The Divine Crash

This was my last sermon at Tanoma UMC.  Next week I am taking a vacation week and the following week will be my first week preaching as the pastor of Eldersville UMC in Burgettstown, PA.  As a result today was bittersweet and a little difficult.  You can listen to the audio at the end of this post or you can download the podcast on iTunes. At about the 12 minute mark I walked away from the recorder and it picked up what I said but you will have to turn up your speakers to hear it.

I have worked on this sermon for years.  Every time a meeting didn’t go the way I wanted or a vote didn’t turn out the way I thought it should, I would practice this sermon in my head.  In my head I would tell the congregation exactly what I thought, never knowing when I would actually get to give my last sermon.

Then today came.  I still had no idea until I got to the Western Pennsylvania United Methodist Annual Conference when our Bishop’s father got up and told us that as preachers we needed to give our congregations the most important thing ever, Jesus.  To just give our people Jesus, no matter what.

So that is what I did.

Our scripture was John 3:14-18

It starts with Jesus saying: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that those who believe in Him will have eternal life.”

Jesus had to be lifted up so that all those who believe would have eternal life.

Then Jesus says that God sent His Son because God loves the world. Not because God was angry or because God wanted to save you.  Simply because God loves you.

The result is you are saved because of Jesus but Jesus was sent purely out of love.

Jesus didn’t come to make us feel guilty, although that sometimes happens because we regret our choices and our consequences, but that was not the purpose of Jesus.  Jesus’ purpose was to save us.

It is like this: At Tanoma there is an unwritten rule that you don’t walk over, step on, or disrespect the altar rail.  However, God loves you so much that God stepped over all of the unwritten rules, rituals, and rites that keep us from God and became flesh and came near to us so that we can be in relationship to God

At this point I picked up my daughter.

Jesus desires us to be in relationship with Him, like my daughter and I are in a relationship.  If she cries she must have faith that I will answer, if her pants are dirty she must have faith that I will change her.

Jesus wants nothing more than for us to be in relationship with Him, Jesus will do whatever it takes to bring us closer to a relationship with Him.

Jesus doesn’t care if you cry, if you are bruised, hungry, tired or lonely. Jesus only wants you to be in relationship with Him.

This relationship is never a special prayer to ask Jesus into your heart.  It is always a clear and concise choice to make Jesus the most important thing in your life.  To trust him even when it is hard, to have faith in Jesus and a clear choice to follow Jesus and think like Jesus.  All of that might drive you to your knees in prayer but it might not.

As if that were not enough of a visual, Jesus gives us another visual.  He share a last meal with his disciples, after the meal he takes some bread and says this is my body broken for you.  Then Jesus takes some wine and says this is my blood poured out for you.  Both times Jesus says “Do this in remembrance of me.”  In other words Jesus is saying every time you eat bread and have wine remember that I love you enough that I would rather have my body broke and my blood poured out rather than be without you.

Sermon Audio

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Sermon by RevBT