’t have died.” These sisters were waiting and hoping for Jesus to heal their brother. Their family. And he didn’t show up. Jesus didn’t do what they were expecting and they were hurt. Angry. Upset.

They were disappointed in the savior of the universe.

I don’t know your story, the events of your life, or the path you have walked but maybe you know exactly how these sisters felt. If God has the power to end all wrongs, dry every tear, and overcome every evil why didn’t he!?! If God can cure every illness why am I still battling cancer? Why can’t God just fix my addiction? Why is that all-powerful God of the universe not helping me find a new job?

In verse 20 the sisters heard Jesus was coming and Martha went out to see him but Mary stayed inside. She wanted nothing to do with the guy who had the power to save her brother and didn’t use it.

How many people do we know that followed Jesus and when tragedy happened they abandon Church and faith completely, maybe they are like Mary, they don’t want to be smacked in the face with this loving God who didn’t save their brother.

but look at what Martha does. She grabs on to the truth she knows that sometimes she will see her brother again. That at some point in the future she will meet up with her brother again. She knows that right now it hurts but someday there will be a resurrection for her and her brother and they will be together again.

I think that is what we do. We grab on the truths we do know. Sometimes it is hard to believe in God. It is hard to trust that God is up to something but we grab on to the truths we do know.

We can kick and scream or fight and cry out for God or we can simply grab on to what we know about God and continue to hold tight until a time comes when God does show up and redeem us.

We know our past mistakes are great, we know our need is great, and we know our only chance at survival is from God and we sort of live in this time of waiting. Waiting for God to show up. That time in-between the way it was and the way it will be.

It is there, that time in between where we grab on to what we know. That little nugget of truth that we find locked in our brain somewhere and we squeeze and hold on to it so tightly that without it there is nothing.

What do we know about Jesus? What can we hold on to when it feels like God is far away?

- Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble.

- Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.”

- Revelation 22:20 “I am coming soon.”

Those are just three examples but the point is that when God feels far away we need to grab on to the truths we do know.

It is there, in the midst of feeling like God is far away that we grab on to the truths we do know and in that we find that Jesus is right there in those truths. That Jesus is right next to us, walking with us, holding us up, keeping us safe, and reminding us that no matter what Jesus is right there with us and that we will eventually come out on the other side.

It is important to remember the other side. There will come a time where we will emerge from the loneliness we feel and the abandonment we feel.  It may be a very long time and it may not even be until the other side of eternity but it will come. Just as Lazarus’ healing didn’t come when his sister’s thought it should it still happened. And it is only when we get to the other side can we look back on that dark time and say “God was with me even then. I didn’t feel it, but God was right there with me.”

Along this journey God has given us reminders that we are never alone.

The laughter of a child, Christmas morning, that feeling on payday, those happy moments that give us the strength to go on just a little longer.

Communion is one of those ways where we can gather together and be reminded that God has joined with us as Jesus and is walking along this journey with us. As we take communion may you be reminded that no matter where you are on this journey, whether you feel alone or you feel close to God this is one of the ways God reminds us we are never alone.

Communion also reminds us that other people who are ragamuffin sinners struggling just like us are on this same journey are here to lift us up and encourage us on this journey.

There are other people with us and God is with us in a real presence here at this table.

So then, when you find yourself in a dark night where it feels like God is far away, may you awaken to a hope that it will end. God will come and redeem you and you will be able to look back and see that God was always with you, even when you couldn’t feel God’s presence.

We, as United Methodists, believe that communion is open to everyone, no matter where you are on this journey of life this table is open for you. We believe God does something here that unites us a family and reminds us of God’s grace in our lives that walks with us even through the darkest times. So we will pray and have communion by intinction and I will invite you to come and to receive the bread and dip it in the cup. You are welcome to kneel at the altar and pray or return to your seat. If you are unable to come forward please let the person next you know and we will bring you communion if you wish.

Close with Prayer. 

Psalm 19

The sky screams out the handiwork of God.

The Sun proceeds across the sky because God wants it to.

The day and night sing of the beauty and majesty of God.

Yet there is no sound from them, so how do we know any of it?

We know it because God has given us a way to know it.

Through the Bible we can know about God and learn about God.

It’s like this, my son is into legos right now. He loves legos. It started last year on vacation in Florida we all went to Legoland and now Samuel loves his legos. But legos these days aren’t like legos when I was a kid. These things take some serious time and have huge amounts of directions with them. I mean look at this, and these weird pieces now. Back in my day we had 4 bricks and you put them together and it was an airplane, a car, or a boat. That was it. Now they have ambulances and transformers and X-men legos and these are so complicated to put together.

I mean they have Lego sets of “Fallingwater” Who needs to build this? Frank Lloyd Wright already did so why do it again? I don’t get it. They even have legos that connect to a computer and can be fully animated. Seriously? Back in my day if I wanted my Lego car to drive I had to push it. I don’t get it.

Here’s the thing about Lego’s though, you can build anything you want. You can do anything yo want with legos. but if you want to build what is on the picture you need the directions. and those directions are like 80+ pages and not always written in a language I can read. but if we want the legos to look like the picture we need the directions.

And that is the key for us today. If you want your life to look like the picture God has designed we need to read the directions, the Bible.

Look at our scripture about it.

Vs. 7 God has given us a perfect instruction that revives our very being.

- For example: James 3:5 Even though the tongue is a small part of the body it boasts wildly.

- In other words we need to watch what we speak. It can do more damage then we realize.

- This instruction given by God will help our very being.

Vs. 8 The Lord’s regulations gladden the heart

- For example: Proverbs 27:14 “Greeting a neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning will be viewed as a curse.”

- Some people are morning people. When they show up all bubbly and excited early in the morning it makes those of us who are not morning people very angry and occasionally ends in cursing them.

- When we follow the regulations of God it makes our heart happy and makes us well-respected with our neighbors.

Vs. 9 Honoring the Lord is correct and lasts forever.

- Example: In Matthew 25 Jesus says that what we do for the least of these is what we do for Jesus and that our eternity will be judged based on how we helped the least of these.

- If we say we follow God then we also have to live that out and when we live out our belief we find that we have gained eternity.

The author in verse 10 says that the word of God is more desirable than gold. Even tons of pure gold! They are even sweeter than pure honey off the honeycomb!

The author goes on in verse 11 and says that there is a great reward in keeping the law of God.

Then there is a stark shift from 11 to 12 where the author begins to doubt himself. That it is quite possible that He has broken a law without knowing it, that somehow he has messed up and doesn’t know it.

I think if we go back to our lego example and we say that the Lego pieces are our lives then we have to acknowledge that we have these extra pieces and the directions don’t say what to do with them.

there are these lego pieces that aren’t in the picture and aren’t in the directions so what do we do with them?

I think that is an important feature of this Psalm. Sometimes there are extra things in our lives that we have to deal with and the reality is that the Bible doesn’t cover every topic and maybe there is something that we thought was okay and the Bible doesn’t mention and it turns out it was wrong. I mean the Bible doesn’t mention anything about downloading music from the internet, or the appropriate side of the road to walk on, or even what kind of translation of Bible to use, or big topics like stem cell research and how to raise kids after a divorce. Or even the terms to put in a DNR order for the doctor.

I mean these things are important and if the Bible is silent on them what happens if I get them wrong? What happens if I put the pieces in the wrong spot?

The question in verse 12 is a question of monumental importance. “What do I do with the pieces of my life that don’t fit neatly within the boundaries of scripture?”

And I think that is the question before us today. What do we do with those extra pieces in life?

I think if we are honest we deal with this topic a lot. When people go wrong, when life doesn’t turn out the way we want or we get a raw deal in a relationship or any number of things we don’t think should be part of our life. So what do we do with them?

The key to what we do is found right in Verses 13 and 14. We figure it out as best as we can with other scriptures and we pray for forgiveness from the unknown and the known sins.

We don’t willingly go out and sin, we don’t want to sin and we should not be saying to ourselves “I am going to go do whatever I want because God will still forgive me.” That is shady theology at best and down right wrong at worst. but there are times we sin and we don’t know it. and so yet there is forgiveness for those events.

But the question still exists, how do I figure out what to do? How do I know where the best place to put that piece of my life that doesn’t make sense.

Well, it’s like this. There are really 4 things to look at. As Methodists we call this the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, but really it is just a method for making decisions.

First, scripture. That is our primary example and our primary way to make decisions. but we already looked at ways in which sometimes scripture doesn’t have an answer so now what?

Second, tradition. What have we done in the past? Did it work? Did it fail? How can we use our history to tell us what our future should be?

Third, reason. What can we figure out using logic? God gave us a brain, maybe we should use it? So what can we figure out?

Last, what has our own experience been? What have we been a part of and how has that worked out?

After all of that we can usually figure out a pretty good decision that we then give the consequences up to God and try to go from there.

and that prayer is verse 14. that essentially is saying “God, I hope I am not messing this up may what I am doing be pleasing to you.”

And that’s what we need to do with the extra pieces, we struggle with them, pray over them, and offer them up to God and pray we are making the right decision.

Sometimes we will make the wrong decision, and God will show us that and so we ask forgiveness and try again.

So then, scripture is our primary way of relating to God and figuring out how to live our life and without the Bible and a working knowledge of the Bible you miss out on the most important lessons of life.  But when there are topics scripture misses we can still figure out what God wants from us and what to do with our lives and we offer them up to God and ask that God be pleased with what we are doing.

I guess the question left is where do I start? How do I start the process of making decisions that are pleasing to God? The first thing to do is to start reading the Bible.

If I have never read the Bible what do I do? Well, first, get a Bible. We have some in the back go get one. Find one that you like and start reading. You can read it cover to cover but that is very hard to do because there are some boring parts.  I would suggest getting a Bible reading plan, we have those in the back and in the plan there are readings for every day. Start with today and read it every day. That is a good place to start getting in to the word of God.

but let’s say you are a gadget nerd and why carry around one more book and paper? Why not save some trees? You can get an app for your smart phone that has the Bible and reading plans tailored for specific topics right on your phone for free. It’s called “YouVersion” and it has Bible plans for students, parents, doctors, retirees, and all kinds of plans.

For me, I don’t really use the bible plans, what I do is everyday I read whatever scripture I am preaching on the following Sunday. So for me, as of today I have read this scripture seven times.

Other people they read straight through books of the Bible and others will read a few chapters a day.  What matters is not how you read it but that we are reading the Bible on a regular basis.

After that, start praying before you make decisions, think of the scripture you read and ask God to help you with your decisions.

You may not get an audible voice, although that happens. What happens more often is one decision is a little bit more clear or desirable or easier than the other.

It’s not always easy to make decisions. Some things are really hard to do. What job to take, what school to go to, there are some immensely painful decisions. but knowing what the Bible says will make those decisions at least a little easier.

So then, may you grow closer to God through scripture. May you use scripture to put the pieces of your life together the way God pictures it. and when you struggle with the unknown pieces may you ask God to forgive you and help you figure out what to do with them.

Prayer:

Psalm 147:1-20

Praise the LORD! Because it is good to sing praise to our God! Because it is a pleasure to make beautiful praise! The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem, gathering up Israel’s exiles.God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. God counts the stars by number, giving each one a name. Our Lord is great and so strong!

God’s knowledge can’t be grasped! The LORD helps the poor,

but throws the wicked down on the dirt! Sing to the LORD with thanks;

sing praises to our God with a lyre! God covers the skies with clouds;God makes rain for the earth; God makes the mountains sprout green grass. God gives food to the animals—even to the baby ravens when they cry out. God doesn’t prize the strength of a horse;God doesn’t treasure the legs of a runner.No. The LORD treasures the people who honor him,the people who wait for his faithful love.

Worship the LORD , Jerusalem!

Praise your God, Zion!Because God secures the bars on your gates,

God blesses the children you have there. God establishes your borders peacefully.God fills you full with the very best wheat.

God issues his command to the earth—God’s word speeds off fast! God spreads snow like it was wool;God scatters frost like it was ashes;

 God throws his hail down like crumbs—who can endure God’s freezing cold? Then God issues his word and melts it all away! God makes his winds blow;the water flows again.

God proclaims his word to Jacob;his statutes and rules to Israel. God hasn’t done that with any other nation;those nations have no knowledge of God’s rules.

Praise the LORD !

We are starting a new series called “Awakening” and each week we hope to awaken our soul to the mysteries of God. Today we awaken to a worship filled with thanksgiving and we celebrate the goodness of God.

Here in this text we are invited to worship. We are invited to sing out our praise to God at the top of our lungs and scream out praise to God. We are invited to pretend we are in our car with the windows rolled up going down the highway jamming out like no one is watching.

Today it is good? this day? Right now?

There is war in the world.

there is poverty in our town

There is heartache in our very own home

And you want me to sing praise?

How could I possibly sing praise to God in a day like this?

- My kids are sick

- Work is long

- The bills need paid

- The house needs fixed

- The doctor keeps telling me bad news

- There are bombs in Boston

- There are riots in London

- There is Ricin in the mail

- The stocks are bad

- My boss is nagging me

- There was a typo on the screen

- The song isn’t in a good key

- I don’t like the people near me

- The list goes on and on and on.

How are we supposed to sing in a moment like this?

We sing because of the difference between awareness and analysis.

Analysis is the logic that pulls apart all the different cracks and looks for flaws. We can’t sing because we have to undergo another chemo treatment.  We can’t sing because our friend died. We can’t sing because we are still so hungry. We can’t sing because we don’t like the style. We can’t sing because the time change, or whatever else we can find wrong.

Sometimes it is as if people just analyze things to death and will never be done finding all the reasons why we can’t sing.

Analysis is all well and good but if we get stuck in it we find ourselves stepping back with arms crossed declaring that there is no room for happiness and singing until the evil is gone.

Analysis is the easiest thing in the world to do. It doesn’t require us to dig deep or look at a bigger picture It only requires us to poke at the inadequacies of our life and to live our life full of cynicism and a glass is half empty view of the whole world.

Analysis lives in a world where there is always time for more analysis and tweaking and making better because there will always be another day to analyze.

But we are not called to live only in analysis.

We are invited to sing because of an awareness.

An awareness that doesn’t ignore the realities of this world and doesn’t gloss over and pretend that everything is fine but instead it is an acute awareness that this moment is a gift from God that we can embrace and enjoy every moment we have been given. Awareness is an embrace of this moment because there may not be another one. We love this moment right now because we aren’t guaranteed another moment.

We are invited to sing because an awareness of God who is so big and so huge that he numbered the stars  and gave them each a name and yet still bends down to help the poor.

We are invited to sing because of an awareness of God who is so huge that he can make the mountains sprout grass and make the rain fall and feed the baby ravens and yet God still reaches down and puts a bandage on the wounds of those who are hurting.

We are invited to sing because of an awareness that God doesn’t prize the best of the best or the richest of the rich, or the fastest of the fastest.  Instead God prizes those who give honor to God. Those who love God more than anything else.

Psalm 51:17 says that God loves those who are broken-hearted. We sing not because our heart is in perfect order but because our heart is broken and God loves it anyway

We sing because of an awareness that God has shown us favor. God did not program us to mindlessly follow but has poured out unending love for us at the cross and calls us to be in a relationship with the savior of the world. Not through anything we could ever do, earn, or create but simply through because God loves us more than life itself.

And the only response is to sing praise to the Lord. To sing so loud and with such recklessness that no one can ignore the greatness of God. One musician puts it this way: “The only response to God unending love for us is not to make pretty music but to make a shout of thankfulness that comes from the depths of our being and proclaims a joy that cannot be explained in words.”

Walter Bruggerman an says those who can sing to God have rejected the complacency of this world and embraced the divine hope that comes from God.

So then, we can analyze the world all day long. We can point out all the reasons we should not sing and all the things wrong with this place.

or 

We can be radically aware that the God of the universe has invited us to sing in spite of all the things wrong with the world.

It’s like this, over the past week I was in England and one of the places we went was called Coventry. It is a little city in England that during WWII was destroyed by the Germans. They bombed it to the ground. We went to the ruins of a church. This church had been completely destroyed and only a few remnants were left of this building. After the bombing stopped the people gathered for church and they had two options. Scream for revenge and demand bloodshed or to forgive and worship God anyway.  And that is what they did. Where the altar table was they had engraved in the broken stones “Father Forgive” and they decided to worship God anyway.  They didn’t sing because everything was good, many of them lost homes, family members, and everything they owned.  No, they sang because they were aware that even in the midst of tragedy God was with them.

God wants us to sing. God has invited us to sing. Not because the world is whole but because God has reached down and bandaged our wounds, lifted us up, and has joined us in a relationship.

I did some crowd sourcing for this sermon and I asked a few friends of mine who enjoy singing and this is what one friend said: “Singing is a way of re-orienting ourselves back to God and when we don’t sing it is almost as if we have denied who God has made us to be.”

God isn’t looking for pretty voices or good voices or voices that have been trained in the proper way of singing. God is looking for loud voices singing a praise from the depths of our soul. David Crowder puts it this way “God wants less of your pretty voice and more of your loud voices”

I went to a few friends of mine who love to sing, some professional. Some only sing in churches and I asked them this question: How can you sing when everything else is going wrong. and one answer I got was “I don’t sing because life is perfect, I sing because singing means I still have this voice God has given me.”

I asked another friend of mine the same question about singing and she said that singing is what helps to build momentum and start getting things to go right again. That when we start singing the world starts to look manageable again.

SO THEN MAY YOU SING! May you step back from analysis and be aware of the goodness of God that has invited us to sing at the top of our lungs. Don’t worry about Pretty or Nice, just belt it out from the depth of your soul because God has invited you to sing!

Prayer.

This is my sermon from Easter. Enjoy!

John 20:1-18

Today we finish our discover series and we are going to discover a brand new start.

Prayer: God, show us that restarts are possible and that new beginnings really do exist.

Ronald Wayne sold his share of the company for 800 dollars in April 1976. He decided that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were to young and immature to run a successful business and he wasn’t willing to risk losing everything on a couple of young kids. September 2012 Apple was worth 626 Billion dollars. Ronald Wayne now lives in a trailer park in Nevada, He never married, lives alone, and sells rare coins and stamps to make ends meet.

I think if he had it to do over again he would have done it differently he could have used a brand new start.

In 1975 Kodak cameras invented the ability to capture photos digitally without the use of film. They put the technology on a shelf because they never thought anyone would want to do that. In May of 2012 Kodak closed its doors.

I bet if they had it to do over again they would do it differently, they could use a brand new start.

Ever miss those great opportunities?

Ever regret the opportunities you didn’t take?

Ever messed up so bad you would have given anything for a fresh new start?

Ever looked at something and wondered what the future holds because this moment is so painful there is no way anything good came come from it?

Ever looked back at an opportunity and wish you hadn’t taken it or maybe the opposite is true, maybe you wish you had taken it because it means the whole world would be different?

Ever just longed for a new start or a new beginning? or just a chance to do it all over again?

Through the cross on Friday those mistakes are forgiven, those missed opportunities, those places where we have stumbled and fallen over and over again.

On Friday the whole earth shook, the curtains were torn, and God died for our sins. God died for those mistakes and we were forgiven.

Psalm 103 says that God has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west.

All those times you down right messed up. Shot yourself in the foot and just did stupid stuff. They were paid for on Friday. When Jesus died on the cross it was to pay for all those times you tripped up, stumbled, and fell down in the pile of your own sin.

At the cross Jesus declared your forgiveness.

Easter Video. Sunday is coming!

Sunday isn’t just coming. Sunday is here, today, and it means a few things for us.

Through the resurrection we get another shot at this thing called life.

When Jesus walked out of the tomb it was a giant declaration to each and every one of us that our past does not get the final word.

When Jesus folded up the cloths from his head he made a statement to the powers of this world that they do not get to control the eternal destinies of anyone.

Only God can do that and God has declared the past null and void.

When Jesus looked at Mary and said he is going to heaven and to get his disciples it was a declaration that there is still work to be done and your past does not disqualify you from what God needs you to do.

If you have ever wanted a second chance or longed for a new beginning then it comes here. It comes through the resurrection and it starts now.

It’s like this, one day a young hedge fund manager got a good tip and put 10 million dollars of the company’s money on his tip. The plan fell through. His company lost every penny of 10 million dollars. He was devastated. He walked into his boss’s office the next morning to hand in his resignation.  The boss looked at him, leaned back in his seat and said “I just spent 10 million dollars to teach you a lesson, I can’t afford to let you go.”

Through the cross God paid the highest price ever.

Through the resurrection God declares that we are too valuable to let our mistakes define us. We are too loved to be kicked to the curb.

In the course of 3 days God forgave all our sins, defeated death, and gave us a second chance.

That kind of second chance didn’t come easy or free. It was costly and it was given to us regardless of our response.

but it does demand a response.

The second chance given to us through the resurrection of Jesus requires that we respond to it.

It’s like this: Hold up 20 dollar bill

Who would like this bill? It is free and you can have it if you want it.

There are 3 responses to this.

1.  I don’t want it, I am not even going to move. I don’t need it and it isn’t worth my time

2. I want it, I’ll put my hand up, but there is probably some trick. It is too good to be true and it is just one more way in which I will get hurt.

3. I want it, I will do whatever it takes to get it and I will run up there and grab it.

The same is true with the resurrection.

We see it, experience it and now we are left with a choice.

1. Deny it, walk away and decide we don’t need it.

2. Decide we want it, need it, and yet we feel like we don’t deserve it or that it is some trick to get our hopes up and knock us down again. We have been tricked and hurt so many times that we dare not risk it this time. That it is just too good to be true and so I am going to pass on it.

3. then there are those of us who hope so much! We want so badly for a second chance that we will do anything to get what we want so much! If that means we have to elbow people out-of-the-way, climb a tree, or cut a whole in the roof, then so be it because we want that second chance so badly we will do whatever it takes to get it.

And here is the thing, when Jesus walked out of that tomb he made it that easy for us to have a second chance. He made it that easy for us to get a restart at life. All we have to do is reach out and take hold of it. Jesus says that through the empty tomb there is a new life. No tricks, no games, just life. A brand new life.

And that Brand new life doesn’t have to wait for three days, or even another minute.

That brand new life doesn’t require you rush forward or follow a specific prayer or make a specific sacrifice.

To get that second chance is only about grabbing on to the new life Jesus has provided and made possible for you. It becomes about a decision that because we have been given a second chance that we devote that second chance to following Jesus.

Look at this story of a fresh start.

At the end of Jesus’ life one of his disciple’s named Peter promised to be faithful and when crunch time came Peter fled and denied Jesus. He screamed at small children “I don’t know who that man is.”  Peter Pretended he didn’t even know who Jesus was. He turned his back on his best friend and fled with the crowd.

Then, in John 21, after the resurrection Peter went fishing naked, like one does, on that fishing trip he sees Jesus so he puts his clothes on, jumps in the water and swims to Jesus. It is here he finds the second chance he was looking for. It was here on the other side of the resurrection that Peter found his calling and a way to live out this second chance at life.

 

So then, may you take hold of your second chance that Jesus bought for you on the cross.

May you discover that through the resurrection Jesus offers a brand new start at life to you freely and without any tricks, games, or guilt involved.

Let us pray.